Prairie State Wire

The People Who Play By The Rules PAC is asking Illinois politicians if they will apologize for getting COVID protocols wrong. 

PBR PAC released its statement following the Centers for Disease and Control's acknowledgment of COVID-19 protocol shortcomings.

“The federal Centers for Disease and Control is finally realizing how wrong they were about so many things during the COVID pandemic, with damning statements over the weekend from CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx admitting that those agencies screwed up," a People Who Play By The Rules PAC press release reads. "Walensky said in a staff email that the CDC did not ‘reliably meet expectations’ while former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said on CBS's Face The Nation that the agency’s upcoming reorganization shows that the CDC ‘is willing to do the hard work to find the issues, and now they have to be fixed.’”    

PBR stressed the state's situation.

“The People Who Play By The Rules PAC asks: OK, what about Illinois’ mistakes? Will there be any mea culpas coming from Pritzker, Lightfoot, Ezike, et. al. anytime soon?” PBR asked. “Illinois GOP National Committeeman Richard Porter pointed out two Illinois Republican candidates who, unlike Pritzker, were way ahead of the curve on back in 2020 on COVID.”

GOP gubernatorial candidate Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) was an early opponent to COVID protocols for schools and businesses. 

“In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Darren led the charge against sweeping executive orders that shuttered Illinois businesses, collapsed the economy, and deprived hardworking Illinoisans of their livelihoods.  A complete return to normalcy is a top priority for Darren,” Bailey’s campaign website reads.

Birx noted the decisionmaking during the pandemic was flawed due to the use of "convenience data” rather than all available data, including the period of time needed to isolate from COVID being only five days, not 10 days as previously maintained. Birx noted the CDC was not prepared to handle incoming data appropriately during the pandemic. 

"All of our data that I use to warn Americans of who was at risk for severe disease, hospitalization and death came from our European colleagues," Birx said, Fox News reported. "That in itself should be an indictment of our system."

Republican National Committeeman for Illinois Richard Porter is supporting Bailey and GOP Attorney General candidate Tom DeVore.  Porter said that the best thing that Illinoisans could do for the state is to put Bailey and DeVore together.

“We're going to return to constitutional government," Porter said according to Prairie State Wire. We're going to have a governor that's going to work within his lane and we're going to have an attorney general that's going to (go) after crime. We're going to do what it takes. He's going to hold people to account. If a prosecutor does not prosecute, this man will find a way to prosecute her. OK. So we can do that. It's time for them to work for us again."