12 residents die at Madison County nursing home during coronavirus outbreak
Twelve residents at a Madison County nursing home who had COVID-19 have died since an outbreak started there, the county said Friday.
Madison County spokeswoman Cynthia Ellis distributed a news release around 4:10 p.m. Friday about outbreaks caused by the coronavirus in three of the county’s nursing homes. The release did not identify the facilities.
Madison County and state officials could not be reached Saturday for comment.
Family members of residents at those facilities should have already been notified, according to the state. But the county was providing little clarity for the rest of the public.
At the nursing home where 12 residents have died, another 42 have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the county’s release, for a total of 54 people there affected by the respiratory disease.
Another facility has had 11 residents test positive, and at the third facility, one resident tested positive and one is considered a “case contact positive,” the release stated.
Amy Yeager, spokeswoman for the Madison County Health Department, on Friday directed the Belleville News-Democrat to the Illinois Department of Public Health website, where outbreaks at long-term care centers statewide are recorded. She pointed to the same data Saturday in an emailed response to requests for clarification.
But the state website lists two facilities for Madison County, not three, and neither of the facility’s numbers match what the county provided Friday.
Here is what the state is reporting:
- Edwardsville Care Center: 47 known or suspected COVID-19 patients and 10 deaths.
- Eden Village Care Center: Four known or suspected COVID-19 patients.
Yeager did not provide further detail Saturday in response to inquiries about the nursing homes with outbreaks in Madison County, including a direct question about whether Edwardsville Care Center is the facility where 54 people have tested positive.
A call to Edwardsville Care Center was not returned Friday. Saturday afternoon, an Edwardsville Care Center employee said the center is “not giving a statement at this time.”
Some of Madison County’s elected and appointed officials also could not be reached for comment Friday night, including Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler, Emergency Management Director Anthony Falconio and Health Department Administrator Toni Corona.
County officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment Saturday except Yeager and Falconio, who wrote in an email that his department does not have the information and deferred to the health department.
In the county news release, Corona stated that it is “absolutely vital” to remember the virus spreads easily and to continue following the governor’s stay-at-home order.
“The staff at these facilities are essential workers who also have families and still need to use essential services,” Corona stated. “When the public is not abiding by the guidelines, it not only puts that person at risk and the staff at the essential service, but also others who are there as well who may work in a hospital or long-term care facility.”
Discrepancies in state’s data
There are known discrepancies in the state’s data at dph.illinois.gov/covid19/long-term-care-facility-outbreaks-covid-19.
The Illinois Department of Public Health has said it is updating the data weekly. What is posted online will be what was submitted to the state from health departments and laboratories a day before publication. And there could be delays at the local level in reporting details about outbreaks to the state, Illinois public health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Saturday at Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s daily news briefing in Chicago.
“Given how stretched every one of the local health departments are — even at the state level, we’re completely stretched — we know that between taking care of an acute outbreak and then putting information (online), there might be a lag,” Ezike said.
Long-term care facilities should first focus on caring for patients, Ezike added, followed by reporting to local and state officials. Limited resources at local health departments also makes it difficult for them to both support nursing homes and report required data.
“People have to be patient and understand that people are caring for people,” Ezike said. “Reporting will happen, but there definitely will be a lag.”
Other local health departments have pointed out another discrepancy in the Illinois Department of Public Health data: the state is reporting higher numbers at some facilities and not reporting other facilities.
In St. Clair County, for example, where the health department provides numbers on nursing home outbreaks daily, the state is reporting 54 COVID-19 patients at Memorial Care Center in Belleville, while the health department said there were 14 as of Friday.
St. Clair County’s Four Fountains in Belleville was not initially included in the state’s data, released April 19, but was added to the website in Friday’s update. The reverse is true for a Madison County facility that was in the initial data, Stearns Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Granite City. Stearns was no longer listed on the website Friday.
A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Public Health was not available Saturday for comment.
BND reporter Kelsey Landis contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 7:54 PM.
