CENTRALIA, IL – Reports are indicating multiple residents and some staff at the Warran G. Murray Developmental Center in Centralia have been diagnosed positive for COVID-19.

According to Rita Winkler, president of the Murray Parents Association, she knows multiple residents have tested positive but at this time none are presenting with symptoms.

Winkler says the administration at the center acted quickly at the beginning of the crisis and that 50 beds were made available for quarantine. She noted that all residents who have tested positive have been placed in quarantine.

She praises the staff at the Center, saying they are “going way above and beyond during a very stressful situation.” She also says the leadership at the Center has been working tirelessly and putting in 12 hour days seven days a week.

All staff members are having their temperature taken twice a day and if they have a fever they are sent home. The Center has been closed to visitors since March 12 to limit residents’ exposure.