Rep. Dan Swanson seems impressed with steps the Quincy Veterans Home has taken to mitigate and prevent spread of Legionnaire’s disease.
The first-term Republican member of the state house visited the home on Tuesday.
Swanson a member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee says the home’s administration and staff are carefully taking the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and other health professionals at the “top of their field.”
He spoke with veterans in the home about their care and reviewed protocols for mitigating the spread of Legionella pneumonia.
In 2015 an outbreak of the disease killed 12 residents of the home and sickened 50 others.
Three new cases at the home were reported this fall.
Swanson says the issue shouldn’t be politicized and encouraged General Assembly members to visit the veterans facility.
A few Democratic gubernatorial candidates have cast blame for the outbreak at the home on Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Democratic Senator Tom Cullerton, who is pushing for an audit of the home, also toured the home on Tuesday and told WGEM-TV that the staff was “frustrated” over not being able to find the source of the problem.
