COVID-19 Outbreaks Surge In Lake County Nursing Homes Again

LAKE COUNTY, IL — COVID-19 has once again made its way into nursing homes in Lake County and across the U.S. The most recent public health data shows there’s been coronavirus outbreaks in 37 nursing homes across Lake in the past months and 70 deaths.

To date, the virus has claimed the lives of 343 nursing home residents in Lake, which accounts for 62 percent of all coronavirus deaths since March in the county.

The nursing homes hardest hit by outbreaks in the past month include:

• Hillcrest Retirement Village in Round Lake Beach: 178 cases and 18 deaths
• Symphony Buffalo Grove has 99 cases and 10 deaths
• Asperion Highwood has 98 cases and 13 deaths
• Warren Barr North Shore has 94 cases and 17 deaths
• Warren Barr Lincolnshire has 56 cases and five deaths

Nationwide, nursing homes broke a new record for the number of COVID-19 cases in one week: 10,279. Community spread is to blame this time around, and with a second COVID-19 surge well underway and with no end in sight, it's looking like asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic people are to blame for affecting a population among the most vulnerable to become seriously ill to die from the virus.

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“Our health care heroes are doing everything they can to prevent it from spreading further, but this level of COVID nationwide puts serious strain on our workforce, supplies, and testing capacity," said Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living, on Tuesday. "If everybody would wear a mask and social distance to reduce the level of COVID in the community, we know we would dramatically reduce these rates in long term care facilities.”

The rate of new cases in Lake County has quadrupled in one month, said Mark Pfister, Executive Director at the Lake County Health Department. State officials are pleading with people to stay home, avoid social gatherings, plan for a virtual Thanksgiving and just celebrate with those in their household and, like many did in the spring when a stay-at-home order was in place, limit socializing.

“At the current exponential rate of new infections in Lake County, our testing and contact tracing capacity is at its limit,” said Dr. Sana Ahmed, Medical Epidemiologist for the Health Department. “Our hospitals are at risk of being overwhelmed. The virus has made its way back into long-term care facilities because infections are so rampant in the community. We need the public’s help to avoid situations where the virus can spread. That is the only way we will get this surge of cases under control.”

Tier 3 mitigations are now in effect in Illinois, which could help slow the spread, and the positivity rate has dropped a bit in recent days: from 17.1 to 16 percent between Nov. 12 and 14, according to recent public health data. Tier 3 means further restrictions on retail, personal care, health and fitness centers, hotels, manufacturing, bars and restaurants, meetings and events, recreational activities, theaters and cultural institutions. The purpose of these mitigations is to limit indoor gatherings where the virus can easily spread from person to person but still give residents some freedom a stay-at-home order did not, state officials said in the past week.

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“This virus spreads through respiratory droplets, and it is often spread by people who don’t seem sick,” said Ahmed. “The longer you spend indoors where those droplets can linger, not maintaining the minimum of 6 feet of distance, taking off your masks, the greater your risk.”
The Midwest has been particularly hard hit by this recent surge in nursing homes. Since early September, nursing homes in the Midwest saw a 200 percent increase in weekly COVID cases.

Federal guidelines enacted after a spring surge nursing led to restrictions on visitors, the closure of dining rooms and cancellation of group activities, and more screening of staff and residents for fevers and respiratory diseases.

Illinois now allows visitors to gather outdoors and during specified hours. Indoor visits are only allowed during compassionate care situations.

Parksinson said slowing the spread in the community is important not only to cut down on deaths in nursing homes, but also so residents can continue to visit with their family members.

“It’s important so we can keep our nursing homes open to visitors and our residents can see their loved ones,” Parkinson said.

As of Friday, there'd been outbreaks in the past 28 days at these Lake County nursing homes:

Alden Long Grove Rehab & Health

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 9
• Deaths: 0

Aperion Care Highwood

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 98
• Deaths: 13

Arboria of Long Grove

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 3
• Deaths: 0

Avantara

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 2
• Deaths: 0

Azira Place of Lake Zurich

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 6
• Deaths: 0

Bayside Terrace, LLC

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 6
• Deaths: 0

Brookdale- Hawthorn Lakes

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 20
• Deaths: 0

Charter Senior Living LLC

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 15
• Deaths: 0

Cottages of Fox Lake

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 2
• Deaths: 0

Elevate Care Waukegan

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 8
• Deaths: 0

Elevate Care Riverwoods

• Outbreak Reported Cases: 5
• Deaths: 0

Glenkirk West Shore CILA

Outbreak Reported Cases: 5
Deaths: 0

Hillcrest Retirement Village

Outbreak Reported Cases: 178
Deaths: 18

Kiley Development Center

Outbreak Reported Cases: 12
Deaths: 0

Lake Forest Place - Balmoral

Outbreak Reported Cases: 4
Deaths: 0
Status: Open

Lambs Farm

Outbreak Reported Cases: 15
Deaths: 0

Manor Care

Outbreak Reported Cases: 6
Deaths: 0
Status: Open

Mount St. Josephs

Outbreak Reported Cases: 2
Deaths: 0

Oak Hill Supportive Living

Outbreak Reported Cases: 6
Deaths: 0

Radford Green of Sedgebrook

Outbreak Reported Cases: 2
Deaths: 0

Rolling Hills Manor

Outbreak Reported Cases: 5
Deaths: 0

Sunrise of Barrington

Outbreak Reported Cases: 2
Deaths: 0

Sunrise of Buffalo Grove

Outbreak Reported Cases: 3
Deaths: 0

Sunrise of Gurnee

Outbreak Reported Cases: 3
Deaths: 0

Sunrise of Highland Park

Outbreak Reported Cases: 5
Deaths: 0

Symphony Buffalo Grove

Outbreak Reported Cases: 99
Deaths: 10

Symphony of Buffalo Grove

Outbreak Reported Cases: 3
Deaths: 0

The Grove at the Lake

Outbreak Reported Cases: 4
Deaths: 0

The Solana Deer Park

Outbreak Reported Cases: 8
Deaths: 1

Thrive of Lake County

Outbreak Reported Cases: 6
Deaths: 1

Victory Centre of Vernon Hills

Outbreak Reported Cases: 5
Deaths: 0

Victory Lakes Continuing Care Center

Outbreak Reported Cases: 2
Deaths: 0

Village at Victory Lakes

Outbreak Reported Cases: 2
Deaths: 0

Warren Barr Lincolnshire

Outbreak Reported Cases: 56
Deaths: 5

Warren Barr North Shore

Outbreak Reported Cases: 94
Deaths: 17

Wauconda Care

Outbreak Reported Cases: 5
Deaths: 0

Whitehall North

Outbreak Reported Cases: 51
Deaths: 5