Georgia residents think that their governor, Brian Kemp, is trying to kill them with COVID-19 after he bans cities from mandating that face masks are worn outside of their homes.
The Republican governor signed an executive order to prevent local governments from enforcing mandatory face covering orders — overriding orders issued by at least 15 local governments across the state, according to The Associated Press.
Kemp’s order states that residents and visitors in the state are “strongly encouraged to wear face coverings as practicable” when in public except when eating, drinking or exercising outdoors.
Candice Broce, a spokesperson for the governor says, “Previous executive orders – and now this order – state no local action can be more or less restrictive than ours. We have explained that local mask mandates are unenforceable. The Governor continues to strongly encourage Georgians to wear masks in public.”
Face coverings have been proven to reduce the spread of droplets in the battle against COVID-19. Health experts have advised wearing them, but the Trump administration is ignoring the rising COVID numbers across the country and is trying to minimize potentially fatal consequences.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 127,834 reported cases in the state, an increase of 3,871 in the past day, according to The Department of Public Health in Georgia.