The city of Savannah has reinstated its indoor mask mandate, effective immediately.
“Many people have just let their guard down,” Mayor Van Johnson said, explaining the decision. “They’ve stopped masking, they’ve stopped social distancing regardless of vaccination status. None of us want to take a backward step in our return to normalcy, but wearing a mask is the simple, easy, most inexpensive thing we can do to protect ourselves and those around us.”
Johnson also said to those hesitant about taking the vaccine that “The wait and see time is over.”
“Are we effectively punishing those who did the right thing who took the vaccine?” Johnson said. “Yes, we probably are. But the minority is being punished because of the inaction of the majority.”
Citing unnamed “officials,” ABC said the spike in cases in Savannah is “likely due to the delta variant, relatively low vaccination rates and gatherings where people let their guard down.”
COVID-19 cases are rising nationwide, after most states lifted COVID-19 restrictions at the beginning of summer.
From July 9 to July 23, the average daily increase in positive tests was 988 in the Peach State. During the 14 day period prior to that, the average daily increase in new cases was 244.
Savannah joins St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Provincetown, Massachusetts in reimplementing the indoor mask mandates.
Georgia ended the last of its COVID-19 lockdown protocols on May 28.
“As hospitalizations, cases, deaths and percent-positive tests all continue to decline — and with vaccinations on the rise — Georgians deserve to fully return to normal,” Gov. Brian Kemp (R) said at the time.
Monday, Kemp encouraged Georgians to get vaccinated.
“As COVID-19 cases are rising in all 50 states, I want to encourage all Georgians to talk with their doctor and get vaccinated,” he said on Twitter.
As COVID-19 cases are rising in all 50 states, I want to encourage all Georgians to talk with their doctor and get vaccinated.https://t.co/SkquZugonM
— Governor Brian P. Kemp (@GovKemp) July 26, 2021
– – –
Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Georgia Star News and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
