By Sarah Mansur
Republicans on the Illinois House Veterans’ Affairs Committee called for a hearing last week to investigate a COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home where at least nine residents have died after testing positive for the virus.
In a letter to the House’s committee chairwoman representative, Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, the Republican House committee members asked to hold hearings to “quickly investigate how and why this most recent outbreak occurred and what steps are being taken by the JB Pritzker administration to stop the spread of COVID-19 at all state-run veterans’ homes and health care facilities.”
More than 150 positive COVID-19 cases have been reported at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home, including 82 residents as of Thursday, Nov. 12, said Illinois Department of Public Health director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. The LaSalle facility can provide care for up to 184 veterans, according to the State’s website, and the facility has 121 residents and 230 active employees.
“The increase we have seen at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home is frightening and leaves us with many unanswered questions about the failures in protocol that has caused such a widespread outbreak,” the letter reads.
Kifowit said she spoke to an Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) official Wednesday about the recent outbreak and steps being taken to address it.
“I really think that it’s simply unacceptable,” Kifowit said in a phone interview. “I did have an extensive conversation with IDVA about the contact tracing and evaluating what happened, increasing cleaning and about avenues to improve air quality. So, it was a good conversation.”
Kifowit said she is in talks with State senator Tom Cullerton, D-Villa Park, who is chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, about holding a virtual subject matter hearing on the outbreak in LaSalle. Although the Senate has procedures in place for holding hearings virtually, the House does not.
The Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy has reported more than 80 cases and one death since the beginning of the pandemic, and the Manteno Veterans’ Home has reported more than 100 cases and more than 15 deaths since the pandemic began, Ezike said at the governor’s daily news conference Thursday. According to IDVA, no residents are currently known to be COVID-19-positive at the Quincy home, 14 employees are currently positive. Manteno has one resident and 12 employees who are currently positive for COVID-19.
The Prince Home, which is separate from Manteno but on the same campus, has reported seven positive COVID-19 cases, and the Anna Veterans’ Home reported 13 positive COVID-19 cases, which includes six residents, Ezike said. There are no active cases at the Prince Home, according to IDVA, while one employee at the Anna home was positive.
Ezike said decreasing the spread of the virus in local communities surrounding veterans’ homes will ultimately help lower the rate of infection inside veterans’ homes.
“Please understand that it’s impossible to have a COVID-free veteran’s home, (or) COVID-free school in the midst of a COVID storm. And that’s what we have in our community right now,” Ezike said. “We can help protect our veterans by reducing the amount of virus that’s circulating in the communities. Health care staff, who work at the homes, they’re in the community with you. They’re buying groceries, they’re running other essential errands, and if disease transmission is just rampant, then those individuals that work in the homes can get the virus and unfortunately spread it to our heroes.”
She said an IDPH team is on site at the LaSalle home to “provide technical assistance and consultation.”
According to IDVA, the residents who tested positive are being isolated in the LaSalle facility, which has suspended all visitations since the outbreak began.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
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