Here is the latest information on area nursing homes with coronavirus outbreaks
Here are the latest numbers on nursing homes and other long-term care centers that are experiencing coronavirus outbreaks.
St. Clair County
As of Monday, April 27, this is information on known or suspected COVID-19 patients either because of a positive test result or their symptoms.
- Four Fountains in Belleville - 25 patients (an increase of one from Friday) and one death.
- Memorial Care Center in Belleville - 15 patients (an increase of one from Friday) and one death.
- BRIA of Belleville - 12 patients and one death.
- St. Paul’s Home in Belleville - Five patients (an increase of two from Friday).
- Lebanon Care Center - Four patients (an increase of one from Friday).
- Colonnade in O’Fallon - Two patients.
The St. Clair County Health Department provides updated numbers daily during 3:30 p.m. live streams by the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency on Facebook.
Monroe County
As of Monday, April 27, this is information on residents and employees at an assisted living facility who tested positive for COVID-19.
- Garden Place Columbia - 29 patients and nine deaths. (Two people are from another county so they are not included in Monroe’s countywide total.)
Madison County
As of Friday, April 24, this is information on residents at long-term care facilities who tested positive for COVID-19.
- Edwardsville Care Center - 54 patients and 12 deaths.
- Eden Village Care Center in Glen Carbon - 11 patients.
- Stearns Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Granite City - One patient tested positive and one is considered a “case contact positive.”
Amy Yeager, spokeswoman for the Madison County Health Department, said Monday that a county news release from Friday about the nursing home outbreaks did not identify the facilities because they were already identified on the Illinois Department of Public Health’s website.
On April 19, the state began recording coronavirus outbreaks at long-term care centers statewide at dph.illinois.gov/covid19/long-term-care-facility-outbreaks-covid-19. At the time, it listed two COVID-19 patients and one death at Edwardsville Care Center; and one COVID-19 patient at Stearns Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
And Madison County’s release was distributed around 4:10 p.m. Friday because the health department was waiting for the state to publish its weekly update of the data online, according to Yeager. But that update included only Edwardsville Care Center and Eden Village Care Center, and the state’s numbers for those facilities did not match what the county provided Friday.
Yeager said the health department did not realize Friday that Stearns was no longer listed, and she does not know why it was removed from the Illinois Department of Public Health data.
Because there have been large discrepancies between the state’s data and what local health department’s report, the Belleville News-Democrat sought confirmation of the names of each facility from the health department. In St. Clair County, for example, the state has been recording 54 COVID-19 patients at Memorial Care Center, but as of Monday, the health department says there are 15 patients.
Yeager confirmed the names on Monday. She said the public will continue to get updates from the health department and through the state’s website.
There is a lag in the state’s data. It will be updated once a week. Because the data is changing hourly, the numbers displayed online are what was submitted to the state by 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.
“Reporting numbers is not the most important function and can wait while the facility and public health focus on resident safety and care,” the Illinois Department of Public Health states on its website.
Families of residents at the facilities should have already been notified, according to the state.
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 8:20 PM.
