Prairie State Wire

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said on Thursday, Aug. 26 that he is imposing another universal statewide indoor mask mandate on residents because he believes it will stop the spread of the so-called "delta variant" of COVID-19.

As of Monday, Aug. 30, he made masks required in all indoor settings-- not just K-12 schools.

"Masks work. Period," Pritzker said, confidently.

However, the governor refused to answer reporter requests to provide the data behind his assertions.

On Wednesday, Aug. 25, AM 560 reporter Amy Jacobson tried to ask Pritzker to provide the scientific basis he was using to assume a K-12 school mask mandate would be effective in stopping the spread of airborne viral disease, like COVID. She asked if there was a case threshold he was using to decide when to require masks.

Pritzker Press Secretary Jordan Abudayyeh told her to "Google it."

On Aug. 26, Jacobson gave Abudayyeh a copy of an Aug. 20 New York Magazine article titled, "The Science of Masking Kids at School Remains uncertain." It cited a May study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of K-12 mask mandates and other anti-COVID measures in 169 Georgia schools, including more than 90,000 children, from Nov. 16 to Dec. 11, 2020, concluding they "could not be said to be effective."

The CDC said this study was the "first of its kind to compare COVID-19 incidence in schools with certain mitigation measures in place to other schools without those measures."

“That a masking requirement of students failed to show independent benefit is a finding of consequence and great interest,” the article quoted Vinay Prasad, an associate professor in the University of California, San Francisco’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, as commenting.

Jacobson also gave Abudayyeh a copy of a Wall Street Journal editorial from Aug. 8 titled, "The Case against Masks for Children," by Johns Hopkins Professor Marty Makary and H. Cody Meissner, who is chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Tufts Children's Hospital in Boston.

The article said masks are not only ineffective but harm children, blocking their nasal passages and forcing them to "mouth-breathe," potentially causing mouth deformities and elongated face.

"Those who have myopia can have difficulty seeing because the mask fogs their glasses," it said. "Masks can cause severe acne and other skin problems. The discomfort of a mask distracts some children from learning. By increasing airway resistance during exhalation, masks can lead to increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood. And masks can be vectors for pathogens if they become moist or are used for too long."

Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Missouri do not have statewide mask mandates.