Local government leaders expect to discuss Tuesday whether they will act on Gov. Brian Kemp’s most recent executive order that allows local governments to enact mask requirements to help fight the coronavirus pandemic.
This comes as Bulloch County reached 1,405 COVID-19 cases Monday, with 282 of those cases appearing within the last two weeks.
Kemp previously opposed local mask mandates and filed a lawsuit about one in Atlanta, but on Saturday he signed a new order that allows local mandates.
According to Associated Press reports, the new order says “residents and visitors of the state are ‘strongly encouraged’ to wear face coverings when they are outside of their homes, except when eating, drinking or exercising outside. But unlike previous orders, this one allows local governments in counties that have reached a ‘threshold requirement’ to require the wearing of masks on government-owned property.’”
A county meets that threshold requirement if it has had 100 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people over the previous 14 days. Only two of Georgia's 159 counties were below that threshold, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.
Bulloch County and Statesboro qualify, if county and city leaders decide to enact a mandatory mask order.
Bulloch County Board of Commissioners Chairman Roy Thompson said Monday the issue will be discussed during Tuesday’s Bulloch County commission meeting at 8:30 a.m. in the Bulloch County Annex, but the matter has not yet been decided. He said he wears a mask and asks county employees to do so as well, but “I understand that for medical reasons some cannot wear masks.”
Layne Phillips, public information officer for the city of Statesboro, said discussion of a mandatory mask order is on the agenda for City Council’s regular work session Tuesday at 4 p.m. in City Hall.
“My understanding is that Mayor (Jonathan) McCollar wanted to have a council-wide discussion to weigh options,” she said.
Penalties limited
According to Associated Press reports, local mask mandates “cannot result in fines, fees or penalties against private businesses or organizations, and penalties against individuals for non-compliance cannot include a fine greater than $50 and cannot include prison time.”
The order says that if people are not in compliance, local authorities must warn them “about the health risks posed by not wearing a face mask or face covering” before issuing a citation.
Local mask requirements can't be enforced on residential property and can only be enforced on private property, including businesses, if the owner or occupant consents to enforcement, according to the order.
In Bulloch County, there were 40 new cases reported between Friday and Monday, pushing Bulloch’s total to 1,405 cases, said Bulloch County Public Safety/Emergency Management Agency Director Ted Wynn.
East Georgia Regional Medical Center staff were caring for 18 coronavirus patients Monday, with five on ventilators, he said.
So far, Bulloch County has recorded 95 hospitalizations and 17 deaths related to COVID-19. Bulloch County EMS has transported 90 people with “probable” positive coronavirus cases and 78 people with confirmed cases, he said.
Total confirmed COVID-19 cases in Georgia rose by 6,978 in the three days since Friday to 238,861 cases. In the same three-day period, Georgia reported 154 deaths, bringing the state’s total death count to 4,727.
In the United States, as of Monday afternoon, there have been 5,422,622 total confirmed coronavirus cases and 170,281 total deaths, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
“This (mandatory mask) order also protects Georgia businesses from government overreach by restricting the application and enforcement of local masking requirements to public property," Kemp said in a news release accompanying the order, which is in effect through Aug. 31. “While I support local control, it must be properly balanced with property rights and personal freedoms.”
Additionally, the order extends shelter-in-place requirements for people who meet certain criteria that result in “higher risk of severe illness,” including people in nursing homes or long-term care facilities, people with certain chronic health conditions and those with compromised immune systems or other underlying health conditions that make them more susceptible to the coronavirus.
It also continues to ban gatherings larger than 50 people if people are closer than 6 feet apart and imposes specific operating guidelines on bars, restaurants and other businesses.
Last month, Kemp, a Republican, sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, and the Atlanta City Council after Bottoms made statements that the governor said some interpreted as orders for restaurants to close and ordered masks. Kemp dropped the lawsuit Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
Atlanta was one of a number of cities that issued orders requiring masks to be worn, despite Kemp's arguments that local governments can't impose measures that are more or less restrictive than those in his statewide executive orders.