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?