Kemp signs order to let businesses ignore local COVID rules
ATLANTA (WRDW/WAGT) - Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed an executive order preventing businesses from being required to follow any local COVID restrictions.
The order doesn’t apply to schools and government facilities.
He made the announcement in a 3 p.m. news conference at the state Capitol.
“If businesses choose to follow COVID restrictions at the local level, they are certainly free to do so,” he said. “Because just as I have said from the beginning, I trust hard-working Georgians to know what is best for themselves, their families and their employees, and they know what is best when doing the right thing.”
The governor says the economy is just starting to bounce back, and he doesn’t want businesses obligated to be “the mask or vaccine police.”
He said the order counters those across the state “who want to go back into lockdown mode.”
“We’re going to protect lives and livelihoods,” he said. “We’re going to make sure hard-working Georgians can put food on the table for their families, but will also be able to continue to fight a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic.”
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