Mask Mandates Prohibited For Students, Restaurants, More: Kemp

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday signed a mandate prohibiting the mandate of masks to protect against COVID-19.

Kemp signed a wide-reaching executive order as part of Georgia's ongoing Public Health State of Emergency banning mask requirements for long-term care facilities, schools and local governments.

“As hospitalizations, cases, deaths, and percent positive tests all continue to decline — and with vaccinations on the rise — Georgians deserve to fully return to normal,” he said. “With safe and effective vaccines widely available and the public well-aware of all COVID-19 mitigation measures, mandates from state and local governments are no longer needed.”

Kemp earlier this week hinted at levying the restrictions for schools, telling Fox News late Wednesday that he would sign an executive order Friday barring classroom mask mandates.

“I think the time for mandates is over,” he said. “We continue to pull back our restrictions now — we have very few — but one of those things as we go into the summer and look at schools to be back in the fall, we’re not going to have a mask mandate for our kids. Our teachers have had the ability to get vaccinated.”

The governor said students are still allowed to wear masks in class if they or their parents so choose, however.

To date, a little over 4 million Georgians, or 39 percent, have had at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. This includes youth ages 12 to 15 who became eligible for the vaccine less than two weeks ago. Only 32 percent of all Georgians — just under 3.29 million — are fully vaccinated, meaning they have had the full complement of whichever vaccine they received for more than 14 days.

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has had a history of sparring with Kemp over COVID-19 mandates, on Thursday tweeted her opposition to the move.

“I hope schools will require masks,” Bottoms said.

Read the full story on Fox 5 News.