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Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said Sunday that the IDPH began preparing months ago for the potential of COVID-19 outbreaks at long-term care facilities. As the virus started infecting patients at Washington state long-term care facilities some six to eight weeks ago, Ezike said IDPH assembled its team to come up with a plan.
Measures included no in-person visitations, pre-shift assessments for workers, increased monitoring of patients and extra cleaning.
Those measures haven’t stopped the virus from killing at least 286 people associated with Illinois long-term care facilities, and infecting at least 1,860 people, according to new data released by the IDPH on Sunday.
It’s a story that’s playing out all across the nation.
“We’re really trying to be proactive,” Ezike said. “Giving everyone the support they need, working with the local health departments to make sure that the facilities are provided [personal protective equipment], because if they don’t have the appropriate PPE, it’s really hard to contain the spread.”
The IDPH also announced 1,197 new cases of COVID-19 and 33 additional deaths statewide Sunday.
Illinois has now seen 30,357 positive cases of the virus. A total of 1,290 people have died throughout the state.
Illinois has tested 143,318 people.
“Though we can never go back to how we were, and we’ll never get our loved ones back, we still must stand together and employ the ongoing, required sacrifices to end this pandemic,” Ezike said.
According to Ezike, the state has more than 1,100 long-term care facilities. She said the IDPH is working with labor unions, the nursing home industry and the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to get additional funds in order to set up COVID-19 wings at certain institutions.
The state is sending additional tests to facilities in locations that have been heavily affected by the virus.
“We knew, even before we got into having large numbers of long-term care facilities with cases, that that would be one of our hardest areas,” Ezike said. “We know that congregate settings, by definition, it’s hard to do the physical or social distancing.”
Asked Sunday about a District 214 teen who died likely died due to COVID-19 complications, Ezike said she wasn’t aware of the case. Neither IDPH nor the Cook County Department of Public Health reported any teenage deaths due to COVID-19 over the weekend.
Ezike said that while serious cases of COVID-19 are rare in young pediatric patients, older pediatric patients – closer to adulthood – can have more severe cases.
“Pediatricians that I’ve talked to, they have seen severe illness in older pediatric patients as they look more like adults than babies,” Ezike said.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday announced that Illinois has another shipment of PPE arriving Monday from China. He also advised that residents should wipe down all items purchased at grocery stores, and immediately throw away or wipe bags used to carry groceries.
Though he hasn’t required residents to wear masks outside, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has, Pritzker said he is still considering it. Pritzker started wearing a mask to his news conference in the past week.
“Everybody should be wearing a mask, in my opinion,” Pritzker said.
As of Sunday, Chicago has seen 12,533 confirmed cases of COVID-19, while the rest of Cook County has seen 8,739.
Lake County has seen 2,162 confirmed cases, DuPage 1,695, Will 1,643, Kane 605, McHenry 340, Kendall 135, DeKalb 55, Ogle 48, Whiteside 36, La Salle 28, Grundy 26, Lee 17, Bureau eight and Carroll six.
Newly reported deaths included 19 in Cook County, six in Will, three in DuPage and one each in Kane, Madison, Monroe, Sangamon and St. Clair counties.
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Ezike: IDPH 'trying to be proactive' about protecting long-term care facilities from coronavirus - DeKalb Daily Chronicle
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