ATLANTA (AP) – Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Tuesday reinstated a mask requirement inside stores and other businesses in the city due to rising COVID-19 infections and the emergence of the extraordinarily contagious omicron variant, which has quickly become the dominant version of the virus in the U.S.
The move came as infections in Georgia continued to sprint upward, rising to nearly 6,000 cases detected on Tuesday. The state’s seven-day average of infections has more than doubled in less than a week.
Bottoms cited guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for her decision.
“The CDC has designated Fulton and DeKalb counties as areas of high transmission for the COVID-19 virus,” the mayor said in a statement. “Given this recent surge across the Atlanta area, and based upon the counsel from public health professionals, I am reinstating the citywide mask mandate.”
People who fail to wear a mask indoors could face a fine of $50 for a second offense. Bottoms had lifted the previous mask mandate last month.