Georgia Gov Bans Cities From Requiring Face Masks

The Washington Post reports:

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed an executive order Wednesday night explicitly banning cities from enacting their own mask mandates, even as the state experiences a sharp rise in coronavirus cases and other Republican governors are turning to mask orders to try to quell the surge.

Kemp’s order voids existing mask mandates in more than a dozen cities or counties, while also extending other coronavirus social-distancing restrictions statewide.

The governor had previously tried to ban cities and counties from passing any coronavirus restrictions that went further than Georgia’s guidelines. But many cities, including Atlanta, defied him by passing mask mandates anyway, arguing it was essential to flatten the curve.

Georgia governor Brian Kemp leads from the front. Much respect. https://t.co/FWoAp5dRui

— Dan Bongino (@dbongino) July 16, 2020

As hospitalizations in Georgia soar, the governor responds by banning mandatory mask orders by local governments.
This is the same governor who may have been the last person in America to learn that COVID-19 can be transmitted by people without symptoms.https://t.co/TVnfIgpwWh

— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) July 16, 2020

“’It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about us,’ Savannah Mayor Van Johnson (D), who was the first local official to issue a mask mandate, wrote…” https://t.co/hjKnrmbnaW

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 16, 2020

Good morning from Georgia, where Athens hospitals are full, hospitalizations have doubled since the beginning of July, and Governor* Brian Kemp is banning cities from requiring face masks because he’d rather have thousands of needless deaths on his hands than do anything. #gapol pic.twitter.com/l4DXp6N31j

— Marisa (@marisapk) July 16, 2020