Governor drops lawsuit over Atlanta mask order

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday said he is dropping a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta in a dispute over the city’s requirement to wear masks in public and other restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kemp sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City Council to block them from implementing restrictions at the local level, even as case counts and hospitalizations in the state rose.

The Republican governor argued that local governments can’t impose measures that are more or less restrictive than those in his statewide executive orders, which have urged people to wear masks but not required them.

He has sought to block local governments from issuing orders requiring that masks be worn, but several cities, including Atlanta, have done it anyway.

With mandating masks, Bottoms, a Democrat, made statements in July indicating that the city would return to Phase One of its reopening plan, meaning that people would have to return to sheltering at home and restaurants would have to return to takeout and delivery only. She later said those statements were recommendations, not legal orders, and that Kemp did not understand what she was doing.

A statement sent by Kemp’s office on Thursday said the lawsuit is being dropped because of Bottoms’ “concession regarding the city’s Phase One rollback plan and following her refusal in mediation to further negotiate a compromise.”

Bottoms responded with a statement of her own.

“From the start of this pandemic, my only goal has been to help save lives,” she said. “While it is unfortunate that the governor seeks to intentionally mislead the people of our state by issuing a woefully inaccurate statement regarding our good faith negotiations and the city’s reopening recommendations, I am grateful that this lawsuit has been withdrawn and the time and resources of our city and state can be better used to combat COVID-19.”

Georgia has had more than 228,000 confirmed cases of the virus, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Public Health. At least 4,538 people have died in Georgia after contracting the virus.