Residents at long-term care facilities were particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Vaccination rates among staff and residents vary statewide. Not all nursing home residents and staff are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations.
An investigation by ABC7 reveals that staffing shortages also continue to impact services at long-term care facilities.
During the height of the pandemic, state law required health care workers to be vaccinated or submit to regular testing.
Racial disparities in COVID-19 related deaths
Black and Brown Illinoisans in long-term care facilities died of COVID-19 at comparatively higher rates compared to white Illinoisans in the first few months of the pandemic, according to a study from the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
NPR Illinois reported that the department’s analysis found Black and Latino Medicaid residents were 40% more likely to die of COVID during the first few months of the pandemic compared to white Medicaid residents.
Prevention efforts try to reduce cases and deaths at long-term care facilities
Early in the pandemic, the Illinois Department of Public Health issued guidance for the state’s long-term care facilities to reduce deaths. Those measures included restricting visitors, canceling group activities and screening staff and residents for signs of the virus. Weekly COVID-19 infection and prevention sessions for facility administrators and staff began on March 9, 2020.
The first case of COVID-19 in an Illinois long-term care facility was diagnosed on March 11, 2020. State officials report it was followed by a large outbreak. The finding was published in June 2020.
As a result, the state’s health department focused on increasing testing capacity, providing personal protective equipment, and working with long-term care facilities and local health departments to reduce cases and deaths. Cases and deaths peaked in May 2020. By summer 2020, the number of cases began to decrease.
Then a second wave of COVID-19 cases hit Illinois in the fall of 2020 before vaccinations became available in December 2020. During that time period in the pandemic in Illinois, 46% of all deaths from COVID-19 had occurred in long-term care facilities.
Audit finds issues associated with veterans home outbreak
According to Capitol News Illinois, the state’s auditor general found fault with the Illinois Department of Public Health in its response to a deadly COVID-19 outbreak at a state-run veterans home.
A November 2020 COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home resulted in 36 resident deaths.
Among the dead, a Seneca man. His family filed a lawsuit over the death at the home.
The Illinois Department of Public Health found that increases in COVID-19 cases in the long-term care facilities were directly related to the amount of virus circulating in the community, but state health officials noted cases during the 2nd wave in November/December 2020 did not result in a proportionate increase in cases, credited to preventative measures.
Case counts are creeping up again. In late May 2022, The CDC reported that 15 Illinois counties are now rated at High Community Level
for COVID-19, an area that includes Chicago, Cook County and surrounding counties in northeastern Illinois as well as counties around Peoria.
The counties listed at High Community Level are Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Will, Grundy, Boone, Lee and Winnebago in Northern Illinois and Fulton, Knox, Henderson, Mason, Peoria and Tazewell in Central Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 36,843 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 45 deaths since May 20, 2022.
At the Medium Community Level, persons who are elderly or immunocompromised (at risk of severe outcomes) are advised to wear a mask in indoor public places and receive COVID-19 vaccines or get their 2nd booster, if eligible.