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During a news conference Tuesday, House Republicans said it is a
tragedy that 76 veterans have died in state-run homes since the
pandemic began. They also said Gov. J.B. Pritzker's
administration must be held accountable.
“How could the governor and his team have allowed this to
happen, knowing that our veterans were at risk prior to this
pandemic?” said state Rep. David Welter, R-Morris. “The question
will continue to haunt the families of the heroes that we lost
at the LaSalle home and our other veterans homes across the
state.”
An Inspector General report showed repeated failures to follow
COVID-19 guidelines at the Lasalle Veterans Home where 36
residents died. Records indicate it took 12 days for an Illinois
Department of Public Health official to conduct an onsite
investigation of the outbreak.
“Our veterans deserve better, they have a right to be cared for
and protected, just as they historically cared for us and
protected us,” said state Rep. Paul Jacobs, R-Pomona. “The
administration needs to get this mess straightened out.”
Illinois’ Public Health Director and Pritzker’s deputy in charge
of health care recently stated they were misled by top state
veterans affairs officials when told COVID-19 procedures were
being followed that could have slowed or prevented the deadliest
outbreak, at the LaSalle Veterans Home in November. Thirty-six
veterans there have died since the pandemic began.
“We believed the home was following all the recommended
protocols and that the appropriate steps were being taken to
address the cases," IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike told an
Illinois House hearing on an inspector general’s report on the
outbreak.
Some relatives of the veterans who died in the COVID-19 outbreak
have filed lawsuits against the state as a result of the
report’s findings.
The governor has put the blame on former Illinois Department of
Veteran’s Affairs director Linda Chapa LaVia, who he said he
hired because she was an integral part of the investigation into
the Legionnaire disease outbreak at the Quincy Veterans Home
several years ago. She resigned shortly after the news of the
outbreak came to light.
“Each veteran stepped up to the call to protect their fellow
Americans,” said Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Springfield. “It is deeply
troubling when we failed to protect them as they thought to
protect us.”
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