State announces another 45 deaths as nursing home cases continue to increase
Another 45 people have died of the coronavirus in Illinois, state health officials announced Saturday.
Illinois has avoided a spike in COVID-19 cases mirroring that of states such as Florida and Arizona, but the new deaths bring Illinois’ pandemic death toll to 6,625.
The state has typically seen much lower announced totals on weekends due to some hospitals not reporting deaths, but Saturday’s 45 deaths are actually one more than the 44 announced Friday and also dwarf the mere 19 announced last Saturday.
The Illinois Department of Public Health said an additional 634 people tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total case count to 136,104. Those positive cases were found among 25,965 new tests processed.
Many indicators remain encouraging, though, as 94% of Illinoisans who have contracted the virus have since recovered.
And the positivity rate on tests conducted over the past week is just 3%, which keeps every region of the state on track to enter Phase 4 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reopening plan on June 26.
The number of COVID-19 patients occupying ICU beds and on ventilators at hospitals across the state has also decreased significantly over the past week. As of Friday, 454 patients occupied ICU beds and 274 were on ventilators.
Nursing home cases, deaths rising
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities continue to represent a large portion of the pandemic’s impact on Illinois, according to statistics released by the state Friday.
A total of 3,649 Illinois nursing home residents and staff have died of COVID-19, making up 55% of the state total, and 21,476 residents and staff have tested positive, making up 16% of the state total.
Over the past week, 165 nursing home residents and staff died — representing 49% of the state’s coronavirus deaths over that time period — and 718 have tested positive, representing 17% of the state’s newly confirmed cases.
Four long-term care facilities have experienced major outbreaks with 30 or more new cases over the past week: West Suburban Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in DuPage County, Tower Hill Healthcare Center in Kane County, Grosse Pointe Manor in Cook County and Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Lake County.
Meanwhile, five nursing homes have suffered five or more deaths over the past week: Grosse Pointe Manor; Symphony at 87th; Birchwood Plaza Nursing-Rehab and Lee Manor Rehab and Nursing in Cook County; and Cedar Ridge Health and Rehab Center in St. Clair County.