Shelter-in-place order lifts, Kemp eyes reviving economy

Published 4:09 pm Friday, May 1, 2020

ATLANTA — Most Georgians are now free to go out and about after Gov. Brian Kemp announced the statewide shelter-in-place order would end as scheduled Thursday night.

Around that time — from noon Thursday to noon Friday — the state added another 1,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

With a renewed focus on bolstering Georgia’s economy while anticipating monthly revenue numbers expected to drop significantly due to the coronavirus outbreak, Kemp freed up most of the state’s population to visit reopened businesses.

The Georgia Department of Labor has paid out more unemployment claims during the outbreak than in the past four years combined, officials said Thursday. During the last six weeks, $388 million was distributed to out-of-work Georgians.

Some exceptions remain

But not everyone has been given the green light. Kemp extended his shelter-in-place order for the elderly — ages 65 and older — and the “medically fragile” through June 12. Georgians with chronic lung disease, asthma and heart disease and who are immunocompromised and have various other chronic conditions are included in that extension.

Restrictions on nursing homes and long-term care health facilities are still in place, and the National Guard will continue being deployed to nursing homes for testing and infection control.

Businesses that were reopened last week and restaurants that resumed dine-in services on Monday are required to follow lengthy social distancing, patron limits and sanitation requirements through May 13.

The ban on gatherings of more than 10 people is still in effect, and bars, nightclubs, public swimming pools, live performance venues and amusement parks must remain closed until May 13.

Despite the stay-at-home order reaching its end, Kemp “urged” Georgians to stay home “whenever possible,” and, according to his staff, recommends people wear masks in public, especially in high-trafficked areas such as grocery stores.

“I’d like to ask all Georgians to help us double-down on protecting our fellow vulnerable citizens,” Kemp said earlier this week.

Not everyone agrees

Georgia is one of a number of states moving toward a full reopening, creating a patchwork of policies amid the pandemic. President Donald Trump said during a televised briefing that while he “strongly disagrees” with Kemp’s decision to reopen businesses such as salons and tattoo parlors, he’s leaving everything in the hands of governors.

Kemp’s decision to let the shelter-in-place order expire was met with harsh criticism from some healthcare providers and some Democrats.

Nikema Williams, chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, was one of Georgia’s state lawmakers who tested positive and recovered from coronavirus. Williams said Kemp is “playing a dangerous game” by ending the order.

“It is reckless and irresponsible for Kemp to use Georgians as the guinea pigs in a public health experiment that will go wrong,” she said following his announcement on Thursday. “Today’s decision will have consequences — for our overworked health systems, for our struggling essential workers, and for our lives.”

Democrat Stacey Abrams, Kemp’s 2018 gubernatorial rival, said on Twitter that “Georgia is not ready to reopen.”

“Kemp’s callous decision defies science, facts and logic,” she said. “The rush to return to a normal that cannot exist hurts Georgians, especially our black and brown communities and low-wage workers who have no choice.”

GOP leaders back Kemp

But many Republican lawmakers and party members agree with Kemp’s concern about a plunging economy.

State Rep. Kasey Carpenter, R-Dalton, owns two restaurants and was quick to reopen on Monday as soon as the ban on dine-in services lifted.

“I think people are realizing that, yes, we need to be concerned,” Carpenter told CNHI. “But now that we’ve not overrun our hospitals, we’ve got to get back to work.”

Georgia GOP Chairman David Shafer jumped to Kemp’s defense, saying the governor’s shelter-in-place order has done its job: slowing the spread of coronavirus.

“The point of ‘flattening the curve’ was to prevent our hospital infrastructure from being overwhelmed, not to keep the entire population confined to their homes until every business is bankrupt or nationalized and all private-sector workers are jobless and on welfare,” he said in a press release.

Concerns over hotspots, new outbreaks

Lawmakers from emerging hotspot areas and healthcare providers still note lingering concern.

State Rep. Rick Williams, R-Milledgeville, who owns Williams Funeral Home and Crematorium, said he worries about stopping further spread after the deaths of two Central State Hospital employees and spread of the virus to dozens of employees and a resident in the Cook Building.

The Georgia War Veterans Home in Milledgeville has had 12 residents and 11 staff members test positive for coronavirus and four residents die as of Thursday. Baldwin County had had 220 cases and eight deaths as of noon on Friday.

But as a small business owner, Williams said, he understands Kemp’s decision and the importance of getting the economy back up and running.

“Hopefully, we have reached a plateau and we’re going to be on the downswing,” he said. “And things are going to work out.”

Dr. Michelle Au, an anesthesiologist at Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital and a Democratic candidate for the state Senate, said the decision was discouraging after the shelter-in-place order seemed to be plateauing cases.

“Looking at sort of loosening up these restrictions — it makes many (doctors) a little bit anxious, because the cases are still there,” she told CNHI. “There’s no way that the cases aren’t going to go up. Because allowing more people to spread it around is only going to increase the viral cases in the community. It’s a shame, seeing that the techniques that we had already employed were working, and stopping them prematurely,”

Au said allowing more travel around the state will bring more cases to vulnerable, rural areas that have less resources than urban areas.

“If it does spread there, then they’re much less resourced — the hospitals there have fewer practitioners,” she said. “They have fewer funding resources, and it’s more difficult for them to get the personal protective equipment that they need in order to safely take care of patients and in order to protect healthcare workers from getting infected.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top expert on infectious diseases, said on CNN on Thursday that while states and cities have authority over when they reopen, he cautions them not to act too soon.

“They know their states, the mayors know their cities, so you want to give them a little wiggle room,” he said. “But my recommendation is, you know, don’t wiggle too much.”

State lawmakers not returning yet

It is still uncertain when lawmakers will return to the halls of the Capitol to tackle the fiscal year 2021 budget and finish the 2020 legislative session.

While both Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston said they support the governor’s decision to lift the statewide shelter-in-place, the chambers are at odds on when to return. House members are expecting a June 11 start date, citing ongoing health concerns of lawmakers with medical conditions. But Duncan favors a mid-May restart to the session, his staff arguing that Kemp’s decision on the shelter-in-place order expiration signaled it is safe for lawmakers to get back to business.

Riley Bunch covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites.

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