Atlanta mayor rolls back the city's reopening to Phase 1 guidelines

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Atlanta mayor rolls back the city's reopening to Phase 1 guidelines
Atlanta's Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks at a press conference in Atlanta, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2018. Atlanta's mayor is promising a "safe, smooth and secure" college football championship game Monday, despite the traffic problems expected to be caused by President Donald Trump's motorcade, but none of the many agencies involved are taking any chances.AP Photo/David Goldman
  • Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms rolled back the city's reopening plan amid surging coronavirus cases.
  • Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said the mayor's orders were not enforceable and couldn't override state mandates.
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Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms rolled back the city's reopening to Phase 1 guidelines amid coronavirus cases surge across the state, local outlet WGCL reported. The city had been in Phase 2 of reopening.

"Based upon the surge of COVID-19 cases and other data trends, pursuant to the recommendations of our Reopening Advisory Committee, Atlanta will return to Phase I of our reopening plan," Bottoms said according to WSB-TV. "Georgia reopened in a reckless manner and the people of our city and state are suffering the consequences."

Phase 1 requires residents to stay at home unless they are leaving for essentials and restaurants to only have take out and curbside pick up, WSB-TV reported.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a tweet that the mayor's orders were only recommendations and not enforceable.

"As clearly stated in my executive orders, no local action can be more or less restrictive, and that rule applies statewide," Kemp wrote in the tweet.

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Georgia has over 111,000 coronavirus cases, with a record of almost 5,000 new daily cases recorded on Friday. The state also has close to 3,000 coronavirus deaths.

CNBC reported, that Kemp's office announced that Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center would be reopened as a field hospital as surging coronavirus cases overwhelm hospitals.

The makeshift hospital was opened in April but closed in May.

"Over the past two weeks, we have experienced an increase in cases and hospitalizations, and following a drop-off in specimens collected over the holiday weekend, we now expect a trend of higher case numbers as new results arrive," Kemp's office said in a statement, CNBC reported.

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