Georgia leads to way on reopening - Thoughts?

Open up dolts stay home DEVASTATED, thanks Trump.

Hey guys, Atlanta resident here. Regardless of your opinion on the virus, here’s a little info on the state of things in Georgia for those who care.

Over the last month as many states implemented shelter in place policies Georgia held out. During this time many cities in the state including Atlanta (also Albany which was one of the first COVID hotbeds in the country) implemented their own shelter in place policies. In Atlanta this just meant working from home if able, restaurants became take out/delivery only and groups of ten or more weren’t allowed to congregate in public places. Parks stayed open, exercise was allowed and I’m not aware of any rigid enforcement or arrests for not following the guidelines. That said, people by and large have been following the guidance here.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago Governor Kemp implemented a state wide shelter in place policy. Notably, he stated that an influential factor in his decision was that he had only learned within the last 24 hours that COVID-19 could be spread by people who don’t exhibit symptoms. To be clear, health experts had already been saying this for months and it was public knowledge. This statement along with the delay in implementing the policy didn’t do a lot for confidence in the governor.

Now, after being one of the last states to implement a shelter in place policy, Governor Kemp has decided Georgia should be the first to lift it. This includes authorizing the opening of movie theaters, barber shops and nail salons among other businesses in which social distancing doesn’t seem realistic. The kicker is that he has mandated that no local governments can have policies that are either more strict or more lax than the statewide policies.

Yes, Georgia is by and large a red southern state but it is top ten in the country in population and pretty diverse both geographically and politically. There are coastal cities who don’t have the power to close their own beaches as well as cities that have been hit harder than others by the virus who might prefer to extend their shut downs. There are those who think the reopening is mainly focused on lowering unemployment claims as well as people in lower socioeconomic groups who work in some of the industries set to reopen who go so far as to suggest that since they don’t fit the profile of a Kemp voter that he doesn’t mind using them as guinea pigs. And of course, like everywhere, there are some who think that this whole thing has been an overreaction and think the sooner we get back to normal the better.

Kemp campaigned on and rode the Trump wave into office and for better or worse he governs like it. Georgians are basically just a subset of the rest of the country, and we are apprehensive about being the trial run and not really sure how much we can count on our leaders day to day.

As for me, I’m not panicking but am following the social distancing guidelines, still going to my essential job, washing my hands a lot, recently started wearing a mask to the grocery and I really miss swimming laps at the pool.

Here we go again wrote:

Hey guys, Atlanta resident here. Regardless of your opinion on the virus, here’s a little info on the state of things in Georgia for those who care.

....

Yes, Georgia is by and large a red southern state but it is top ten in the country in population and pretty diverse both geographically and politically. There are coastal cities who don’t have the power to close their own beaches as well as cities that have been hit harder than others by the virus who might prefer to extend their shut downs.

Thank you for this. I can tell there are many people who post here who have never been to Atlanta.

As I live in a neighboring state, I truly hope for the best.

I agree he's extremely reckless (and a little off in the head with his "didn't know it could spread by asymptomatics" months after this was known), but by God, I hope he can gloat by the end of this if the numbers are accurate. That being said, the numbers will probably be fudged because he'll "like them where they are."

Corona Trump wrote:

I think you are conflating strong with reckless, and brave with lack of foresight.

Ponce de Leon wrote:

If kemp says gyms can open and a gym owner decides not to open their specific facility then he is making a choice to not work thus ineligible for unemployment, Cares Act or PPP

google dot com wrote:

Also, this doesn't even make any sense. Misinformation of this level should be deleted by the moderators. What makes you think the fact that we are coming out of lockdown makes people any less eligible for unemployment benefits? Georgia is doing everything it can to help people get their unemployment benefits and the system is overwhelmed.

You clearly don't understand how these programs work. You should go listen to the interview that a local radio station did this morning with the Labor commissioner. Very enlightening. One key point is that even if people now go back to work but with reduced pay, they still may be eligible for benefits. In fact, if you can make up to $300 per week and still get full unemployment benefits, including the extra $600 from the federal government. Don't you think if this was all about saving money the State of Georgia would have left the cap at $50 as it was before?