Dupage Policy Journal

Black and Hispanic residents of Illinois-based nursing homes died from COVID-19 by 40% more than other residents, based on a report from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. 

The report in the State Journal-Register attributed the high death rate to the greater likelihood of blacks and Hispanics having to share rooms with two or three other residents. Deaths as a result of overcrowding are generally viewed as "preventable." 

"Yesterday, Chairwoman Moeller and I held the first joint hearing on the state of nursing homes in Illinois,"  Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park) said in an April 29 Facebook post. "We must do better."

Awareness of racial statistics is currently being spread among government officials. 

The racial statistics were shown to two Illinois House committees on April 28 by representatives of the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. This was the first analysis of how racial disparities in nursing homes impacted coronavirus fatalities during the first phase of the pandemic from March to July 2020. The report also stated that blacks and Hispanics were more likely to reside in an understaffed nursing home.

These disparities in treatment in nursing homes also applied to Medicaid patients generally, adding another variable. A suggested solution to these problems is to provide incentives for Illinois nursing homes to move away from multi-patient rooms. Others have called for an increase in Medicaid rates to deal with understaffing at nursing homes.