SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Mask mandates for Illinois schools have temporarily been suspended following a 9-0 Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) vote Tuesday to block emergency rules by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The move affects all K-12 public and private schools in the state.
The vote comes after a Sangamon County judge ruled Feb. 4 on a lawsuit involving 145 state school districts to temporarily blocks mask requirements, quarantine, COVID-19 vaccination mandates and testing rules for those districts.
The order caused confusion for some districts not involved in the lawsuit. In a footnote, Judge Raylene Grischow declared the state health department and board of education's emergency rules "void" and said other districts "may govern themselves accordingly."
Following the vote, Galesburg CUSD #205 announced it will move to a mask-recommended policy instead of a mask-optional one beginning Feb. 16.
The district said it will still follow federal rules for masks on buses, but it will not be a requirement inside school buildings.
On the other hand, Rock Island-Milan School District Superintendent Reginald Lawrence, in a statement Tuesday, said the district would continue to require masks for students and staff while indoors.
According to the statement, the decision to keep the mandate in effect in the district was due to the unclarity of whether the JCAR ruling affected the enforceability of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's executive order.
During a news conference Feb. 9, Pritzker said Illinois will ease indoor mask mandates beginning Feb. 28, if the state's declining trend in positive cases and hospitalizations continued.
Pritzker noted that mask requirements would continue in places where they are federally mandated, including in schools, day cares, public transits, health care facilities and congregate care.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Governor Pritzker cited doctors calling for masks in schools, saying, "masks are the best way to preserve in-person learning and keep children and staff safe."
Governor Pritzker said schools are a unique environment, with students and staff together for long periods of time.
"The JCAR members preferred a different procedural route to suspend the rule while waiting for an appellate court ruling," Pritzker said. "I think we share the common view that we need to get a ruling. And either way, the next step is to hear from the appellate court and go from there."
Despite a decrease in reported infections, the governor urged using masks for protection of people with underlying health conditions and for all in crowded areas.