Letter To Editor: 'Mayor, Don’t File Another Frivolous Lawsuit'

ORLAND PARK, IL — The following is a letter to the editor submission from Orland Park resident, Susan Rohde:

I listened to the recent special board meeting of Orland Park on August 6th. Mayor Pekau began the meeting by stating his desire for the State legislature to review the Governor’s mask mandate. He then presented a slideshow of graphs showing recent trends in hospital data. I don’t dispute that COVID cases have gone down with the number of vaccinations, however past trends are changing dramatically with the Delta Variant. According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, cases of COVID-19 increased in Illinois by 46% last week.

Mayor Pekau (who has no medical background) then went on to make the case that the disease doesn’t affect children. He claims that we are using children as an excuse to protect unvaccinated adults. Again, the mayor is ignoring the advice of numerous medical experts who have unanimously stated that children can and do get COVID and can spread the virus. While children’s symptoms usually are milder, that is not always the case, and Mayor Pekau and should leave the medical diagnosis to pediatricians.

It is disappointing that the mayor is implying this is a matter of choice parents are being robbed of. I am a mother of three, and I am all for parental rights, but some measures, such as school vaccinations, are put in place for the health and safety of all children. If I have a child with cancer or juvenile diabetes (who could become very ill if they caught COVID) that child should have the right to be just as safe at school as their classmates.

As I listened to each one of the board members speak (no one has any medical or educational experience), I heard a lot of animosity toward Governor Pritzker, but I heard very little about how we will get children back to school safely. Trustee Healy, an accountant, went on a long rant about how “we’ve changed from a successful capitalized to society to a tyranny.” How does that help children get safely into classrooms?

Masks At School Anger Orland Officials: 'Do Your Job'

As reported by the Patch, Trustee Michael Milani (an attorney) said, “This mandate requires masking regardless of vaccination to require masks for all children in schools, and to possibly force state employees to be vaccinated, and it's just ludicrous,” and "It's not based on facts, it's not based on science, it's not even common sense at this point.” Really, not based on science and facts? The fact is that The American Association of Pediatrics, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, CDC, IDPH, and WHO all agree that school-aged children should wear masks to prevent the spread of COVID.

Probably one of the most disturbing points is when Mayor Pekau tried to make a connection between teen suicide and wearing a mask. Mental health issues are a serious and complex medical issue. Suicides are up during COVID due to social isolation and alienation. Getting our kids safely back in school is a large part of the solution. Saying that kids are suicidal simply because they have been asked to wear a mask is just complete misinformation. Mayor Pekau should be ashamed of himself for using teen suicide to promote his “no mask” political agenda.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with asking the legislature to review the policy, but please Mr. Mayor don’t file another frivolous lawsuit that gets thrown out of court and costs the Village $66,000.

Watch the special meeting here.