April 5, 2020 Update from the Mayor

Hope you all had a nice weekend. First, the local COVID news. Hickory Hills now has 17 confirmed cases. All municipal counts are likely higher since testing is still rolling out so slowly. A few have asked that I again include the Cook County Department of Public Health link that shows confirmed cases in each municipality.

Weekly Mayor’s Phone Conference with Mayor Lightfoot

Chief of Police Charles Hobart joined me on the weekly conference call earlier tonight. To summarize: Mayor Lightfoot reported that 500 beds are now online for COVID positive patients. She thanked the fine work of the Army Corps of Engineers, the Illinois National Guard, Illinois Emergency Management and hospital executives and personnel from the Dupage Medical Group. This is the largest facility in the country for COVID patients, even bigger than NY. She also explained that the City of Chicago, through partnership with the Oxford Group, has secured two hotels to give respite for 1st responders and health care workers.

Tomorrow will be the roll out of a marketing campaign called We’re Not Playing that features Chicago professional sports starts at an empty Soldier Field. This is to re-emphasize the need to socially distance as there remains some that need reminding.

There is no sugar coating that this week will be a very difficult week, but it also may start to provide data on the success of our collective regional Stay at Home efforts.

LOCAL EVENTS

Birthday Patrol

COVID has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done to bring back certain social gatherings like a birthday party for a child. However, Chief Hobart and our wonderful officers with the Hickory Hills Police Department would love the opportunity to surprise a child on his or her birthday with an appearance on your driveway, sirens and all. To arrange a birthday visit from an officer please e-mail Chief Hobart at chobart@hickoryhillspd.us and he will be happy work with you on a surprise birthday wish for your child.

Your Photos Needed for City Facebook Page

We invite you to post your pictures to our Facebook page. As mentioned over last few days, we are looking for family friendly photos of you doing activities that make you happy during this Stay at Home Order. We have pinned our photo contest post to the top of the Facebook page and you may add your photo to the post as a comment.

CBS Sunday Morning

Like some of you, my wife and I try not to miss the CBS Sunday Morning show. The show presents some interesting perspectives on current happenings and has great journalistic pieces on a wide variety of other topics (often inspiring). Finally, it adds some humor and a great show ending with a videographer capturing scenes from nature. I hope you enjoy the 3 links that follow. The first is a 1973 toilet paper shortage that a congressman and Johnny Carson helped inadvertently fuel. The next is Chicago area raised comedian Jim Gaffigan in quarantine with his family. Finally, the sights and sounds of the California coast in spring.

Have a great week everyone and stay safe. All of our social distancing sacrifices are the key to help end this pandemic.

Mayor Mike