State Reps Adam Niemerg, Blaine Wilhour and Dan Caulkins with state Sen. Darren Bailey
CHICAGO – State Senator and candidate for Governor Darren Bailey held a joint press conference Thursday with other state legislators to address Governor J.B. Pritzker's fatal mismanagement of the LaSalle Veterans Home, as revealed in an audit conducted by the state's Auditor General.
According to the report, the Illinois Department of Public Health "did not identify and respond to the seriousness" of a COVID outbreak in November 2020.
Four positive COVID-19 cases were identified at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home by Sunday, November 1, 2020. These four cases included two residents and two staff members. These four cases were reported by the IDVA Chief of Staff to the IDPH State Medical Officer and the First Assistant Deputy Governor for Health & Human Services on the afternoon of November 1, 2020. Auditors determined that although IDPH officials were informed of the increasing positive cases almost on a daily basis by the IDVA Chief of Staff, IDPH did not identify and respond to the seriousness of the outbreak. It was the IDVA Chief of Staff who ultimately had to request assistance. The Chief of Staff inquired about a site visit and about rapid tests (November 9th), and inquired about getting antibody treatments (November 11th) for LaSalle Veterans’ Home residents. From the documents reviewed, IDPH officials did not offer any advice or assistance as to how to slow the spread at the Home, offer to provide additional rapid COVID-19 tests, and were unsure of the availability of the antibody treatments for long-term care settings prior to being requested by the IDVA Chief of Staff.
During the LaSalle Veterans Home COVID outbreak in November 2020, 26 veterans living at the facility died after contracting COVID.
At the press conference this week, State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) called the lack of response by the Governor's office and the IDPH "a travesty" and "a crime." "Someone needs to be held accountable," he said.
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham) said he was "horrified" by what happened at the veterans' home. "instead of protecting our veterans and seniors in nursing homes, Governor Pritzker focused on shutting down schools, closing businesses. He used precious resources throughout this entire pandemic to chase around, test unnecessarily, contact trace unnecessarily unvulnerable teenagers while at the same time letting this veterans that had fought for us – it was ignored by this governor."
Don't buy into the political narrative the governor's office puts out. It's a failure, folks. It's a failure," said state Rep. Adam Nieberg (R-Teutopolis).
State Senator Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) joined the press conference, saying, "Since the beginning, I have been standing up for Illinoisans, and I'm not backing down. J.B. Pritzker unilaterally locked down healthy people while putting our most vulnerable at risk. He shuttered businesses and destroyed livelihoods and mental health. He failed to provide PPE and essential resources to the people who needed it most, and this tragedy is the result of his failed leadership. I continue to believe that the state should have taken a targeted approach to help ensure the safety of our most vulnerable."
The press conference is available online here:
