130 deaths related to coronavirus outbreaks at southwestern Illinois care centers to date
To date, coronavirus inside southwestern Illinois residential care facilities has resulted in at least 130 deaths, according to the latest state and local data.
The Illinois Department of Public Health and the St. Clair County Health Department each released updates Friday on the number of people affected by the outbreaks.
Deaths were reported in 13 of the 31 facilities with outbreaks and account for 72% of the coronavirus-related deaths in those counties.
Illinois and St. Clair County are reporting 23 more deaths since last week, when the data was last updated at the state and local level.
Both state and local agencies say they include residents and employees of the facilities in their data on outbreaks.
The St. Clair County Health Department notes that the numbers it reports out of residential facilities also include people who have tested positive and people who have symptoms related to the COVID-19 respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. The Illinois Department of Public Health says its data includes “laboratory confirmed cases only.”
The St. Clair County Health Department provides daily updates on the coronavirus outbreaks and other developments in the county during 3:30 p.m. live streams by the St. Clair County Emergency Management Agency on Facebook.
Here is the information the health department provided Friday on the number of people known or suspected to have COVID-19. Four Fountains in Belleville reports only positive test results since it is offering widespread testing:
- 156-bed facility Four Fountains in Belleville — 104 people, including 23 deaths (No change reported since May 27)
- 90-bed facility Lebanon Care Center — 53 people, including 10 deaths (One more person than what was reported Thursday)
- 82-bed facility Memorial Care Center in Belleville — 43 people, including five deaths (No change reported since April 29)
- 108-bed facility St. Paul’s Home in Belleville — 40 people, including 11 deaths (Three more people than what was reported Wednesday)
- 53-bed facility New Athens Home for the Aged — 39 people, including three deaths (One more person than what was reported Thursday)
- 140-bed facility BRIA of Belleville — 24 people, including three deaths (No change reported since May 26)
- 94-bed facility Swansea Rehab and Care Center — 11 people (Two more people than what was reported Thursday)
- Cedarhurst of Shiloh — 11 people (No change reported since May 24)
- Caritas Family Solutions in Belleville region — 11 people (No change reported since May 21)
- Knollwood Retirement Center in Caseyville — Eight people, including one death (No change reported since May 25)
- 133-bed facility BRIA of Cahokia — Eight people (No change reported since May 11)
- Help at Home in O’Fallon — Five people (No change reported since May 4)
- 116-bed facility Cedar Ridge of Lebanon — Four people (No change reported since Thursday)
- Colonnade Senior Living in O’Fallon — Four people (No change reported since May 20)
- TDL Inc. in Belleville — Four people (No change reported since May 6)
- Caseyville Nursing and Rehab — Three people (No change reported since Thursday)
- Help at Home in Belleville — Two people (No change reported since May 23)
The state’s updates on outbreaks come once a week at dph.illinois.gov/covid19/long-term-care-facility-outbreaks-covid-19.
This is the information from the state’s latest update on the number of people known to have COVID-19 at facilities elsewhere in the metro-east:
- 120-bed facility Edwardsville Care Center — 93 people, including 22 deaths (Two more deaths than what was reported May 22)
- 109-bed facility Carlyle HealthCare Center — 85 people, including 15 deaths (Three more people than what was reported May 22)
- 128-bed facility Eden Village Care Center in Glen Carbon — 60 people, including 18 deaths (11 more people than what was reported May 22)
- Warren G Murray Developmental Center — 59 people (11 more people than what was reported May 15. The Murray Center was not included in the state’s May 22 update.)
- Garden Place Columbia — 39 people, including 11 deaths (No change reported since May 15. Garden Place was not included in the state’s May 22 update.)
- Clinton Manor Living Facility in Clinton County — 29 people, including one death (Seven more people and one more death than what was reported May 22)
- 137-bed facility Riverside Rehab and Healthcare in Alton — 28 people, including seven deaths (Seven more people and three more deaths than what was reported May 22)
- Cedarhurst of Highland — Four people (One more person than what was reported May 22)
- Cedarhurst of Bethalto — Four people (One more person than what was reported May 22)
- Heritage Health in Macoupin County — Four people (No change reported since May 15. Heritage Health was not included in the state’s May 22 update.)
- 144-bed facility Oak Hill in Waterloo — Three people (No change reported since May 1)
- Sunset Skilled Nursing & Rehab in Macoupin County — Two people (No change reported since May 22)
- Cedarhurst of Sparta — Two people (No change reported since May 1)
- 75-bed facility Coulterville Rehabilitation & Health Care Center — Two people (No change reported since May 1) Whitney Oberlink, administrator of the Coulterville Rehabilitation and Health Care Center, said previously that the two people affected by COVID-19 there were both employees and that they have each recovered from the disease.
The website medicare.gov records the number of beds for Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes.
Discrepancies in the data
Lower numbers are expected to come from the state than local health departments, which have more up-to-date information.
But each week since May 8, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s website has included slightly higher numbers for BRIA of Cahokia than what the St. Clair County Health Department reported on Fridays.
The last time the health department reported a change in the numbers at BRIA of Cahokia was May 11.
This week, the state is reporting seven more cases and one more death at BRIA of Cahokia than the health department did. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear Friday. The health department couldn’t be reached to explain the discrepancy.
Because local health departments and individual facilities have previously said the state’s data was off, the Belleville News-Democrat did not include the higher numbers for BRIA of Cahokia in calculating the total deaths for the region.
When the state first released data on April 19, for example, it recorded 54 people tested positive or had symptoms at Memorial Care Center in Belleville, while the center itself said there were 13 people at the time. And 54 is still a higher number than Memorial Care Center is reporting today.
This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 5:34 PM.
