Atlanta's mayor says she will sign an official request ordering masks in Georgia's biggest city Wednesday, resisting Gov. Brian Kemp's choice to firmly energize yet not require face covers.
Representative Michael Smith said Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms intends to sign a request requiring masks, which could set up an encounter with the Republican Kemp. The representative has just conflicted with the mayor as of late over policing issues, getting out the National Guard to ensure state government workplaces following an 8-year-old young lady was lethally shot by armed individuals at the site of a drive-thru eatery where an Atlanta cop shot and murdered a dark-skinned man.
Like various other neighborhood pioneers in Georgia, Bottoms has ineffectively spoken to Kemp to change his request that nearby governments can't surpass the state's prerequisites.
“Other cities have taken the approach that they are going to defy the governor’s executive order. Savannah has done it, some other cities have done it, and Atlanta is going to do it today,” Bottoms told MSNBC in a Wednesday interview. “Because the fact of the matter is that COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on our cities, specifically black and brown communities with higher death rates.”
Representatives for Kemp didn't promptly react to demands for input Wednesday. Kemp on Tuesday asked city hall leaders and region magistrates to help him in a statewide push for voluntary masking.
“We don’t need the mandate to have Georgians do the right thing, but we do need to build strong public support,” Kemp told mayors, according to prepared remarks released by his office.
