Long-term care facility outbreaks responsible for nearly half of SW MO COVID-19 deaths

Katie Kull
Springfield News-Leader
Outbreaks at nursing homes, assisted living centers and long-term care facilities are responsible for nearly half of coronavirus deaths in southwest Missouri.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that 16 residents at Springfield Villa were tested for the coronavirus. They were not probable positive cases. It also removed incorrect informmation about staff being tested. 

Outbreaks at nursing homes, assisted living centers and long-term care facilities are responsible for nearly half of coronavirus deaths in southwest Missouri. 

As of Friday, at least 33 of the 74 deaths in nine counties and Joplin were the result of such outbreaks.

Greene County was the first place to see that impact in late March after the virus killed five people who lived at an assisted living facility in Springfield. 

But in recent weeks as coronavirus infections have continued to spike in southwest Missouri, the impact has become clear for people in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. 

As of July 31, an outbreak at Joplin's Spring River Christian Village led to all of the city's 21 reported deaths, according to the Joplin Globe.

Down the road in Carthage, five residents of Carthage Health and Rehab Facility died from COVID-19, according to the Jasper County Health Department

And on Friday, the Taney County Health Department confirmed two of its area's five coronavirus-related deaths were residents of local nursing homes. At least 70 people had been infected at four local nursing homes there in recent days. 

Officials have long said that one of the major concerns with growing infection rates is the possibility that workers, visitors or residents at long-term care facilities could bring the virus in without even showing symptoms. 

Once the virus is inside the facility, the consequences are potentially dire since residents are often elderly with underlying conditions that put them at higher risk of getting critically ill. And since more than 100 residents sometimes live in one center, acute illnesses can easily fill up hospital beds and cause mass death. 

And while it's clear that several outbreaks have had fatal consequences, it's hard to pin down the true number of hospitalizations and deaths.  

Kaitlyn McConnell, a spokeswoman for CoxHealth, said the hospital's system showed just four patients had been transferred to the hospital from nursing homes as of Friday. But those numbers would not include patients who may have been admitted to another hospital first and transferred or who came from another type of facility, like assisted living.

Mercy's system does allow some tracking of those numbers, and spokeswoman Sonya Kullman said Friday just four people who had been admitted to the hospital within the last 1,000 hours were from a care facility of any type. 

But McConnell also noted that people who are under "do not resuscitate" orders may not even be transferred to the hospital if they are acutely ill and therefore wouldn't be included, either. 

"Bottom line: It’s complicated, there are many variables, and I don’t really have clear numbers to share, unfortunately," she said. 

The federal government has taken some steps to record infections and deaths in nursing homes. 

As of the week ending Sunday, July 26, there were 2,453 total coronavirus infections reported in Missouri nursing homes, according to a database from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

And during that time frame, the outbreak at Joplin's Spring River Christian Village was the largest in the southwestern part of the state, with 72 confirmed and 18 probable infections among residents and 50 confirmed and three suspected among staff. 

Other nursing homes that ran tests on residents were Springfield Villa in Springfield, which recorded 16 suspected cases among residents for the week ending July 26. 

Willard Care Center had 12 suspected infections among residents and five suspected cases in the staff, according to the database.

However, there were zero confirmed cases of COVID-19 from those places, according to an administrator at the Villas.. Administrators test everyone who displays symptoms and report those to the CDC, and that is what the CDC reports as "suspected" cases. 

The federal government's database also does not include numbers from other long-term care facilities, like assisted living places, which is why the March deaths at Morningside of Springfield East were not listed. 

Infections at other assisted living or long-term care facilities may also be part of the death totals and were not identified as such. 

After three people in their 80s died in Greene County over the past week, the health department declined to say whether any of them lived in a long-term care center. 

“We treat long-term care facilities the same way we treat public exposure notifications," a health department spokesman wrote in an email. "Exposure notifications will be made when there is an enhanced risk to the population’s health.”

Katie Kull covers local government for the News-Leader. Got a story to tell? Give her a call at 417-408-1025 or email her at kkull@news-leader.com. You can also support local journalism at News-Leader.com/subscribe.