Governor of Georgia Sues Mayor of Atlanta over facial mask

       

A legal battle has been instituted on by Brian Kemp, Governor of Georgia (Rep)against the Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms (Dem) challenging the restrictions imposed by the Atlanta Mayor mandating residents to wear mask to curtail coronavirus infection.

Governor Kemp on Tuesday issued an ordinance banning people from wearing mask. The governor's bone of contention is that the Mayor has no legal footing to issue orders that are more or less restrictive than the one issued by the governor. 

   

The suit also challenged why the Mayor of Atlanta imposed the phase 1 restriction instead of the phase 2 imposed by the governor. Phase 1 requires residents to only leave home for essential trips.

Lets look at the numbers of COVID-19 infection in Georgia. Last week there is an average of 3,100 new cases reported daily in Georgia and a third of the daily infection is in Atlanta area. As the infection rate is increasing the death rate is also increasing daily.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms  claims that she is following the guidance of public health experts, an assertion backed up by a White House coronavirus Report that explicitly recommended Georgia “mandate statewide wearing of cloth face coverings outside the home.

  

Ms. Bottoms said that Governor kemp has overstepped his bounds. She said "We will see him in court"

It is not known why Governor Kemp choose to sue only the Mayor of Atlanta while cities like Savannah and Athens also imposed mandatory face mask like in Atlanta. The lawsuit may be politically motivated.