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 The conflicting directives over masks came as the United States
reported at least 77,000 new COVID-19 cases nationwide on Thursday,
a record daily jump in known infections for the seventh time this
month, according to a Reuters tally.
Texas alone accounted for one in five of the newly reported cases.
The rising numbers bore grim consequences for public health
authorities on the ground.
Facing a looming shortage of morgue capacity in hard-hit areas
around Phoenix, Arizona, and San Antonio, Texas, officials said they
were bringing in coolers and refrigerated trailers to store bodies
of COVID-19 victims.
With announcements from Colorado Governor Jared Polis, a Democrat,
and Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, a Republican, a majority of
states - 26 out of 50 - have now sided with health experts urging
that face masks be mandatory, rather than a matter of personal
choice.
Bucking the trend, Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, issued
an executive order late on Wednesday suspending local face-mask
regulations while saying residents were "strongly encouraged" to
wear them.
Kemp, one of the first governors to ease statewide stay-at-home
orders and business closures following the early stages of the U.S.
outbreak, suggested that mandating masks would be too restrictive.
After Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, Georgia's capital and
largest city, said she planned to defy Kemp's order and enforce a
mandatory mask ordinance she issued on July 8, Kemp filed suit on
Thursday to override her.
"This lawsuit is on behalf of the Atlanta business owners and their
hardworking employees who are struggling to survive during these
difficult times," Kemp said in a statement. "I refuse to sit back
and watch as disastrous policies threaten the lives and livelihoods
of our citizens."
Hours earlier, Bottoms, who tested positive for the virus herself
last week and is under quarantine, declared the city's mask
requirements "enforceable as they stand."
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, who issued a mask mandate in his Georgia
city on July 1, said on Twitter that Kemp's order demonstrated he
"does not give a damn about us."
The clash drew mixed reactions from residents.
'CHOOSE WISELY'
"We need to wear masks to stop the spread," said Ethan Padgett, 37,
a furloughed art museum worker, as he spoke through his face
covering outside an East Atlanta Village coffee shop. "If the
governor takes it more seriously, people will."
But Pat Walker, 54, who was also wearing a mask, said the governor
was just encouraging people to do the right thing.
"People should have a choice but choose wisely," she said.
Mounting evidence of a worsening pandemic sparked a reckoning that
has cut across partisan lines on a heavily politicized issue.
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"The number of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are
numbers that speak for themselves and indicate that we need to do
more," Hutchinson told a news briefing.
Starting Monday in Arkansas, individuals must wear face-coverings in
all indoor or outdoor settings where they are exposed to
non-household members and where social distancing of 6 feet or more
is not possible.
Colorado's order requires people to cover their noses and mouths in
such indoor settings as office spaces and stores, as well as while
congregating outside to wait for taxis, buses, ride-shares or other
transport services.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, also a Republican, widened his directive
to include more circumstances where face masks are obligatory.
SIGNS OF RESURGENT VIRUS
As of late Thursday, the novel coronavirus was known to have
infected nearly 3.6 million Americans and killed more than 138,000.
The resurgence is especially worrisome across the American South and
West where officials started loosening economic and social
restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.
On Thursday, Florida, Texas and South Carolina each reported record
numbers of COVID-19 deaths for a single day. At least four others
hit an all-time high in new infections, led by Texas with more than
15,000 for the day.
Thirty states have registered record daily increases in confirmed
cases this month, and 14 states have reported a greater number of
deaths for a single day in July than ever before.
Moreover, the proportion of positive test results among individuals
being screened for infection - a metric called the positivity rate -
has been trending ominously higher across much of the county.
Infectious disease experts consider a rate higher than 5%
concerning, and two dozen states have averaged rates above 5% and
climbing over the past two weeks, according to data collected by
Johns Hopkins University.
Many states have had to roll back reopenings aimed at pumping up
local economies crushed by the coronavirus shutdowns.
New York City, once the country's epicenter, has been slower than
others to reopen and continues to see results, Mayor Bill de Blasio
told a briefing on Thursday.
Only 2% of more than 40,000 city residents screened for infection
tested positive on Wednesday, he said, against a national average of
8.8%, rising to more than 20% in some states.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Gabriella Borter in New
York; Additional reporting by Maria Caspani, Doina Chiacu, Lisa
Shumaker, Peter Szekely and Keith Coffman; Writing by Sonya
Hepinstall; Editing by Howard Goller, Rosalba O'Brien and Cynthia
Osterman)
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