Community Corner
Elmhurst Nursing Home May Be Right
Lexington says state number is too high. State acknowledges its figure includes presumed cases.
ELMHURST, IL — An Elmhurst nursing home may well be right in its dispute with the state over the number of coronavirus cases in the facility. According to state figures, Lexington of Elmhurst has 33 cases, but a Lexington manager said the facility only has six confirmed cases.
"If a person has a cough, we have to turn that in. They have taken those numbers with the confirmed cases," Jonathon Earlywine, the home's service excellence manager, said in an interview Monday.
As it turned out, the state essentially agreed with Earlywine's assessment. In response to a Patch inquiry about Lexington, the state Department of Public Health said Tuesday night that the number includes not only laboratory-confirmed cases, but also those that are medically and clinically linked.
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"This means someone with known exposure to a laboratory-confirmed case and is experiencing symptoms compatible with COVID-19 meets the outbreak definition and would be reported in the case count," the statement said.
This statement also reflected comments from Gov. J.B. Pritzker during his daily coronavirus briefing a day earlier. He said nursing home residents and staff with coronavirus-like symptoms are treated as confirmed cases.
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"Formal testing has had nothing to do with whether a nursing home resident suspected to have COVID-10 can receive care for COVID-19," Pritzker said.
Coronavirus: Pritzker Explains Nursing Home Data Discrepancies
Other nursing homes also took issue with the state's numbers.
In its report Sunday, the state revealed that three residents from Lexington of Elmhurst had died from the coronavirus, a number the home does not dispute.
If the state's numbers are correct, Lexington has the fourth highest number of deaths in DuPage County. Those with the most deaths are Windsor Park Manor in Carol Stream, Chateau in Willowbrook and Harvester Place in Burr Ridge, with 11, 10 and 4 deaths, respectively.
Lexington of Elmhurst is owned by the Lombard-based Lexington Health Network, which owns 14 facilities in the Chicago area.
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