Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announces city to return to Phase II reopening plan

ATLANTA—Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced  that Atlanta will transition to Phase II of the City’s Five-Phase Reopening Plan. The transition to Phase II is effective immediately.

In July, the City moved back to Phase I in response to the alarming increase in COVID-19 cases in the state of Georgia. The Mayor’s reopening plan was drawn from the recommendations of the Mayor’s Advisory Council for Reopening Atlanta and public health experts. The reopening phases are based on milestone metrics and recent data.

“The city has met the metrics of our data-driven plan to cautiously move back to Phase II,” said Bottoms. “COVID-19 continues to ravage families across the city and state. We must all remain vigilant, wear a mask, practice social distancing and take the measures needed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our communities.”

During Phase II—the “Easing” phase—the City proposed the following guidelines:

Individuals:

• Stay home. except for essential trips
• Wear a face mask in public (City mandate)
• Frequent hand washing
• Social distancing
• Small, private gatherings of no more than 10 people, with social distancing

Businesses/Non-Profits:

• To-go and curbside pickups from restaurants and retail establishments
• Continue practicing teleworking
• Frequent cleaning of public and high touch areas

City Government:

• Non-essential City facilities remain closed
• Continue moratorium on special event applications
• Continue communication with local and State authorities to monitor public health metrics

The City of Atlanta will continue to Phase III after reaching and sustaining Phase II metrics. The City will transition back to Phase I if there is a sustained increase in new COVID cases, hospitalizations, or positive test results, and hospital bed/critical care bed capacity falls below 15% all available beds and testing capacity falls below 25%.

For a snapshot of the most recent data and metrics related to the City’s progress and updates on Atlanta’s current reopening phase, please visit the COVID-19 Atlanta Reopening Dashboard.

Mayor Bottom’s reopening plan can be viewed online at this link.