Coronavirus: Pritzker Explains Nursing Home Data Discrepancies

ILLINOIS — A day after Illinois officials released much-awaited data showing the impact of the new coronavirus outbreak on the state’s nursing homes and long-term-care facilities — and after some facilities’ operators raised questions over the validity of the data — Gov. J.B. Pritzker explained how the state is tracking these cases.

Residents and workers who show coronavirus symptoms at a facility where there is a confirmed case of COVID-19 are also counted as confirmed cases despite not being tested, Pritzker said Monday.

“It’s important to note that once a nursing home has a confirmed case, we treat any additional symptomatic residents or staff as if they are a confirmed case,” Pritzker said during his daily coronavirus briefing. “Formal testing has had nothing to do with whether a nursing home resident suspected to have COVID-10 can receive care for COVID-19.”

Before Pritzker spoke, several long-term-care facility operators said their confirmed-case numbers were much lower than what the state’s data showed, and it was not immediately clear how the IDPH counted cases in these facilities.

The Illinois Department of Public Health published data Sunday showing 31 residents of the Bickford of Aurora senior living facility had the coronavirus, and six had died from the virus. Bickford Senior Living executive Alan Fairbanks confirmed the six deaths but disputed the IDPH's tally of confirmed cases. Fairbanks told Patch Monday that Aurora of Bickford has had a total of nine confirmed cases, including the six residents who died.

6 Coronavirus Deaths Linked To Aurora Senior Living Facility

A similar discrepancy unfolded at Lexington of Elmhurst. The state’s data shows the long-term-care facility had 33 coronavirus cases and three related deaths, while facility operators said only six residents had tested positive. A representative of Lexington confirmed there were three deaths at the Elmhurst facility.

Coronavirus: 3 Deaths At Elmhurst Facility

IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said officials are using two reporting systems to collect data from local health departments and hospitals about the extent of the coronavirus outbreak. The IDPH posts data from the previous day to ensure “to help preserve the integrity of the data,” which is collected hourly, Ezike said.

Ezike admitted there can be some “lag” in the reporting systems, “so the data’s as good as the data that went in.” The IDPH will update its data on nursing homes and long-term-care facilities once a week to allow officials time to ensure individuals’ privacy rights are protected during the reporting process, she said.

Pritzker and Ezike also discussed the Illinois Department of Public Health’s “two-pronged approach” to limit the spread of the coronavirus in nursing homes and long-term-care facilities.

As well as operating “under the assumption that a resident displaying symptoms of COVID-19 has COVID-19,” officials are ramping up testing at facilities that do not currently have confirmed cases to quickly identify and isolate future cases before widespread transmission, Pritzker said.

The state is “prioritizing testing at sites where infection could lead to high-severity cases, especially among black and brown communities,” Pritzker said.

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