Dear Illinois General Assembly...Please Reign in The King
A Letter to My Reps about the Governor's latest mask mandates
Today I sent a version of this email to my Illinois General Assembly Representatives, in hopes that at least one of our other two branches of government will reign in the Governor-King on the issue of mandated masking. Feel free to use or adapt for your own correspondence with your legislator.
Governor J.B. Pritzker responding to questions from reporter Amy Jacobson about his school mask mandates, during an August 25, 2021 press conference.
Dear Representative/Senator,
We are constituents writing to strongly urge you and your colleagues in the Illinois General Assembly -- to review both the Governor of Illinois’ (a) authority to issue, and (b) basis for issuing his August 4th and August 30th mask mandates, with regard to your role, as well as the health and safety of children & families.
It is clearer now than ever that the forced masking of children as a condition of daily public life and services presents more risks than benefits.
For example, we’re sure you're aware that
1) The virus & its variants are statistically less risky to children than flu (and less risky to young children than RSV, which is experiencing an alarming off-season rise).
2) Countries like Sweden never masked school children, and now England has stopped requiring masks and quarantines for all grade levels.
3) The WHO recommends cloth masks only for children 12 & up (and doesn't cite data to support their position the masking of older children)
4) Despite widespread use and many available participants, the social-psychological-developmental effects of forced masking on children have not been be studied or evaluated in the U.S. However, parents & teachers all over the country have spoken anecdotally about the effects they see on kids and teens. Children have also testified at school board meetings and through school tasks about their own negative experiences with forced masking. (We are happy to provide examples for your review.) The impact can no longer be minimized or dismissed.
5) There is no documented association between school mask mandates and reduced numbers of COVID cases. A newly-published study out of Wales concurs masking schoolchildren is unwarranted. Another new study concludes there is no association between mask mandates or use and reduced COVID-19 spread in the United States.
6) Mainstream media has also begun to publish substantive, intellectually honest articles that review data on mask efficacy in schools and the question the ongoing use of mask mandates for children. Here are three recent examples in New York Magazine, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal.
As you know, for nearly 18 months, the Governor has unilaterally imposed masking alongside other mitigations on citizens, churches, schools, and businesses, in the name of a public health emergency. Data show clearly that we had and continue to have ample capacity in our hospitals, which were never overwhelmed by people hospitalized because of COVID-19. In fact, our state’s hospitals operated at below optimal capacity for profitability during 2020. Many continue to do so.
Blessedly, we have multiple vaccines, plenty of proactive and responsive treatment options, & clarity about who is at high risk for severe outcomes from SARS-CoV-2 infection. The goalposts for ending the crisis-mode of responding to what is very likely now a seasonal, endemic virus keep shifting. Illinoisans are losing hope, and many are making plans to join those that have already fled to states where they are free to assume personal responsibility for their own health and engage in public life unfettered by burdensome public-health dictums.
“We the People” should not have to wait until November 2022 to be freed from Executive fiats. Citizens of various risk profiles must have a say about ongoing mitigations, which are interfering with personal choice & responsibility, physical & mental health, and self-determination to live a purposeful life.
Therefore, we humbly request that you and the rest of the Illinois Legislature, irrespective of political party, publicly question the basis for the Governor's seemingly never-ending pandemic-response powers, and take it upon yourselves to propose and debate legislation you deem necessary to managing the state’s response to COVID-19.
Please, reign in the King.
Regards,
[Constituents’ Names]