By Ann Nguyen, The Chicago Times
BURR RIDGE, IL – In defiance of a recent COVID vaccination mandate by the Cook County Department of Public Health, the mayor of Burr Ridge and mayor of Orland Park have chosen to ignore the mandate that applies to restaurants, bars, and other entertainment venues. Starting Jan 3, most restaurants and entertainment venues will require vaccination identification papers from patrons.
Mayor Gary Grasso of Burr Ridge said the mandate will cause businesses to lose money. A large part of Burr Ridge is in DuPage County with a small portion residing in Cook County. If Grasso enforced the mandate, some Burr Ridge businesses will have an advantage over those requiring vaccination papers. Grasso said he believes masking of patrons and workers is enough to mitigate COVID transmission.
Mayor Keith Pekau of Orland Park declared the new mandate as unlawful.
“If this is such an emergency, why are they waiting until January 3rd to impose these new mandates?” I highly question the intentions of the politicians making these decisions when they have yet to provide any data indicating that restaurants, indoor entertainment facilities, or gyms are the source of covid. Why are we, once again, targeting these businesses with mandates and not the many other places where people congregate indoors? I have a village of nearly 60,000 residents to answer to, I don’t need extreme politicians in Cook County government telling me what is best for Orland Park.” Pekau said in a release.
There was no comment from the Cook County Department of Public Health.
Photo: HaSt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Chicago Times 
