Rock Island Today

State Rep. Dan Swanson (R-Alpha) brought up how the outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease at Quincy Veteran Home became a centerpiece of Gov. Pritzker's campaign promise.

Swanson questioned why the lessons from that outbreak were not applied to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak at LaSalle Veterans' Home.

"In December 2017, following an outbreak of Legionnaire's disease at the Quincy Veterans Home, I, along with several other local veteran associations visited the Quincy Home and spent a full day talking to the administration of the home about procedures executed to contain the outbreak," Swanson said. " One of the most important lessons learned during our visit, was the importance of the staff being communicative, following proper procedures and protocols to minimize exposure for vets and staff."

Swanson also noted that these important lessons were also communicated to then-Rep. Chapa LaVia, who later became IDVA Director and other members of the House Democratic Caucus who also visited Quincy Home a month after his visit.

"The Quincy issue became a political centerpiece of Gov. Pritzker’s election campaign against then-Gov. Rauner,” Swanson added. "Having seen this report from the inspector general, I’m mad and this upsets me."

Echoing his fellow Republicans, Swanson is urging Pritzker to assume responsibility for the outbreak.

"Let me speak to Gov. Pritzker loud and clear: Governor when you made this a political issue out of our veteran’s deaths at Quincy, I gave you the benefit of the doubt that it was about protecting our veterans. You failed to protect our heroes despite knowing the life-and-death implications of failing to respond.”

Tim Miller, son of one of the 14 residents of the Quincy home who died during the Legionnaires’ outbreak, appeared in a “Rauner Failed: ‘Heroes’” video “paid for by JB for governor” saying that “Gov. Rauner was more interested in protecting his image than he was the heroes who served our country.”

Miller, later on, questioned Pritzker’s agenda on launching the campaign: “Was this really about the stories, and the loss and the heroes? Or was this about an election campaign?”

Since the first COVID-19 positive case was reported in LaSalle Veterans' Home in November 2020, a total of 36 veterans have since died from COVID-19 complications. Families of the deceased will be filing legal cases, ABC7 Eyewitness reported. Settlements to end negligence lawsuits against the state were proposed to the bereaved family of deceased veterans from Quincy, according to WBEZ Chicago.