Governor JB Pritzker (D-IL) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that coronavirus cases were currently surging because President Donald Trump was “modeling bad behavior” by not wearing a mask.
Pritzker said, “Frankly, the president has made it nearly impossible for states to open up more than they are now. We have, you know, this pandemic has been around now for seven to eight months and without much help from the federal government, we have been fighting it off.”
He continued, “He is modeling bad behavior. He doesn’t wear a mask in public. He has rallies where they don’t encourage people to wear masks in public. Truly this is now rhetoric that people understand and particularly in rural areas in my state. ‘Well, the president doesn’t wear a mask, so we don’t need to wear a mask. It’s not that dangerous.’ The truth of the matter is it is very dangerous. Even if there are therapeutics coming online to help people, our hospitalizations are coming up, and people are having long hauler’s syndrome when they are out of the hospital and if they survive. We are heading into a new wave of coronavirus all over the country, and it’s very dangerous.”
He added, “People are not following the mitigations and because the modeling is so bad at the leadership level, the federal level. We are trying to get the word out. We are trying to convince people to do the right things but the president’s allies in our state across the state who are saying to people, don’t pay any attention to the mitigations. Don’t follow the rules. Indeed, there are bars and restaurants which are restricted from expanding their indoor service that are just ignoring the rules. They are just filling the place up and when people stop by and they see that no one else is wearing a mask, maybe that is okay. It’s not okay.”
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