COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Calthrina950]

Okay so, they're probably planning to lift it in the spring/summer if it becomes reasonable to do so, with the emphasized statement to the public that "you should expect a very realistic chance of it returning in the fall / winter but we'll see how things evolve between now and then".

Sounds... about right?

It should never be brought back, period.

Making definite statements about how safety protocols should be in the future despite not knowing what the conditions could be is foolish.

You would support seasonal mask mandates? Between this and permanent mask mandates, it's alarming to me that so many people are willing to accept a change such as this. But I've been predicting that this would be the case for some time now.

[Fascism Must Be Defeated]

Okay so, they're probably planning to lift it in the spring/summer if it becomes reasonable to do so, with the emphasized statement to the public that "you should expect a very realistic chance of it returning in the fall / winter but we'll see how things evolve between now and then".

Sounds... about right?

It should never be brought back, period.

Making definite statements about how safety protocols should be in the future despite not knowing what the conditions could be is foolish.

I'll just respond with this excellent quote from Blairite:

Alrighty, I'm going to do an overly-long text wall of a post articulating my thoughts about Covid and why I'm on the hard-reopen vanguard of the Democratic Party. Please ignore if this is all too self-indulgent...

You can't just make a virus go away by screaming "I'M GETTING ON WITH MY LIFE". The logic that just issuing a verbal decree that the pandemic is over will end it is exactly why this pandemic will not go away in reality. You can symbolically declare whatever you like, but in reality that won't stop surges in the future. COVID isn't a person, it is a virus that doesn't care about symbolism. My point is that you can be "done" with COVID restrictions, but you cannot be "done" with COVID itself. You can still get sick and no politician can save you from that.

Here's the thing. The ideal world is one without Covid in it. At one point, we thought mRNA vaccines would get us to that world. And in reality, they've gotten us close enough for people who want to protect themselves. People who don't want to protect themselves can deal with the fallout--and we don't need to make policy for them. Covid spread *does not matter* if vaccinated people aren't dying. Because the vaccines are pretty damn good.

But perhaps more importantly, the tradeoff between restrictions and freedom is very different than in 2020. In 2020, the deal was "we have restrictions until a vaccine is released to protect the vulnerable. Once the vaccine is out, everyone can go back to normal." The cost-benefit calculation is different now. In 2020, the rational choice was to wait a few months until vaccines came out to lift restrictions. We had an immediate, clear solution that would reduce Covid risk. There was a short-term payoff to delaying reopening. No such solution exists today. There is no particularly good reason to expect Covid circulation to be lower in 2024 than it is right now. There is no new vaccine coming--we already have the vaccine. Therefore, the abstract benefit of delaying stuff into the future has been eliminated. I think this is where your argument breaks down. There is no medium-term amount of time over which we can expect Covid risk to meaningfully fall. If this is as safe as things can be, it is not reasonable to expect people to make choices that will minimize spread and save lives. The cost, unlike in 2020, is simply not worth the benefit because you can promise no hard end date after which life will return to 2019. "Don’t do X for some defined period of time after which X will become dramatically safer" (i.e. March 2020-May 2021) is very different than “don’t do X indefinitely.” (i.e. any restriction after May 2021).

Therefore, the only rational choice--in decision making, in risk mitigation, in anything--is to treat Covid like it is, indeed, "done." If future surges cannot be stopped by the mRNA vaccines we all have today, there is no reason to make any effort to stop them.

"Get on with our lives" could mean any number of things.  I got the vaccine, and got on with my life.  Now the only way COVID impacts me is that I occasionally have to wear a mask, which I don't mind at all.

Bagdad GMAC's timeline:

Aug 2021: Afghanistan debacle isn't real!
Oct 2021: Inflation isn't real!
Jan 2022: Restrictions aren't real!

I mean, in the past couple of weeks I went to a football game, the new Matrix movie, a Broadway show, dinner with friends at several restaurants, and an eSports tournament. I literally can't think of anything I could do before COVID that I can't do now, and I live in the ~*liberal hellhole*~ of NYC.

What does "getting on with your life" equal if not the above?

Life is 90% of the way back to normal. Those on the right who think that it is still April 2020 in blue states are entirely detached from reality, but that also does not mean it is 100% of the way back to normal. And because--as I said above--risk mitigation against Covid is not rational, we need to be 100% of the way back to normal.

Here's some stuff that is still happening:

• Concerts, conventions, speaking events, and big gatherings are still being cancelled because organizations don't want to host during Covid.
• People--particularly kids in K12--who are exposed to Covid often have to isolate for a full week.
• Asymptomatic people with breakthrough cases have to isolate for five days.
• Millions of people are still working from home as big employers (and federal agencies, particularly in Washington) push back a return to the office by 2-3 months every 2-3 months. This is particularly decimating to all the businesses that rely on bustling downtowns and office workers to serve.
• Schools, universities, and most businesses still have mask mandates. Many schools also have weekly testing requirements.
• In-person Social Security offices have been 100% closed for two full years. For people without reliable internet access (usually poor and old), this is devastating--and erodes trust in our state capacity.
• You have to wear a mask on the train, on airplanes, and going grocery shopping.
• Service sector workers have to wear masks 8-10 hours per day, every day.
• Transpacific travel is still entirely shut down. (Not our fault, but still). Even where international travel is open, people have to get a PCR test before every flight.
• And crucially, RULES KEEP CHANGING. Back in 2017, I could plan 6-36 months ahead with some certainty. I knew what my life would look like. But two years of constant fluctuation from institutions breaks down the trust and the certainty people need for stability in their lives. And this breeds a constant, toxic feeling of precarity in everything we do.

None of these are individually a big deal, but collectively they add up. I think it has been reflected politically. Right now, Joe Biden should be very popular and Americans should be very happy. It's the roaring twenties 2.0. For most people alive today, 2020 was the worst year of their life. It was destabilizing, it was miserable, it was lonely, and it was desperate. Things are better. Even with inflation, most people are doing at least as well as they were in 2019. We can now do *most* of the things we could do in 2019. We have the fastest GDP growth of recent times anywhere in the world. Forget BBB for a moment--everyday voters should approve of Biden 60-40 on the merits of "life isn't like 2020" alone. More importantly, questions like "Is America getting better or worse?" should have 75-80 percent of people answering "better." But for some reason, that isn't happening. I believe it is because two years on, these constant, individually small but collectively immiserating vestiges of the pandemic are sapping the national spirit and making people feel like their lives aren't that great--even though materially, they are.

Biden and Harris have appropriately rejected the worst instincts of the lockdowners, but they haven't articulated a specific date at which life will be exactly like February 2019. A date where masks will not be required anywhere--even airplanes. A date where nobody will have to isolate for testing positive. A date where absolutely no services that were once offered in person are offered only virtually. I know that Covid-19 hawks feel that masks are a no-big-deal low-cost intervention. If we're being entirely rational, it's correct that they don't cost anything. But they offer us extraordinarily marginal protection compared to vaccines so they're frankly not worth bothering with. I was 100% on board with mask mandates right up until May 2021 when everyone had access to the vaccines. I was fine with a national law and fines for non-compliance. But today, they're an unceasing visual and tactile reminder of the misery of the pandemic. Everytime you don't see someone's face, it puts you back in that unpleasant bunker mentality. They don't allow you to look forward and feel optimistic about our current national state, even though there's a lot to be optimistic about. I do not believe most people will feel like we've put the pandemic behind us until we stop seeing (and wearing) masks everywhere we go. Especially on the faces of the President and Vice President.

It's interesting how behind the Democrats are on a lot of issues like this. Virtually everyone on the right and a supermajority of independents agree, but the Democrats are in a dead heat, and that's only the general population. Amongst Democratic politicians (and even primary voters) I bet that their numbers look more like an inverse of the independents.

The left has a similar delusion with cancel culture, where the popular opinion is plain for all to see, but Democrats simply cannot bring themselves to acknowledge it.

You're probably right, but do we really have to treat the phrase "cancel culture" like an appropriate combination of words for adult political culture? It's a real pet peeve. We have a word from zoomer slang (cancel) and threw culture on the end (which isn't correct word choice) and now have boomer pundits uncritically repeating it ad nauseum. The whole thing feels surreal.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Thanks for pinging me Sol!

May as well take this opportunity to throw in a few graphs:





It is, in fact, appropriate to change your views on Covid mitigation measures (and all other things) as the evidence changes. We just aren't facing the same disease anymore. People who compared Covid to the flu two years ago were dumb and wrong. People who don't think they're similar today (with some age-related discrepancies) are correspondingly incorrect. If you didn't think doing (x) to stop the spread of the flu was a good idea in 2019, it isn't logical to support doing (x) to stop the spread of Covid today.

[BlueSwan]

Thanks for pinging me Sol!

May as well take this opportunity to throw in a few graphs:





It is, in fact, appropriate to change your views on Covid mitigation measures (and all other things) as the evidence changes. We just aren't facing the same disease anymore. People who compared Covid to the flu two years ago were dumb and wrong. People who don't think they're similar today (with some age-related discrepancies) are correspondingly incorrect. If you didn't think doing (x) to stop the spread of the flu was a good idea in 2019, it isn't logical to support doing (x) to stop the spread of Covid today.

Yes, indeed.

I am amazed at the sheer stupidity of people who conclude that because the Omicron variant isn't very dangerous now, COVID was never dangerous to begin with. The ignorance is mind-numbing.

[ElectionsGuy]

The covid nannies have completely lost Bill Maher

https://twitter.com/ClayTravis/status/1490353088045146122

[emailking]

People who compared Covid to the flu two years ago were dumb and wrong. People who don't think they're similar today (with some age-related discrepancies) are correspondingly incorrect.

I don't think they're similar. Omicron killed as many people in January as the flu does in a really bad year (whole year).

[Pericles]

One more thing about the John Hopkins study-it seems to get the correlation the wrong way around. More Covid spread and more deaths can be correlated with longer lockdowns, but the longer lockdown is the effect of the situation being worse when the lockdown began. The study excluded early, preventative lockdowns, which were the type used by countries that eliminated Covid.

[Raccoon]

It has now been nearly a month since we were promised mass deaths of Chicago Public School students if they were returned to school.

[compucomp]

Okay so, they're probably planning to lift it in the spring/summer if it becomes reasonable to do so, with the emphasized statement to the public that "you should expect a very realistic chance of it returning in the fall / winter but we'll see how things evolve between now and then".

Sounds... about right?

It should never be brought back, period.

Making definite statements about how safety protocols should be in the future despite not knowing what the conditions could be is foolish.

You would support seasonal mask mandates? Between this and permanent mask mandates, it's alarming to me that so many people are willing to accept a change such as this. But I've been predicting that this would be the case for some time now.

I understand nobody is changing their mind on this and we're basically yelling at each other from entrenched positions, but we're talking about a mitigation that has low cost, low effort, and doesn't prevent anyone from doing anything. We're not talking about closing restaurants and bars seasonally. We're not talking about closing schools seasonally. We're not talking about applying capacity limits seasonally. We're not putting anyone out of work , shutting down any business, or causing inflation by trying to compensate for it. Why is it disturbing to require someone to put on a piece of clothing for public health? If hypothermia were contagious winter coats would be mandated every winter too.

Also, the fact that people are now willing to support permanent or seasonal mask mandates is an indication of where politics are today. It's clear that anti-maskers will not accept any form of masking, judging by the reaction of this forum when Biden made a speech urging people to wear masks and sent out 400 million N95 masks. So if the opponent is entrenched and will accept only 0% of your position and will fly into a rage at anything greater than that, why bother arguing for anything short of 100%?

People who compared Covid to the flu two years ago were dumb and wrong. People who don't think they're similar today (with some age-related discrepancies) are correspondingly incorrect.

I don't think they're similar. Omicron killed as many people in January as the flu does in a really bad year (whole year).

Agreed, the per case severity of COVID might be close to the flu now but COVID is by now much, much more contagious. The containment measures that merely slowed down COVID actually drove flu numbers to near-zero last winter.

[Don Vito Corleone]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

[Kamala-Tim 2024]

“There should never be mask mandates again ever”
“What if circumstances change in the future”
“Omg you support *scary voice* seasonal mask mandates!!!”

What’s the problem with bringing them back when there’s a Covid surge and getting rid of them when it subsides?

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

[Kamala-Tim 2024]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

[compucomp]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

It's rich to accuse us of gaslighting when you're the ones who are trying to convince us that COVID is not a threat. News flash the seasonal flu doesn't cause 450K deaths a year or spread like measles.

[Kamala-Tim 2024]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

[compucomp]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

This is why no compromise is possible, and why we might as well argue for permanent mask mandates. These people don't just hate mask mandates, they hate masks period. When Biden made his speech encouraging mask wearing and sent out 400m N95 masks, they flew into frothing-at-the-mouth rage. If they're going to do that for the weakest possible pro-mask measure, at a time when Omicron was surging to cartoonish levels, they're clearly incorrigible ideologues and there's no point to trying to come to an agreement with them.

[Kamala-Tim 2024]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love. But at some point it would be really helpful for people in this thread to realize that they are in fact allowed out of their homes.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

[Kamala-Tim 2024]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

Whatever. It’s not worth it to keep arguing with people who think the real problem is that an 80-year-old man wears a mask and is therefore somehow “wallowing in it”.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

Whatever. It’s not worth it to keep arguing with people who think the real problem is that an 80-year-old man wears a mask and is therefore somehow “wallowing in it”.

The president sets an example for the entire country. So long as a mask is still on his face, we are not out of pandemic mode. The fact that he happens to be 80 is irrelevant, unless you support permanent mask mandates for the elderly or something.

[compucomp]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...
I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

Whatever. It’s not worth it to keep arguing with people who think the real problem is that an 80-year-old man wears a mask and is therefore somehow “wallowing in it”.

It's too bad Biden cancelled the plan to directly send masks to households. It would have been worth the $5 to send these people N95 masks and watch them spontaneously combust in rage.

[Mr. Illini]

On the Illinois front...

A federal judge has struck down Gov. Pritzker's mask and quarantine mandates for schools; State will appeal

School districts scrambled over the weekend to figure out how to handle the ruling when classes opened on Monday morning.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-school-mask-mandate-ruling-20220207-gqxdvyrysbcgpp62zhs7yoevxa-story.html

---

Gov. Pritzker will drop state's mask mandate "as soon as we possibly can;" Lightfoot says vax mandate will go soon as well

Illinois has been under a mask mandate since August 2021, when the delta surge began.

https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/we-should-remove-masks-as-soon-as-we-can-pritzker-considering-easing-covid-19-restrictions-as-cases-drop/

[Calthrina950]

On the Illinois front...

A federal judge has struck down Gov. Pritzker's mask and quarantine mandates for schools; State will appeal

School districts scrambled over the weekend to figure out how to handle the ruling when classes opened on Monday morning.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-school-mask-mandate-ruling-20220207-gqxdvyrysbcgpp62zhs7yoevxa-story.html

---

Gov. Pritzker will drop state's mask mandate "as soon as we possibly can;" Lightfoot says vax mandate will go soon as well

Illinois has been under a mask mandate since August 2021, when the delta surge began.

https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/we-should-remove-masks-as-soon-as-we-can-pritzker-considering-easing-covid-19-restrictions-as-cases-drop/

Hopefully Pritzker does it sooner rather than later, especially since his school mask mandate has been struck down. But slowly and surely, it seems like some Democrats may finally be getting off the mask bandwagon.