One of the last metro Atlanta cities to continually renew and enforce a mask mandate for all indoor spaces may soon end that policy.
The leaders of Decatur, which require masks to be worn inside government buildings and private businesses, debated how long their mandate should last during a Tuesday meeting. The city has routinely renewed their mandate since last August, when COVID-19′s Delta variant ran rampant.
One devastating variant later, cases have begun to decline throughout most of DeKalb County, leading city leaders to get new questions from residents about how long they’ll be required to wear masks. Businesses have the option to opt-out of enforcing the policy, and commissioners seemed open to the idea of letting them decide for themselves.
“There are a lot of people still wearing masks that simply aren’t being mandated to,” Mayor Pro Tem Tony Powers said during the meeting. “I think that they realize that it’s a personal choice and a personal decision, and they’re doing it just out of habit.”
City Manager Andrea Arnold said the city’s emergency management team continues to meet weekly to look through data and evaluate whether the mandate is still necessary. She argued it might be premature to lift the policy.
“Even though it is 75 degrees today, it’s still winter. There’s still lots of indoor activity,” she said.
While Arnold asked for the policy’s extension through March 21, the commission opted to extend the mandate through March 2. A special-called meeting was already scheduled for that day to discuss a bond resolution.
City leaders said the short extension will allow them to get another week of COVID-19 data to digest and additional feedback from residents and business owners.
In addition, they said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will likely issue new guidelines soon. According to media reports, the Atlanta-based CDC is expected to loosen guidelines to allow more people to forgo wearing masks in indoor public areas.
Decatur, along with Atlanta, have been the most forceful with policies requiring masks. Both cities were quick to mandate face coverings at the onset of the pandemic, and both lifted that requirement last summer for a brief time before the Delta variant emerged. If Decatur opts to let its mandate expire, it’ll leave Atlanta with the strictest policy in the metro area.
Decatur’s ordinance carries the threat of a $50 fine for violators, but Arnold previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that no citations have been issued. The policy hasn’t proven controversial in the city, but waning case numbers after the recent Omicron variant spike have led to more questions about the ordinance, Commissioner Lesa Mayer said.
“I know that businesses who wish to do so can still put a sign on their door that says, ‘Masks Required,’ just as they did back in the summer when we removed our mandate the last time,” she said.
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