Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday afternoon announced plans to slowly reopen businesses and institutions shuttered due to the novel coronavirus, citing data that suggests Georgia is on track to meet White House guidelines to reopen the state’s economy.
Kemp told members of the media Monday that these businesses will be allowed to reopen for “baseline operations” Friday. The entities must ensure strict social distancing, sanitize regularly and adhere to other guidelines:
- gyms
- bowling alleys
- nail care artists
- tattoo shops
- beauticians
- barbers
- massage therapists
- training schools dedicated to those professions
The order is statewide, and local actions can’t be more or less restrictive.
In-service worship services at church is allowed, but social distancing measures must be implemented.
Bars, nightclubs, live performance venues and amusement parks will remain closed, Kemp said.
Theaters, private social clubs and dine-in services at restaurants will re-open April 27. More information will be released over the next several days, he said.
“By taking this measured action, we will get Georgians back to work safely without undermining the progress we all have made in the battle against COVID-19,” Kemp said. “Today’s announcement is a small step forward and should be treated as such.”
Kemp and other Republican governors in Deep South states began planning to reopen their state’s economies in the days prior to the Georgia governor’s announcement. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Kemp spoke with the leaders of Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee about how to safely reopen their states.
Kemp said that data and advice from public health experts would drive the state’s policies. Based on current data, Kemp said the state in on track to meet the first phase of federal guidelines to reopen the state’s economy.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation showed that Georgia reached its peak number of deaths per day on April 6 and peak hospital resource use on April 15.
The model, however, assumes that Georgia would continue its current social distancing measures until mid-June. Data also suggests state officials don’t have a full picture of the pandemic’s effects on the state’s residents.
Georgia ranks among the bottom 10 nationally in testing per capita. The state has not released data on the number of people tested in each Georgia county.
Until last week, state health officials only counted COVID-19 deaths where the disease was confirmed by a laboratory. Not including symptomatic people who died before they could be tested means the state could be undercounting the number of total deaths, the AJC reports. Health officials also don’t know the race for more than half of the state’s residents who’ve tested positive for COVID-19.
Public health experts have warned that increasing testing capacity and ability to trace people who’ve come in contact with coronavirus patients is needed before the country can reopen. Health experts told NBC that the United States would need to double or triple its current testing levels before the economy partially reopened.
“We are an order of magnitude off right now from where we should be,” said Dylan George, an expert in infectious disease modeling who advised the administration of President Barack Obama during the Ebola epidemic. “Testing is the perpetual problem here.”
As of noon, Georgia has 18,947 confirmed coronavirus cases and 733 deaths.
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