Lake County Gazette

Republican Chris Bos knows it'll be the same refrain every time he hears Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker talking about the lingering COVID-19 crisis and need for more restrictions to mitigate its spread across the state.

“Like many Republican lawmakers, I want to know where’s the data,” Bos, the member-elect of the Illinois House of Representatives in the 51st District, told the Lake County Gazette. “He keeps talking about relying on scientific data and how that’s guiding his decisions, but no one has seen any of what he’s talking about but him.”

Bos fumes the latest actions taken by the governor are no exception. Citing rising infection rates, Pritzker recently moved to reenact restrictions in at least 24 counties with the threat of more to come.

Bos argues it’s the last thing the state needs given all its financial struggles.

“Destroying small businesses and family businesses with no data to justify any of it is totally the wrong thing,” he added. “Since the crisis hit, these owners have been told to follow the science and now they’re being run out of business with no data being put up to prove anything. You talk to any small business owner and all they want to do is keep their patrons safe, but at the same time they also have families and employees they need to take care of. From the date I’ve seen, restaurants and bars are not spreading the virus.”

Given the increasingly high stakes, Bos said he isn’t surprised to now see small business owners fighting back, including launching a Facebook page where owners planning to defy his order can go to strategize and vent their frustrations.

"For so many of them, it about survival, being able to maintain their livelihood and keeping the community thriving,” he said.