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Originally published on chicagotribune.com 05/26/2020 | Image: Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune
In the first veto of her administration, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Tuesday moved to block a resolution to share addresses of COVID-19 individuals with 911 dispatchers, the latest blow to a controversial practice at the center of a debate on protecting first responders at the cost of individuals’ civil liberties.
Cook County Board members narrowly approved the resolution, which only applies to suburban Cook County, last week following a heated discussion about the effects of the measure on black and Latino communities. While the resolution was only a recommendation, the Cook County Department of Public Health had said it will follow the address-sharing practice because of Preckwinkle’s instructions.
Then in a reversal on Tuesday, Preckwinkle issued a veto, which requires three-fifths of the board’s vote to override. But since the resolution only passed with a 9-7 vote last week, it is likely killed.
“That's terrible public policy,” Preckwinkle said in a Tuesday interview. “I can't remember anything in the course of the last 10 years that I felt strongly enough to veto. … The idea that in the midst of this pandemic, we would pursue a course of action, which I think it's extraordinarily bad public policy, was not something I was willing to accept.”
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Originally published on chicagotribune.com 05/29/2020 | Image: Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune
Thanks to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, the county avoided making an ethical and social misstep in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Cook County Board had voted to provide the contact information of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 to first responders. Their justification for this action was “for purposes of protecting these workers and preventing the further spread of the virus.”
As a scholar of bioethics and medical humanities, I teach college students about the history of medicine and pandemics, and the many missteps that have been taken. This policy of sharing names with first responders is such a misstep by violating patients’ privacy rights and reinforcing discrimination and stereotypes while providing no additional safety to first responders.
Imagine that a 911 call is sent to a dispatch company and the address matches that of a patient on the COVID-19 positive list. Do the first responders don hazmat suits? Do they initiate a policy of not touching any person in need who is on the list? Do they never perform CPR on people who live in houses on this list? Do they change how they treat patients? Do they simply not go to any address on the list?
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Originally published on www.hfchronicle.com 05/28/2020
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced a $6 million Housing Cook County’s Animals grant to help pay for a new animal resource campus for the South Suburban Humane Society.
The grant was announced at a press conference Thursday with Preckwinkle joined by county Animal and Rabies Control Administrator Tom Wake, Deputy Director Mark Rosenthal, SSHS CEO Emily Klehm and a rescue dog named Mr. Belvedere.
“Mr. Belvedere and so many animals like him are able to make their way out of horrible circumstances to lead happy lives with loving families because of the commitment of the caring people who work and volunteer at our shelters,” Preckwinkle said. “Our pets are members of our families. We have a responsibility to ensure that all of Cook County’s animals have the happy ending that Mr. Belvedere has.”
Preckwinkle said the way animal care facilities operate has changed and the local facilities don’t reflect that. The program is aimed at addressing overcrowding at government-operated and nonprofit animal shelters and providing housing for animals impounded by the Department of Animal and Rabies Control.
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Originally published on hpherald.com 05/27/2020
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle vetoed a resolution that would have allowed 9-1-1 dispatchers to share the addresses of people with COVID-19 with first responders in suburban Cook County; she said she was following experts' advice that it was functionally meaningless to the responders' safety and that it would further stigmatize the communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
The veto was the first of her 10-year administration. In an interview, Preckwinkle said her experts told her that the coronavirus is ubiquitous and the idea that first responders could be protected by knowing the addresses of people with COVID-19 is "nuts," because of asymptomatic carriers or those suffering from mild symptoms.
"You should assume that whenever you go out on a run or a call or go to an event, if you're a first responder, that there are people there who have COVID-19," she said. "That's the only way to reasonably protect yourself."
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