Dupage Policy Journal

DuPage County Chairman Dan Cronin and the DuPage County Board held a maskless event over the weekend drawing the ire of parents whose children are mandated to wear masks to school.

Photos from the official DuPage County Board event show its participants huddled close to each other without masks.

“Chairman Dan Cronin welcomed members to the December Choose DuPage meeting. Economic Development Committee  Chair Amy Chavez and Members Liz Chaplin, Paula Deacon Garcia, Greg Schwarze, Brian Krajewski, Sheila Rutledge and  Lynn LaPlante also attended and met with business leaders,” a Facebook post accompanying photos from the event reads.

Meanwhile the nearly 150,000-strong student population attending the county’s 260 public K-12 schools must wear masks every day.

A local parent said the contrast in treatment is unfair.

“So DuPage County Board can hold a Christmas party and meeting like this but my kids still have to play basketball in masks?” one Twitter user said.

Another parent, Emma Woodhouse, also pointed out the irony.

“Such a joke,” she said. “DuPage County Board Chairman @ElectCronin can host a mask-free holiday event, while my child can’t even sit <3 ft away from friends at lunch and is forced (to) cover (their) face all day under threat of being sent home.”

Cronin, a Republican, is the county’s longtime leader, having first been elected in 2010. He announced in September that he will not be running for reelection in 2022.

Board member Greg Hart, a fellow Republican, is running to replace him.

Locally, Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico has come out publicly against the mask mandate.  

“Illinois is the only midwestern state that currently requires a mask and yet as of today, we are no better off than the surrounding states. In my view, based on the CDC information and the minimal, if any, impact of COVID mitigation strategies on actual results, It’s time to drop the mask mandate in Illinois,” Chirico posted on Facebook in November.

Illinois is one of a handful of states with a mask mandate. It, along with Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington require masks indoors.

A Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy commentary found that "cloth masks and face coverings are likely to have limited impact on lowering COVID-19 transmission, because they have minimal ability to prevent the emission of small particles ... and offer limited personal protection with respect to small particle inhalation.”