By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
Illinois is out of step with a majority of the nation when it comes to masking. It’s just one of 11 states with a statewide mask mandate covering either all residents or just the unvaccinated. Thirty-nine states have no statewide mandate at all.
Gov. Pritzker has never presented any of the “science and data” that justifies his executive authority to impose some of the strictest mask mandates in the country. He should either show the data, in black and white, or he should drop the mandate like a vast majority of his fellow governors have done.
It’s not just the Southern states that don’t have mandates. None of the states in the entire Midwest, with the exception of Illinois, have one either. Even most of the Atlantic and Northeast states are mandate-less. The only real exception nationally is on the Pacific coast.
Recent Omicron data will make Gov. Pritzker’s justification for mask mandates even more difficult. Masks – as well as the vaccine passports put in place in Chicago and Cook County in early January – are making no difference in spread when compared to Illinois’ neighbors. In fact, Illinois is faring worse. Since Omicron’s appearance in December, Illinois’ case count has jumped more quickly than its neighbors’.
As of January 15, Illinois’ 7-day average of new cases stood at 234 per 100,000, the 2nd-highest count behind Wisconsin. Cases in mask-less Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri have accelerated far more slowly and are still anywhere between 12 to 27 percent lower than in Illinois.
Illinois’ poor relative performance is happening despite it having the highest vaccination rate, 65.1 percent, among its neighbors.
Which brings us back to the other states. Pritzker constantly claims he’s following the “science and data” when implementing his COVID mitigation policies.
If that’s the case, what exactly does he think the governors of 39 other states are following?
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Steve Cortes on the historic shift to the right by Latino voters
- Governor Pritzker’s condescending defense of failing ‘same ‘ol same ‘ol’ COVID policy
- Omicron crushes rationale for Chicago, Cook County vaccine passports
- Filibuster Flip-Floppers: Illinois Senators Duckworth And Durbin On Pending ‘Voting Rights’ Legislation
- Six sources of Chicago Teachers Union power
- Why the Chicago Teachers Union Always Gets What It Wants – Wirepoints in the WSJ
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Follow the money. See if any of Pritzker’s companies under the Pritzker Group gains from selling masks. His one company does covid testing. Another company reads the results. This governor and I use the term lightly, benefited from covid financially.
The real question is why are Illinoisans still complying? This stops when we stop!
I don’t wear a mask anywhere and I encourage others to join me. There are plenty of other people who don’t wear masks here in the St. Louis Metro East. This is also true in the Springfield area where I have family. Hopefully, this is the case everywhere else in the state as well. We can only defeat the mask mandate through peaceful civil disobedience against it. I hate wearing a mask and I hate the concept of forced masking. It’s fine if someone actually wants to wear a mask for some reason, but it’s not fine to force mask… Read more »
“There are plenty of other people who don’t wear masks here in the St. Louis Metro East. This is also true in the Springfield area where I have family. Hopefully, this is the case everywhere else in the state as well.” Admittedly, I don’t get out my bubble much these days (I kinda can’t with these BS indoor vaccine mandates in Cook County) but every time I do go out, I see people wearing masks in their cars by themselves, and in grocery stores, and everywhere I go. I personally put my mask on my chin and no one messes… Read more »
When I see someone like you, I automatically think “d-bag”
Exactly, you think it, and you meekly keep your thoughts to yourself, soy boy, because you are too much of a p&&&y to say that to someone’s face….
Why do you wear it around chin?? take it off, be a man
Well, first of all Pritzker is a bald faced liar. He follows Cheeseburgers , not science. Second of all, as a native born free American I never listen to mandates from want to be despots who should have been reeled in over a year ago. Masks are nothing more than mental masturbation!
Only one way to solve this vote him out. He is nothing but a dictator that thinks money can buy anything.
Right! It’s not like the elections are rigged or anything….
In the book, Pandemania, Alex Berenson has an entire chapter devoted to masks. He links to peer reviewed and published medical studies, not just one but MANY of them done since 2000. MASKS DO NOT STOP YOU FROM GETTING OR SPREADING COVID. That’s the science.
So, Yankee over here — while New York formally has a mandate, it’s just formal. Basically, there’s no enforcement except in areas where they want to enforce it (like NYC). In my area (Westchester/Putnam Counties), there are signs on some stores that they want people to wear masks, and I’ll wear a mask if they ask in most places… but really, people often don’t wear masks, and nobody says a damn thing. In New York. At Mass, at the laundromat, at the shops, at the restaurants, whatever. Heck, even the workers don’t necessarily wear masks. I don’t care. They don’t… Read more »
I’m sure they enforce it in schools, though. That’s going to be the major issue in 2022: how long are we going to subject our kids to this ridiculous and unnecessary punishment?
At this point, he has backed himself into a corner. If he ends the mandates, he will lose the votes of the people who want everyone masked and vaccinated for eternity. He has already lost the votes of Illinois citizens who believe in medical choice, freedom, and bodily autonomy. The latter group will not change their minds about him even if he reverses course, so the former group is all he has left. This is an election year. These mandates go only if he goes. We must vote him out.
Some collar county Karens may vote for Prickster light if they find enough to feel good about themselves in doing so.
So a “clean, articulate” Irvin may get them there.
But the red brigade in suburban cook will never tell themselves they were wrong last time around.
Yes, I’ve come to believe that Pritzker will not rescind the mask mandate, period. He has too much to lose by doing so and nothing to gain. I really believe he’ll be one of the last holdouts in the entire country, maybe even the very last. Virginia is instructive here. The activist reaction to Youngkin’s rescinding of the mask mandate proves that a certain percentage of the population will never be okay with letting the kids take their masks off in school (or masks in general, although masks in schools in particular is going to be the big issue this… Read more »
He’ll be one of the last but not the last. The only way he can enforce these mandates forever in areas south of I-80 or west of 355 is through the use of state sponsored force. But considering Illinois in the last two years purchased more guns than any other state, enough for every resident to own at least one gun, he’s a little short on firepower. And he knows it too. Last year IL sold 8.5 million guns, more than any other state by far (Kentucky is 3.8 million in second). You know JB’s office is looking at these… Read more »
Question, is this telling us something or are politicians to beware, or is it just plan old panick!
By the way my question is not being threatening to anyone.
Probably a little bit of both. But many, many residents are deeply unhappy with the progressive policies that seem to only increase crime and misery for everyone. Buying a gun to protect the homestead, and send the progressive politicians a message, has suddenly become a rational thing to do. But like all progressives, any opposition from the populace is just another reason to double down and cram those progressive policies down harder. “So the plebs are heavily arming themselves? We’ll just release more criminals from prison and jail early…..and now the plebs are abandoning the cities because of crime, we’ll… Read more »
I want to know when the Communist virus will be contained?
They push it because its all falling apart, truth is prevailing, so its all they have. This is the best JP Sears of them all, always funny, but this one nails it:
The Narrative is Crumbling – 16 Reasons Why – YouTube
As I ask people (did it again today) “Have you watched the TV show Chicago Fire or seen a scene where toxic chemicals have been released? Were the firemen wearing homemade smiley face masks when they went in a burning building? The only protection against an airborne virus is a sealed hazmat suit with an oxygen tank.”
As a retired FF , I have said this from day one! If you have ever worn a paper mask and sanded some drywall, you know exactly what those masks stop. They stop Bubkiss!
We have too many municipalities and elected officials in the collar Counties going along with this. They need to push back and tell every business owner in their towns and cities go about your business and do not comply with this Tyranny. They need to take the damn masks off at their public meetings and stop going along to get along for their 30 pieces of silver.
We do it because JB can and because we were stupid enough to elect him. It’s a blue thing. There’s us, NY and the Left Coast. What does that tell you?
We? There is no we. There is only the lunatic Left of which Illinois has an abundance of.
The CDC has revised its guidelines on masks, admitting that cloth masks do virtually nothing to stop the spread of COVID.
https://summit.news/2022/01/17/rand-paul-wonders-if-youtube-will-kiss-my-and-apologise-after-cdc-admits-cloth-masks-arent-effective/
Aw Shucks – What is Fauci to do with his faux Washington Nationals cloth mask that he wore during the deadly Delta variant spread? Dang it!
That graph is real time evidence the ‘mask mandate’ is useless. Pritzker wants to take credit for the natural decline in Covid, which many are saying by mid Febuary will be gone.
As long as Democrats are in control, Covid and the media driven fear porn will not end.
Since Indiana is the next closest in population to Illinois (12M vs 6M), the real number is actually higher in Illinois. Why do the scientists list results per some unit in population? Go all the way back to the start of the curve.
I’ve heard this from several people in the know. Porkie Pricktakur has investments in mask production, distribution (warehousing and trucking), has his paws in the warehousing, and medical records, so it’s to his advantage to keep the fraud going. Plus he’s gets Biden credits for supporting the fraud…at least he thinks he does. No one I know will give him another vote, same with the lackies that keep him afloat.
If true, it would at least provide a rational, even if corrupt reason for Prickster’s actions;maybe he’s not just stupid.
Tubby, to my knowledge that is a rumor never verified and even if it were true that would be chump change for Pritzker. Please do not put that kind of comment up here unless you cite a credible source.
Thanks for the clarification; I’ll return to my previous opinion: he’s stupid (corrupt is so routine and boring in this state anyway).
I seldom wear my face diaper. I keep it in my wallet, the same cheap blue mask I’ve had since mid-October. Looks bad, ketchup and mustard and maybe some BBQ sauce. When I have to wear, I stand right in the middle of the front door, go into the wallet and slap it on. No fittings, just on. The second I’m at the door going out, rip it off and stuff it in the wallet again.
The wife and kids do the same.
I bought my son a t-shirt that says, “Underwear won’t stop a fart, and you think a mask will work?!
Everything Democrats do that doesn’t involve money is about image. Everything they say is virtue signaling, rage signaling, shaming, or judging. They want you to know how they feel, and that you are subject to the distinction that they simply know better. All of it is theater of the emotionally absurd. From the “hate has no home here” signs in their yards to double-masked astronaut helmet wearing hypochondriacs, to the Karen filming her demand that you mask up in the store while standing 10 feet away, these people are insane. So when “JB” (his name is Jim Bob, if you… Read more »
Exactly 100% correct. Karen demands we all wear masks. Polling shows that Democrat Karen is the largest and most important demographic to the Democrat Party. JB wants to keep Karen happy. If JB loses Karen’s support, JB probably won’t have enough votes to win reelection. So, JB keeps Karen happy with mask mandates and covid restrictions.
This is precisely why the Democrats are losing support, and Biden’s true polling is as bad or worse than Trump’s even. How big of a doofus is Trump to lose to this guy? If Republicans run a reasonable conservative who’s not nuts they will win the White House in 2024. The House is theirs for the taking in 2022. They just need to deal with facts. They overwhelmingly show that mandates are unpopular, plus the Science” behind masking just isn’t there. The media has been running damage control for Fauci, and it’s beginning to fade. Independent media has been sowing… Read more »
You don’t really seem to grasp the gravity of the fight we’re in, Rob.
Some people can’t get Trump out of their head. The man had the second most votes ever for a presidential candidate so he’s nowhere near as unpopular as Rob M seems to suggest. But his own TDS worldview jades his objectivity as it does for everyone with the incurable infection of TDS.
So Rob, are you really credulous enough to believe that Joe Biden really got 81 million votes? BAHAHAHAHAHA! Asa Hutchinson? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Some refer to the ‘Karen’ phenom as a form of ‘Mass Formation’ – correct on that.
In fairness to Pritzker, he has recognized that the west side and western suburbs have the highest per capita of ‘Karens’ in the Midwest.
Thanks for keeping on with this control freak who has taken over our state, no thanks to a useless bunch of so-called legislators! Science, in what used to be the real world, has NEVER shown that masks work, yet here we are. Whenever I feel it’s not worth the hassle, I wear a scarf. Never spent a dime on “masks”. Was called on it once by a grocery store cashier who asked a supervisor to come and ring up my order so that he would not catch whatever I had. :/ Now I hear talk of k95 masks, or whatever.… Read more »
There are mask mandates because people in the state elect morons. How many legislatures still allow endless governor orders? Well for sure one – the [used to be] great state of IL.
Chicago and some collar counties should just become it’s own state. This is where most democrat votes come from. Separate them from the rest of the state and the rest of us can be free.
What is legal and possible is for the vast majority of Illinois land (which is unincorporated) to incorporate as one large or several large municipalities.
Not only would this draw State funds which now inure to Chicago, municipalities are empowered to set their own rules to some degree.
What legally constitutes a “municipality”? Is any land area which is predominatly used for farming eligible to be part of that municipality? If not, then can small rural villages separated by vast farming areas become part of the same municipality? Both seem ludicrous to me, but I don’t know the legal requirements to become a “municipality”? Your posting seems to suggest my examples here are not impediments to such formations. It makes me curious.
Who will fund the pension plans in broke Cook County if down state breaks away?
There’s a mandate? My wife and I have not worn masks since last March or so. Rarely are we confronted, maybe only once for me at a Pearl vision store. For my wife it happened only once, she was confronted at Walmart “wheres your mask?”., the cashiers manager asked. The wife responded “they don’t work”, the manager walked away, the grandkids were with her unmasked as well. We have found that that people who get a sick pleasure from confronting others about their mask, just crumble immediately as soon as you push back. Businesses don’t want to be in the… Read more »
Bah…just don’t wear them unless your employer demands that you do for work. I don’t wear them in any store. Walk in, proud and unafraid.
Unfortunately, kids don’t have that option.
They do if you pull them out of school. 😉