Gov. Pritzker hopeful to remove indoor mask mandate in time for the holidays

Posted on October 19, 2021
Gov. Pritzker held a COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday to discuss booster vaccines. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By WJBC Staff

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. JB Pritzker says he’s hopeful the state’s indoor mask mandate can be lifted in time for the holidays.

The daily new case rate has been falling in recent weeks, as have hospitalizations. The Governor says this may lead to nixing “certain mask mandates.”

“We want to make sure that we are keeping people healthy and safe following the guidelines that Doctors are offering for us, so we will continue to do that. So obviously, we want to remove the mitigations as we approach the holidays. That’s an important marker for us; we want to make sure these numbers keep going down.”

At the latest count, there were more than 2,000 new COVID cases and 21 additional deaths. In addition, there were about 1,400 Illinois COVID patients in the hospital.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), 63.4% of Illinoians age 12 and up are now fully vaccinated.

WJBC Staff can be reached at [email protected].

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