CHICAGO (WREX) � We're learning more about what is needed to remove the statewide mask mandate in Illinois.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker was asked about when the state might remove the mandate during an unrelated news conference Monday. While the governor did not provide a specific date, he did shed light on the key metric the state is looking at.
"Hospitalizations. Hospitalizations. Hospitalizations," the governor said.Ìý
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The governor said the number of people in the hospital with the virus needs to get to a point where health officials feel comfortable in removing masks.Ìý
Gov. Pritzker was asked if there's a threshold for the number of hospitalizations needed for the state to get to, but the governor did not provide a concrete answer.
However, the governor did say during the news conference the number of hospitalizations needs to mirror that of last summer when the state removed the mask mandate before reinstating it when numbers started trending the wrong direction.
Illinois moved to "Phase 5" of its "Restore Illinois" plan on June 11, 2021. The number of people in the hospital with the virus at that time was 684, per Illinois Department of Public Health data.Ìý
As of Monday, there were 2,744 people in the hospital with the virus, according to IDPH data. The state is still recovering after seeing a peak number of hospitalizations around 7,400 in January.Ìý
But how many people were in the hospital when the state reinstated its mask mandate late last summer? According to IDPH data, there were 2,266 people hospitalized with the virus on Aug. 30, 2021, the day the mask mandate went back into effect.
So with Illinois seeing a decline in hospitalizations over the past few weeks, we could be seeing the mask mandate end in the coming days or weeks.
However, the governor once again urged caution that if/when it does happen, doesn't mean another mandate won't be put in place.
"That's going to be something we have to consider all the way along here. Even when/if we remove the requirement that people wear masks in various settings, there may come a time in the future when we'd want people to put their masks back on," Gov. Pritzker said.Ìý
The governor made his first public comments Monday afterÌýa Sangamon County judgeÌýblocked the governor's mask executive orderÌýon Friday.
The judge's ruling allowed school district's to decide whether or not students needed to wear masks while in the classroom.Ìý
Several school districts across the state,Ìýincluding in southern Illinois, made the choice to walk back several COVID-19 policies following the judge's decision.Ìý
