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Confidential Coronavirus Outbreak Data Shows Undisclosed Incidents

COVID-19 testing site at University of Illinois Springfield.
University of Illinois Springfield
COVID-19 testing site at University of Illinois Springfield.
Credit University of Illinois Springfield

Nearly 2,600 separate outbreaks have been tracked across Illinois since March, including a worsening undisclosed outbreak at Naval Station Great Lakes. Here is the full list.

This story is republished with permission from the Midwest Center for Investivative Reporting. To see the original story, which includes a searchable database, click here.

Hannah Meisel interviews Sky Chadde about his and his colleagues' work on the project.

Newly obtained confidential statewide data shows that coronavirus outbreaks in workplaces, schools and prisons are driving Illinois’ rising cases — and many of these outbreaks have never been made public. 

Illinoissurpassed 300,000 confirmed cases this past weekend and recorded its highest daily death count since late June on Friday

The internal data — prepared by the state health department and covering four different days between July and September — was obtained by theDocumenting COVID-19 project at Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation and the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting as part of an open-records request. It gives detailed information and case counts for nearly 2,600 separate outbreaks across Illinois. 

The Illinois Department of Public Health, citing a state communicable diseases law, does not release details about where many outbreaks have occurred, limiting its disclosures to long-term care and assisted living facilities. Separately, the Illinois Department of Corrections and some counties regularly release numbers of infected inmates and prison staff. 

Public health officials issued a “warning list” last week for 28 Illinois counties at risk for coronavirus surges and blamed, in part, businesses who were "blatantly disregarding mitigation measures, people not social distancing, gathering in large groups and not using face coverings."

“Even though they are close to it, sometimes the infected don’t know that there’s a serious outbreak where they work. It’s a problem,” said Dr. Michael D. Cailas, an associate professor of occupational and environmental health sciences at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, who reviewed the confidential state data for this story. Cailas, who has mapped Chicagoland mortality data, added that many of the workplace outbreaks in Illinois are simply “not publicly known.”

In refusing to release the locations of outbreaks, the Illinois Department of Public Health said that it is bound by state and federal laws that are designed to protect the identity of those infected.

“Another consideration is the fact that people may not have become infected at the business location,” said department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold.

As part of its contract tracing efforts, the health department is compiling data on the types of facilities and locations where outbreaks are occurring and is “working to make this information available.” (The Documenting COVID-19 project and the Midwest Center have made the data available in a searchable format below.)

The data shows:


But significant outbreaks at other Illinois prisons, including Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, near Chicago; East Moline Correctional Center in Rock Island; and Robinson Correctional in Crawford, brings the prison total as of Sept. 30 to at least 3,500 cases across 36 different facilities. That’s nearly double the almost 1,800 prison figure for Illinois reported by the Marshall Project and The Associated Press.

In response to questions, the Illinois Department of Corrections said its response to the coronavirus “continues to be deliberate and aggressive,” noting that, in mid-March, it suspended visitation and placed all of its facilities in quarantine to stem the virus’s spread. 

Aside from personal protective equipment and cleaning, all state prison staff are screened and temperature checked; inmates are regularly reviewed for early release; and the department appointed a statewide infection coordinator to handle the response.

  • An outbreak at Naval Station Great Lakes naval base has been Illinois’s second-largest outbreak, accounting for 409 positive cases, which had not previously been made public. The numbers increased 126% in September making it the second largest outbreak in the state over the past month, with 228 new cases, behind the Robinson Correctional Center. 

The Department of Defense does not release the number of positive COVID-19 cases at its facilities due to “operational security,” a Great Lakes spokesman said. All active duty personnel are required to wear masks and are prohibited from activities in the local communities. The base is continuously sanitized and has also converted its drill halls into barracks in order to implement social distancing. 

  • Many of the outbreaks at meatpacking plants have been far worse than what was publicly known. In the cases of five plants that had been identified by name — Aurora Packing Co., in Kane; JBS in Beardstown; Smithfield locations in both Monmouth and St. Charles; and Rochelle Foods, which is owned by Hormel, in Ogle — the number of cases was at least double what has been reported.


The data shows outbreaks following multiple graduation, prom and birthday parties, weddings and trips. In late August, a “college party” involving “many sports teams at a local community college” in Springfield was responsible for 24 positive cases. At Quincy University, 28 students — all sports players — tested positive in late August, where it was “believed transmission happened in their living quarters,” according to the notes. 

Despite mask mandates and social distancing measures being widely encouraged throughout the summer, dozens of outbreaks in July were directly tied to lax enforcement or gatherings that flouted public health guidelines. 

Twelve cases were tied to a Quincy-based dance academy after it had a recital in neighboring Missouri “where it would be legal” and “mask enforcement did not happen.” 

A 120-person golf event at the Elks Golf Club, with an open bar and numerous spectators, resulted in 14 cases. One of the players was symptomatic. The club did not return a message left on its office phone.

Ed Kabrick Beef, a Plainville butcher shop, had two cases because “masks were not being worn” and that the “first case was symptomatic and infectious while working next to the second case.” The person who picked up the phone at Ed Kabrick said they were too busy to comment. 

Schools

Only a few weeks into the school year, the data shows that there have been cases at more than 100 elementary, middle and high schools. The largest outbreak was at Sparta Lincoln School in Randolph which has 800 students. 

According to Gabe Schwemmer, the superintendent of Sparta School District No. 140, the outbreak began in mid-September when a substitute teacher tested positive, followed by four other staff members and a student. Contact tracing by the Randolph County Health Department ultimately led to 18 positive cases, many of whom were family members of those infected.

On Sept. 14, the school closed for two weeks. Typically, schools in the district close when there are at least three active cases. Sparta Lincoln has since reopened, with temperature checks, a handwashing schedule and a mask mandate, among other measures.

Prisons and jails

One of the most alarming reports in the statewide data was about the Jacksonville Correctional Center, which has had at least 241 cases among its inmates, guards and staff. 

Field notes from the Morgan County Health Department show that of the nine corrections department employees who initially tested positive, seven were linked to a retirement party in late July and all of those infected employees had been regularly going into work.

At some point early in the outbreak, the notes indicate that the prison and health department disagreed on whether to test inmates.

“At this time DOC does not want to test inmates,”  the notes read. “It has been recommended by the health department that all staff and inmates be tested due to exposure risk.”

Morgan County Health Department Administrator Dale Bainter said Jacksonville prison testing was ultimately “done internally through the state” and the department  “assisted in any way we could.” 

In response, the Department of Corrections said the prison, which has dormitory-style housing, posed “unique challenges,” namely its minimal isolation space and security concerns. 

“As such, we continue to diligently strategize with Illinois Department of Public Health officials and infectious disease consultants to control and mitigate the spread of the virus within IDOC facilities,” the department said in a statement.

Meatpacking plants

In April, the Warren County Health Department disclosed that three of Smithfield’s 1,700 employees at its Monmouth plant tested positive. No other figure was publicly disclosed, but the state data shows the plant has had 188 confirmed COVID-19 cases and seven probable cases.

That makes it the second-worst meatpacking plant outbreak in the state, behind Tyson’s plant in Joslin at 202 cases. The extent of the Tyson outbreak has already been reported.

The virus’s peak at the Smithfield plant was from May to mid-June, according to Warren County health director Jenna Link. The plant struggled to obtain masks in March and April, but conditions at the plant improved once the company secured masks and began to separate workers on the production line, Link said.

Smithfield has struggled with large outbreaks at several of its plants in Nebraska, Missouri and Wisconsin. Last month, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for “failing to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that can cause death or serious harm” at its Sioux Falls, S. D., plant, where at least 1,294 employees tested positive for the coronavirus and four died. The company took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times defending its practices and accusing critics of “perpetuating a false narrative.”

In a statement to the Midwest Center, Smithfield said less than 1% of all of its employees had contracted COVID-19, thanks to its safety measures.

“For our part, we have incurred incremental expenses related to COVID-19 totaling over $500 million to date to protect our employees and keep America fed,” the statement read.” We have done everything we can, as fast as we can.”

In Rochelle, the Ogle County Health Department ordered the Hormel plant to close in mid-April because it wasn’t following the department’s plan to contain the outbreak, according to TV station WREX. About 30 cases were identified publicly.

But, after the plant tested all its workers in May, the numbers increased rapidly and about 120 workers tested positive, according to a company statement. 

Since then, the company has installed barriers, required masks and is randomly testing employees daily, according to the statement. As of Sept. 30, 137 Rochelle workers have tested positive. 

“We have been proactive in communicating often to (our workforce) ensuring that they know that it is okay, and encouraged, to stay at home when feeling unwell,” a Rochelle spokesperson said.

In Beardstown, the JBS plant has had a total of 125 cases as of Sept. 30. The plant only had two active cases as of Tuesday, spokesman Cameron Bruett said. 

“Our random, routine surveillance testing of asymptomatic team members ensures our preventive measures remain effective as the pandemic continues,” he said in a statement.

Also included in the records are meatpacking facilities that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted in two weekly summaries but were not identified publicly. 

These are mostly smaller plants with dozens of COVID-19 cases, such as Pork King Packing in McHenry (45 cases), Stampede Meat in Chicago (38 cases) and OSI Ashland, also in Chicago (21 cases). The companies did not return requests for comment.

Copyright 2021 NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS. To see more, visit NPR Illinois | 91.9 UIS.

Sky Chadde
Georgia Gee
Derek Kravitz