Less than 2 months after lifting most COVID-19 orders, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issues mask mandate for schools and vaccine requirement for some state workers

Less than two months after lifting nearly all of his remaining coronavirus restrictions, Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday issued a new statewide mask requirement for schools and a vaccine mandate for workers in state prisons and other facilities as Illinois loses ground to COVID-19′s highly contagious delta variant.

Masks are now required for students, staff and visitors in all buildings from preschool through high school, both public and private, and in all day care centers for anyone older than 2. Masks are now also mandatory in long-term care facilities statewide.

With private employers and other states beginning to require vaccination for employees, Pritzker called on unions representing state workers to come to the bargaining table to negotiate the specifics of the vaccine mandate, which takes effect Oct. 4.

Pritzker’s announcement of new steps to slow the spread of COVID-19 from the Thompson Center in the Loop alongside Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike brought on a sense of déjà vu from earlier days of the pandemic. So did the response from Republicans, who once again criticized the Democratic governor for issuing orders without consulting lawmakers and for taking decisions out of the hands of local officials.

Pritzker’s vaccine requirement also put him at odds with one of his traditional bases of support, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. The union represents more than 15,000 state workers who would be covered by the governor’s directive, and its leader pushed back against such “rigid mandates.”

In explaining his decisions, Pritzker cited a tenfold rise in COVID-19 cases since a low point in late June and an accompanying rise in hospitalizations, including among young adults and children, largely driven by the delta variant.

“Every time we think we know where this virus is headed, it changes and it shifts,” Pritzker said.

Amid growing concerns over the delta variant, Ezike stressed that nearly everyone who has been hospitalized or died of the virus in recent weeks has not been fully vaccinated.

“We actually have the tools to turn the tide on the next wave, and that next wave wants to threaten us if we don’t avail ourselves of these tools,” she said.

The governor’s mask mandate for schools comes with the fall semester close at hand and as school boards across the state grappled with whether to require masks in light of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation last week that everyone wear face coverings in schools, regardless of vaccination status.

Chicago Public Schools, the state’s largest district, had already decided to require masks, but other districts have chosen to make them optional in the face of vocal opposition from some parents.

“Far too few school districts have chosen to follow the federal Centers for Disease Control prescriptions for keeping students and staff safe,” Pritzker said. “Given the CDC’s strong recommendation, I had hoped that a state mask requirement in schools wouldn’t be necessary, but it is.”

Despite the CDC’s recommendation for universal indoor masking in areas of “substantial” or “high” COVID-19 transmission, which now includes nearly every county in Illinois, Pritzker said he has no current plans to bring back a statewide mask mandate or capacity limits on businesses.

The requirement for schools will apply to all indoor activities, including sports, Pritzker said. Masks won’t be required for outdoor sports and activities.

The state is making the saliva test developed at the University of Illinois available to all school districts outside Chicago, which receives its own share of federal coronavirus relief funding. The state also will continue to supply school districts with masks as requested.

Schools that ignore the mask rules could risk lawsuits and face potential sanctions from the Illinois State Board of Education, Pritzker said.

While Pritzker’s Republican opponents criticized the mandates, organizations representing teachers offered support, as did pediatricians.

Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery said on Wednesday that the mask mandate is a “prudent course of action.”

“It’s important for us to stay open and have a more normal school year,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery noted that children younger than 12 aren’t eligible for the vaccine and that districts across the state have taken different positions on the issues, with some eschewing masks altogether.

“I think most of us will agree that wearing a mask is a small price to pay to stay healthy,” he said.

The Illinois Education Association, a union representing more than 135,000 educators in Illinois, said in a statement it is thankful for the mask mandate, noting that Illinois COVID-19 numbers are rising.

“We all want to get back to normal,” IEA President Kathi Griffin said in a statement. “Let’s pull together and take care of one another.”

Pediatricians from several of the Chicago area’s largest hospital systems also applauded the governor’s order.

“It is absolutely the right thing to do to help keep all of our children safe,” Dr. Allison Bartlett, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital, said at a news conference before Pritzker’s formal announcement.

Bartlett, along with doctors from NorthShore University Health System and Advocate Children’s Hospital, said they believe it’s important for children to return to school in person. They noted that the delta variant, so far, does not seem more dangerous but it is more contagious.

“As pediatricians we understand the benefits of in-person learning, which we believe can be done safely even with the delta variant circulating, because of the science behind how well masks and vaccinations work to reduce the spread of COVID,” Bartlett said.

If masks were optional, it would be too difficult for schools to determine who should be wearing masks each day, and it could lead to peer pressure between kids over masks, she said.

Doctors also emphasized the importance of everyone 12 and older getting vaccinated as a key way to prevent transmission among kids.

Pritzker has made his handling of the pandemic central to his reelection bid next year — as have Republicans seeking to challenge him.

State Sen. Darren Bailey of Xenia in southern Illinois, who gained notoriety for unsuccessfully challenging Pritzker’s coronavirus restrictions, said on Twitter that “it’s time to stop this nonsense.”

“I will fight to my last breath for freedom and common-sense policies,” Bailey wrote. “Call your school board members and tell them to stand up. Local control matters. Your voice matters; mental health matters.”

Bailey sought to frame the issue as one of personal choice rather than public health.

“Let me be clear, if you want a vaccine or want to wear a mask, I hope you get one,” Bailey wrote. “I will help you get one if you need help. But anyone who wants to force masks on children or force a vaccine is a tyrant.”

Bull Valley businessman Gary Rabine, another GOP candidate for governor, called Pritzker’s decision an abuse of power.

“This is about control — not about science,” Rabine said. “Our kids had a rough year last year thanks to Gov. Pritzker’s policies. We should allow local school boards to work with parents and students to set mask policies at the local level, instead of Pritzker’s one-size-fits-all solution.”

Rabine has opposed Pritzker’s mitigation efforts, including masking policies, and has wrongly claimed that federal data has proven COVID-19 vaccines have caused deaths.

A third GOP contender, former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo, said Pritzker’s school mask mandate “usurps the authority of parents, school board members and superintendents, further undermining confidence in the rule of law.”

Republican leaders in the state legislature also rebuked the decision, with House GOP leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs calling on Pritzker to “put this continuing power trip aside and allow local health departments, elected officials, schools and most importantly, parents, to make decisions on these serious issues to help stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Senate Republican leader Dan McConchie of Hawthorn Woods turned one of Pritzker’s pandemic slogans against him, saying he “encourages the public to be ‘all in Illinois’, but he himself refuses to be ‘all in’ with state and local elected officials who better understand their geographic areas and their communities’ needs.”

While some Republicans criticized Pritzker’s latest mandate, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, which typically aligns with the GOP, issued a statement encouraging mask wearing and vaccinations.

“The scientific data is irrefutable: Vaccines and mask wearing are safe and effective ways of slowing the spread of the deadly virus,” said Mark Denzler, the group’s president and CEO.

The governor’s new order is stopping short of requiring all state workers to get vaccinated but will mandate it in settings where people are in the direct care of the state, including prisons, juvenile detention facilities and veterans homes.

Pritzker has faced fierce criticism over the deaths of dozens of veterans in COVID-19 outbreaks at state-run homes.

AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch said the union and its members have been working with agencies to slow the spread of the virus in state facilities and to encourage workers to get vaccinated through education and outreach.

“We believe such efforts represent a better path forward than rigid mandates,” Lynch said in a statement.

“The employees in these congregate facilities have been on the job every day since the onset of this pandemic, putting their own health and safety at risk to assure public safety and provide essential care. We strongly oppose any effort to define them as part of the problem rather than recognizing their dedication and the vitally important contributions they have made to protecting health and saving lives.”

Vaccine uptake has been sluggish among employees at some homes run by the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, with 63% of employees at five homes — including a brand-new one in Chicago that hasn’t opened to residents — fully vaccinated as of July 23, according to the department. That’s compared with 98% of residents of those facilities.

The vaccination rate is even lower among employees at the Department of Corrections, with just 44% fully vaccinated, spokeswoman Lindsey Hess said. While vaccination status is more challenging to track among inmates as they enter and leave the system, the rate was about 69% as of a recent count.

The vaccination rate among staff at five youth detention facilities is nearly 64%, according to the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Among developmental center and psychiatric hospital staff at the Department of Human Services, 53% have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the agency, though the more common Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses to be fully inoculated.

Statewide, a little less than 59% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated, according to the Department of Public Health.

Illinois follows states including New York, California and North Carolina in requiring vaccinations for all or some employees.

State health officials on Wednesday reported another 2,364 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, pushing the average number of daily cases over the past week to 2,099. That’s the highest level since the week ending May 9, when the state was averaging 2,177 cases per day. A month ago, the average was 307 cases per day.

The number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 also continues to rise, with 1,165 patients statewide as of Tuesday night, bringing the seven-day average to 982, more than double the level a month earlier.

Deaths also jumped Wednesday, with an additional 18 fatalities reported, the most recorded in a single day since June 24. Over the past week, the state has averaged eight deaths per day.

In all, the coronavirus has claimed 23,476 lives in Illinois since the pandemic began.

dpetrella@chicagotribune.com