Lightfoot was spotted flaunting the indoor mask policy. | Contributed photo
Lightfoot was spotted flaunting the indoor mask policy. | Contributed photo
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was spotted maskless at a union fundraiser over the weekend.
Lightfoot was photographed without a mask at the packed Bears Smoker event.
“Guess who was maskless at the 130 Plumbers Union Hall for a “Bears Smoker” today!?!?” Twitter user Veronica-CorningVogt said in a post. "She was in a friends photo in the background #Chicago #Illinois #Lightfoot @chicagosmayor."
The Bears Smoker is 130 Plumbers Union Hall’s annual fundraiser. The funds go toward the union’s political action committee.
The event, at the union hall located at 1340 W. Washington Blvd. in Chicago, attracts politicians from all over the region and state.
Lightfoot was endorsed by the 130 Plumbers Union in 2019, when she first ran for office. At the time, Politico reported she received “$25,000 from Chicago Journeymen Plumbers’ Local Union 130 U.A.”
“Rules for others not for her. One term mayor,” Twitter user SandylovesLife! Posted in response.
The photo is just one instance of Lighfoot’s public faux pas regarding mask usage. Last week she was the only unmasked person present at a Chicago Sky basketball game, a photo of which she tweeted herself.
In the early part of the pandemic she was also spotted maskless getting a haircut.
Chicago has some of the most restrictive mask-usage guidance in the country. The state of Illinois followed Chicago’s lead when it reinstated mask usage in August.
Illinois is one of only a handful of states where executive orders regarding masks are still in effect some 18 months following the onset of the COVID pandemic.
Chicago Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady is behind the most recent order on Aug. 17 that is still in effect. The state followed on Aug. 26.
Arwady’s order regarding mask usage notes several public areas where masks are required.
“Masks are required in all indoor public settings, including bars and restaurants, gyms, common areas of condos and multi-residential buildings, and private clubs,” a notice by the city’s COVID-19 Joint Information Center reads. "Similar to previous mask mandates, masks can be removed at restaurants, bars and other eating/drinking establishments by patrons when they are actively eating and drinking. Masks can also be removed for certain activities that require their removal, such as beard shaves or facials."
Several studies have found masks do not protect against viruses and other infections like COVID, including this one from University of Illinois at Chicago researchers.
"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,” the study found.
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