By Illinois Review
After a Central Illinois hospital announced on Facebook this week that they were reinstating COVID-era mask mandates, area residents pushed back on social media – flooding the medical center’s social media page with negative comments and forcing health care officials to change the masking policy from a “requirement” to a “recommendation.”
On December 30th, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria posted on their Facebook page, “Starting Tuesday, December 31, all employees, patients and visitors at our hospitals are required to wear masks due to the widespread respiratory illnesses in our communities, including COVID-19, influenza and RSV.” The post was accompanied with a graphic, but within hours, it had generated over 1,200 comments – mostly against the mask mandate.
“Oh no, but the new RSV vaccine was supposed to be a breakthrough…what time on the 31st does the illness start? 8am?,” wrote one user.
“Oh good lord not this song and dance routine again…” wrote another resident.
This ignorance from a healthcare system is one very big reason people do not trust our healthcare professionals any longer,” said Nancy.
It didn’t take long to notice that their mask mandate policy was backfiring and instead generating widespread criticism, forcing hospital officials to disable the public comment section – effectively censoring First Amendment rights of area residents when the narrative wasn’t going their way. And a day later, on December 31st, they announced that they were revising their “requirement” to simply a “recommendation.”
“Due to widespread respiratory illnesses, we are recommending – rather than requiring – that patients and visitors wear a mask in our hospitals, hospice home and clinics. This change acknowledges the importance of personal choice while still encouraging practices that help protect vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly, infants and those with weakened immune systems from COVID-19, influenza and RSV.”
On December 2nd, the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released its final report after a 2-year investigation that confirmed what many Americans have been saying along – the vaccine did not stop the spread or transmission of the disease, mask mandates were implemented without any scientific data – and lockdowns – especially school closures – caused “immeasurable harm” to children and adults.
The report also found that many decisions by government officials that included social distancing guidelines were not based on science – as former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci testified that the guidance “sort of just appeared.” Widespread abuse of power by government officials, including Fauci was also identified in the findings. Officials also purposely ignored the effectiveness of natural immunity.
Fauci remains a controversial figure and is blamed for implementing mandates and guidelines that were not based on scientific evidence, while at the same time abusing his power during the pandemic – leading President Joe Biden and his team to consider granting Fauci a pre-emptive full pardon in lieu of this report and the recent election of President Donald Trump – who has vowed to root out corruption and hold officials like Fauci accountable for their actions during the pandemic.
In the last month, several area hospitals and health care systems throughout Illinois have begun reinstating mask mandates, including University of Chicago Medicine, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Rush Copley Medical Center, Rush Oak Park Hospital, St. Joseph and Advocate Sherman hospitals in Elgin and Endeavor Health.
