Cobb review local mask mandate order Archives

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Monday that county officials are reviewing a new executive order by Gov. Brian Kemp allowing local governments to issue mask mandates. Mike Boyce, Cobb Commission Chairman

In a release issued late Monday afternoon by county spokesman Ross Cavitt, Boyce said that if the county were to impose a mask mandate, it would require three public hearings on proposed code amendments, which would have to be approved by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

As Georgia’s COVID-19 case load has soared this summer, dozens of Georgia mayors and county governments issued mandates in defiance of a previous order by Kemp not to supersede his orders, which do not include a statewide mask mandate.

Among them was Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Kemp sued the city before withdrawing that lawsuit and issuing a revised order over the weekend.

Boyce has been reluctant to require Cobb citizens to wear masks in public, and reiterated that position Monday. He said in a statement via Cavitt that “issuing a mandate would place the burden on the county’s police department to enforce it. I’m reluctant to place that burden on a department that is already understaffed and facing other challenges caused by the pandemic.”

Cavitt’s statement said Boyce noted that none of those jurisdictions with mask mandates have issued citations. Boyce, Cavitt said, “plans on letting commissioners weigh in on whether they want to move forward on a countywide mandate.”

Under the new order, Cobb could include a mandate for anyone entering county government facilities. Kemp’s order also extends local mask mandates to private property if a county meets a threshold of COVID-19 cases.

That’s an average of 100 positive cases per 100,000 population over the previous two weeks, and nearly all of Georgia’s 159 counties meet that threshold. Cobb has averaged 351 cases per 100,000 people over the last 14 days.

It’s a figure that Cobb school officials also have cited for starting the school year online-only, as virtual instruction began Monday.

Kemp’s order would require local governments to get the permission of private property owners before a mask mandate could be imposed. Fines for violators of any local order would be punishable by up to $50 after a warning.

At the end of July, Cobb had reported 11,206 positive COVID-19 cases, with 60 percent of them in July alone. County officials stepped up a “nice mask ask” for the public, also stressing hand-washing and physical distancing, to help slow the spread of the virus.

Through the first half of August, Cobb has reported 3,687 more cases. The number of deaths in the county has grown from 297 at the end of July to 339 as of Sunday, second only to 472 deaths in Fulton County.

DeKalb commissioners in July approved in a 6-1 vote a mask mandate that would require citizens on a second citation to attend a COVID-19 prevention class. Anyone who refused would be fined $250.

Citizens also could go before a judge and claim a conscientious objector’s exception for health, religious or ethical reasons.

Other states in the South have recently imposed statewide mask mandates, including Alabama.

Today’s Georgia Department of Public Health COVID-19 daily report can be found here.