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Atlanta – The governor of Georgia, who has opposed local mask warrants and even sued one in Atlanta, signed a new executive order that allows local governments to enact mask requirements to help fight the pandemic of coronavirus.
As with previous orders, one released on Saturday says residents and visitors to the state are “strongly encouraged” to wear headgear when outside their homes, except when eating, drinking. or exercise outdoors. But unlike previous orders, this one allows local governments in counties that have reached a “threshold requirement” to require masks to be worn on public property.
A county meets this threshold requirement if it has recorded at least 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population in the previous 14 days. Only two of Georgia’s 159 counties were below this threshold, according to data from the State Department of Public Health.
Local mask warrants cannot result in fines, fees, or penalties against businesses or private organizations, and penalties against individuals for non-compliance cannot include a fine greater than $ 50 and cannot include prison sentence, says the ordinance. If people do not comply, local authorities should warn them of “the health risks of not wearing a face mask or face mask” before issuing a citation.
Local mask requirements cannot be enforced on residential properties and can only be enforced on private properties, including businesses, if the owner or occupant consents to the application, the ordinance says.
“This ordinance also protects Georgian businesses from excessive government intervention by limiting the application and enforcement of local masking requirements to public property,” Kemp said in a press release accompanying the ordinance, which is in effect. in effect until August 31. “While I support local control, it must be properly balanced with property rights and personal freedoms.”
In addition, the ordinance extends on-site housing requirements for people who meet certain criteria leading to a “higher risk of serious illness”, including people living in retirement homes or nursing homes. long-term, people with certain chronic health conditions and those with immune systems or other underlying health problems that make them more susceptible to coronavirus.
It also continues to ban gatherings of more than 50 people if people are less than 2 meters (6 feet) away and imposes specific operating guidelines for bars, restaurants and other businesses.
Kemp, a republican, last month continued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, and the Atlanta City Council after Bottoms made statements that the governor said some were interpreted as restaurant closure orders and masks. Kemp dropped the trial Thursday.
Atlanta was one of many cities to issue orders requiring masks to be worn, despite Kemp’s arguments that local governments cannot impose more or less restrictive measures than those in his government-wide executive orders. the state.
Georgia reported 3,372 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 96 deaths on Saturday. State officials announced 1,873 new confirmed cases and 33 deaths on Sunday, bringing the state’s total to 237,030 cases and 4,702 deaths.
Also on Sunday, Cherokee County school officials said Canton Creekview High School will suspend in-person learning until August 31, becoming the third school in the district to temporarily end in-person learning. , reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The move came after 25 students tested positive for COVID-19 and 500 of the 1,800 students taking in-person classes at the school were quarantined. The school district says it expects that once the pending tests return, the number of students quarantined “will increase dramatically,” according to the newspaper.
The closure of Creekview comes about two weeks after 31,000 students who opted for in-person learning resumed their classes and transitioned to online-only classes at two other high schools in Cherokee County. One of those schools, Etowah High School, grabbed national headlines after a photo shows dozens of faceless students huddled together for first day of school photos.
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