‘Nobody knew how to handle this situation’: How COVID-19 decimated Illinois nursing homes, exposed government flaws and left families in frustrating limbo – Chicago Tribune*
Public health officials scrambled to update directives as more was learned about the virus. Gear shortages forced new rules on how to use equipment longer. And there was the sheer challenge of regularly contacting nursing homes to push advice and assess conditions.“With 200 of them (in Cook County), it gets overwhelming very quickly,” said Dr. Demian Christiansen, who heads Cook County’s Communicable Disease Prevention and Control unit.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.