Health |

Newly released state figures show jump in COVID-19 deaths at some Illinois long-term care facilities

The state released figures this weekend that showed a dramatic jump in deaths of those linked to long-term care facilities — to 625, more than double reported a week ago.

The latest figures compiled by the state showed that, as of a Friday count, at least 278 facilities had 4,298 cases of residents or workers testing positive. Illinois Department of Public Health figures from the prior week reported 186 facilities, with 286 deaths out of 1,860 cases.

As of now, a third of all Illinois deaths from the virus have been tied to long-term care facilities.

Federal, state and local officials have long said they feared nursing homes could see deadly outbreaks from the virus, which has particularly affected older, more frail residents.

Advocates and workers had also complained many homes were short-staffed, with infection-control lapses before the pandemic. Workers also have complained they lacked enough protective gear, while homes have said they’ve provided gear while doing the best they could amid an unprecedented crisis.

In the past week, as the industry pushed for more testing, Illinois officials announced greater focus on testing residents and staff to find cases earlier — both at homes with no cases and others with outbreaks — to try to catch potential spreaders earlier.

It’s unclear how much the greater testing contributed to the big jump in figures for positive cases, because the Tribune had previously found inconsistent figures reported for homes. The state cautions on its website that its data may not be as up to date as those kept by local officials.

Symphony of Joliet continues to lead the state in the number of deaths tied to a facility, with 26, according to the state data. Following, with 16 deaths each, are Glenview Terrace in Cook County, and Windsor Park Manor in DuPage County. The state reported Elevate Care North, in Chicago, has had 13 deaths, with Wauconda Care and Willowbrook’s Chateau Center Nursing and Rehabilitation each having 11 deaths.

For total cases, three of those facilities also had among the highest in the state: Windsor Park Manor (94), Symphony of Joliet (93) and Elevate Care North (74). The facility with the highest number of confirmed cases was Alden Terrace of McHenry, with 99 cases, and three deaths.

A week ago, the state listed Alden Terrace of McHenry with just four cases.

Natalie Bauer Luce, spokeswoman for Symphony Care Network, said the rates of infection partly reflect that the Joliet facility was able to access testing supplies early on through a partnership with the Will County Public Health Department and IDPH.

“That has not been the case with all nursing homes — until earlier this week, public health authorities advised long-term care facilities to cease testing once a positive case was identified due to the severe shortage of testing supplies,” Bauer Luce said.

Symphony also has been advocating for universal testing, including calling in the National Guard to help, Bauer Luce said. On Monday, Symphony announced a partnership with University of Chicago Medicine to get better access to tests, and it has begun purchasing its own testing supplies from Abbott Labs and Alverno Laboratories. Initial results showed large numbers of asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic patients testing positive, according to Symphony, enabling isolation of infected patients.

“Testing is critical because the more you test, the more positives you are going to find, allowing us to isolate COVID-negative patients from positives in order to control the transmission rates,” Bauer Luce said. “We need to be able to implement these approaches across the board at long-term living facilities, but that starts with more testing made available to the industry.”

jmahr@chicagotribune.com

poconnell@chicagotribune.com