Peach Tree Times

As the Centers for Disease Control changes its guidance on masks, Gov. Brian Kemp says he won't follow suit.

"Georgia will not lock down or impose statewide mask mandates," Kemp tweeted on Wednesday, July 28. 

The CDC recently updated its guidance saying that due to the delta variant's increased circulation across the U.S., the agency recommends that even those people fully vaccinated for COVID-19 wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission. The CDC also recommends that there be universal masking in K-12 schools. 

According to an 11 Alive report, some schools in Georgia are already announcing that they will be requiring masks when school returns this fall. Clarke County is requiring masks in schools to "avoid going back to virtual learning," according to 11 Alive. 

Less than 40% of the eligible residents in Clarke County are vaccinated and less than one in five of children there are eligible for the vaccine, 11 Alive reports. 

USA Today reports that some localities in Georgia are beginning to reinstate the masking requirements themselves. Kemp has not gone as far as some other Republican governors who have banned all mask mandates, according to USA Today. 

Georgia's economy has been recovering rapidly from the worst of the pandemic lockdowns, reducing its unemployment rate and building up a sizable budget surplus, according to USA Today. 

According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Savannah became the first major city in Georgia to again require masks through a mandate. 

"#Savannah will not allow #COVID19 to win! #MaskUpSavannah #VaxUpSavannah," Savannah Mayor Van Johnson tweeted. 

The count of COVID-19 cases in Chatham County are four times higher than last month, according to a FOX 28 article. 

The 11 Alive report says that, according to the CDC, Cobb County is listed as a high-transmission county and DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties are listed as substantial-transmission areas.