Recent study suggests childhood trauma could haunt Illinois adults for life

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Photo: Dan Meyers/Unsplash
by Terri Dee
Illinois News Connection

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed 75% of U.S. high school students said they have had at least one adverse childhood experience, or ACE.

Research has shown ACEs can alter a child's brain chemistry and produce a prolonged toxic stress response. Experiencing at least one ACE as a child is linked to having alcohol and substance use problems in adulthood, and chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

Joe Bargione, a certified school psychologist, said the symptoms are troubling.

"We're seeing some of the same kinds of patterns," Bargione pointed out. "That increased sense of loneliness, isolation in our youth, increased levels of suicide ideation, exposure to violence, exposure to other adverse childhood experiences."

The Illinois Department of Public Health said 61% of adults have had at least one ACE, including witnessing domestic violence in the home, parental separation, or physical and sexual abuse. Females and several groups who identify as a racial or ethnic minority were at greater risk for experiencing four or more ACEs.

The Illinois Department of Health said preventing ACEs may lower the risk for depression, asthma, cancer, and diabetes in adulthood. Bargione added schools can help address the youth mental health crisis by cultivating a sense of belonging and connectedness, as well as increasing suicide prevention programs.

"Promoting mental health awareness," Bargione urged. "Teaching kids around social-emotional learning and dealing with their emotions in an effective way, increased mental health services."

The Illinois Department of Health said healthy childhoods can provide lasting benefits throughout their lives. One way to help at-risk youth is by educating communities, youth-serving and faith-based organizations, coaches, and caregivers to better understand ACEs.


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Area COVID-19 Dashboard for January 10, 2022

Champaign County loses another resident to the Coronavirus. The individual is the eighth person to die this month from complications due to the respiratory infection.

In the past 14 days, there have been 247 positive cases of Covid-19 in St. Joseph, 203 in Tolono, 67 in Sidney, and 48 in Ogden.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, the number of available ICU beds in Region 6 dropped to 21. There were 22 out of 150 available on January 8. Region 6 includes Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Dewitt, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Lawrence, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, Richland, Shelby, and Vermillion counties.

Ventilator usage decreased by 47 from 179 of 298 available units to 236 in the region.


Active Champaign County Cases:

7,094

Net change in the county: 55



Current local cases 1/10/22
Number in parenthesis indicates new cases since 1/9/22

Ogden • 40 (6)
Royal • 7 (2)
St. Joseph • 217 (18)
Urbana • 2483 (303)
Sidney • 54 (4)
Philo • 65 (6)
Tolono • 162 (12)
Sadorus • 7 (2)
Pesotum • 30 (7)


Total Active Local Cases:

3,065

Net change in local cases: -3



Total Local Confirmed Cases: 17,704

New cases: 360


The information on this page is compiled from the latest figures provide by the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District and the Illinois Department of Public Health at the time of publishing. Active cases are the number of confirmed cases reported currently in isolation. Local is defined as cases within the nine communities The Sentinel covers.

Community Poll | How worried are you about recent COVID uptick?

Locally, after enjoying a nearly two week period of 32 or fewer active cases, that number surged to 69 one week ago. Today, The Sentinel area has returned to its pre-outbreak level down to 29 active cases. The daily average of new cases has also returned to its two per day average.

Meanwhile, it has been more than a week and the state has not met the governor's metrics to enter the Bridge Phase Reopening. The increase in hospitalizations and positivity in Chicago, Cook County, and Region 1, which includes the Rockford area, has been trending upwards there as well as in a few other parts of the state. The uptick in the spread has led to the creation of state Rapid Response Vaccination Teams that will handle mass vaccinations in five counties and the expansion of vaccine eligibility in those 'trouble' areas around the state.

"Since March 8, Illinois has seen 10 days of increases in the seven-day rolling average for hospital admissions. The COVID-19 test positivity on March 10 was 2.5%. Today’s reported test positivity is 3.3%. While these rates are certainly significantly lower than the peak, they represent a potential early warning sign about a possible resurgence," the Illinois Department of Public Health said in a release on Friday. "Chicago has seen its daily case rate increase by nearly 50% since last week, along with six days of increases in test positivity. Suburban Cook County has seen its daily case rate increase more than 40%, along with nine days of increasing hospital bed usage. Region 1, the Northern portion of the state including Rockford and surrounding communities, has seen eight days of increasing hospital bed usage and six days of increasing test positivity."

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What SJO fans need to know about home basketball games this season

Earlier today, St. Joseph-Ogden announced the school's attendance policy for basketball spectators this season.

Following IDPH guidelines, schools may control the number of spectators for indoor sporting events up to a maximum of 50 per game in regions that are in Phase 4, or 25 at schools not in Phase 4. Spartan fans who wish to attend games must reserve their space with the school. Only two spectators per athlete will be allowed.

To protect players and fellow fans, every spectator will be screen for COVID-19 symptoms upon entry to the facility.

The latest IHSA guidelines also require all student-athletes to participate in masks -- with the exception of swimming and diving, gymnasts on an apparatus and outdoor events where social distancing can occur -- all game personnel not participating in the contest and spectators must wear masks and observe social distancing.

Below are the entry and seating information for SJO basketball games this season.

• The home team will provide a list of two spectators per athlete for each freshmen, JV, and varsity home game. Athletes and their families will need to communicate who is on this list ahead of game time so that we can keep accurate records of who is in the building.

• Spectators will be allowed to enter St. Joseph-Ogden High School through the north Commons doors fifteen minutes prior to tip-off. All spectators should park in the north parking lot, just outside of the Commons.

• Upon entry, spectators will be screened for symptoms. After being symptom screened, all spectators will need to report to the balcony seating area in the SJO main gym. Please sit on the Spartan head stickers taped to the balcony bleachers. Members of the same household may sit together.

• The gym will be cleared after the JV game is over, and the spectators from the JV game (or prelim game) need to exit the gym and return to their respective vehicles.

• Remember, masks must be worn at all times.

• No gathering in the gym or outside.

• Failure to follow IDPH guidelines will result in immediate removal from the facility.

• Concessions will not be available. There are water bottle filling stations located outside the main gym.

• Restrooms are located right outside of the northeast corner of the gym.

Tier 1 is back, restaurants can return to partial indoor dining

The restaurant business in Champaign County will be booming this week.

With a big sigh of relief, Region 6 of the Illinois Department of Public Health's COVID-19 Resurgence Mitigation Plan - which includes Champaign, Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Dewitt, Douglas, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Iroquois, Jasper, Lawrence, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, Richland, Shelby and Vermilion counties - moved from Tier 3 to Tier 1 yesterday. Restaurants can now return to partial, limited indoor seating.

And it is a moment too late for a number of area restaurants that have permanently closed their doors. However, it means that establishments like Roch's, which made the decision this past weekend, and Rich's Family Restaurant in Ogden more than a week earlier, to completely shutdown operations temporarily to conserve dwindling assets can now open to start generating revenue once again.

"We are back open! Tier one is official," said a post on Billy Bob's Facebook business page on Monday, a little more than a week after settling a dispute with the Champaign County public health agency suspended that suspended their health on December 11. The non-compliance with the state's mandate led to a court ordered temporary restraining order.

Monical's in Tolono announced on Facebook they would reopen today at 11am.

"We will follow the guidelines for Tier 1 mitigations which will include 25% seating capacity. Masks will also be required to enter the store and when you get up from your table," the post stated. "We are so excited to see our guests back in our store."

They are kicking off their reopening with a special featuring a 16" one topping pizza for $12.

Here's are the less restrictive measures now in effect for Region 6:

All bars and restaurants close at 11pm and may reopen no earlier than 6am the following day
• Indoor service limited to the lesser of 25 guests or 25% capacity per room
• Establishments offering indoor service must serve food
• Indoor service reservations limited to 2-hour maximum duration and maximum
4 persons per party (dining only with members of the same household recommended)
• All bar and restaurant patrons should be seated at tables
• No ordering, seating, or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed)
• Tables should be 6 feet apart
• No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting
• No dancing or standing indoors
• Reservations required for each party
• No seating of multiple parties at one table
• Includes private clubs and country clubs

There were 44 COVID-19 outbreaks in Illinois schools


Jennifer Smith Richards, Chicago Tribune
Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica


Nearly two months into the school year, Illinois public health officials said they have verified COVID-19 outbreaks in at least 44 school buildings across the state, but they declined to say where those cases occurred and acknowledged they may not know the full scope of the virus’s spread in schools.


Many other states already publish data on outbreaks in schools. But Illinois so far has released only county-level data about COVID-19 cases in people younger than 20.

Unlike many other states, Illinois doesn’t publish the number of cases linked to schools or which schools have been affected — even as parents and educators try to assess whether in-person learning is safe. State health officials released overall numbers at the request of ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune.

With more than 1,800 public schools operating in person at least part time, along with an unknown number of private schools, the outbreaks represent a tiny fraction of Illinois schools in session, according to an analysis of state education data. Most outbreaks have been small — two or three cases at each school — but at least 105 students and 73 employees at public and private schools have been affected.

State health officials said many COVID-19 cases seen among children are tied to gatherings outside school and other community events, while acknowledging that local contact tracing efforts likely have missed some school-related cases.

In all, 8,668 Illinois children ages 5 to 17 have tested positive for the virus from Aug. 15, when schools started to reopen, to Oct. 2, state health officials said. That amounts to about 180 new infections among children each day, on average, since school returned. Between March and early August, there were 11,953 confirmed COVID-19 cases among children, an average of about 72 a day. Fewer than five school-aged children have died of the disease, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Even as parents, school leaders and others in the state have pushed for more transparency about cases related to schools, the state health department said this week that it continues to weigh whether to publish data on school-driven outbreaks and has no timeline to decide whether to do so.

IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said health officials are concerned that publishing COVID-19 data tied to schools could identify students and staff and violate their privacy. The department publishes case counts for other facilities, including nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals. It also specifies the number of cases in people younger than 20 in each county.

“Obviously we want to be as transparent as possible and get information out that people can use. That’s why we have on our website the county-level data. That way, counties can make their own decisions about what they want to do,” Arnold said. “We’ve certainly received a lot of interest in this data. We’ve received interest from many different groups.”

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was asked at a news briefing Wednesday whether the state will publish data about school-related infections. He did not commit to it.

“I’m sure that IDPH is looking at school-specific reporting,” Pritzker said. “I’m very much in favor of trying to get our kids back into in-person learning; however, we want to make sure that it’s safe. And it’s very difficult at the state level to dictate how each school — of the 4,000-plus schools that we’ve got across the state of Illinois — can do that.”

Other states make district- or school-level outbreak data public online, including Ohio, Indiana and Mississippi, which post data about public and private schools; Michigan and Tennessee, which list new and ongoing outbreaks; and Kentucky, which provides student and staff case numbers “out of transparency and as quickly as possible,” according to the state website with school data.

A school outbreak is defined as two or more confirmed cases within 14 days of the start of symptoms in people who do not share a household and did not have close contact in another setting.

Nearly two-thirds of the confirmed school outbreaks resulted in two or three infections, and about a third led to between four and nine cases. One school had an outbreak that affected 18 people.

Health department officials are also tracing current school outbreaks in which the total number of infected people isn’t yet known, said Dr. Connie Austin, an infectious disease epidemiologist with the IDPH. Austin said the department is reluctant to estimate the risk of attending school — each community is different — but emphasized that students and staff should wear masks and keep socially distant when together.

“We need a little more time to be able to evaluate these outbreaks,” Austin said. “It is certainly happening; that’s why schools need to take the precautions they can take.”

In Illinois, students and staff at about 25% of school districts are operating exclusively in person, and nearly 70% are spending at least some of the week in person. A total of about 685,000 students attend school in these districts. Some of the state’s largest school districts — including Chicago and U-46 in Elgin — are operating entirely remotely for now.

Many school districts gave parents a choice between in-person classes and e-learning but allow them to switch only during school breaks, including at the end of a grading period. For both parents and school officials, it would be helpful to know more about virus transmissions at schools, one parent advocate said.

“Parents are in the dark about infection rates. How can we make an informed decision about whether or not to send our kids back to school when we don’t know how it is actually going at the schools that have returned to in-person school?” said Mary Fahey Hughes, a parent liaison for Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education, a parent group that advocates for public education.

Michigan provides weekly updates on outbreaks in schools throughout the state, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration recently ordered schools to notify the public within 24 hours of any confirmed student and staff coronavirus cases. The push for transparency came from the Michigan Association of Superintendents & Administrators, among other groups, after inconsistent reporting by schools.

“The only way to get through the pandemic is using transparency,” said Peter Spadafore, deputy executive director of the Michigan superintendents group. By publishing statewide figures, school leaders “can begin to understand what measures were successful in mitigation and stopping outbreaks.”

“When we talk about returning to school in person … we then have a lot of data to understand what works and what doesn’t,” Spadafore said.

Emily Oster, a Brown University economics professor, has been working with school administrators across the country to create a national dashboard to track the virus’s spread. Participation in the dashboard is voluntary; about 115 Illinois schools are included so far, with 0.13% of students testing positive in late September, about the same as the national rate.

“If we don’t have public accountability reporting, people don’t know what is going on. That is making it hard for them to make choices,” Oster said. “There are a lot of states and places that are hiding behind privacy, and the push I keep trying to make to people is it would be good to release this data.”

Nationally, cases among children and teens peaked in July, declined in August and then started rising again in early September, according to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Infection rates were twice as high in teens as they were in children. The CDC said that in-person learning can be safe when community transmission rates are low, but that it could increase risk in communities where transmission is high.

Illinois data suggests that many cases among teens involve outbreaks at colleges, not at K-12 schools. There were 15,464 confirmed cases among people younger than 20 between Aug. 16 and the last week of September, according to IDPH. But in roughly the same time period, the agency documented only 178 connected to K-12 schools.

Large outbreaks on university campuses in Illinois and across the country have been documented, though, contributing to case spikes in college towns.

For example, cases have surged recently among younger people in McLean County, in central Illinois. But Jessica McKnight, administrator of the county health department, noted that many of those cases were in the 18- and 19-year-old range. Illinois Wesleyan University and Illinois State University have both reopened in the county.

She also said most of the virus spread in K-12 children so far has been tied to community sports and other gatherings unrelated to school.

“We’re making it as safe as possible within the walls of the school,” McKnight said. “You have control over what happens inside the building. It’s outside the building … that may be more concerning.”

School districts have taken varied approaches to informing their communities about COVID-19 cases. While some publish real-time dashboards, others alert parents only with form letters when a positive case is discovered. Some send out periodic updates tallying the week’s cases.

North suburban New Trier Township School District 203 updates an online dashboard twice a week with the number of staff and student COVID-19 cases, as well as the number in quarantine. After starting remotely for all but select students, the high school reopened Monday with 25% of students in person at a time. As of Wednesday, there were five positive cases among students and none among staff, according to the district. Nearly 60 students and 13 employees are in quarantine, according to the dashboard.

Mike Sutton, superintendent of Highland Community Unit School District 5 in Madison County, near St. Louis, doesn’t publish a dashboard but sends families a weekly summary with a tally of the week’s confirmed COVID-19 cases. He said there have been about 25 confirmed or presumed cases in the district since the school year began.

“This has not been ideal, but we believe that’s how important it is to have kids in school,” Sutton said.

In west suburban Geneva District 304, about 5,500 students and staff members have been learning in person since Aug. 31. There have been 26 confirmed COVID-19 cases among students and school workers, though none of the cases is linked to exposure at the schools, according to district spokeswoman Laura Sprague.

“These confirmed cases are from community-based exposure rather than in our schools, which shows the health and safety precautions we put in place are working,” Sprague said.

Students and staff wear masks during the school day; families are required to complete a daily symptom screening and certify that nobody in the family has COVID-19 symptoms. District officials email families and staff whenever they learn of a positive case in the school community, Sprague said.

Olympia District 16 in McLean County publishes its own online dashboard that updates daily.

“Being transparent with numbers, cases, etc., has helped and our staff has been positive about being in person,” said Laura O’Donnell, the district’s superintendent.

County health officials said they reviewed districts’ return-to-school plans and made suggestions when necessary, and they have advised districts what to do when they have had positive cases.

In St. Clair County, in southern Illinois, school officials alert the health department when someone tests positive and they work together to trace exposure. Some school employees have taken the county’s contact tracing course to understand the process, said the health department’s executive director, Barb Hohlt.

The county, like others across the state, does not publish the number of cases tied to schools, Hohlt said.

“We will follow the lead” of the state health department, Hohlt said. “We are leaving it up to each school (to decide what to disclose about) cases in a school. We will inform parents or teachers or employees only if there is a need to know they have been involved in a case or contact.”

Statewide, there have been 307,641 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 8,878 deaths attributed to the virus as of this article.


*** Clarification, Oct. 22, 2020: This story originally said some Chicago Public Schools students will return to classes in November. The district hopes to begin in-person learning for preschool and certain special education students in the second quarter, which begins in November.

This story was originally published by ProPublica on October 21, 2020. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

Filed under: Education




Winter sports still on hold, IHSA to host pandemic Pow-Wow

The winter sports season is virtually on hold. Maybe, in another eight days, a number of high school coaches, athletes and fans will learn if they will be on the floor on November 30 playing their first games of the season. That's the news after the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors held a special virtual update session earlier today.

In a statement released by the IHSA, the Board also announced that schools who plan to begin basketball practice on November 16 should adhere to the Level 1 mitigations from the IDPH All Sports Policy until at least November 19. The high school sports association invited the representatives from Governor Pritzker’s Office, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), the Illinois Principals Association (IPA), the Illinois Association of School Administrators (IASA), the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), and representatives from "a coalition of nearly 200 school superintendents who recently contacted the Governor regarding school sports during the 2020-21 school year" for pandemic sports pow-wow.

"The Board hopes to create a dialogue and build a more collaborative relationship with all the entities involved with developing sports policy in our state as everyone tries to navigate the myriad issues caused by the pandemic," Craig Anderson, IHSA Executive Director, said in the statement. "The Board’s decision to move forward with the IHSA basketball season was not meant to be adversarial. It was rooted in a desire to receive more direct communication and data from our state partners. They hope all the groups will see the mutual benefit of increased discourse and be represented at the meeting on November 19."

Adopting a noticeably softer tone, the IHSA says they will be able to provide more direction on basketball practices and games following the meeting for their 813 member schools.

Nearly two weeks ago Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that sports, normally played from November to March, would start their season in March. The recent rise in COVID-19 cases statewide and the governor's response toward mitigating the spread of the virus thus far makes it likely that if the season did get off to a start, it would have been short-lived.

In a survey with 546 schools who responded, nearly 300 IHSA schools do not plan to start basketball on November 16, and another 212 schools remain unsure of their status leaving roughly one-third of the organization in the pool of willing to play.

At a quick glance, the major drawback to districts ignoring the governor's guidance and moving confidently forward with the IHSA plan was the inability to secure insurance coverage. According to multiple sources, insurers were not willing to to cover schools that went against the IDPH and ISBE.

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Superintendent Jeremy Darnell issued a statement highlighting the liability exposure.

"The decision was made based on both the system and individual legal liabilities as determined by the GCMS School District attorneys and insurance providers," he said in a story in The News-Gazette. "Recently, both Governor Pritzker and Dr. Carmen Ayala (State Superintendent of Schools) have clearly stated that any district that directly defies the recommendations of IDPH, as it pertains to winter sports (basketball), would knowingly be putting their districts at risk both legally and financially."

The Peoria school board voted 5-1 to postpone the season according to the Peoria Journal Star.

"It’s not me desire to take anything away from the kids," Board President Doug Shaw was quoted saying prior to the board's vote. "But it seems it would be irresponsible from my point of view (to continue with a winter schedule). It’s an unpopular decision, but it’s the way we need to go."

The foreshadows in Anderson's final comment carries a bushel of uncertainty on a number of different levels.

"The Board recognizes the difficult decisions they have placed on member schools regarding basketball," said Anderson. "With a limited number of schools set to begin their season on November 16, they believe it is prudent to adhere to IDPH guidance as they work with state officials to gain greater clarity on the metrics and mitigations required to conduct certain high school sports throughout the remainder of the 2020-21 school year."




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Recipe-of-the-week: 3 Layer Arkansas Possum Pie

The star of your next spread can be hidden away in the refrigerator for a surprise delight for your guests. It's topped with chocolate syrup and chopped pecans, and your loved ones just may vote it to be their favorite dish.

It's an Arkansas Possum Pie, made with three delicious layers and crunchy toppings for a show-stopping dessert.




Recent study suggests childhood trauma could haunt Illinois adults for life
New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed 75% of U.S. high school students said they have had at least one adverse childhood experience, or ACE.

Research has shown ACEs can alter a child's brain chemistry and produce a prolonged toxic stress response. Experiencing at least one ACE as a child is linked to having alcohol and substance use problems in adulthood, and chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.


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