Georgia’s Health Officials, Medical Advisers Blindsided By Governor’s Decision To Reopen

The Washington Post: ‘Complete Disbelief’: Governors Blindside Front-Line Staff With Abrupt Reopening Plans
Governors preparing to roll back restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus are in some cases acting without the input and against the wishes of their own medical and emergency management staff. Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, announced he would let tattoo parlors, hair salons and bowling alleys reopen without receiving guidance from the panel of doctors tapped to advise him and without giving advance notice to regional health departments responsible for carrying out his orders, according to physicians and state officials. (Stanley-Becker and Weiner, 4/23)

NPR: Coronavirus Latest: Georgia Reopens Despite Not Meeting White House Benchmarks
Georgia's confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths from COVID-19 are still steadily rising, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (which happens to be based in Atlanta) describes community spread coronavirus as "widespread" in the state. That goes against all the principles laid out in the guidelines. Measured against other states, Georgia is nowhere near the bottom for cases — it has actually had the 12th most over the past three weeks. (Montanaro, 4/24)

CNN: Georgia: Gov. Brian Kemp Reopening Hair Salons, Gyms And Tattoo Parlors Despite A Rising Coronavirus Death Toll 
Undeterred by a barrage of criticism, Georgia is moving ahead with its plan to reopen some nonessential businesses despite an increase in coronavirus deaths statewide. Gov. Brian Kemp was one of the last state leaders to issue a stay-at-home order effective April 3 to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus. This week, he became one of the nation's first governors to ease those restrictions after he allowed businesses such as gyms, barber shops, hair salons, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys to reopen Friday. (Karimi, 4/24)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ‘Confused And Scared’: Georgians Frustrated Over Shifting Virus Data 
As Gov. Brian Kemp moves to re-open the economy, researchers and ordinary Georgians are turning to the state Department of Public Health’s published data on coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths to draw their own conclusions on if it’s safe to return to barber shops and restaurants. ...Wednesday’s DPH count shows that new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus jumped by more than 900 in a single day. Another count it released at the same time used a different method and showed they only rose by 31. (Mariano, 4/23)

Roll Call: Ruin And Resilience: How My South Georgia Home Is Fighting Through Coronavirus Trauma
Brooks Robinson got a phone call from his cousin Jennifer. She couldn’t stop screaming. “She’s gone. She’s gone,” she yelled into the phone. Jennifer was calling to tell him their 34-year-old cousin Santayana Harris had just died of pneumonia, a symptom of COVID-19. He couldn’t believe it. Just a day earlier, he’d lost another cousin, Flora Robinson, to the same virus. It was a second blow, but not the last. (McGrady, 4/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Quarter Of A Million More Georgians File Jobless Claims
Nearly a quarter of a million more Georgians filed jobless claims last week, the state Department of Labor said Thursday, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the economy. That brings the total number of workers in the state who have filed for unemployment benefits to about 1.1 million over the past month, more than 1 in 5 Georgia workers. (Kanell, 4/23)

The Wall Street Journal: When Is It Safe To Go Back To Normal? States Weigh Benchmarks.
The Trump administration laid out a three-phase plan for reopening the country, and states such as Georgia, Texas and Ohio have moved to loosen restrictions. But lifting lockdowns too early will bring the coronavirus roaring back, health experts say. The country still lacks a number of measures that must be in place before it is safe to go back to some new version of normal, experts say. These include enough testing to identify new cases quickly, an army of public-health workers to find and help those who have come into contact with the new cases, and places to quarantine new cases to choke off nascent outbreaks as restrictions lift. (McKay and Abbott, 4/23)

Reuters: U.S. States Test Safety Of Reopening As Pandemic Pushes Jobless Claims Higher
An array of U.S. merchants in Georgia and other states prepared on Thursday to reopen for the first time in a month under newly relaxed coronavirus restrictions, as another week of massive unemployment claims highlighted the grim economic toll of the pandemic. (McKay, 4/23)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Not Ready To Reopen Businesses, Health Leaders Say 
Houston health leaders are putting in place a nuanced coronavirus reopening strategy that probably points to sometime in mid-May as a realistic commencement, roughly 10 days later than the start date Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to announce Monday. The leaders pointedly dismissed talk of dates, instead emphasizing certain benchmarks — the number of coronavirus cases, the availability of diagnostic tests and the capacity to conduct contact tracing — that need to improve significantly before the Houston region would be able to manage continuing cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. (Ackerman, 4/24)