Rockford Sun

State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Cherry Valley) is decrying a bill that would allow for the isolation of individuals deemed a public health threat

HB 4640 would grant the government extraordinary powers in times of public health crises.

“To give authority to any government to be able to lock some up or put them in secured guarded facilities for disagreeing on a course of health treatment is something you might expect in communist country, not in America,” Syverson told the Rockford Sun.  

State Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park) is the bill’s sponsor. It has been roundly criticized for its authoritarian tone.

Conroy's bill would provide the state the ability to "isolate or quarantine persons who are unable or unwilling to receive vaccines, medications, or other treatments."

“Just the thought of this idea should scare the public to its core,” Syverson said. “They have dealt with COVID politically, not scientifically, since day one. I guess this is the next step to see how far they can push our freedoms under the guise of 'protecting the public.' There was a country back in the 1930s that did the same thing.”  

The legislation would give municipal health departments and state legislators official legal authority to entirely regulate the behavior of anyone who does not obey their COVID-19 limitations and rules, including isolating them and placing them under police watch.

According to the text, local health departments can “adopt any rules" necessary, which might include internment-like camps, which are now popular in Australia, where anyone judged a risk can be arrested and taken to "isolation camps" where they are held in rooms and fed just once a day.

Three fugitives from a Howard Spring camp were just "captured."

Conroy is running for chairman of the Board of Commissioners in DuPage County.

According to political observers, the bill's harsh tone will undermine her chances of being elected to the post which pays about $128,000 per year. Her yearly salary as a legislator is almost $70,000 before bonuses.

Illinois has some of the most stringent COVID-19 regulations of any state.

Bills aimed at the controlling the unvaccinated, such as Conroy’s which would allow those who refuse vaccines to essentially be imprisoned, continue to be brought up despite recent research by the CDC and Johns Hopkins University showing natural immunity gives better protection against COVID-19 than immunizations.