Indoor Mask Mandate Could be lifted Soon

By Jeremy Coumbes on February 9, 2022 at 10:49am

Illinoisans may soon know when they can take their masks off again.

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Governor J.B. Pritzker will announce today that he will be dropping the state’s indoor mask mandate soon.

It is anticipated that the mandate will be dropped by month’s end for all indoor locations in the state, except for in schools where a legal battle continues over the legality of the mandate.

Yesterday, during a stop at Illinois State University, Pritzker hinted that an announcement could be coming soon. He says the Covid-19 hospitalization rate will help determine how long the mandate will last, and that currently, the number of Covid patients in the hospital is significantly down.

Pritzker says that is a promising sign. “That’s really the metric that we’re watching. I’m very pleased with the direction, I’m very pleased with the fact that we are at nearly a third of where we were when we were at our peak. In terms of hospitalizations, our hospitals are actually in much better shape now.

In terms of being able to manage the other people who come to a hospital, people who are in a car accident or are having a heart attack, or something else. So those are measurements that we use, so you’ll be hearing shortly about plans that we have.”

Pritzker is scheduled to give a Covid update today at 2:00 pm.