After unsuccessfully suing the City of Atlanta over its mask mandate, Gov. Brian Kemp on Saturday signed a new executive order that permits local governments to issue mask mandates.
It falls short of a statewide mandate that a White House COVID-19 Task Force has recommended, although Kemp has embarked on a statewide tour encouraging Georgians to wear masks in public.
His order on Saturday (you can read it here), which expires on Aug. 31, extends one first issued in March, and that until now had forbidden local governments from superseding statewide provisions.
The order continues to issue a shelter-in-place for medically fragile people, limits large gatherings and mandates continuing safety guidelines for restaurants, salons and other businesses.
The Georgia Department of Public Health on Saturday reported 3,372 new cases and 96 deaths, for an overall total of 235,168 and 4,669. Cobb’s case total rose by 186 on Saturday to 14,826. The death toll rose by four, to 338, the second-highest number in Georgia behind 472 in Fulton County.
After dropping his lawsuit against Atlanta and ending mediation with the city earlier this week, Kemp indicated he would address the mask mandate issue in a new order.
A local government can now issue a mask mandate for anyone using public property in that jurisdiction, such as a courthouse, library, tag office or other facility.
However, that mandate can be expanded to the larger community if a county has averaged more than 100 COVID-19 confirmed cases per 100,000 people for the previous 14 days.
That includes most counties in Georgia, including Cobb. Georgia DPH figures on Saturday indicated that Cobb has been averaging 394.4 cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks.
According to Kemp’s new order, those mandates can be imposed on private property only if an owner agrees. Violations of any local mandates are punishable by a maximum fine of $50 after a warning. Kemp said in a statement:
“This order protects Georgia businesses from government overreach by restricting the application and enforcement of local masking requirements to public property. While I support local control, it must be properly balanced with property rights and personal freedoms.”
Several dozen local governments in Georgia have defied Kemp’s previous order with mask mandates.
Cobb County is among the jurdisdications that has not issued a mandate. After Atlanta’s mandate was issued by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in July, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said he would not do so, citing Kemp’s order.
He said at the time that “while such a mandate looks great on paper, it puts an unsustainable burden on public safety personnel. They would be the ones responsible for enforcing this behavior on more than 760,000 people in the County. This expectation is unreasonable.”
While visitors and staff to county facilities must wear face coverings, Boyce said he was making a “nice ask” for citizens to wear masks elsewhere. Since then, county government has embarked on a “Mask Up Cobb” campaign with social media messages and billboards.
Many local businesses in East Cobb have had mask mandates since they reopened, especially personal care salons and small retail stores. Large retailers and supermarkets also have required customers to wear face coverings for the last few weeks.
The AJC reported this week that the White House COVID-19 Task Force warned that Georgia is in a “red zone” for expanding spread of the virus and urged a statewide mask mandate, saying current mitigation efforts have not been working.
You can read the report by clicking here.
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