Pine Acres long-term care facility back in outbreak mode with two new COVID-19 cases

DeKALB – Nearly three months to the day since Pine Acres Rehabilitation and Living Center reported its last case of COVID-19 following a harrowing outbreak that left more than a dozen dead, the facility is again reporting two new cases.

According to the DeKalb County Health Department, two cases of COVID-19 were reported at the long-term care facility Wednesday, one each in a resident and a staff member, and is considered back in outbreak mode.

Over the summer, Pine Acres battled a deadly outbreak which left 12 residents dead and amounted to 82 cases, the most cases reported by any long-term care facility in the county to date. On Aug. 17, the county health department marked the facility out of outbreak mode, since no new cases had been reported for a month.

After its first outbreak, Pine Acres recorded 26 cases in staff members and 55 in residents, along with 12 deaths, and prior to the outbreak at Willow Crest Nursing Pavilion in Sandwich was the deadliest long-term care facility outbreak in DeKalb County. Willow Crest now reports 68 cases and 15 deaths, and remains in outbreak mode after reporting its first case July 1.

COVID-19 related deaths in DeKalb County are largely linked to long-term care facilities, which account for over half of all reported deaths.

Of the 42 deaths in DeKalb County to date linked to complications from the viral respiratory disease, 27 of them were residents at long-term care facilities.

To date, there have been eight long-term care facilities in the county with COVID-19 cases, including six currently in outbreak mode.

Although not listed on the county website, the Illinois Department of Public Health lists Opportunity House as a long-term care facility and reported an outbreak of 15 cases. Prairie Crossing Living and Rehabilitation Center in Shabbona still reports three cases, Oak Crest-DeKalb Area Retirement Center in DeKalb reports 12 cases and one death, and DeKalb County Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in DeKalb reports 10 cases. Bethany Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in DeKalb reports two cases.