By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
A comparison of mask-mandated Illinois to its mandate-less neighbors during Omicron shows that Illinois’ restrictions have failed to provide any benefit so far. In fact, a review of publicly-available CDC data shows Illinois’ per capita COVID cases increased more rapidly than all its neighbors, while the state’s deaths per capita are now higher than all of its neighbors except Indiana.
Illinois is one of just 11 states to maintain a statewide mask mandate (see appendix). Chicago and Cook County also have vaccine passport requirements. None of Illinois’ five neighbors have a statewide mask mandate and Indiana, Missouri and Iowa have all passed laws that ban vaccine passports.
One month into Omicron (Jan, 1, 2022), Illinois had about 150 COVID cases per 100,000. In contrast, all of its neighbors had 100 or fewer cases per 100,000, with Iowa and Missouri running at about half the level of Illinois.
Two months in, cases in Illinois look no different than all of its neighbors except for Kentucky, which is still running a higher per capita case load.
As for COVID fatalities, Illinois is also faring poorly versus its neighbors. Deaths have been trending up consistently since Omicron arrived, with no evidence that the state’s mandates are having any impact.
At one death per 100,000 on February 3, Illinois’ COVID fatality is only better than Indiana’s, and it remains far higher than Kentucky and Missouri’s, which are both below 0.2 deaths per 100,000.
The data above is in line with ongoing research demonstrating the ineffectiveness of masks and mandates, the most recent being the meta study from Johns Hopkins. Those researchers concluded:
“More specifically, stringency index studies find that lockdowns in Europe and the United States only reduced COVID-19 mortality by 0.2% on average. SIPOs [stay-in-pace orders] were also ineffective, only reducing COVID-19 mortality by 2.9% on average. Specific NPI [non-pharmaceutical interventions] studies also find no broad-based evidence of noticeable effects on COVID-19 mortality.
While this meta-analysis concludes that lockdowns have had little to no public health effects, they have imposed enormous economic and social costs where they have been adopted. In consequence, lockdown policies are ill-founded and should be rejected as a pandemic policy instrument.”
So we know restrictions don’t really work. The bigger question is, do some of them actually make things worse?
You can’t help but wonder if the vaccine passport mandates are actually increasing the risk for Illinois’ most vulnerable to COVID. The vaccine passport can lull the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions into a false sense of security that they are “safe” in restaurants, bars and other such venues, when we know that the vaxxed spread the virus as easily as the unvaxxed.
The latest COVID numbers continue to show that it’s the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions that continue to be the target of the virus.
Since Omicron hit on December 1, over 82 percent of deaths have been of those aged 60 and older. That’s roughly in line with the 86 percent we’ve seen since the pandemic started in March 2020.
And when it comes to comorbidities, the Cook County Medical Examiner data shows that of the county’s 2,428 deaths since Omicron, 90 percent died with comorbidities.
The possibility of vaccine passports increasing the danger to vaxxed elderly and comorbid Illinoisans is real – the state’s significant number of breakthrough deaths tell us that.
As the last five week’s of Illinois COVID death data shows, nearly 40 percent of all deaths were of the vaxxed. Forty-six percent of deaths last week were vaxxed residents.
The state’s masks and mandates aren’t working. Worse, they could actually be doing additional harm.
Illinois should join the vast majority of states that have ended their COVID restrictions.
Appendix
Read more about the COVID pandemic in Illinois:
- Politics Getting Bad For Those Using Children As Human Covid Shields
- Nearly 40 percent of all Illinois COVID deaths in the last month are breakthroughs. What gives?
- Americans in 39 states aren’t subjected to a mask mandate. Why are Illinoisans?
- Still Calling For Employer Vaccine Mandates, American Medical Association Ignores Its Own Code Of Ethics
- Omicron crushes rationale for Chicago, Cook County vaccine passports
Audio and summary 
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Getting health decisions from obese leaders! What a world, such a FAT irony.
Side note of my observations. Multiple acquaintances have been totally vaxxed. 2 shots & the boost. 2 have been sick with RSV, 2 with severe colds and said they tested negative for the covid, 7 tested positive, breakthrough cases with symptoms from mild to fairly severe. Mrs and I are still not vaxxed and feeling quite well, mingle with the clean and unclean, rarely masked. We take some supplements and either have been lucky or have natural immunity.
I have had similar experiences. Many jabbed coming down with positive tests, mild to moderate symptoms. Sister in law received booster and a week later could not walk. Dr had no explanation for sudden paralysis, used a Walker for 5 weeks and slowly regained her ability to walk alone. A former co worker had the same issue. Sudden paralysis, could not walk without a walker, lasted 3 weeks. Lots of strange things going on.
Most jabbed would have gotten mild to moderate symptoms anyway. Being fat and old only increases the risk of getting severe symptoms but it’s not automatic. The vaccine reduces the number of severe cases in the vaccinted cohorts vs. the number of severe case in unvaccined cohorts. IIRC the trials weren’t testing if vaccinated individuals had fewer mild symptoms compared to unvaccinated; just whether or not fewer people were hospitalized or died. At least that’s my understanding. As I said you don’t know if your case will turn severe until after a week to ten days’ testing positive on day… Read more »
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.01.018
“The hidden highlight (lede) buried in this peer reviewed paper is that protein production of spike in people vaccinated with the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine is higher than those of severely ill COVID-19 patients!” See this for details
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/a-health-public-policy-nightmare?r=ta0o1&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
This is no longer about science, it is all about power and Porky and his cronies do like their power!!! Why would any business want to stay or even come to Illinois, lets see high crime rate (Chicago), high taxes, vaccine mandates and mask mandates… Porky, Beetlejuice and Perriwinkle need to GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
High school students at Vernon Hills walked out over masks today, not sure if it’s truly a stand or enjoying a day off.
https://yournews.com/2022/02/07/2295658/video-chicago-high-school-students-stage-walkout-over-mask-mandate/
Unfortunately, our governor doesn’t follow real science. He only listens to what he wants to hear.
I’m curious if there’s negative economic impact in Cook County due to vax requirements? Where is the pushback? I admire what’s happening in Ottawa Ontario
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3D3sYDMNiD4
When reporting deaths there should be two categories: died from COVID and died WITH COVID. It’s a major distinction that is ignored.
Furthermore there should be definitions of ‘vaccinated’ and ‘unvaccinated.’ The distinction is not as simple as it once was. Also, if vaccine status cannot be established I understand the patient is listed as unvaccinated – perhaps a third category might be useful.
When those adjustments are made to the IDPH reporting we’ll have a much better picture.
Until then, they remain incomplete and misleading. Very little transparency.
Illinois is a state where even the conservatives sit and wait and wring their hands hoping the governor will give them permission to take off a stupid mask. Just take the damn thing off if you’re a conservative. sheesh.
Awesome concise article. Thank you I will post!
If your fat gov gets reelected, will all you complainers finally get off your bottoms and get out of Illinois? You would need someone like Mark or Ted to be gov to have any hope of things improving. Last I heard, they weren’t running, and even if they did, they would need a lot more conservatives to also be elected in Springfield to support their policies. That will never happen. Never.
Wirepoints only has value if you act on the information. Don’t you dare complain about being a victim. You knew the facts. You stayed.
Illinois and specifically Cook County/Chicago engage in massive voter ballot fraud every election. It’s amazing how the dead can rise and vote Democrat in every election isn’t it? And how illegal immigrants are allowed to vote without meeting citizenship requirements.
How many months/ years has Pritzker continued to grant himself emergency executive powers because of a pandemic that the IDPH even admitted was endemic? That’s all you really need to know about Pritzker and his fraud.
Don’t ask Toilets to pay any attention to what nearby states are doing. He’s got blinders on. He’s so arrogant! He thinks money equals intelligence and since he’s got more of the former, he has more of the latter. That guy is so insufferable..! We will be about the last state to return to normal.Arrrgh!
Illinois’ higher stats are due to disease being brought in from Indiana – just like the firearms! The hypocrisy is maddening!
Importing COVID from the Hoosier State? Right. Show us those facts Dale.
Chicago’s stupid state quarantine list includes all 49 states except one – Illinois – and yet our statistics are the worst among our neighbors. Why isn’t the city demanding the rest of Illinoisans stay out? Because that would make the list even more stupid.
Must be all of the out-of-state “No-mask” traffic. /s
***—nearly 40 percent of all deaths were of the vaxxed. Forty-six percent of deaths last week were vaxxed residents.—***
But we were told, threatened even, that this was a pandemic of the *unvaxxed*…?!
Also I read somewhere (can’t remember where) that JBP’s covid emergency declaration was set to expire yesterday, anyone know about that…?
yep,and yet theyre still telling people to get vaxxed,the so called ” vax” doesnt prevent catching or spreading covid,ive yet to hear why you would want the vaccine when it doesnt do crap except maybe cause other health problems
Well, I think it will make is less likely that someone who is old or with comorbidities will be hospitalized or die, but that’s no reason to hector people about getting it. It’s their life, and it’s nobody else’s business if they want to run whatever additional risk there is. I’m 76 but with no other comorbidities, I’ve had both shots and COVID. I’m done getting the jab.I don’t think any “benefits” are worth the risk of the j ab itself.
i agree with your comments,but,i dont like jumbo the governor and dopey the president trying to force me to take a vaccine that i dont want,dont need,doesnt work,wont comply
You believe less likely lie?
He probably has a default setting on it so it renews automatically unless cancelled. I think this will be emergency 25/
I hear the BS from a ultra liberal I know. No room in hospitals because unvaxxed have all the rooms. All dying are not vaxxed. Only unvaxxed are spreading the disease. Wear masks everywhere, dont socialize. Yet when shown the stats about so many vaxxed people getting sick and dying his response is always “You heard that on Fox News” and simply refuses to accept any other info.
UCSF Professor Vinay Prasad is the only person in the US mainstream medical community who is courageous enough to call out the latest CDC mask study as deeply flawed.
Mask studies reach a new scientific low point (substack.com)
This is what happens when your governor is a tyrant who thinks he is smarter than everyone.
He’s not a tyrant. His advisors and his ponńnnnnmlitical calculus is telling him it’s good play. He only want to stay in office. It’s a gamble as Cook County May be the only county he wins if he keeps it up. Most of us are distracted by this blue/ red/ Republican/ Democrat con perpetrated by the oligarchs and the corrupt media. The real question in my mind is why would he spend hundreds of millions to win an office that pays maybe 250 grand a year? The culture war, masks, all of it is a distraction, three card month if… Read more »
Rob M, the combine is clearly on one side of the culture war, and they have loyal foot soldiers to implement their policies and intimidate the opposition. To say this is some grand conspiracy to keep two sides fighting is just plain wrong. The combine is fighting to win a war against everyone else and they have legions of loyal democrat foot soldiers doing their dirty work.
JB is a tyrant. This is not hyperbole. You can read the order for mask mandates yourself – he exceed his legal authority given to him by the executive branch to rewrite public health laws that are the exclusive domain of the legislature. You know, separation of powers. And in the recent past, when confronted on this, he doubled downed and changed even more laws. And he changed the laws to remove due process and forced school boards to comply and threatened decertification if they didn’t. He actually decertified a few schools – in violation of the law – because… Read more »
It’s all a distraction. They’d rather we fight. They don’t give a shit about you, me, especially the kids. This thing will work it’s way through the courts, hopefully to the US Supreme Court, and it will go down. The “tyranny” is only allowed to further because the lemmings out there trust main stream media. Wirepoints gets very little attention because the use data and clearly point out the truth. it’s a mind effing. That’s what they’re doing to otherwise rational, educated people. Think about it, is there any difference between BLM and MAGA? Both take kernels of truth and… Read more »
There’s a huge difference between MAGA and BLM. Every major institution in America supports BLM and actively purges MAGA. There is a real culture war going on and the elites are using their foot soldiers against you, and rewarding them with your jobs, your institutional power, your home equity, and they are purging your beliefs, your religion and your power.
MAGA is a cult just as BLM is a cult. They’d much rather we argue about this than take back power, institute true reforms. Our system produces a scarecrow fool like Biden and a game show host buffoon like Trump. Clinton? As long as these are our choices, we’re screwed. If the black president won’t help Flint, MI and put the perps in jail, why would anyone think Trump or Biden would? BLM is used, as is identity, as a shield to paper over incompetence and thievery. It’s all virtue signalling. MAGA takes good Christian people and turns them into… Read more »
Well, except that one of these groups wants to control all the actions and thoughts of the populace. That seems like a major difference to me.
Right? And the powerful have foot soldiers that will cause chaos on the streets if you refuse to comply. Jack Posobiec points out that these foot soldiers, antifa, BLM, etc, support and enforce the same positions as big corporations.
MAGA is a cult that boos Trump when he even suggests people get vaccinated or boostered. Heck of a leader of that cult!
He stays in office because his ultimate goal is to be President of the USA. Picture his policies at the national level! Like I said when Obama was running – he’s just going to bring Chicago’s (Illinois’) dirty politics to DC. And he did it, and more!
One of guilty pleasures is delay watching TV programing and fast forwarding through Governor Maximus political commercials. I laugh every time.
You guys need to cover the Equality Gala this past weekend. A bigger example in Democrat contradiction and let them eat cake-ism you will not find.
There’s a mask mandate? Only if you wear one. Try not wearing it, believe me nobody will bother you, my wife and I stopped masking last April. Tomorrow morning send your kids to school with the directive to not bring or wear a mask. This doesn’t end until you make it end.
True
Agreed! I haven’t had a problem yet and have been doing it for over a month
Amen!!
Thank you Mrs Pritzger for all your downvotes. Your husband is still an idiot. The Golden Corral buffet is now open.