Will County residents, businesses respond to lifting of the statewide mask mandate

When the statewide indoor mask mandate in Illinois is lifted on Feb. 28, Brother Ed Arambasich will still wear his face mask.

That’s because Arambasich, chaplain for the Joliet Fire Department, is once again undergoing treatment for multiple myeloma and his health care providers told him to wear one, Arambasich said.

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker announced the scheduled lifting of the mandate during a scheduled news conference on Wednesday.

Arambasich said he doesn’t mind wearing a face mask. He won’t feel uncomfortable if others aren’t wearing one. After all, he takes it off in restaurants when he eats, Arambasich said. But he’s leaving the guidance to those qualifed to make those decisions, he said.

However, Arambasich is looking forward to the day he can take it off for good.

“I love to teach and I have 10 kids for confirmation class on Saturdays,” Arambasich, who is also a friar at St. John the Baptist Church in Joliet, said. “I don’t know what they look like and they don’t know what I look like. It’s hard to hear their voices when they’re talking; they’re muffled. And I think, in some ways, it’s [face masks] created somewhat of a psychological distance with everybody.”

Will lifting the mask mandate help local businesses? Heidi Serena, director of Will County Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore, doesn’t think so, as far as ReStore is concerned.

“We have wonderful customers who support our ReStore and Habitat’s mission,” Serena said. “I don’t believe that lifting the mask mandate will change that in any way.”

Janet Staley, owner of The Book Market in Crest Hill, said she’ll know in a month but doubts lifting the mandate will improve business. Going maskless will make some people more comfortable and others less so, she said.

“The fear of the virus is what has affected business – the fear of going out, period, and being around other people,” Staley said.

Mask-wearing isn’t uniform anyway. Some customers wear them below their noses, she said. Others forget they need a mask and go back to their cars for one, she added.

But Staley said she never sees more than one person in an aisle anyway.

“Here we have a lot of room,” Staley said. “People can get really far away from each other most of the time.”

Bill Dimitroulas, CEO and founder of Arkas Restaurant group, which includes Hamburgerseria Rosemary’s Café, Cut 158 Chophouse and Juliet’s Tavern – all in Joliet – said lifting the mask mandate won’t improve business for restaurants.

But now people may choose whether or not to wear them, he said.

“Some people are not going to feel comfortable without them and still wear the masks, so it’s OK for them,” Dimitroulas said.

Dimitroulas said COVID-19, “sky high” prices and supply chain issues have hurt the restaurant industry. Eating out, for many, is now a luxury, he said.

“People think it will go back to what used to be normal,” Dimitroulas said. “But it’s not going to happen.”

Tom Grotovsky, owner of Great American Bagel in Joliet, said lifting the mask mandate might “ease a lot of people’s tension.”

“I’m excited,” Grotovsky said. “I know a lot of people are relieved.”

But he’s uncertain if that’s the best decision or not.

“I’m not a scientist,” Grotovsky said. “I’m a business owner,”

Grotovsky said some customers “wear them religiously” while others do not. Some remove them to order, speak to the cashier and eat. Sometimes delivery people wear them and sometimes they don’t, he said.

Face mask or not, Grotovsky has no way of knowing if a customer has any kind of virus, not just COVID-19, he said. That’s the risk of being “out in the public every day,” he said.

“You can get sick with anything,” Grotovsky said.

Grotovsky said small restaurants like Great American Bagel depend on regular customers every day in order to meet payroll and expenses, unlike some venues that can depend on alcohol sales. Every product at Great American Bagel is made fresh, he said. He can’t store leftover product on the shelf “like a bottle of wine” if he can’t sell it, he said.

“I remember when it all started shutting down, when people weren’t going out and were panic-stricken,” Grotovsky said, recalling how extra hard he prayed in those early days. “It was brutal.”