Internal emails exchanged between Illinois and county public health officials obtained by WBEZ suggest the state worked to craft media coverage with a more positive bent regarding a Legionnaires' outbreak in 2015 at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.
Here are five things to know.
1. The Quincy VA facility experienced three separate outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease between 2015 and 2017, causing 64 infections and 13 deaths. Last month, state health officials confirmed four cases of Legionnaires' in the facility.
2. Through open records request, WBEZ obtained emails from the Adams County Health Department where the VA facility is located. The emails display exchanges between officials and press aides leading up to the first press release regarding the 2015 outbreak.
3. In the exchanges,officials appeared to be "under stress and in full-bore crisis mode" and detailed talking points for state press aides designed "to cast a positive light on news coverage about the evolving crisis," according to WBEZ.
4. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration has previously denied open records requests regarding access to emails about the Legionnaires' outbreak. Rachel Bold, a spokeswoman for the governor's office, told WBEZ on Feb. 27 the administration was saddened by the Legionnaires'-related deaths and was continuing to work with the CDC to eliminate the risk of infection in the facility.
"The safety of our veterans and staff at the Quincy Veterans Home is, and always has been, a priority for this administration," Ms. Bold said in the statement. "We take very seriously the importance of protecting our nation's heroes."
5. Legionnaires' is a virulent form of pneumonia contracted through the inhalation of water carrying Legionella. Those with weakened immune systems like the elderly are at greater risk of infection.
To learn more about Legionnaires' disease, click here.
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