A judge has granted a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit that sought to end mask mandates in Illinois schools, effectively blocking the masking requirement and other mitigation measures, prompting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office to declare it will appeal. Sangamon County Judge Raylene DeWitte Grischow said in a Feb. 4 ruling that the defendants—Pritzker, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), and over 140 school districts—are barred from enforcing school mask mandates, exclusion protocols, and COVID-19 testing requirements. The ruling, which explicitly declares some of the measures “null and void,” comes in a case that saw parents file suit against a series of COVID-19 curbs as set out in a number of Pritzker’s executive orders. The executive actions directed students and staff to wear masks inside school buildings; required people unvaccinated against COVID-19 to submit weekly negative tests in order to occupy school buildings; and refused entry to buildings for students …