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 Gov. J.B. Pritzker extended his COVID emergency
powers for the 34th time since the onset of the pandemic, declaring Illinois a
disaster area just as President Joe Biden was declaring the pandemic was over.
“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a
lotta work on it. But the pandemic is over,” Biden told “60 Minutes” on Sept.
18.
Pritzker’s newest proclamation expires Oct. 18. At the end of the newest
emergency order, Pritzker will have held emergency powers of 949 of 1,374 days
in office, or 69% of his term.
Compared to Pritzker’s first proclamation, Illinois has no mask mandate,
vaccination mandate or social distancing. So where’s the emergency?
On Sept. 15, just before the 33rd order expired, Pritzker ended the COVID
testing mandate for unvaccinated workers in schools and day care centers. The
same mandate for higher education ended in July.
When announcing the decision, Pritzker admitted how much has changed since the
early days of the pandemic.
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“Although the current state of the pandemic is very different than it was two
years ago, we still need to protect the most vulnerable members of our community
as we continue to be responsive to the changing challenges and evolutions of
this virus.” Pritzker said in a statement.
The press release said easing restrictions is the next step “to carefully unwind
the state’s COVID-19 executive orders.” But gave no indication when or how that
decision would be made.
Pritzker could keep emergency powers as long as he sees fit. The General
Assembly – a coequal branch of state government – has no oversight into
executive disaster orders.
Most states operate differently. Thirty-four states give their legislative
bodies some form of control over the emergency powers. Arizona enacted a law
requiring the legislature to approve emergency extensions beyond 120 days.
Pritzker granted himself emergency powers over the monkeypox virus and for buses
of more than 500 migrants from Texas. Illinois currently has three statewide
disasters that Pritzker has declared.
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