Government

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Protects Public Health By Nixing Local Mask Requirements

Take that, COVID!

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Yesterday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp issued an Executive Order striking down mask requirements in at least fifteen local jurisdictions.

While the governor has encouraged Georgians to mask up to prevent the spread of coronavirus, he has called mandates “a bridge too far.” So despite growing evidence that masks work, and Kemp’s own exhortation that people should mask up if they want to watch college football this fall, the newest order explicitly makes them optional.

[A]ny state, county, or municipal law, order, ordinance, rule, or regulation that requires persons to wear face coverings, masks, face shields, or any other Personal Protective Equipment while in places of public accommodation or on public property are suspended to the extent that they are more restrictive than this Executive Order.

The ordinance also caps indoor gatherings at fifty persons and suspends the requirement that Georgians renew their gun permits during the pandemic. So if anyone needs to shoot a virus, they’ll be able to do it. Phew!

Next door in Alabama, Republican Governor Kay Ivey instituted a mask mandate yesterday. Mississippi’s governor Tate Reeves tweeted a long thread on dangers of a herd immunity approach, encouraging his constituents to wear masks, and allowing municipalities to enact their own mask regulations.  But in Georgia, this abridgment of personal liberty will not stand!

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, who was gearing up to enforce his city’s mask ordinance with warnings and fines, was outraged.

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But the governor was unmoved.

“We’ve been clear in previous orders and statements that local mask mandates are unenforceable,” Kemp spokeswoman Candice Broce told the Savannah Morning News yesterday, when the state reported 3,871 new COVID infections. “The Governor has encouraged Georgians to wear them voluntarily for months now.”

Because Brian Kemp really wants to protect his constituents’ health and stop this pandemic in its tracks. Just not enough to actually do anything at all about it.

Check out the Executive Order here.

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Elizabeth Dye (@5DollarFeminist) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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