Georgia must also step up testing and contact tracing statewide, the report said, and measures for testing and infection control should be expanded in nursing homes and other long-term facilities.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution received the recommendations of the Task Force Coronavirus Task Force for Georgia, dated August 9, from a source.
Dr Melanie Thompson, lead researcher at the AIDS Research Consortium in Atlanta, said it was frustrating that the report only saw the light of day due to a leak.
“These are public health data and they need to be publicly available,” she said.
Most states require masks
Although Kemp has encouraged Georgians to wear masks, Georgia is one of 16 states without some form of statewide mask mandate. Kemp said he believes a statewide requirement is unnecessary and unenforceable.
Kemp’s emergency mandates explicitly exclude cities from introducing mask mandates or introducing any measure more stringent or less restrictive than his.
On Thursday, Kemp recalled that a lawsuit challenges the city’s mask mandate and business restrictions, but officials say he plans until Saturday to see a new order that would mean local governments cannot order private companies to require masks.
Dr Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean at the Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System, said the White House recommendations are not political and are based on sound science.
Del Rio is part of a group of more than 2,000 medical professionals who in a few open letters urged Kemp to take up a mask mandate and restrict operations of bars, gyms and nightclubs and allow local governments to impose severe restrictions if necessary.
“We do nothing and we hope that magical numbers will come down,” he said of the response to Georgia’s coronavirus. “Hope is not a strategy.”
Gov. Brian Kemp (left) watches as US Surgeon General Vice Admiral Jerome M. Adams prepares to self-administer a COVID-19 test during a press conference at a drive-thru COVID-19 test clinic at a Hartsfield-Jackson International Atlanta Airport paid parking facility in College Park, Monday, August 10, 2020. (ALYSSA POINTER / [email protected])
Credit: [email protected]
Credit: [email protected]
The AJC asked Kemp’s office why the governor refused to follow the task force’s recommendations to close businesses such as bars and nightclubs that are at high risk of proliferation.
Kemp spokesman Cody Hall did not immediately answer questions.
“Gov. Kemp remains confident in data, science, and public health advice from Drs. (Kathleen) Toomey and her team in our state’s ongoing fight against COVID-19, ‘said Hall, referring to the state’s public health commissioner. “As the governor has said many times before, this fight is about protecting the lives – and livelihoods – of all Georgians.”
Hall said the state is expanding its test resources, including a new laboratory partner in North Carolina and the recently opened temporary test “mega-site” at Atlanta Airport. Georgia has reported 25,000 or more new tests in eight of the past nine days, Hall said.
In addition to federal supplies, the state has partnered with long-term care centers to increase testing and Hall stressed other steps the state has taken to control infections.
But COVID Exit Strategy, a nonprofit and nonpartisan public health initiative, estimates that Georgia tests only about a quarter of the amount it needs per day to control the virus.
Serious criticism
Critics of Kemp reacted with anger and rage to the White House report.
State President William Boddie, one of the top Democrats in the House of Representatives, asked the question why the mayor refused to act decisively.
‘He has to keep the science going. He says he’s looking at data, but I’m asking what that data is telling him, “Boddie said.” Georgia is in the top tier of COVID-19 cases in the country. It makes no sense to me. We need masks “mandate and a uniform way to attack the coronavirus. And it has to start with him.”
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is among several mayors who, frustrated by Kemp’s reinstatement of restrictions, have trotted out his order and imposed their own limits.
In a statement, Bottoms said “science and data clearly show that Georgia remains on a dangerous path.”
“We will never get to the other side of this pandemic if we do not heed the warnings of our health professionals and wear masks, exercise social distance and stop wearing when COVID-19 will suddenly disappear,” she said.
The disastrous recovery of some school districts has also been filtered to the campaign track.
“We do nothing and we hope that magic numbers will drop. Hope is not a strategy. ”
– Dr. Carlos del Rio, executive associate dean at Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System
State Rep. Beth Moore has collected more than 650 tips from students, parents and faculty about problems in schools since learning individuals in some districts, and she has been among the more focal critics of Kemp’s coronavirus policy.
“Governor Kemp is running off with anti-science extremists who believe that masks do not help, the virus is a hoax and we should all just bury our heads in the sand and pray that the virus goes away,” said Moore, a Peachtree Corners Democrat. “The fact that a school whistleblower effort itself is necessary to ensure the protection of students, faculties and their families proves how poorly Kemp has handled the coronavirus pandemic in Georgia.”
Some Republicans say more needs to be done. State Representative Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, said on Thursday that he would introduce legislation next year that would improve the availability of same-day test results and create a new state certification for companies that comply with state health safety guidelines.
‘See the consequences’
Georgia was one of the last states to protect its inhabitants in April and one of the most aggressive states to reopen its economy. Georgia reported week-on-week increases in nine of the 10 weeks from early May to mid-July, peaking at 25,471 cases the week of July 12th.
In the three full weeks since, Georgia has reported a slight decline in weekly cases, but the seven-day rolling average remains more than five times the level reported in early June.
On Thursday, the state Department of Public Health (DPH) reported 2,515 net new cases of the virus, and 82 net new confirmed deaths.
The White House report examined data from Aug. 1 to Aug. 7 and was a follow-up to one of July 26 that marked Georgia as one of 21 states in the “red zone.” The new assessment found that Georgia’s business rate had dropped slightly, but new business growth and the numbers that tested positive for the virus still put Georgia in the red zone.
Georgia’s spread rate remained almost double the national average, the task force said.
Deaths have meanwhile climbed.
On Tuesday, DPH reported a record 122 net new confirmed deaths, followed by the second-highest daily total Wednesday of 105. So far, 4,538 deaths in Georgia have been attributed to COVID-19.
Georgia has also set weekly records for reported deaths in each of the past three weeks.
“I hate to say it, but we are not doing enough in Georgia and we are seeing the consequences,” del Rio said.
Of Georgia’s 159 counties, 109 are in the red zone of the task force for transmission and test positivity, including Clayton among the core 10 Atlanta counties. Cherokee, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fulton, Gwinnett and Rockdale are in the yellow zone.
The White House report also revealed information not previously disclosed by DPH, including test positivity by province during the week of August 1 to August 7. Most counties in Georgia report test positivity greater than 10%, including many in eastern and southeastern Georgia that were greater than 20%.
