Kane County Reporter

Republican state House hopeful Laura Curtis fumes Gov. J.B. Pritzker latest COVID-19 restrictions are the last thing the state needs in its desperate fight to overcome the deadly virus.

“He’s preying on the weakest among us in placing all this on are small businesses that are still trying to recover from his first shutdown actions,” Curtis told the Kane County Reporter. “We have to protect ourselves from the virus, but people also have to be able to make a living.”

Running against Democrat Maura Hirschauer in the 49th District, Curtis argues the governor now moving to reenact shutdown measures in at least 24 counties spread across the state as infection rates have ticked up only paves the way for more suffering.

“These business owners are fighting for survival,” she added. “Very few of them were able to weather the storm of the first time around, but this could be the final nail in the coffin. They feel like they have to do what they have to do to stay afloat.”

Curtis argues the governor’s actions speak to his disconnect with the people he’s supposed to represent.

“The governor is someone who has never had to build anything in his life and now he’s going to tell small business owners they have to shut down everything they’ve spent a lifetime building,” she said. “Something just doesn’t seem right about that."

With the stakes being as high as they are, many small business owners are already showing more resistance than they did when they were first forced to shutter earlier this year, including launching a Facebook page to strategize and vent.

“They want answers and the governor is hiding behind a mask of data he claims to have that fuel his decisions,” Curtis added. “The truth is people just can’t take much more.”