Coronavirus deaths have topped 500 in Georgia, where the governor has taken action to ensure residents that wearing masks doesn't violate a state law passed decades ago to unmask the Ku Klux Klan. The Georgia Department of Public Health reported Tuesday that 501 people have died from virus-related causes. Confirmed infections rose to more than 14,200.
Gov. Brian Kemp signed an executive order Monday declaring that masks worn to safeguard against the virus are exempt from the 1951 law that makes it a misdemeanor in Georgia for people to conceal their identities while on public property. The law was adopted to prevent Klan members from wearing hoods at public rallies.
