Illinois health officials are conducting two different investigations after nearly 200 residents, care workers, and staff at the state-run veterans home in LaSalle tested positive for coronavirus, prompting a fatal outbreak. The Illinois Department of Public Health and State Department of Veterans Affairs data shows 28 veterans at the facility have died of COVID-19 since late October.
According to an NBC report and a press conference with Gov. Pritzker before the Thanksgiving holiday, the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs is currently reviewing two possible causes of the outbreak and subsequent resident deaths. The state investigators say infectious disease safety protocols may have been ignored, including:
- The misuse of proper hand hygiene and hand sanitizer.