Burr Ridge Coronavirus: Mayor Contradicts Nursing Home

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso says the village has no reported cases of the coronavirus, but a Burr Ridge nursing home reports otherwise. Grasso is not backing off, prompting one trustee to say the mayor is spreading lies.

In a letter to residents and families last Wednesday, Brookdale Senior Living reported that it had confirmed that one of its residents who had gone to the hospital five days earlier had tested positive for the coronavirus. The resident was still in the hospital, the letter said.

In an email listed as confidential, Grasso told the village board Thursday the news about the Brookdale resident testing positive while at the hospital for another reason. "We have been asked to keep this update confidential for now. Pls do so," Grasso told the trustees.

Trustee Zach Mottl released the email to Burr Ridge Patch. He said it was wrong to keep such information from the public, especially when the village had promised to be open about the spread of the coronavirus.

Tuesday afternoon, Grasso said the person at Brookdale was a former resident. In his public daily bulletin about the virus, which appeared after the Patch posted its story about the confidential email, Grasso repeated the contention that there had been no reported cases of the coronavirus in Burr Ridge.

In the bulletin, Grasso noted the situation at Brookdale, again calling the person a former resident. "I've been told that he is doing fine and has not returned to Brookdale. I called the Brookdale director and she informed me there are no reported cases there," the mayor said.

When given a copy of the Brookdale letter Tuesday night, Grasso texted Patch, "Are you claiming there is one positive there now? That's not my information."

Grasso said it was a case of a Brookdale resident taken to the hospital for reasons other than the coronavirus and later testing positive there. He suggested the person could have been infected at the unidentified hospital.

Grasso said the person has not returned to Brookdale and no one else has been reported as showing symptoms at the home. He told Patch he had updated the trustees on the Brookdale situation.

In a text message to Patch on Tuesday, Mottl noted the Brookdale letter was 6 days old.

"The board is not getting any timely or truthful updates from Grasso, despite what he told Patch," Mottl said. "Rather than spreading lies and false hope, the mayor needed to underscore why we must take this seriously and be vigilant to protect ourselves and to limit the spread. The lies and cover-up by Grasso and village staff is very disturbing. It's a violation of the public trust."

Grasso defeated Mottl in last April's mayoral election. They have disagreed over a number of issues.

Just outside Burr Ridge's boundaries is the Chateau nursing home in Willowbrook, where 46 cases of coronavirus and one death have been reported. Brookdale is less than three-quarters of a mile away.

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