Lake County Gazette

Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Louisville) said one of his top priorities, if he wins the Nov. 8 election for governor, is to return schools to pre-COVID normalcy. 

Round Lake Area Unit District 116 has announced situational masking may be mandated at the school district when classes resume. Bailey contests that the children have already suffered  enough, arguing that unnecessary controls add to their discomfort.

"The school year is just around the corner and as school districts work through COVID-19 protocols, it is important we consider the need for kids to get back to normal," Bailey said in a statement. "Our kids have had to endure not seeing their friends and many have fallen behind academically because they were not getting the in-person learning they need. It is time to get back to normal. Our kids have endured enough."

The masking mandate at the district will be based on infection rates at school facilities but may be expanded universally, school district officials said. The 6,800 students attending the District 1116 schools will return on Aug. 15. 

"If we get to a higher threshold, we may move to universal masking throughout the building," spokeswoman Heather Bennett said, according to the Daily Herald. "Last year, we had a handful of times that we had universal masking, but there were some schools that never made it into situational masking. There is no required testing anymore for staff or students. So really, the masking is the one area that we're continuing with this year." 

The Illinois State Board of Education has noted unvaccinated students should mask for 10 days after coming into close contact with a COVID case in the upcoming school year, Prairie State Wire reported.

The moves come as the only medical doctor set to take a seat in the Illinois General Assembly has publicly criticized such masking mandates. Dr. Bill Hauter, who is set to take the 87th House District in January, ran his campaign on the unpopularity of COVID protocols with his Peoria constituency. He said data between schools and communities where masks were mandated versus those that did not mandate masks is likely statistically negligible, “In the end, they probably couldn't really tell any outcome difference between all of them. If you put them into a bucket and tried to pick out which one had better outcomes, you couldn't tell if it was because they locked down or not,” Hauter said.

A few schools around the nation have started reinstituting masking policies.

“It’s at least encouraging that many even in the scientific or medical community have moved on from masking, tacitly acknowledging that there are no benefits,” Ian Miller wrote on his Unmasked Substack. “But as feared, there are seemingly limitless amounts of politicians, health officials and local administrators willing to re-engage in COVID theater. Just in past few days, a number of cities and school districts have announced their intentions to reinstate mask mandates. Los Angeles, the San Diego Unified School District, Athens, Georgia, Lincoln, Nebraska…all have returned or will soon return to masking to some degree.”