COVID vaccine now required for state care workers. IL urges nursing homes to do the same
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday announced that Illinois is requiring workers at state-run care facilities to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and he is urging nursing homes to do the same in response to low vaccination rates in the workforce and a more contagious version of the coronavirus spreading in Illinois.
In the metro-east, the Warren G Murray Developmental Center and Alton Mental Health Center are included in the state’s new requirement for employees to take the vaccine by Oct. 4.
“By and large, residents of these state-run facilities have done what they can do to protect themselves by getting vaccinated,” Pritzker said during a news conference. “... And yet, many of the long-term care facilities’ employees have themselves not been vaccinated.
“They run the risk of carrying the virus into work with them and then it’s the residents who are ending up seriously sick, hospitalized or worse. It’s a breach of safety. It’s fundamentally wrong. And in Illinois, it’s going to stop.”
Pritzker said the rates among nursing home workers are also “dramatically lower” than those of residents. The Illinois Department of Public Health is now publishing the rates online at dph.illinois.gov/covid19/long-term-care-facility-data.
The latest statistics from July 18 show fewer than half the workers were fully vaccinated at 20 out of 48 metro-east nursing homes, including three places where the percentage was 25% or less:
- Carlyle Healthcare Center: 24.79% of workers, compared to 88.24% of residents
- Integrity Healthcare of Smithton: 19.61% of workers, compared to 70.83% of residents
- River Crossing of Alton: 5.41% of workers, compared to 65.35% of residents
At this time, nursing homes are only required to offer the vaccine to their employees and to educate them about it. It remains up to individual employers to decide whether to make vaccination mandatory.
At least two organizations that operate local nursing homes have announced mandates for workers: the owners of Belleville’s Memorial Care Center and Glen Carbon’s Meridian Village Care Center.
Others have said they worry that a requirement to take the vaccine would turn away qualified workers who remain hesitant of it; they note the industry is struggling to find enough help.
On Wednesday, Pritzker also announced a new mandate that everyone entering long-term care facilities, even private ones, will be required to wear face masks, something many local nursing homes were already doing.
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 4:26 PM.
