Will County Gazette

The death of veterans from COVID at a state-run facility in 2020 was a failure of leadership by Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.), state Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) said.

Thirty-six veterans died at the LaSalle Veterans' Home during the pandemic, CBS News Chicago reported.   

"This tragedy comes down to a failure of leadership by Gov. Pritzker," Rezin said. "As a candidate, he said it’s our responsibility to defend our veterans and keep them safe. That's not something Gov. [Bruce] Rauner (R-Ill.) did. Let me say this: that's not something Gov. Pritzker did either. Since taking off as governor, he had every opportunity to improve veterans’ care at the state-run homes."

A state audit suggested that the facility was severely mismanaged during the peak of the pandemic, CBS News Chicago said.

"Although the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) … officials were informed of the increasing positive cases almost on a daily basis … IDPH did not identify and respond to the seriousness of the outbreak," an unnamed auditor said, as reported by CBS News Chicago. "All but four residents who died were positive prior to the date of the IDPH site visit."

The Illinois auditor general in 2019 recommended that the Department of Public Health should develop a policy for outbreaks at veterans' homes, Rezin said.

"By not implementing the 2019 recommendation, it proved fatal during the outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home," she said. "The three-day delay at Quincy turned into an 11-day delay at LaSalle, and IDPH still lacks such a policy today. A timely, on-site response is essential to slow the spread of an outbreak, and as this month's auditor-general report stated, IDPH did nothing to offer any assistance or advice as to how to slow the spread at the home. There's no question that residents were more protected following IDPH’s on-site visit nearly two weeks after the outbreak than before IDPH decided to show up."

Rezin said Pritzker is disengaged in fixing the mistakes that led to the deaths.

"Gov. Pritzker is not defending our veterans and keeping them safe," she said. "It's time for the governor to set aside his pride and his lack of leadership and commitment to supporting my legislation solutions, which he’s ignored for the last year. Doing nothing will only lead us down the path of another Quincy and LaSalle. Our veterans deserve more than failed leadership and shifting blame to others."