Prairie State Wire

Bipartisan calls have been made for an investigation into the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home in LaSalle that claimed 36 lives.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker told the media that there is already an ongoing investigation of the facility and how the staff handled the outbreak. But both Republicans and Democrats are calling for a separate investigation.

According to The Center Square, the outbreak was reported Nov. 1, 2020, and it immediately spread throughout the facility, infecting almost everyone.

Last Monday, two Republican lawmakers unveiled legislation that aimed to be more aggressive in dealing with an outbreak in a veterans home.

According to the McDonough Voice, one of the lawmakers, Sen. Sue Rezin, defined the parameters of the bill. She said that if two or more staff members or residents of a veterans home contract an infectious disease within 48 hours of each other, the state must declare it an outbreak immediately and implement necessary steps to curb the infection.

Rezin criticized the lack of urgency in handling the outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home, which is why they proposed a bill that would speed up appropriate health departments to investigate any outbreak.

The incident at LaSalle revealed that there were numerous COVID-19 protocols that weren’t being followed. It also showed that staff members were too lax and not following simple safety procedures such as using hand sanitizers that were not capable of eliminating COVID-19.