CHICAGO – Chicago Republicans are not happy with how Mayor Lori Lightfoot is focusing more on stricter COVID mandates than skyrocketing crime, the group said in a press release Tuesday. They want the proof of vaccine mandate Lightfoot declared beginning January 3 to end immediately.
"Rather than address rampant crime, nearly 4500 Chicago shootings and some 115 Chicago children – 19 and under – murdered by gunfire this year, Mayor Lightfoot and County Board President Preckwinkle have decided to make scapegoats of the unvaccinated, punishing them and thousands of business owners with unsupportable mandates," they said.
“Numerous medical reports show that the Omicron variant is commonly causing no worse than flu-like symptoms,” stated Chicago GOP Chairman Steve Boulton. “We have never created scarlet letters or leper colonies over flu outbreaks, but we are heading there with this bullying, blame-game leadership in the city and county.”
The group said the January 3 mandates to require proof of vaccination before entering a Chicago business that serves food or drink simply will not work. Omicron is already overwhelmingly widespread in Cook County, Chicago and the nation. New York City has had similar mandates in effect for months, which did nothing to stop the spread of Omicron. There is no rationale for why “emergency” measures need a 13-day grace period, while Omicron spreads like wildfire.
The mandates are unenforceable, due to a lack of personnel, while food stores, pharmacies, churches, and persons who are vaccinated but infected with Omicron are not included.
“These new restrictions have all the logic of building a dam just halfway across a river,” noted Boulton. “They are empty, punitive, political gestures.”
Three elements stand out in the most current data, the group said.
"First, medical evidence from South Africa shows that Omicron causes a dramatic spike that that drops as quickly as it rises. Second, in December nearly 40% of Illinois Covid deaths have been 'breakthrough' cases of vaccinated people, rebutting the myth that vaccination is a cure-all. Third, levels of hospitalization and ICU admission typically rise with the commencement of winter, flu season and the holidays, but no evidence has been offered on how the currently high levels are driven solely by Covid."
They went on to say in the strongly worded piece,"Power-drunk leaders are leaping to convenient conclusions they prefer, rather than ones supported by science."
“With no rational basis in science for the new mandates, it is plain that they are mere political posturing before upcoming elections,” stated Boulton. “These mandates did not originate with scientists in Washington D.C., but instead with politicians in New York, Los Angeles, and now Chicago. People are being punished for exercising their personal liberty, just so politicians can use fall guys to create distractions and political cover.”
The Chicago Republican Party demands that the new mandates be withdrawn immediately, before they ever begin.
