Lawmaker asks Pritzker for metrics needed to relax mask mandates
Send a link to a friend
[September 09, 2021]
By Greg Bishop
(The Center Square) – A state lawmaker says
residents are demanding clear goalposts to aim for to relax COVID-19
mitigations such as mask mandates.
Nearing 20 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, executive orders from Gov.
J.B. Pritzker on a variety of things – ranging from economic
restrictions to masks in schools – have gone unchecked by the
Democrat-controlled General Assembly.
Republican state Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, said that has to
change.
“If the public can go to their representative and their representative
can sit in committee and they can talk about what they’ve heard, there’s
a little more buy in from the public and they’re likely to trust the
mitigations,” Batinick said.
He wrote the governor a letter detailing a proposal with regionalized
metrics to give assurances things like school mask mandates aren’t open
ended.
“I think you're able to actually maybe pick out breakouts sooner, and
maybe put in some mitigations sooner but that also allows mitigation to
be taken off sooner if you’re successful,” Batinick said.

He noted the governor's economic restrictions last year imposed
unilaterally that kept restaurants from having indoor dining was
throttled with regionalized metrics triggering different phases and
tiers of mitigation for different regions of the state. That’s not the
case with the school mask mandate in place now.
Pritzker’s office didn’t return messages seeking comment.
In a letter to Batinick Wednesday that the Republican shared with The
Center Square, the governor said he does have some metrics in mind for
relaxing the school mask mandate.
“That could include a significant reduction in transmission, the
availability and utilization of vaccines for school-aged children under
12, an improving vaccination rate for children 12 to 17 and for adults
that interact with the school community, and/or additional guidance from
the CDC,” Pritzker’s letter said.
But using localized data “would be inaccurate, unfair and unworkable for
example to tell kids that masks can be off on Tuesday only to put them
back on by Thursday – and that chaos would be our reality until we might
reach herd immunity as a state and as a nation,“ Pritzker said.
Batinick said of the letter: “It’s thoughtful.”
[to top of second column]
|

Illinois state Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, speaks to lawmakers
at the state Capitol in Springfield in 2015.
Seth Perlman

Nearly 20 months in, there needs to be public hearings, Batinick said.
“When you’re doing something for a couple of weeks, or a couple of
months, that’s fine, but when you start putting a mask on a very young
child in school, there are downsides to it,” Batinick said.
Young children need to see faces as part of cognitive development, he
said.
Without public hearings, Batinck said there will continue to be
resistance – even just because of the unilateral approach.
“At some point Democracy is at risk, right,” Batinick said. “We’re a
coequal branch of government and we need to start acting like it.”
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office has not responded to the
questions about the General Assembly's decision not to take action on
mask mandates.
Pritzker has said Illinois will follow the CDC guidance on masks in
schools. It’s unclear when that could change.
“Creating rigid metrics in this changing landscape wouldn’t result in
safer communities,” Pritzker’s letter to Batinick said. “While I wish I
could provide a specific end date for the sake of convenience for all of
us, this virus’ danger to people is diminished as our deterrence of it
improves.”
“As for the statewide indoor mask mandate, I have repeatedly said that
once Illinois has established a consistent downward trend on this
current wave, we could reevaluate what the current recommendations are
from the CDC and return to mask recommendations instead of a mandate,”
Pritzker said

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |