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Illinois’ taxes, corruption, unfriendly business environment and high labor costs continue to take a toll on the state’s economic recovery. And job prospects for many Illinoisans, particularly in the leisure and hospitality industry, have been made even worse by the state’s COVID policies, some of the nation’s strictest.
A comparison of mask-mandated Illinois to its mandate-less neighbors during Omicron shows that Illinois’ restrictions have failed to provide any benefit so far. In fact, a review of publicly-available CDC data shows Illinois’ per capita COVID cases increased more rapidly than all its neighbors, while the state’s deaths per capita are now higher than all of its neighbors except Indiana.
It’s time for public officials like Gov. JB Pritzker to check the political winds on their COVID policies. They may cling to their version of science, but the politics have shifted against them, even within their own party. They are rapidly being left behind, putting Illinois and a few other states in outlier status on COVID policy, particularly for children.
If activists and lawmakers really cared about democracy, they’d drop their unfounded claims of “voter suppression” and instead end what really depresses voter turnout: off-cycle municipal elections.
The Chicago Teachers Union has walked out on Chicago’s kids once again. It’s the fifth time in the last ten years.