Georgia Gov. Kemp Bans Cities, Counties From Creating Their Own Mask Mandates

When it comes to wearing a mask in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) does not want to mandate that across the state.

In an executive order signed late Wednesday, the governor banned all cities and counties within the state from mandating their own mask requirements — causing an end to several places that were mandating masks.

The governor received push back from Savannah Mayor Van Johnson (D), who wrote in a tweet, “It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us.”

Despite his executive order, Kemp urged Georgians to wear a mask and follow social distance guidelines, he said after touring Marcus Tower at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital in Buckhead on Tuesday.

Kemp’s direction comes as the state continues to see a surge in new coronavirus cases reported. From the 306 cases reported on June 2, the state has seen an increase and jump to 4,904 new cases on July 10, declining a little but still up at 3,568 new cases on July 15.

Kemp’s message comes as several health experts have been urging people to wear masks.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends people wear a cloth face covering to prevent the potential spread of COVID-19 in public settings. Labeling it “source control,” the CDC says face masks help to “prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the cloth face covering coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice.”

While face masks are not mandatory at a federal level — though the president has received calls to do so — there are several states that require people to wear masks. Alabama recently became the 36th state to require masks in public.

Additionally, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, encouraged people this week, “If we could get everybody to wear masks right now, I really do think over the next four, six, eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control.”

On the push for a federal mask mandate, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams previously expressed concerns that it would lead to “over-policing and having a situation where you’re giving people one more reason to arrest a Black man,” as IJR reported.

The conversation surrounding masks comes as the U.S. continues to see a rise in coronavirus cases, reporting over 3.6 million, as of Thursday morning. There are also more than 140,000 deaths and 1.6 million recoveries due to the virus reported.

The U.S. is leading across the globe in cases, and according to Our World in Data, 8.7% of COVID-19 tests in the U.S. were positive on July 12. This is compared to 0.8% positivity rate on July 13 in Canada and 62.2% positivity rate in Mexico on July 6.

In comparison, while the U.S. does not have a federal mask mandate, rather only on state levels, Canada also does not require masks but rather recommends people wear them in public settings. According to The Washington Post, Canada ramped up testing quicker than the U.S. initially and lockdown measures were strict and followed.