       @commitsArea.element.style.display = '' if ahead > 0 or behind > 0
 
     status = repo.getCachedPathStatus(itemPath) ? 0
-    @gitStatusIcon.removeClass()
+    @gitStatus.element.classList.remove('icon-diff-modified', 'status-modified', 'icon-diff-added', 'status-added', 'icon-diff-ignored', 'status-ignored')
+
     if repo.isStatusModified(status)
-      @gitStatusIcon.addClass('icon icon-diff-modified status-modified')
+      @gitStatusIcon.element.classList.add('icon-diff-modified', 'status-modified')
       stats = repo.getDiffStats(itemPath)
       if stats.added and stats.deleted
-        @gitStatusIcon.text("+#{stats.added}, -#{stats.deleted}")
+        @gitStatusIcon.element.textContent = "+#{stats.added}, -#{stats.deleted}"
       else if stats.added
-        @gitStatusIcon.text("+#{stats.added}")
+        @gitStatusIcon.element.textContent = "+#{stats.added}"
       else if stats.deleted
-        @gitStatusIcon.text("-#{stats.deleted}")
+        @gitStatusIcon.element.textContent = "-#{stats.deleted}"
       else
-        @gitStatusIcon.text('')
+        @gitStatusIcon.element.textContent = ''
+      @gitStatus.element.style.display = ''
     else if repo.isStatusNew(status)
-      @gitStatusIcon.addClass('icon icon-diff-added status-added')
+      @gitStatusIcon.element.classList.add('icon-diff-added', 'status-added')
       if @statusBar.getActiveBuffer()?
-        @gitStatusIcon.text("+#{@statusBar.getActiveBuffer().getLineCount()}")
+        @gitStatusIcon.element.textContent = "+#{@statusBar.getActiveBuffer().getLineCount()}"
       else
-        @gitStatusIcon.text('')
+        @gitStatusIcon.element.textContent = ''
+      @gitStatus.element.style.display = ''
     else if repo.isPathIgnored(itemPath)
-      @gitStatusIcon.addClass('icon icon-diff-ignored status-ignored')
-      @gitStatusIcon.text('')
-
-    if @gitStatusIcon.attr('class')
+      @gitStatusIcon.element.classList.add('icon-diff-ignored',  'status-ignored')
+      @gitStatusIcon.element.textContent = ''
       @gitStatus.element.style.display = ''
-    else
-      @gitStatus.element.style.display = 'none'

        @span class: 'icon icon-arrow-up commits-ahead-label', outlet: 'commitsAhead'
        @span class: 'icon icon-arrow-down commits-behind-label', outlet: 'commitsBehind'
      @div class: 'git-status inline-block', outlet: 'gitStatus', =>
        @span outlet: 'gitStatusIcon'

  initialize: (@statusBar) ->
    @statusBar.subscribeToBuffer 'saved', @update

    @branchArea.element.style.display = 'none'
    if @showBranchInformation()
      head = atom.project.getRepo()?.getShortHead(@getActiveItemPath()) or ''
      @branchLabel.element.textContent = head
      @branchArea.element.style.display = '' if head

  showBranchInformation: ->
