Mayor Lori Lightfoot is having a press conference at 1 p.m. on how Chicago is helping people who are homeless during the coronavirus pandemic. I'll live tweet it. Follow for updates.

Our latest story here: https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/04/13/coronavirus-in-chicago-did-chicago-hit-its-covid-19-peak-this-weekend-too-soon-to-tell-pritzker-says/

Lightfoot: "Throughout the COVID crisis, we have focused the full power of our city on ensuring the health and safety of our residents ... ."

Lightfoot: City has "rapidly escalated" establishment of a citywide system to prevent spread of coronavirus in shelters and encampments.

Lightfoot: City has "mobilized Chicago's medical professionals to assist shelters and health care workers with symptom screening. We've distributed more than 25,000 pieces of personal protective equipment ... to shelter residents and staff" and DFSS staff. DFSS teams have ...

visited encampments consistently. "WE've installed portable washrooms and hand-washing stations in large encampments. We are working with our shelter partners to have nurses visit all of our city shelters and provide in-person" care.

Lightfoot: 100 people have been moved out of congregate settings and into individual rooms. But there's still a risk for people in congregate settings.

Lightfoot: U of I Health and Rush are partnering with Chicago extend testing capabilities so city can do more tests of shelter residents and staff each week.

Lightfoot: Safe Haven, Rush University Medical Center and Heartland Alliance are opening 100-bed facility with wraparound services for people in shelters who need help with mental health and substance abuse needs.

Lightfoot: "... What we've seen all too clearly are the chasms in our society when it comes to those who are vulnerable. They were in need before this crisis, and they are more in need now. We have to respond continuously to fill the void and address the need ... ."

Lightfoot: "The work we're doing now is building a foundation and infrastructure on which we will be able to address these issues in the longterm."

Dr. Allison Arwady, head of the Chicago Department of Public Health, speaking. "Obviously, a stay at home order assumes that people have a home to stay in. From the beginning of this crisis, folks at [CDPH], with so many partners across this city, have been calling out to make...

"sure we do not forget the people who don't have a home to be able to stay in at all."

Arwady: COVID-19 can be hard to detect, spreads easily among people who are together, and it's particularly dangerous for people who are older or have underlying medical conditions. "All of this means that, from the beginning, we knew that people living in homeless shelters ...

"would be at especially high risk. We knew COVID-19 could spread quickly and undetected among people like this, who are among our most vulnerable."

Arwady: "Stopping an outbreak of COVID-19 among Chicago's homeless population has absolutely been one of the most challenging aspects of this response. We are not done. We have a lot of cases already, and we are working very hard to limit the spread in all of the situations ...

"where we can."

Arwady: "I think we've learned a lot already abut how to adjust models. Certainly our partners have been absolutely instrumental in terms of making sure we adjusted where we needed to. And we will continue to make those adjustments."

Arwady: Nurses are now visiting all shelters across the city for screenings, education, etc. Much more testing is happening. "It's been an ongoing effort that is long from over."

Arwady: "We won't be able to prevent every case, but I'm really proud of the work our city has done together to protect people who are experiencing homelessness. ... Health requires a home. And the holes that our social safety net have had have real impact on health outcomes."

Lisa Morrison Butler from Family & Support Services: "We are focused on meeting the needs of homeless residents as quickly, efficiently and humanely as possible."

Butler: "As the response to COVID-19 has evolved, so have the needs of residents experiencing homelessness." DFSS funds 3,000 of the 4,000 shelter beds in the city. To embrace social distancing, "DFSS reconfigured congregate shelter settings by directing our shelter partners ...

"to embrace the distancing guidelines and to space beds at least 6 feet apart. This decompression resulted in a decision to move shelter beds from the existing system into alternate sites in order to achieve the desired spacing, ensuring safer shelter capacity for family, ...

"youths, single individuals and returning citizens."
DFSS also still canvassing encampments around the city to assess the need for resources, identify people in encampments who are at higher risk and to encourage those in encampments to consider shelter.

Morrison Butler: Non-profits "are not flush with cash, and yet it is these very organizations that have stepped up and done so with quickly ... . They are literally making miracles happen every day, and they are doing so in large part" behind the scenes.

Morrison Butler: Residents can make a request for shelter by calling 311.

Dr. Thomas Huggett for Lawndale Christian Health Center: "Of course, with this coronavirus pandemic, what we've had to do has changed a little bit. ... We've really been able to do a little bit more. For the last 12 days, we've been able to take care of people not only who ...

"have coronavirus or COVID-19 disease, but also those who are most at risk in shelters." They welcomed 115th person this morning into the hotel to try to keep them safe.

Huggett: "... The folks that we're serving in the hotels are doing great, and probably even doing better than they were doing before. When I visit my patients in the hotel, their medicines are all lined up neatly. Their shirts are all lined up neatly. I had one patient two ...

"days ago ask me for a broom and a dustpan because he wanted to clean up his hotel room. This really shows that there's a sense of ownership within the hotel room. ... People really want to be in a safe, secure place, and they're willing to really keep it up. Another patient ...

told me ... 'Well, what if I test negative? I don't want to come back to the shelter. I know there's coronavirus in the shelter. What am I supposed to do?'" He's glad city is working to give people permanent supportive housing. "I'm very, very glad to hear that this effort is...

"moving forward. ... We would love to have a safe, secure, supportive place for our patients who are experiencing homelessness."

Neli Vazquez Rowland from A Safe Haven speaking: "For the first time, our city ... we're seeing the issue of homelessness being dealt with the level of urgency that recognizes it not as just a moral or financial imperative but truly as a public health imperative ... ."

Vazquez Rowland: "Today, what is happening on the front lines is truly transformative. ... I am pleased to finally see the convergence of institutional health care experts, homeless experts and government agencies."

Vazquez Rowland: "We now have the city's first isolation space dedicated to serving the health and behavior health care needs of the homeless."

Morrison Butler on size of Chicago's homeless population: "There are a number of different metrics that we track." Difficult to say.

Lightfoot on Hilco implosion: "If the aldermen wanna have the inspector general engage, have at it. But I'm not gonna wait for an inspector general report. We started out work literally on Saturday, worked all through the weekend, and that work is ongoing." She wants ...

preliminary amount of info that can be shared later this week. "The local alderman was very much engaged in this about 10 days out or longer. Talked a lot to the various departments that were involved ... as well as my understand is he had a lot of direct contact with the CEO...

"of Hilco. All of us were assured that there was a very specific plan, that there would be water on site and they would be using the water before, during and after to make sure a dust cloud didn't migrate off site. Obviously that didn't happen." She says Hilco has now

acknowledged they didn't follow the plan. "My understanding is both the contractor and the local alderman did give a head's up to nearby residents in advance of Saturday morning; but again, we're gonna make sure we understand all of those details."

Arwady: "Obviously the team at [CDPH] has been going over all of the details of this project, and particularly things where there were assurances made. In the case of the asbestos, there are very detailed reports ... [showing] asbestos removal was completed over 18 months. ...

"There's nothing in the reports at this time that is suggestive that asbestos would have been a problem." But they're collecting additional information and samples to ensure things were done.

Lightfoot on reporter describing Little Village as Chernboyl-like: "I appreciate the hyperbole but I really don't think that, that's appropriate in this time. People have fear because of COVID-19, period. I really have to say it's a bit offensive for somebody in the media to ...

"make light of a circumstance like this. This isn't Chernobyl."

Lightfoot: Rodriguez reached out to Lightfoot about masks and she had followup questions for him. She's waiting for a response.

Arwady: "Always as part of demolition procedures there are obviously a lot of health pieces that come into that, and that is part of what CDPH helps monitor in conjunction with the Illinois EPA. ... The asbestos work, that's something that is known to be harmful for human ...

"health ... you have to make sure all of that is removed. And all of that was removed, to the best of our knowledge ... ." The team is also looking into lead. "As far as the major causes or the contaminants we think would be a significant impact to human health ... that had ...

"all been done appropriately with the appropriate testing. All of that is being reviewed, of course ... ."

Lightfoot: "I don't speculate on litigation that might come, and I never talk about litigation that's pending."

Lightfoot: The CEO of Hilco was "embarrassed and contrite ... and has committed to full cooperation with us to get to the bottom of us. ... That's a bare minimum of responsibility we have to accept."

Arwady: I would expect to have some of the results from that first day in the coming days. For air sampling: "We are actually working on all fronts to really be as aggressive as possible related to this." Air monitors are in the area. "We are planning today to actually have a ...