PEORIA, Ill. — The tide is turning against continuing mask mandates and now Illinois’ Governor is even ending a policy he’d been fighting in the courts to maintain.
On Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a new executive order ending the state’s mask mandate for K-12 public schools.
Recent court rulings already appeared to spell doom for the mandates.
The Governor also acknowledged the expiration of his earlier indoor mask mandate for private businesses and other entities.
At the same time, the release from the Governor’s office also said, “School districts and private businesses can continue to require masks at their discretion.”
Speaking at an event at Chicago’s Navy Pier, Pritzker credited Illinois residents’ acceptance of COVID-19 vaccines for bringing the state to this point.
“The people of Illinois did the right thing through this pandemic and that we’ve been able to bring hospitalizations down,” Pritzker said.
He says the state will continue to reserve the right to re-impose mask requirements if another serious COVID-19 wave hits, but he says there are no plans for that now.
On Thursday, we learned from Tri-County public health officials that novel coronavirus transmissability will no longer be the leading indicator for policy makers.
The focus will now reportedly move to an approach more heavily influenced by hospitalization data.
