SPRINGFIELD, ILL. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Gov. J.B. Pritzker launched on Monday a new mask-awareness campaign aimed at mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in Illinois.
The campaign has a very straightforward tagline: It only works if you wear it.
“Every day we do things that keep us safe like buckling a seatbelt to putting on a bike helmet. A mask is no different,” Pritzker said during a press conference introducing the campaign. “Keeping it in your pocket or wearing it just around your neck doesn’t work. It’s really that simple.”
Pritzker played a video ad for the campaign that featured people of various ages and races wearing masks and advocating that all Illinoisans do.
The governor said the $5 million-campaign will “use every media channel available” to communicate its message in multiple languages on streaming audio, radio, television and billboards.
“Folks, no one is asking you to wear a mask forever but for time being until we see a very effective treatment or a vaccine, the best way to safely get to the other side of this emergency, is for all of us to follow the mitigations recommended by doctors,” Pritzker continued.
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, reiterated Pritzker’s message, pleading with Illinoisans to wear face masks.
"It keeps us safe but it only works if we wear it. So please let’s wear a mask in public. It’s the same message we’ve been echoing since the beginning," Dr. Ezike said.
So far, a total of 183,241 cases and 7,526 deaths have been reported in Illinois, the health department said. The daily number of coronavirus cases in Illinois hit 1,941 Friday, the highest daily count the state has seen in weeks. The IDPH recently said as many as 3,800 coronavirus test results all linked to one lab, Reditus Labs in Pekin, have been delayed beyond what officials say is appropriate. Now, the health department said it’s working with Reditus to improve its testing operations because results from July 12 to July 24 have been delayed.
The Centers for Disease and Control reported on Saturday a total of 4.65 million COVID-19 cases and 154,471 deaths in the U.S.