Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp sued Thursday to stop Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms from mandating masks be worn in the city to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The legal actions comes after prominent Democratic mayors in the state pledged to challenge an executive order by Kemp barring local mask mandates. Bottoms defiantly declared, “I am not afraid of the city being sued.”
Kemp made that a reality, writing on Twitter that his lawsuit "is on behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive during these difficult times."
"We will fight to stop these reckless actions and put people over pandemic politics," Kemp wrote.
On Wednesday, Kemp banned localities from ordering people to wear masks in public to stop the spread of coronavirus. Mayors across the state hit back at Kemp and accused him of playing politics during a pandemic.
From the coastal city of Savannah to the county that holds the University of Georgia to the state capital, local officials have ordered Georgia residents to mask up while in public as cases continue to rise.
“It’s my belief that the city of Atlanta still has the appropriate standing to mandate masks,” Bottoms said at a news conference on Thursday. “Especially as it relates to buildings and places that we own and operate.”
Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah told MSNBC on Thursday that he was “flabbergasted” by Kemp’s Wednesday order.
“On one hand we’re fighting Covid. On the other hand we’re fighting our governor,” Johnson said. “Our hands should be totally and unequivocally working to fight this virus, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, our governor has chosen and continuously chosen to make a public health emergency into some type of political issue.”
Johnson vowed to continue to provide masks in his city and wrote on Twitter that Kemp “does not give a damn” about his constituents. Savannah’s mask mandate went into effect on July 1.
In Athens-Clarke County, Mayor Kelly Girtz also blasted the governor’s executive order, which voided the county’s ordinance that required masks to be worn in public.
“We wanted science to lead us,” Girtz told CNN, adding that he had been in contact with other mayors and that he believed the local mask orders would stand.
“In Texas, in Alabama, you’ve got Republican governors understanding that the science has got to lead the way,” Girtz said. “Even if there were some reluctance earlier in this bizarre national environment that we’ve been in, at the end of the day we need to protect the health of the people who live here.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said it was the role of local governments to dictate mask policies and said the president was not considering a nationwide mandate.
“We leave it to localities to make the decisions with regard to face coverings,“ McEnany said at a Thursday press briefing.
Republicans across the South are challenging mask mandates and claiming they infringe on personal freedoms.
Louisiana’s attorney general, Jeff Landry, released an official statement this week arguing that Gov. John Bel Edwards’ statewide mask mandate was unconstitutional. In Florida, a Republican state legislator is suing localities on the grounds that their mask mandates violate the state’s constitution.
A similar conflict surrounding Kemp flared up in the spring, when he drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for trying to reopen the state’s economy. While Kemp opposes mask mandates, he is publicly urging Georgians to wear masks voluntarily.
Anthony Fauci, a public face of the Trump administration’s coronavirus efforts, dismissed Thursday the narrative that enforcing measures to promote public health — including mask wearing and social distancing — were antithetical to shoring up the economy.
Speaking during a discussion with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Fauci said there was a widening disparity in the number of cases between parts of the Northeast and several Southern states, where lockdowns have been more lax.
"There has been this unusual and unfortunate mindset of there is public health measures and there is getting the economy back and these are opposing measures," Fauci said. "We should be looking at public health measures as a vehicle or a gateway to opening the country again, to getting the economy back."
Georgia has recorded 3,091 coronavirus deaths and 127,834 cases as of Thursday, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
“It has nothing to do with politics,“ Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, told CNN on Thursday afternoon. “It‘s about protecting our folks.“
Matthew Choi contributed reporting.
Source: politico.com
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