Senate Republican Deputy Leader Sue Rezin (R-Morris) releases the following statement on the Interagency Infection Prevention Project March 9 report, which echoes her position that Illinois’ state-run veterans homes lack standardized infection prevention policies despite previous audits suggesting their implementation.
“The findings of the Interagency Infection Prevention Project reiterates the sad reality that the Pritzker Administration’s ignored and overlooked the Illinois Auditor General’s audit of the Quincy Veterans’ Home Legionaries’ disease outbreak that was presented to the Administration in May of 2019.
“If the audit’s key recommendations would have been implemented when they were first released in May 2019, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Governor’s Administration would not have waited 12 days to conduct an on-site visit at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home, which led to the deadliest outbreak at a state-run facility in Illinois history. We could have prevented this tragedy and saved lives at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home if this Administration had been on-site within three days at the beginning of the November COVID-19 outbreak to ensure that CDC guidelines had been properly implemented and enforced.
“This report reinforces the fact that the Illinois General Assembly must take action in order to ensure that these critical recommendations are finally implemented.”