As Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp renews his efforts to keep locals from issuing masked mandates, an unpublished White House report “strongly” advised a state to extend a masked mandate.
“Current mitigation efforts do not have sufficient impact and would strongly recommend a statewide mask mandate,” read a White House report of Aug. 9, informing Georgia that it is in the “red zone” for both cases and rates of positive testing. “Red” indicates that there are more than 100 new COVID cases per 100,000 people, and 10% of the cases come back positive.
The White House has produced such assessment reports on individual states, but they have not released them to the public. CBS News received a copy of the internal report. The Constitution of Atlanta Journal first reports the findings.
Meanwhile, Kemp sued the mayor and the Atlanta City Council for issuing a city mask order. The Republican governor finally throws the pack down, but said he would tackle the matter this weekend with a new executive order.
The White House gave CBS News no response to the record on the report. The governor’s office insists Kemp relies on science to fight the virus.
“Governor Kemp remains confident in the data, science, and public health advice of Dr. Toomey and her team in our state’s ongoing fight against COVID-19. As Governor has said many times before, this fight is about protecting of the livelihoods – and livelihoods – of all Georgians, “said Cody Hall, Kemp’s press secretary.
The report says that in the week to August 9, while new cases appeared in Georgia at a steady rate, the rate of positive testing increased.
“There is widespread and widespread community proliferation. There is no significant improvement in the Atlanta metro area, with persistently high levels of new cases on a plateau,” the White House report said. “Mitigation efforts need to increase.”
The same White House report states that Georgia limits dining to capacity below 25% and asks citizens to limit social gatherings to 10 people or less. It also says bars and nightclubs should close in “red” counties in the state, which are areas that show the highest COVID risk.
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