CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has made it official: Residents will soon be required to wear a mask or at least cover the bottom half of their faces when they venture out into crowds.
Effective May 1, the new requirement comes after a long and delicate dance by public officials about whether to impose the safeguard against the spread of the novel coronavirus, which is transmitted in part by airborne droplets from infected people.
Thinking seems to have evolved over the course of the pandemic. In recent weeks, the White House and Pritzker noticeably began encouraging the use of masks. Some Chicago suburbs took it further by imposing a local requirement.
Now, it will be a statewide mandate. But it applies when people cannot maintain a six-foot distance with others in public places, such as supermarkets. If someone is jogging alone in an uncrowded setting, that is different.
“This new requirement applies to all individuals over the age of two who are able to medically tolerate a face-covering or a mask,” the governor’s office said in a news release.
The announcement Thursday came as Pritzker said he would extend the Illinois stay-at-home order from April 30 to May 30 to blunt the spread of coronavirus and ensure hospitals don't get overwhelmed.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot earlier this week said a mask mandate could be problematic for poor people. But proponents of the idea say anything will do: a scarf, a bandana, even a part of a T-shirt.