The data agrees with his claim: The parts of the country where the coronavirus outbreaks are now largest are metropolitan areas across the south and west of the country, areas with local Democratic leaders, and large communities of color in states predominantly governed by Republicans. . That increased political tension between governors like Kemp, who is playing for a constituency in the state, and Bottoms and other city leaders who are fighting to protect their local communities.
Kemp filed a lawsuit against Lance Bottoms and the Atlanta city council on Thursday, arguing that the city’s mask requirement violates a state executive order he signed Wednesday that nullifies local mask mandates.
The move, he said, “is on behalf of Atlanta business owners and their hardworking employees who are struggling to survive during these difficult times.” That echoes the arguments put forward by President Donald Trump and his fellow Republican governors, who complained that the country’s response has overreacted in its blockades and restrictions, as it seeks to contain the virus, and that the damage Economical and personal locks should be heavier. The rhetoric plays well with the predominantly white political base of Republicans, who have been skeptical of public health councils, a mistrust that was fueled from within the White House.
On Tuesday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the US’s leading infectious disease expert, in a USA Today op-ed, writing that the director of the National Institute Allergy and Infectious Diseases has been “wrong about everything I have interacted with him”.
In an interview on the “Today Show” on Friday, Bottoms said he did not think it was by chance that Kemp’s lawsuit “came the day after Donald Trump visited Atlanta,” noting that the president was not wearing a mask on the airport. “This is the same governor who did not know until well into the pandemic that could be transmitted by asymptomatic transmission. He did not go to Emory for guidance. He didn’t go to the CDC for guidance. “
Kemp and other Republican governors who pushed more aggressively to reopen communities and restart economic activity are now presiding over sharp increases in coronavirus infections and rapidly filling hospitals. And it’s urban areas and places with large communities of color, like Atlanta, that face the harshest consequences.
Since Kemp reopened George’s business in late April, daily cases have been on the rise, with more than 3,000 people testing positive per day. Of the total of more than 3,100 deaths reported in the state, almost half are African-American, despite representing 32 percent of the population.
And Atlanta and its suburbs are at the epicenter. Fulton County, where Atlanta is located, has reported 335 deaths, while the surrounding Gwinnett, DeKalb and Cobb counties have reported a combined total of 642. The area is 51 percent black.
A Center for Disease Control study published June 17 found that 79 percent of Covid-19 patients hospitalized in the Atlanta metropolitan area in March and April 2020 were black.
