The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated Athens-Clarke County's COVID-19 Community Level as High in its latest data report on Thursday, August 25, 2022. The report, which is updated weekly on Thursday nights, previously reported Athens-Clarke County's COVID-19 Community Level as Medium as of Thursday, August 18.

Based on the Mayor and Commission's extension of a local declaration of a local state of emergency at their Regular Session on August 2, 2022, masks are required in public spaces and private entities, with some limited exceptions, regardless of vaccination status when Athens-Clarke County is in a high community level. 

Private entities must opt-in to the mask requirement as per an executive order from the governor. The current local declaration is scheduled to expire on September 7, 2022, unless renewed, amended, or rescinded by the Mayor and Commission.

The Athens-Clarke County Unified Government's (ACCGov) response policy requires all employees and members of the public, regardless of vaccination status, to wear face masks in any indoor, shared, or public ACCGov space and on Transit vehicles when Athens-Clarke County is in a period of high COVID-19 community level. Additionally, internal ACCGov operations during high community levels include capacity limitations for ACCGov buildings, in-person ACCGov meeting limitations, and distancing measures.

CDC looks at the combination of three metrics — new COVID-19 admissions per 100,000 population in the past 7 days, the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients, and total new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the past 7 days — to determine the COVID-19 community level. 

New COVID-19 admissions and the percent of staffed inpatient beds occupied represent the current potential for strain on the health system. Data on new cases acts as an early warning indicator of potential increases in health system strain in the event of a COVID-19 surge. Using these data, the COVID-19 community level is classified as low, medium, or high.

For more information, visit www.accgov.com/coronavirus.