Illinois nears 2,000 nursing home deaths as coronavirus continues to spread

Illinois is nearing 2,000 coronavirus deaths at long-term care facilities as new, confirmed cases continue to roll in at hundreds of nursing homes impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

State totals now stand at 1,975 deaths and 13,218 confirmed cases in nursing homes, according to a count by the Chicago Sun-Times. Long-term care facilities account for 48.7% of all coronavirus deaths in Illinois, records show.

The state’s long-term care facilities reported 455 new deaths and 2,405 new cases this week, according to data released Friday by state health officials.

New deaths were reported at 180 facilities this week, and 259 homes said they had at least one new confirmed case.

A total of 86 homes have seen double-digit deaths tallies, up from 50 last week. There are now 27 facilities reporting at least 100 confirmed cases.

The Meadowbrook Manor of Bolingbrook and the Center Home for Hispanic Elderly in Humboldt Park are reporting the most coronavirus deaths of any facility in the state; both have 26. Glenview Terrace and Symphony of Joliet have 25 deaths each.

As was the case last week, Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest is reporting the most cases in the state with 268 confirmed positives and six deaths. But that facility also has no new deaths this week and only three new cases.

In some cases, however, nursing homes took deaths and cases out of their count since last week. State officials have said adjustments can be made as deaths are investigated, and there could be mix-ups as the data passes from homes reporting to their local health departments, which then report to the state.

Seven facilities reported at least one fewer death than last week, amounting to 10 deaths taken out of the total count. Another combined 65 homes took a total of 444 cases off the board.

One home, Sheltered Village in Woodstock, reported 80 fewer total cases than last week, according to state data. Administrators at that facility weren’t available to clarify the data Friday evening.

Asked about lags and changes in reported deaths at his press briefing Friday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said health officials regularly examine the data for errors or duplicates.

“Sometimes there could be a misspelled name, and maybe another report had a different name and so you would maybe count them twice and then after further review, you can see no, in fact, these are the same individuals,” Pritzker said. “So, again, there is some time that’s needed to re-look at the data to make sure that there aren’t errors.”