Concerns Over Public Schools Not Tracking COVID Boosters
As the country deals with a new COVID omicron subvariant known as XBB.1.5, there’s growing concern that Chicago Public Schools does not track which students or staff have gotten the updated omicron booster.
Chicago Public Schools continues to track the initial primary series but not the boosters.
Data shows that about half of all students enrolled in Chicago Public Schools — roughly 154,000 children — have gotten their initial COVID-19 vaccination series as of Jan. 2. But a Chalkbeat analysis shows vaccination rates vary widely by school, with predominantly Black schools lagging.
Majority of Black district-run elementary and high schools had an average vaccination rate of 24.7 percent as of Jan. 2, up from 23 percent in September. Majority of Latino district-run elementary schools and high schools averaged 49.4 percent, compared with 48.5 percent in September, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.
Chicago’s COVID transmission rate remains medium.
Chicago schools return to class on Jan. 9.
Business Tagged With Racist Graffiti
“It’s sad we’re facing racism in this time of the world,” said Sydney Blakely, owner of Cook It Mama Café. The small business in the Bridgeport neighborhood was tagged with racist graffiti this week.
“I just started noticing it all over, and it’s spelled out BLDM, which is the acronym for Black Lives Don’t Matter,” Blakely told NBC 5. “It was written all over the mural, written on all the windows in the front and the sides.”
Blakely filed a police report and said detectives are working to track down the person responsible.
Last year Chicago police investigated 177 hate crime incidents in the city.
Nation’s First Black-owned McDonald’s Reopens After Renovation
The nation’s first Black-owned McDonald’s, in Woodlawn, reopened its dine-in service area ahead of schedule after a renovation project to upgrade its look and modernize food ordering service.
Owner Yolanda Travis told the Crusader that the changes were aimed at young customers. Travis said the restaurant was expected to reopen the second week of January and that an official grand opening is scheduled in February.
Herman Petty bought the Mcdonald’s at 6560 S. Stony Island Ave on December 21, 1968.
Last Year, a stretch of the South Side street where the restaurant stands were given an honorary name, Herman Petty Way, in tribute to the entrepreneur.
Petty died in 2009.