Despite lawmakers soundly rejecting the Illinois Department of Public Health’s bid to extend its COVID-19 rules for schools this week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday his executive order on masks and other virus protocol still stands and should be followed by Illinois school districts.
Speaking at a news conference in Springfield on Wednesday, Pritzker said the purpose of the health department filing the rule, which was quashed by a bipartisan legislative panel, was to make a “procedural step to simply keep the status quo” while an appellate court reviews a ruling preventing the mask mandate and other COVID-19 measures for schools from being enforced statewide.
“We have to do everything that we can to keep students and teachers safe,” Pritzker said at an event at Lincoln Land Community College, flanked by Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and other government officials. “Doctors say that masks are the best way to preserve in-person learning and keep children and staff safe.”
The appeals court could rule before the end of the week on whether to overturn a Feb. 4 temporary restraining order issued by Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grischow, who found Pritzker overstepped his authority in issuing the state’s COVID-19 requirements for schools.
“And as I’ve said, the ruling by the Sangamon County judge created an enormous amount of confusion, which is why we’ve asked the appellate court to move quickly to respond,” Pritzker said. “The executive order requiring masks is still in place. School districts that aren’t part of the lawsuit should follow the executive order. Everyone should feel comfortable wearing their masks to keep yourselves and your loved ones safe.”
Pritzker said he thinks he and members of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules agree that the next step is to get a ruling from the appellate court.
The failed attempt to extend the health department rules this week is expected to add to the growing number of suburban school districts that have recently pivoted to mask optional, including Park Ridge-Niles School District 64, Maine Township High School District 207, and Naperville Community Unit School Districts 203 and 204.
“Based on the current downward trajectory of COVID-19 cases, and what’s going on in states across the country that have dropped their school mask requirements, many school districts believe the school mask mandate is close to coming to an end in Illinois,” said John Burkey, the executive director of the Large Unit District Association, and a former school district superintendent.
“There has been so much confusion, and everyone has just been trying to navigate all of this,” Burkey said.
Barrington 220 School District is one of the 146 school districts named in a lawsuit filed by hundreds of Illinois parents alleging the governor’s school mask mandate was authorized illegally. Superintendent Robert Hunt said in the wake of lawmakers declining to extend the health department’s school mask mandate, he is recommending the district withdraw its appeal of the judge’s restraining order.
While the case is still being decided by the appellate court, District 220 “will remain in a mask recommended, but not required environment,” a district spokeswoman said Wednesday.
But in Elgin-based Unit School District 46, officials said the lawmakers’ decision “does not impact the current masking landscape for our district.”
“U-46 has not been relying on the emergency rulemaking for our masking decision making,” officials said. Rather, the district is following local guidance approved by the school board last summer, they said. “These mitigations meet our shared interest of continuing in-person learning with as few disruptions as possible.”
In a Wednesday filing with the 4th District Appellate Court in Springfield, the attorney general’s office argued that the legislative panel’s action a day earlier did not negate the need for the higher court to rule on the validity of Grischow’s temporary restraining order.
Echoing Pritzker, attorneys for the state argue that the mandate for masks and other safety measures in schools comes not from the emergency rule issued by the Department of Public Health but from the governor’s executive orders.
“The validity, legality, and enforceability of the (executive orders) continues to present a live case or controversy,” the state’s filing says.
In the plaintiffs’ filing, attorneys Lance Ziebell and Tom DeVore argue that after Tuesday’s legislative action, the only matter left for the appeals court to determine at this stage is whether Grischow abused her discretion “in finding the plaintiffs have raised a fair question” regarding the governor’s authority.
As the controversy continues, the number of COVID-19 patients in Illinois hospitals has continued its rapid decline since reaching an all-time high of 7,380 on Jan. 12. As of Tuesday night, hospitals reported 1,683 coronavirus patients in their beds, a 33 percent drop in the past week and the lowest daily count since mid-November.
The number of new confirmed and probable cases also has been dropping rapidly, though that figure has become a less reliable indicator of the virus’s spread due to the proliferation of at-home testing and other factors.
The state has averaged 3,701 new daily cases over the past week, down from a peak of 32,501 daily cases during the week ending Jan. 12 and the lowest level since the week ending Nov. 17.
State health officials on Wednesday reported 104 additional coronavirus-related fatalities, bringing the average number of daily deaths to 71 over the past week. The statewide death toll stood at 32,176 since the pandemic began.
Discord over mask mandates also took center stage again at the Illinois House of Representatives Wednesday as Republican Rep. Dan Caulkins of Decatur insisted the House’s COVID-19 protocols were “being arbitrarily enforced.”
Divisions among lawmakers and confusion about what rules have to be followed is a “microcosm” of what’s happening in school districts across Illinois, Republican Rep. Mark Batinick of Plainfield said.
“We’ve had no transparency on any of this,” Batinick said. “We’ve had no hearings on the governor’s mitigations. It would be great if we could work together and actually vote on some of the things that we’re supposed to do.”
Democratic Rep. Lakesia Collins of Chicago moved to have a slew of Republican representatives removed from the floor for not wearing their masks, but before such action could be taken, the Republicans requested for an immediate recess so members could meet privately. Collins later withdrew the request.
Two of the maskless Republicans, Reps. Blaine Wilhour of Beecher City and Adam Niemerg of Dieterich, appeared at a statehouse news conference last week with state Sen. Darren Bailey, a Republican from downstate Xenia, to decry Pritzker’s mask mandate amid the governor’s announcement to loosen the restrictions outside of schools on Feb. 28.
Bailey, one of five candidates for governor in the June 28 GOP primary, was removed from a legislative session in May 2020 when he was then a state representative for refusing to wear a mask during the session held at the Bank of Springfield center. The House voted 81-27 to remove Bailey.
At the time, wearing a face covering during session was adopted in what were then new rules for Illinois House members. Under those rules, which was decided on by a bipartisan vote in the House, state representatives, staff members and visitors to that session were required to wear a face covering over their nose and mouth if medically able to do so.
Jeremy Gorner reported from Springfield.
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