Mask confusion: Feuding political leaders leave Georgia residents, businesses stuck
A bitter back and forth between Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and local leaders over the need for a mask mandate amid the coronavirus crisis has some businesses and residents feeling caught in the middle.
Even tourists are unsure of what to do.
“As someone who’s visiting, yeah it can get a little confusing hearing one thing on the news and then seeing something else,” a woman visiting from Colorado told Savannah station WTGS. “They’re kind of contradictory.”
Tensions ratcheted up last week when Kemp effectively voided all locally issued mask mandates in cities including Atlanta, Savannah, Athens and others, McClatchy News reported.
The Republican governor is suing the city of Atlanta and the city council after Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms balked at his executive order blocking local leaders from requiring residents to wear a mask.
“Mayor Bottoms’ mask mandate cannot be enforced, but her decision to shutter businesses and undermine economic growth is devastating,” Kemp told reporters at a news conference Friday. “We will fight to stop reckless actions and put people over pandemic politics.”
While he supports the use of masks, the governor said he doesn’t “think it takes a mandate for people to do the right thing.”
Defending the mask
Bottoms, who rolled back the city’s reopening to Phase 1 earlier this month amid rising COVID-19 cases, has said her local order will stand whether state leaders agree with it or not.
“I believe our city mask ordinance, and I believe those across the state, are defensible,” Bottoms said in a public statement, according to 11 Alive. “And it is not just my posture, but the posture of many mayors across this state that our policies are enforceable and they stand.”
She later clapped back at Kemp and addressed the pending lawsuit in a Twitter post, writing: “ A better use of taxpayer money would be to expand testing and contact tracing.”
Officials in at least five Georgia cities have ordered that masks be worn in public as the state sees a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
As of Monday, there were more than 143,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in Georgia and over 3,100 deaths, according to the state Department of Public Health. Over the weekend, the state also saw a record 4,689 new coronavirus cases in just 24 hours, McClatchy News reported
‘Why can’t I be safe?
Without solid guidance from local or state leaders, some Georgia businessowners said their reopening plans are up in the air.
Home grown GA in downtown Atlanta has since closed its doors to avoid operating at a loss, CNN reported. Owners Lisa Spooner and Kevin Clark said they just want to see their mayor and governor form a united front.
“We would benefit more if they came together and made a universal decision together on their own as adults ... to help this community,” Spooner told CNN. “Not a lawsuit that, to me, [drives] things further apart as opposed to closer together.”
Zeb Stevenson, chef of the midtown restaurant Redbird, voiced similar frustration over the mixed messaging. He likened it to “feeling like a child in between two parents who are going through a divorce,” according to the outlet.
In Savannah, residents are just as confused amid the battle between Kemp and Mayor Van Johnson, who has also spoken out against the governor’s efforts to suspend the city’s mask mandate.
“It’s hard to hear from different places on who we should be listening to when it comes to that, and what policies we need to be following, especially if there are fines in place for businesses and individuals just walking the street because you never know what you’re doing right or wrong,” Milan Day Spa manager Morgan Bird told WTGS.
Local activist and resident Yolandra Shipp told the Savannah Morning News that she feels masks are needed and that Kemp is “too busy trying to” please President Donald Trump. Trump has also opposed enforcing a nationwide mask mandate.
“You are going to tell me you can’t open the governor’s mansion, but you can open the state?” Shipp said, according to the newspaper. Why can’t I be safe?”
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 10:23 AM with the headline "Mask confusion: Feuding political leaders leave Georgia residents, businesses stuck."