CHICAGO — Gov. J.B. Pritzker said a “strike team” has been formed by the Illinois Department of Public Health to make sure long-term care facilities are following proper COVID-19 guidelines.
The strike teams have evolved to include infectious disease experts from University of Illinois-Chicago and Project Hope.
Local strike teams can be deployed, as well, in which cases IDPH will stand down.
A single positive case at a facility, he said, activates a need for all residents to wear a mask and all workers to wear formal PPE.
Once a nursing home has a confirmed case, any symptomatic resident or staff member of that home automatically gets tested as though they are confirmed to have COVID-19.
“Formal testing has had nothing to do with whether a nursing home resident suspected to have COVID-19 can receive care for COVID-19,” he said.
Long-term care facility staff are considered healthcare workers are able to access drive-thru testing.
Pritzker said the state is now more aggressively able to deploy testing at long-term care facilities, using a two-pronged approach.
For facilities without COVID-19 outbreaks, the state is working to test all staff and residents, with a priority on long-term care facilities home to populations in which a coronavirus infection is more likely to lead to cases higher in severity.
Black and brown communities, he said, were high on that list.
In facilities where there are known cases, the state continues to operate under the assumption any resident with symptoms of the virus has the virus, and should be isolated.
He said protocol with staff has changed at those facilities.
Whereas in previous weeks, the state has advised staff be given pre-shift wellness checks, including getting temperature taken, testing will be ramped up on all staff at those facilities.
That will allow the state to determine which staff members coming out of a symptomatic home and should be placed into isolation, even if the staff shows no symptoms.
Pritzker said to date, most facilities have been cooperative with IDPH guidelines.
“That said, we will not hesitate to hold any bad actors at the management level accountable,” he said.
“These private facilities are home to some of our most vulnerable Illinoisans, and we expect owners and managers responsible for their care to take every action at their disposable to keep them safe.”
The IDPH announced 1,151 new cases throughout the state, raising the total 31,058. 59 additional deaths were announced, raising the death toll to 1,349 in 95 counties.
IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike said education and stakeholder engagement, a partnership with long-term care facilities, is underway.
She said IDPH has been providing long-term care facilities with weekly webinars and twice-weekly conference calls for educational purposes.
