While Illinoisans mark Memorial Day, the administration of Gov. J.B. Pritzker has failed to fully explain how 36 state veterans died from COVID-19 in 2020. If the Democratic governor has a weakness for reelection, it is in the coronavirus massacre at the LaSalle Veterans Home.
That is unless one counts the failure of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to ensure adequate care for those the agency is supposed to protect. This is the same agency whose director, chosen by the governor, has been held in contempt of court nine times in the past year.
More Top Picks Best Silk Sleep Masks For Sensitive Eyes
But it is the deaths in the home operated by the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs that troubles veterans. A report issued early this month blasted the Pritzker administration’s response to the high infection rate that took the lives of the veterans.
They certainly didn’t expect to die of a virus when they checked into the facility in LaSalle County. Maybe old age, heart disease, cancer, but not a coronavirus.
COVID-19 took their lives and, according to the state auditor general’s report, blame falls squarely on state officials and agencies for failing to “identify and respond to the seriousness of the outbreak.” Thank you for your service.
Relatives of the veterans have filed lawsuits against the state alleging coronavirus-related illnesses killed their loved ones, and their deaths could have been avoided. If successful, Illinois taxpayers will pay the tab for millions in damages in the negligence suits.
Staff at the home didn’t wear masks, Chicago attorney Steven Levin said in one interview. “They had no hand sanitizers, they didn’t even have morphine ordered by a doctor to mitigate the painful death many of our clients suffered,” he said.
Levin said the audit offers proof of “the state’s extreme negligence” in what was “a preventable tragedy.” Hopefully, other state institutions aren’t the same under Pritzker’s watch.
According to Auditor General Frank Mautino’s review, recently covered in detail by baiduhai staffer Rick Pearson, state health department officials didn’t show up at the home until 11 days after the outbreak began on Nov. 1, 2020. This, despite IDPH leaders receiving near-daily updates on the situation at the facility.
The report isn’t the first probe of failures at the home alleging the deaths of the veterans by poor coronavirus care. A state inspector general’s 50-page report from last year also pointed to management failures at both the state VA and the home.
The IG investigation noted a significant factor in the veterans’ deaths was an “absence of any standard operating procedures in the event of a COVID-19 outbreak.” In the contentious 2018 gubernatorial campaign, Pritzker sent Bruce Rauner to the political graveyard, slamming the Republican administration’s botched response to 14 deaths from an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease at the state’s Downstate Quincy Veterans Home. One fails to see the difference between Rauner’s and Pritzker’s leadership when it comes to the treatment of veterans in state facilities.
Following the coronavirus breakout, officials at the state VA and the home either resigned or were fired by Pritzker. As we are in a political year, the governor has pointed to Republicans from the LaSalle-Peru area, “who told people to defy mitigation efforts.”
“Republicans told them that they need not wear masks,” he said. “They told people that they didn’t need to get vaccinated. They told people that COVID wasn’t serious.”
Still, the auditor’s report noted that of the 710 long-term care facilities in Illinois, the LaSalle veterans facility was the only one that had more than 100 cases of COVID-19. All but four others had 50 or fewer cases, if any at all.
The audit reiterated earlier findings in the inspector general’s report which found insufficient staff and visitor screening, lack of timely testing results, the use of a non-alcohol based hand sanitizer and improper usage of protective gear.
The governor may want to play the blame game, but he owns what happened during the pandemic to 36 Illinois veterans. After serving their country and state in uniform, they deserved better. Much better.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
Twitter: @sellenews