ATLANTA — After standing against local mask mandates, Gov. Brian Kemp signed a new executive order Saturday that allows some cities and counties to require face coverings.

Local governments can institute a “local option face covering requirement” at any time on government-owned property, but are required to meet a threshold of a case rate equal to or greater than 100 cases per 100,000 residents during the previous two weeks before orders can extend further.

But the Republican governor’s concession on allowing mask mandates to fall under local control is not without multiple limitations.

Local mandates are not enforceable on a person’s residential property and on private property unless business owners agree to require masks. If the owner does consent to the local mandate, it is up to the owner to decide who enforces it.

Mask requirements are not enforceable in polling places, the order says.

While Kemp’s decision gives some local governments the green light to require residents to wear masks, penalties are also restricted. The order only allows up to a $50 fine to be handed out to individuals not in compliance.

Law enforcement is also required to issue at least one warning before giving out a citation.

“This order also protects Georgia businesses from government overreach by restricting the application and enforcement of local masking requirements to public property,” Kemp said in a statement Saturday. “While I support local control, it must be properly balanced with property rights and personal freedoms.”

The shift came just days after Kemp announced he was withdrawing his lawsuit against the City of Atlanta and Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over their own COVID-19 restrictions — including mandatory facial coverings and rolling back the city’s reopening to an earlier phase.

Kemp’s office said the new executive order is a path to addressing the issue after “negotiations stalled.”

The order also extends COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings, business requirements and the shelter-in-place for medically fragile Georgians through the end of the month.