Despite the rising death toll in Georgia the governor is doubling down on his previous policies of laxity and not allowing localities to be stricter in trying to limit deaths from COVID-19.

This particularly bothers me since I was a resident in Georgia for 30 years while working at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), as mentioned in yesterday’s post.

This policy of Georgia Governor Kemp seems a bit ironic since Georgia is the home state of CDC and the director of CDC believes the common sense public heath measure of wearing a mask could get the spread of the virus under control.

Flexibility to meet local conditions would save lives but it seems more important to Gov. Brian Kemp to flex his political muscles and show that he, not common sense, should determine whether Georgians live or die. It is nice of Gov. Kemp to encourage the use of masks but allowing local officials to issue stronger regulations may save lives.

Here is the story as reported by CNN. It starts like this but read it all if interested in this issue.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday suspended all local government mask mandates despite the rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in his state.

Under the executive order the Republican governor extended the state’s public emergency and said face coverings are “strongly encouraged,” but not required.

Kemp’s executive order voids masks mandates imposed by some local governments as Covid-19 cases tick up in cities across the state, already claiming over 3,000 lives.