NW Illinois News

Following the release of the inspector general’s report on the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home, legislators like Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) are calling for hearings to investigate what happened and placing some of the blame at Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s feet.

On Nov. 1, 2020, more than 200 days after Illinois’ report of the first positive COVID-19 diagnosis, the first case was diagnosed at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home, and a week later, 60 veterans and 43 staff members had tested positive.

“On Nov. 10, nine days after that outbreak began, Gov. Pritzker said ‘our veterans’ department has really done an outstanding job,” Demmer said in a press conference that was uploaded to the Illinois House GOP Youtube account on May 7. “A Nov. 12 report by the Illinois Department of Public Health however, found the real story. The report said during the first seven months of the pandemic, the management team and staff did not anticipate and were not prepared for an outbreak. That is a clear failure of leadership.”

Demmer’s not the only one who is upset with how the Department of Veteran’s Affairs under Linda Chapa LaVia handled the COVID-19 pandemic, and how Pritzker is overseeing the VA. 

Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) called the report “damning and heartbreaking,” in a statement.

"[Pritzker's] hand-picked agency director took a hands-off approach to managing the crisis," Durkin said. "Gov. Pritzker and his administration failed to lead and failed our veterans," the DuPage Policy Journal quotes Durkin as saying.

At the time of the outbreak, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Illinois was led by Chapa LaVia, a former state representative. She resigned in January, followed by her chief of staff in late April.  The report accuses Chapa LaVia of abdicating her responsibilities and allowing her chief of staff, who does not have medical experience, to manage veterans’ homes. The report notes that Anthony Kolbeck, her chief of staff, allowed each veterans’ home in the department to manage themselves and issued rules that contradicted public health guidelines and did not ask for help as things got worse.

A lack of planning, communication, and training caused problems that made the outbreak worse than it needed to be. A failure to conduct contact tracing and failure to use personal protective equipment properly allowed the outbreak to grow. 

“We as a legislature must assert our ability to be a check and balance against the executive branch and we must conduct hearings to understand what happened, who was notified and informed of the outbreak, of the lack of preparations in the veterans’ home during a public health emergency,”  said Demmer. “The people of Illinois demand answers. We must conduct hearings to provide those answers.”

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rich Miller, pointed out Pritzker's lack of transparency around Chapa LaVia's appointment, which came after Pritzker's initial appointee withdrew from the process.