All school staff and health care workers will have to be vaccinated under a new Illinois mandate.
Governor J-B Pritzker says the mandate includes pre-school through college school teachers and staff as well as health care workers, including those in public and private nursing homes.
“Effective September 5th individuals working in those settings who are unable or unwilling to receive their first dose of vaccine will be required to be tested for COVID-19 at least once a week and IDPH or ISBE may require more frequent testing like during an outbreak.”
Pritzker fears unvaccinated health care workers are driving up infection rates
“The COVID-19 vaccine has been available to the public for many months. In that time we have watched many of our most vulnerable individuals do what they can to protect themselves and get vaccinated. But unvaccinated workers in the health care system and in nursing homes have driven the majority of the breakthrough hospitalizations we have seen in Illinois,” said Pritzker.
The Governor says the move is necessary to stem the rising number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, especially among the unvaccinated. Since August 1st, local health departments across the state have reported 27 school outbreaks and hundreds of schools are being monitored for potential COVID exposure.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday also announced a fresh statewide mandate on wearing masks indoors in response to a spike in cases, particularly in southern Illinois where he reported only three percent of ICU beds are available. The mask order begins Monday and applies to everyone over age 2, regardless of vaccination status.
