Prairie State Wire

Gov. J.B. Pritzker spoke with ABC Chicago and said that despite the wider availability of the COVID-19 vaccine, the mandate to wear masks in public will still be upheld.

When COVID-19 struck Illinois, Pritzker issued disaster declarations to keep fellow Illinoisans safe from the disease. Pritzker issued 14 declarations which gave many parts of Illinois the appearance of a ghost town.

Most stores, restaurants, businesses and religious congregations were told to shut down until the pandemic was over.

Another mandate that Pritzker implemented was that people should wear masks when they leave their houses to stop the spread and contraction of the virus.

After a year of lockdown, rising vaccination rates have caused more and more states to slowly lift their restrictions. Pritzker is also slowly easing some of the restrictions brought about by the pandemic, but he is still holding onto the mask mandate.

Pritzker said, "As you've seen, we've altered the disaster declaration over time and as things get better, we've loosened up the mitigations that we've put on businesses and on people across the state. Masks though, that will stay in place for some time now,"