Renovation of a laboratory facility in Carbondale, Illinois. Completed plans call for the renovation of a laboratory facility.

The laboratory serves Illinois by performing infectious disease testing including SARS CoV-2, influenza, RSV, HIV/STI, and rabies. Water is flooding into light fixtures, running down the wall into electrical outlets, and down the walls into testing areas and on testing equipment. This issue is not appropriate for a laboratory testing environment that requires moisture and temperature controlled environments for accurate testing. This issue also poses an electrical hazard, fall hazard, and potential mold hazard for staffing. Additionally, the leaking roof creates a significant risk to the samples being tested within the laboratories, some of which are irretrievable and cannot be recovered if lost. The leaking roof also violates the regulatory requirements which govern the clinical laboratory. According to federal requirements, clinical laboratory facilities must be maintained to prevent physical and electrical hazards to protect staff and the integrity of clinical specimens being tested. The laboratory could potentially face non-compliance with regulatory requirements. If this issue is not corrected immediately, the lab stands to lose the ability to perform critical testing, a potential loss of expensive equipment and reagents, and citations for violating federal code. This in addition to the hazards for staff make this a life safety issue that needs to be addressed immediately. The IDPH has asked that CDB repair and/or replace this 25 year old roofing system as quickly as possible under an emergency declaration to prevent the threat to public health, to protect against further damage to property, and to minimize what could be a serious disruption in critical State services