CHICAGO, Ill. — Governor J.B. Pritzker doesn’t appear too concerned about a new outbreak of COVID-19 at the formerly infamous LaSalle Veterans Home in Illinois.
During a press event in Chicago on Tuesday, the Governor noted how all state managed veterans homes have remained under vaccine mandates since the height of the pandemic.
“It was one of my requirements, when vaccines became available, we had to go right to those veterans homes and vaccinate everyone who was willing.”
Pritzker said all Illinois veterans homes are on the list to receive the recommended series of bivalent COVID-19 booster shots, but that some homes may not have received those yet.
On Monday, state officials announced there were 23 staffers and 42 residents of LaSalle Veterans Home infected with strains of COVID-19.
The statement indicated there had been no hospitalizations as a result of the outbreak and that all positive COVID patients had been experiencing relatively mild “cold-like” symptoms.
The LaSalle Veterans home is where 36 people died of a COVID outbreak two years ago due in part to mis-steps by Illinois Department of Health officials.
A scathing audit found no one from IDPH visited the home for nearly two weeks after the facility reported its very first positive case of COVID-19 back then.
The audit found the state had failed to “identify and respond to the seriousness of the outbreak.”
According to the Chicago Tribune, it took health officials less than a day to respond to this latest outbreak.
A spokeswoman for the Illinois VA said all but a very small number of residents and staff at the LaSalle Veterans Home have received up to date COVID-19 vaccinations.
