On Jan. 14, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s basketball team beat the University of Michigan 68-53. In compliance with NCAA guidelines, the players were maskless.
Meanwhile, Illinois high school basketball players are required to wear masks during games. The indoor sports mask mandate for high schools in Illinois has been in place since Aug. 4, 2021, when Gov. Jay Pritzker announced masks will be required for all indoor athletic events regardless of vaccination status.
Michigan high school basketball players have no mask requirements this season. The Michigan High School Athletic Association encourages teams to abide by local mask requirements but does not force athletes and officials to wear them while participating. Michigan understands the importance of allowing athletes to breathe freely. As an Illinois resident, I think that Illinois residents deserve the same.
Freedom, science, and common sense do not fit with Pritzker’s authoritarian agenda. Rather than worrying about the negative health effects caused by masks, Pritzker wants to continue the perception that his policies help control the spread of COVID-19 in Illinois. Given recent scientific studies and anecdotal evidence, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s own statements, masks do little to nothing to control COVID-19. Thus, one is left asking what exactly the governor of Illinois is hoping to do by forcing citizens to wear masks, even, and especially, when they are playing sports.
From a health perspective, Illinois residents are experiencing the harmful effects of Pritzker’s executive order. Information has been available regarding the physical harm of wearing masks for the majority of the now two-year COVID-19 “emergency.” In April 2021, German researchers published a meta-analysis of 65 studies assessing the adverse physical health effects of mask-wearing. Physical harms include, but are not limited to, mask-induced exhaustion syndrome, headaches, increased risk of respiratory infection, acne, and shortness of breath. These are only some of the short-term physical risks. The long-term risks for people who have been wearing masks for extended periods of time are yet to be known.
Not only are mask wearers at risk of physical harm, but masks were also shown to cause psychological and cognitive harm as well. A separate study also conducted in Germany of more than 25,000 school-aged children found that almost 70% of children experienced irritability, less happiness, reluctance to go to school, and the development of new fears from wearing masks. Academically, students had difficulty concentrating and impaired learning. Other studies have also evaluated the negative impact on IQ and communication skills of children due to mask-wearing.
Weighing the known harms against the minimal benefit of wearing masks, a rational person would never conclude that mandatory masking is in the best interest of all residents across an entire state. Universally requiring a medical intervention across an entire population is usually not a sound medical practice.
Americans should be informed of the lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of mask-wearing as well as the risks associated with it. Once informed, they should have the right to choose if they want to wear a mask.
Instead, Pritzker–and other government authorities–have taken away the rights and freedoms of citizens to make decisions about their daily lives. Adults who would not choose to wear masks in public settings concede to the tyranny in an attempt to avoid conflict with fellow citizens. Causing more harm than benefit, including a greater divide among people, mandatory mask-wearing is nothing more than forced speech as it has become a symbol of virtue signaling and compliance.
In public places throughout Illinois, compliance with mask-wearing is high. Indoor venues continue to be filled with people wearing at least one, if not two, masks. Very few citizens in heavily populated counties appear to defy Pritzker’s executive order. This high-level compliance shows Pritzker that he is successfully coercing Illinois residents to relinquish their constitutionally protected rights. Without input through their vote or the passage of laws, citizens are unknowingly signaling to their governor that he can continue to issue executive orders and mandate choices about their lives. Forcing residents to cover their faces when they are in public places is only the beginning of the control that Pritzker seeks to take over Illinoisans, as his COVID-19 executive orders include other aspects of control like vaccine requirements for healthcare workers, school personnel, and employees of institutions of higher education.
A majority of states in the country do not have governor-dictated mask mandates. Pritzker’s mask mandate is unconstitutional, unscientific, and irrational, and it shows he would rather follow his own political agenda of maintaining control instead of science.
