Gov. Kemp Orders Local Georgia Officials to Abandon Mask Mandates

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.

The ordinance also caps indoor gatherings at fifty persons and suspends the requirement that Georgians renew...

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is overruling local government mandates requiring people to wear masks in public to stop the spread of COVID-19, insisting that the state's less-stringent guidelines take precedence.

Kemp on Wednesday extended the state's COVID-19 restrictions, which strongly encourage the wearing of masks, but stopped short of requiring them in public, calling such a measure "a bridge too far."

His order explicitly rescinds mask orders in such key cities as Atlanta, Savannah, Athens and Augusta, along with more than a dozen other local jurisdictions where similar directives have...