Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has issued an executive order requiring masks to be worn in public place, including private businesses and establishments, while indoors in the City of Atlanta.

Bottoms said the order is in response to the rising number of COVID-19 infections, the impact of the Delta variant and new CDC guidance.

The CDC announced on July 27  that individuals should wear a mask indoors in public if in an area of substantial or high transmission. Both Fulton County and DeKalb County are currently designated as areas of substantial transmission, according to current CDC data.

Bottoms’ order comes as Gov. Brian Kemp said he would not impose a mask mandate or return to last year’s lockdown. He urged Georgians to get vaccinated as “quickly as possible.”

Collin Kelley is the executive editor of Atlanta Intown, Georgia Voice, and the Rough Draft newsletter. He has been a journalist for nearly four decades and is also an award-winning poet and novelist.