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A few months back, I believed there was wisdom to the lopsided and state-by-state efforts to combat the coronavirus. I just took it for granted that we were never going to get leadership from Donald Trump, and I was glad that so many mayors, governors, city councils and local leaders were taking the lead, not to mention individual businesses. But four months after most states began locking down, this lopsided and haphazard approach has led to a complete catastrophe, with states like Florida, Texas and Arizona seeing their medical facilities near collapse because of the influx of cases. What we need is a federal mask mandate. What we’re getting is governors contradicting local leaders who have tied to enforce a mask mandate:

Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday extended Georgia’s coronavirus restrictions while explicitly banning cities and counties from adopting rules requiring masks or other face coverings, a measure that could bolster the state’s case in a possible legal battle. Kemp’s executive order — which was set to expire Wednesday evening — still encourages, rather than requires, Georgians to wear masks in public. The governor has called such a requirement “a bridge too far,” and his office has said local mandates are unenforceable.

The governor’s coronavirus orders have for months banned local governments from taking more restrictive or lenient steps than the state. But the new set of rules he signed on Wednesday specified for the first time that cities and counties can’t require the use of masks or other face coverings. That could improve the state’s standing in a courtroom fight against a string of cities that have defied Kemp’s emergency order by requiring masks. Savannah led that charge earlier this month, and since then other cities including Atlanta, Athens and Augusta have followed suit.

The governor’s order also requires vulnerable people to shelter in place, restricts gatherings of more than 50 people, and mandates that restaurants and other businesses take numerous precautions.

Georgia reported 3,871 new cases of the disease on Wednesday, the second-highest daily count to date, and 37 deaths. So far, 127,834 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia, more than double the number reported in mid-June, and 3,091 have died from it in the Peach State. The rate of new tests that are positive for the disease is soaring, an indication that experts say suggests the spread of the disease — and not increased testing — is the culprit. During the week of May 24, state public health officials reported the rate of positive tests was about 6% over the course of seven days. Last week, the positivity rate was more than 13%, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis of state data shows.

[From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

People of Georgia: I’m sorry that this is happening, and what the actual f–k. Not only is your governor a moron about the pandemic, he’s also using state money (taxpayer money!) to SUE cities who are trying to enforce local mandates for wearing a mask? NO REALLY, WHAT IS HAPPENING. The insanity of Republican leadership from top to bottom is just toxic and awful. Wear. A. Mask. Wear. A. Mask.

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