Sangamon Sun

issued the following announcement on Aug. 4

To help ensure transparency, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced today that COVID-19 vaccination data for both residents and staff in long-term care (LTC) facilities is now available on the IDPH website at http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/long-term-care-facility-data. Given that LTC facilities have experienced a significant portion of COVID-19 deaths, particularly early in pandemic, this resource will be critical  for tracking COVID-19 vaccinations for both staff and residents in facilities across state.

“To help keep long-term care residents as safe and healthy as possible, we want to make sure residents and their loved ones know the vaccination rates where they reside so they can make the best decision on where to live, and also advocate for increased vaccination rates,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Some of our most vulnerable residents live in long-term care facilities and in order to better protect them, COVID-19 vaccination rates in many facilities, especially among staff, need to increase.  The vaccine is the primary way to get to the other side of this pandemic. We need to continue to reduce spread of the virus by wearing a mask and getting as many residents and staff vaccinated as soon as possible.”

The new site will display an interactive map where the user can choose to view either the percentage of staff or percentage of residents who have been vaccinated.  The site will also show weekly confirmed cases, total confirmed cases, weekly COVID-19 deaths, total COVID-19 deaths, and vaccination rates.

The data is derived from the Nursing Home COVID-19 Public File, a federal resource that includes data reported by nursing homes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Healthcare Safety Network Long Term Care Facility COVID-19 Module: Surveillance Reporting Pathways and COVID-19 Vaccinations. Nursing homes are required to report vaccinations of residents and staff to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. More information about these guidelines can be found in the Vaccination Immunization Requirements memorandum.

As part of the Pritzker administration’s commitment to protecting LTC facility residents and staff, IDPH will report the most up to date information that is currently provided. While local health departments and LTC facilities continue to have the most up-to-date data, the information on the IDPH site is provisional and will be updated on a weekly basis.