Handwashing, PPE errors continued into pandemic

The following table shows the hygiene and safety errors that persisted in metro-east nursing homes in inspections since 2017, according to government regulators. Local workers were cited most often over hand-washing and personal protective equipment regulations they are expected to follow to protect residents from disease, inspection reports show.

Nursing homes are listed based on how often regulators cited them for the same error. "2x" and "3x" means regulators cited the nursing home two or three times within that time period.

The Belleville News-Democrat considered the start of the coronavirus pandemic in nursing homes to be the start of visitor restrictions in early March 2020. State inspectors focused their nursing home inspections on "infection prevention and control deficiencies" like those included in this table through March 2021 in the metro-east. The focused inspections continued in 2021 but less frequently, only when nursing homes met certain criteria for inspection.
Table: Lexi Cortes Source: State and federal nursing home inspection reports