Prairie State Wire

Wirepoints founder Mark Glennon won’t allow Gov. J.B. Pritzker to mask what he believes to be the truth.

“I think what really turned the corner in Illinois was the use of masking everywhere,” Pritzker said at a Thursday news conference. “This is not to suggest in any way that our battle is over, but so much progress has been made, and if we continue to follow the path the doctors recommend, we can continue our march forward toward more normalcy.”

The governor issued an order mandating wearing masks in public on April 23. It took effect on May 1.

Glennon said statistics don’t jibe with Pritzker’s claim.

“The state data show when deaths and hospitalizations peaked, but those reported numbers lag behind the true track of the virus. When you adjust for that lag, using numbers from the CDC, it’s clear that the virus peaked in Illinois between April 15 and April 18,” he told Prairie State Wire. “But Pritzker’s mask order wasn’t issued until after that and did not go into effect until May 1. So, it’s clearly not true that masks ‘turned the corner’ on the virus.”

Glennon rebutted the governor’s claim in an essay he posted Thursday on Wirepoints.

“Let me be clear. I am not saying masks are not effective or that they should not be worn,” he wrote. “While I am well aware of the controversy about their effectiveness, I wear one and I think the balance of the evidence says it’s best to do so. I also follow most social distancing rules and think everybody should who is in an at-risk group or in contact with those who are.”

Glennon wrote that, while COVID-19 reports in Illinois have been “consistently good” since mid-April, there is no evidence Pritzker deserves to take a bow. In fact, he wrote, many elements of his reopening plan make no sense.

The dramatic upsurge in coronavirus cases across the country in recent days — especially in Arizona, Florida and Texas — mean it’s far too early for anyone to take a victory lap.

“Maybe Illinois will see a resurgence. Maybe Wisconsin will as well, which has fared extremely well despite having no lockdown order since May 13,” Glennon wrote. “If that happens and Illinois needs to adjust course, it will be worth remembering the full history. It shows that, despite recent trends, Illinois is among the poorest performers based on total numbers of deaths and cases per capita. Illinois lost 53 people per 100,000 of population, which is 2.6 times more than Arizona, 3.5 times more than Florida and 6.6 times more than Texas.”

He told Prairie State Wire the explanation for the variance across the country is unclear now.

“I see no consensus among experts and no indication in the data about why some states did better than others. I think that assessment will have to wait until the virus runs its course,” Glennon said. “One thing clear, however, is that a large number of deaths in nursing homes accounted for quite a bit of Illinois’ high number of deaths — about 50 percent for Illinois. So far it’s also difficult to see any connection between lockdown restrictions and how well other states and nations have done, though the jury is still out on that.”

While more data must be obtained and studied before conclusions can be reached, Glennon is convinced of one thing: Pritzker has been playing politics during a pandemic.

“From the start he has been stage-managing the data to fit the story he wants to tell. Initially, the state did not even collect hospitalization numbers, which it now acknowledges are the most timely way to track the virus,” he said. “The state had to be badgered into collecting that information. Today, it is inexcusable that the state is not collecting and publishing antibody testing results, which would show how many people got infected but never presented any symptoms.

“Those numbers could only cut one way — they would make the pandemic appear less severe — which is probably why the state doesn’t want them,” Glennon said.