Peoria Standard

State Senator and Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) vows to end all mandates issued by Gov. J.B. Pritzker if elected.

“As your next Governor, I will repeal all of Pritzker’s mandates, " Bailey tweeted. "You should make these decisions, not government.”

His tweet is in response to a temporary restraining order by Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow that schools will no longer have to enforce a mask mandate for students and staff, or a vaccination or testing mandate for school personnel.

Grischow sided with parents who sued 146 school districts over the state’s mask mandate, plus staff who sued another 21 districts over Pritzker’s vaccine requirement.

In a 29-page opinion, Grischow ruled that “masks, vaccines and testing are all forms of quarantine,” an act that can only be enforced by the state’s Department of Public Health or local health departments, and only after a hearing.

Grischow further asserted that “students and staff had been denied their due process by being subject to Pritzker’s executive orders.”

Soon after the verdict was rendered, Pritzker asked Attorney General Kwame Raoul to seek an expedited appeal from the Fourth District Illinois Appellate Court, warning that the decision could “force schools to go remote.”

Pritzker said “the grave consequence of this misguided decision is that schools in these districts no longer have sufficient tools to keep students and staff safe while COVID-19 continues to threaten our communities. This shows yet again that the mask mandate and school exclusion protocols are essential tools to keep schools open and everyone safe.”

Over the roughly two years since the pandemic hit, the Pritzker administration has implemented mitigations and programming designed to limit the spread of the virus in schools and among students and teachers. As part of this effort, the administration has provided schools across the state with nearly 4 million masks as of Jan. 12.

Pritzker recently told reporters he was “very hopeful” he’d soon be able to remove the state’s mask mandate, as the number of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have begun to decline, following nearly 5,000 deaths over a two-month period starting in December.