Hundreds of public comments were read during the virtual meeting before the council voted against it 5-4. The vast majority of those comments expressed strong opposition to the measure, which would have required those in Naperville to wear masks at all times while in public.
Mayor Steve Chirico first revealed that the City Council would be considering a mask mandate be imposed on the community a few weeks ago.
Two days later, it was revealed on social media that he had traveled to Florida to attend his daughter's wedding. A social media photo later surfaced, showing him surrounded by a group of unmasked people.
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That revelation brought upon accusations of hypocrisy and double standards. The mayor had remained mostly quiet about the matter until tonight.
"To attend our daughter's wedding, we tested, COVID tested, one day prior to traveling. In our travel, we followed all the guidelines of the airlines and the federal government. Once we arrived in Florida, we followed all the state guidelines. We quarantined upon our return and then my wife and I retested twice, negative," Mayor Chirico said. "This is our COVID bubble. We traveled together. We stayed in a house together while we were down there. We sat together at the wedding. It's our direct family."
Following those remarks in defense of his travels, the mayor did use his experience in Florida partly as a reason to now oppose the imposition of a mask mandate in Naperville.
"I didn't run for mayor to impose restrictive mandates on our community and in our citizen's daily lives," Mayor Chirico said. "And now, having just visited a state with an open economy and no mask mandate, I have witnessed firsthand that less regulation can be just as safe and lead to better results."
While the mayor now opposes a mandatory mask mandate in Naperville, he also said people should be encouraged to wear masks in public, calling them the single greatest tool we have right now.