Chicago nursing homes had 22 COVID-19 infections among the fully vaccinated, making ‘breakthrough’ infections rare, CDC report says

Across 78 Chicago skilled nursing facilities, 22 people tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated, suggesting that such “breakthrough” infections are relatively rare, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of the 22 people who tested positive as of the end of March, 12 were residents and 10 were staff. Nearly two-thirds of those people had no symptoms, two had to be hospitalized because of COVID-19 and one died because of multiple other infections.

In all, at least 14,765 skilled nursing facility residents and staff in Chicago had received two vaccine doses as of the end of March.

Nursing home staff and residents were among the first people to receive COVID-19 vaccines, starting in December, as part of a federal partnership with Walgreens and CVS Health.

“The results in this report highlight the importance of COVID-19 vaccination in high-risk congregate settings such as SNFs (skilled nursing facilities); most fully vaccinated persons were not infected, did not have COVID-19–like symptoms, and did not have severe illness,” the report said.

Across the nursing homes, a total of 627 staff and residents tested positive for COVID-19, but most of those people were not fully vaccinated. Of the group, 447 people hadn’t received any vaccine; 145 had received only first doses of the vaccine; 13 had received both doses but two weeks had not yet passed since their second doses; and 22 tested positive despite at least two weeks having passed since their second doses. Two weeks must pass after a person’s second dose for the person to be considered fully vaccinated.

Data in the CDC report came from a Chicago Department of Public Health investigation into the number of people at nursing homes who tested positive for COVID-19 after being fully vaccinated.

Statewide, 581 fully vaccinated people had tested positive for the virus more than two weeks after their last dose, as of April 7. Those cases led to 21 hospitalizations and 12 deaths, according to the state health department.

lschencker@chicagotribune.com

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