CHICAGO (Heart of Illinois ABC) – All Illinois school children and people at long-term care facilities will be required to wear face masks to slow COVID-19’s latest surge caused by the highly-contagious Delta variant.
Masks are mandated for students, teachers, and staff at pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade schools, along with day care centers across the state., Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday.
The measures mirror guidelines recently announced by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which has found the delta variant is as contagious as the chicken pox.
“Given our current trajectory in hospitalizations and ICU usage, we have a limited amount of time right now to stave off the highest peaks of this surge going into the fall,” said Pritzker.
Hospitalizations and ICU usage have more than doubled in a month, and the number of COVID patients requiring a ventilator has multiplied nearly 2.5 times over since July 16, according to Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) data.
Pritzker said far too few school districts are following CDC guidelines, but he commended Peoria Public Schools and a handful of other districts implementing mask requirements.
The governor and Health Department Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike pleaded with people who haven’t been vaccinated to get their shots.
“Vaccination is the best way we can prevent further spread, hospitalizations, and deaths due to COVID-19 and the Delta variant,” said Ezike.
'Test-to-Stay' in school plan announced
The Pritzker Administration also announced it’s providing free saliva-based testing to all pre-K through 12th grade students as an alternative to placing close contacts of a positive case in quarantine.
Under the Test-to-Stay protocol, close contacts can remain in school if they receive testing on the first, third, fifth, and seventh days following exposure, and if both the close contacts and the people infected with the virus wore masks at the time of the exposure.
Vaccine mandated for state employees
Pritzker is also requiring all state employees who work in highly populated facilities such as prisons to be vaccinated.
The required vaccination for state employees applies to those who work in prisons and juvenile detention facilities, veterans’ homes and state facilities for the mentally and developmentally disabled. Each must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 4.
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August 05, 2021 at 03:26AM
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Mask mandate announced for Illinois grade school kids, long-term care facilities - HOI ABC
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