Carbondale Reporter

Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) recently reacted to JCAR's objection to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s emergency COVID mandates for schools. 

"Today, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules successfully objected to the Governor's attempt to reissue emergency rules that could have required most school districts to enforce the Governor’s school mask mandate despite a recent court ruling," Bryant posted to her official Facebook account on Feb. 15. 

Bryant said that she thinks that Pritzker's mandates are more severe than those in other Democratic states.

“Even states like New York and New Jersey have been more reasonable than our governor, who has treated our state like his personal fiefdom since the onset of this pandemic instead of the Democracy he was elected to represent" Bryant said. 

In an appearance on WSIL-TV, Bryant said that Pritzker was attempting to save face in this election year by being derivative of what other states were using as their policy. As of Feb. 9, Illinois was one of only seven states that continued to have a mask mandate in force. Most of the other states are planning to discontinue their mask mandates by the conclusion of this month or in March.

With the conclusion of the official mask mandate being anticipated, the decision to enforce mandates will be up to individual businesses and restaurants.