Mask Mandate In Atlanta To Be Dropped As Mayor Bottoms Says City In A 'Green Zone'

ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom lifted the city-wide mask mandate late Monday.

Saying the City was in the “Green Zone” for COVID-19, Bottoms took to social media to dial back what had become a point of contention between herself and Gov. Brian Kemp.

As the ups and downs of the COVID-19 pandemic progressed through the city, Bottoms found herself at odds with Kemp’s executive order prohibiting masking requirements.

Bottoms admitted unease about the decision. Still, she insisted that she follow the science. And so, she did just that, she said on social media Monday evening.

“While it makes me personally anxious, I’ve always said we’d follow the science,” Bottoms tweeted. “Thus, we are lifting the city-wide mask mandate, but will continue to require masks in all City facilities.”

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, Fulton County has recorded 88 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people in the last two weeks, which can be seen as being below the 50-cases-per-week threshold (44 cases per week) the Center for Disease Control and Prevention considers a high-transmission area and was used as Bottoms’ guideline.

The city mandate had been relaxed early this year as vaccines provided some relief to residents and businesses. But as the delta variant amped up hospitalizations through the summer, Bottoms reinstated the requirement for all indoor spaces across the city.

The subsequent fervor that ensued included the ire of statewide political figures from outside Atlanta, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who targeted an East Atlanta Village restaurant that went even further than the city mandate, requiring guests to be vaccinated.

Bottoms will end her term in office in January, opting not to run for reelection. A runoff to decide whether City Council President Felicia Moore or at-large City Councilmember Andre Dickens will be her successor is set for Nov. 30.