South Central Reporter

State Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham) views Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s current push to keep his school mask mandate in place even as the one in public places is lifted as just more of the abuse Republicans say he’s long become known for.

“What we’ve witnessed today is what it looks like when you allow a politician unchecked power over the people of Illinois for the past two years,” Wilhour said soon after the governor made his announcement. “We are seeing a governor that believes he has the absolute power and the security to do whatever the hell he wants without regard to facts, the data, common sense, statutory authority, the constitution or even rulings of the court here in the state of Illinois.”

With certain exceptions, Pritzker recently announced he plans to lift the state’s indoor mask mandate by the end of the month, though the plan falls short of ordering a repeal of the mask mandate in public schools.

With the overall number of COVID cases and hospitalizations both noticeably down, Wilhour argues more should be done.

“For the last year at least … the observed science, scores of studies, real-world observations have told us there is absolutely no observed or clinical data that indicates any benefit whatsoever to masking K through 12 students in schools,” Wilhour said. “But, as parents, we can all observe the harms that this nonsensical policy has brought us. Young kids being forced to cover their faces, schools and parents being threatened, coerced, put in impossible situations, forced to comply with mandates that they know intuitively is nonsense, impractical, a hindrance to proper education and not in the best interest of the kids. What kind of message does that send to our kids? What kind of precedent are we setting for the future?”

Republicans are also quick to point to a Sangamon County judge's temporary restraining order prohibiting certain school districts from enforcing the current mask mandate. The governor has vowed to appeal the ruling.

“This is what you get when you have a governor, when you have the Illinois Department of Public Health, when you have the Illinois State Board of Education and much of the established media have staked every bit of their personal, professional and political credibility on this narrative of fear, compliance and politics,” Wilhour said. “You get this dangerous situation where politically this governor couldn't turn back even if he wanted to, in spite of all of the evidence, the pressure from parents, the knowledge of the best interest of kids.”