East Central Reporter

After Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) announced mask mandates, with the exception of schools, would soon be lifted in Illinois, Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) has encouraged parents to "rise up."

Wilhour was joined by several of his Republican colleagues in a press conference taking a stand against the governor's refusal to remove masks from class.

"What we've witnessed today is what it looks like when you allow a politician unchecked power over the people of Illinois for the past two years," Wilhour said. "We are seeing a governor that believes he has the absolute power and the security to do whatever the hell he wants without regard to facts, the data, common sense, statutory authority, the constitution or even rulings of court here in the state of Illinois."

Wilhour said that there isn't any data to support there's a benefit to keeping kids masked in school.

"The science and observations just really haven't changed all that much since the summer of 2020. What has changed is politics. Parents in this state and across the country, they've had enough and they're standing up in droves," Wilhour said. 

Wilhour, a father to three school-aged boys, said he's seen his first grader struggle with phonics because of his teacher being masked. He said his sons go to a private school, but not every family has that option.

"As parents, we can all observe the harms that this nonsensical policy has brought us," Wilhour said. "Young kids being forced to cover their faces, schools and parents being threatened, coerced, put in impossible situations, forced to comply with mandates that they know intuitively is nonsense, impractical, a hindrance to proper education and not in the best interest of the kids."

According to NBC Chicago, Pritzker announced on Feb. 9 that he planned to lift the mandate for the state by the end of the month.

Pritzker cited a drop in the number of hospitalizations as a key part of his decision to do away with the mandate, NBC Chicago reported.

According the article, Pritzker said he was "sensitive" to certain settings like those in schools where people are in close proximity to each other, which is why he opted not to lift the classroom mandate at this time.