Coronavirus is keeping Georgia public schools closed.
ATLANTA – Gov.
Brian Kemp Thursday ordered Georgia’s public schools closed through April 24 as
cases of coronavirus continue to rise.
“I am deeply grateful to State School Superintendent
Richard Woods, the Georgia Department of Education, superintendents, and
parents for keeping us informed and helping us make the right decision for our
students,” Kemp said in a prepared statement.
“Throughout this process, we will continue to seek the
advice of public health officials, school leaders, and families to ensure the
health and safety of the educational community. As we approach April 24, 2020,
we ask for continued patience and flexibility since circumstances may change,
but we encourage families to stay strong and follow the guidance of federal,
state, and local leaders in the weeks ahead.”
Georgia’s public colleges and universities and technical
colleges, which were shut down earlier this month for the rest of the current
semester, will continue to provide online instruction.
As Kemp made
his announcement on the schools, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in
Georgia moved past 1,500, with 48 deaths reported from the virus.
As of noon
Thursday, 1,525 Georgians had tested positive for COVID-19. Of those patients, 473
– or 31% – were hospitalized.
More than
8,900 Georgians have been tested for coronavirus, 1,646 by the state Department
of Public Health and 7,280 by a commercial lab.
The virus
has spread to 97 of Georgia’s 159 counties. Fulton County has the most COVID-19
cases with 211. Cases in Dougherty County have soared to 156, a huge number
considering the county’s population.
DeKalb
County was third as of noon Thursday with 129 positive cases, followed by Cobb
County with 115, Bartow County with 86 and Gwinnett County with 75.
ATLANTA – The
$2 trillion economic stimulus package the U.S. Senate passed Wednesday night to
deal with the impacts of coronavirus was historic, far eclipsing the $831
billion Congress doled out during the Great Recession in 2009.
But
depending on how long COVID-19 keeps sickening and killing Americans, the
record bailout may be too little to put businesses and workers back on their
feet.
“If we have
a V-shaped recession, it will probably be sufficient,” said David Sjoquist, an
economics professor at Georgia State University. “If it lasts longer, that will
not be enough.”
Senators
voted 96-0 to approve the stimulus package. The U.S. House of Representatives is
expected to pass it on Friday and send to President Donald Trump for his
signature.
Besides its
unprecedented size, the bailout steers hundreds of billions of federal dollars to
a variety of parties affected by the economic impact of coronavirus.
The package
would deliver:
$500 billion in loans to distressed
large companies, including $50 billion for airlines.
$350 billion in loans to small
businesses affected by the virus.
$250 billion in direct payments to
individuals and families.
$250 billion in unemployment
insurance benefits.
$150 billion to state and local
governments.
$130 billion to hospitals hit hardest
by COVID-19.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, one of Georgia’s largest employers, has
been severely affected by a significant drop in travel since the pandemic
struck. In a letter to Delta employees last week, CEO Ed Bastian reported the
airline’s March revenue is expected to decline by almost $2 billion over the
same month last year, while the financial projection for April is even worse.
All Delta officers have been hit with a 50% pay cut through the end of
June, with directors and managing directors seeing their pay reduced by 25%
during the same period.
Bastian announced he will go without pay for the next six months.
“I know everyone is concerned about the security of your jobs and pay,”
the CEO wrote. “In this unpredictable environment, we can’t take any options
off the table, but any steps that would affect your jobs or pay rates would be
the absolute last thing we would do, and only if necessary to secure Delta’s
long-term future.”
Nathan Humphrey, Georgia director of the National Federation of
Independent Business, said the portion of the stimulus package aimed at small
businesses will help small business owners who have been affected
psychologically by the pandemic.
“Unlike with corporations, our guys, when they lay their employees off,
they know them intimately,” he said. “They live in the same communities. It’s a
lot more personal to them.”
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said the main objective of the economic
stimulus is to let employers maintain their relationships with their employees
by giving them the liquidity to do so.
“We need to make sure we don’t kill the economy while we’re killing this
disease … so when people get well, they’ll have a job to go back to,” Perdue
said on the Senate floor Wednesday as the bill was being debated.
“We are now taking action to protect
our health care professionals, strengthen our hospitals and treatments, and
support hardworking families and small businesses who are the heartbeat of
America,” Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., added following the vote.
Both Perdue and Loeffler voted for
the bill.
To make sure Americans out of work can cover their bills while they’re
without a paycheck, the stimulus package includes direct payments of $1,200 to
individuals with adjusted gross incomes of up to $75,000 a year. Married
couples with adjusted gross incomes of up to $150,000 a year will receive $2,400
plus an additional $500 per child.
The dollar amount of direct payments to Americans and the per-child
payments will decline gradually until they phase out completely for individuals
with adjusted gross incomes of $99,000 and above, and for married couples with adjusted
gross incomes of $198,000 and above.
While officials in the Trump administration have talked about getting the
checks out in as little as two weeks, the logistics of sending out so many
checks coupled with the need for the Internal Revenue Service to determine who
qualifies for which amount could delay the money into May.
Sjoquist said state and local governments are in dire need of the $150
billion due to come their way.
“Sales are down. People aren’t working,” he said. “Tax revenues are going
to decline significantly.”
Some governors, notably New York’s Andrew Cuomo, have complained the
funding earmarked for state and local governments hard hit by COVID-19 won’t be
nearly enough and that Congress will have to come back later and provide
another stimulus measure.
Sjoquist said the stimulus package likely will be sufficient as long as
the pandemic doesn’t stretch into the summer or fall. He said the nature of the
coronavirus-driven recession bodes for a quicker recovery than past economic
downturns.
“It’s not an issue of people losing their homes or that there’s no
demand,” he said. “This is really a case of people holding back on spending
because they’re afraid to go to stores. … Once the virus is over, the recovery
will be pretty quick.”
Sen. Lester Jackson (D-Savannah) is the fifth state senator to test positive for coronavirus in Georgia. (Official Georgia Senate photo)
A fifth state senator has tested positive for coronavirus as the respiratory illness eclipsed 1,000 confirmed cases and claimed 40 lives in Georgia Wednesday.
Sen. Lester Jackson, D-Savannah, told the Savannah Morning News Wednesday that his test results came back positive after a five-day wait. Jackson said he and his wife requested the test “out of an abundance of caution” after other members of the Georgia Senate tested positive last week.
Jackson said he has shown mild symptoms including
a dry cough and has been self-quarantining since returning to Savannah
following a one-day special session of the Georgia General Assembly on March
16.
“I’ve not been out at all,” Jackson told
the newspaper. “I’m staying away from people. I want to protect family and
friends.”
First to publicly announce his COVID-19 diagnosis was Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, whose test results came back positive days after attending the special session. Beach appeared at the Capitol March 16 despite showing mild symptoms the week prior and being tested the preceding Saturday.
His announcement was followed by Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, who alerted constituents late last Friday that she also had contracted the virus. She did not attend the special session.
Then, Sen. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta,
who chairs the state Democratic Party, said on Facebook Sunday night that she
tested positive after developing a fever last Monday and being tested Thursday
afternoon on the top floor of the parking deck of her doctor’s office.
Sen. Bruce Thompson, R-White, also
received confirmation Sunday that he had contracted coronavirus. Thompson was
admitted to the hospital earlier this month with respiratory issues and
released over the weekend once his condition improved.
In the Georgia House, Rep. Angelika Kausche, D-Johns Creek, told the Johns Creek Herald she has likely contracted coronavirus after her husband tested positive last week. Kausche said she decided to forgo testing since materials needed for the test are in short supply.
The novel strain of coronavirus has sickened 1,247 people and led to 40 deaths in Georgia as of noon Wednesday. Many businesses across the state have ground to a halt as workers isolate themselves to help curb the virus’ spread, while several city and county governments have imposed restrictions on gatherings and restaurants.
Coronavirus cases continue to rise in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
The novel coronavirus has killed 40
people in Georgia as of noon Wednesday, doubling the state’s official death
toll since Saturday night.
The fatalities are among a total of 1,247
confirmed COVID-19 cases spread over 96 of Georgia’s 159 counties, according to
the state Department of Public Health. More than 6,000 diagnostic tests have
been completed across the state, largely by commercial labs.
Most infections continue to be clustered
around the Atlanta metro area, with a large number also occurring in the
northwestern part of the state around Rome and further south in the Albany
area. In all, nearly 400 people remain hospitalized from COVID-19 infection.
Albany is home to Phoebe Putney Memorial
Hospital, which has seen an influx of patients as supplies of protective gear
and testing materials dwindle. The health system’s CEO, Scott Steiner, said
Tuesday that the hospital’s ability to treat patients is “quickly reaching a
critical mass.”
“COVID-19 is now a crisis in our region,
and the required response will quickly exceed the resources of any one health
system,” Steiner said in a statement.
Other hospitals in the state “have
refused to accept” patients from Phoebe who have not contracted the virus,
Steiner said, leaving the Albany facility to handle a large number of
admissions with limited bed space.
“Winning the battle against this pandemic
will require a coordinated and cooperative response,” Steiner said.
Congressional lawmakers are close to a
nearly $2 trillion deal to help prop up businesses and families hit hard by the
economic slowdown prompted by the spreading virus.
Cities like Atlanta and Savannah have
issued stay-at-home orders to curb transmissions of the coronavirus. Gov. Brian
Kemp has ordered a statewide ban on bars, restaurants and gatherings of 10 or
more people unless it can be guaranteed people will stay six feet apart from
each other.
The governor is scheduled to hold a
virtual townhall at 8 p.m. Thursday with public health and emergency
preparedness officials.
ATLANTA – Georgia’s
two U.S. senators are asking the Trump administration to steer more of the
available COVID-19 testing resources to Georgia’s academic medical centers.
In a letter
to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Republicans David Perdue
and Kelly Loeffler explain that the medical schools at Augusta University and
Emory University are returning test results faster than Georgia’s commercial
labs.
“While the
commercial laboratories in our state have turnaround times in the range of two
to six days, our academic medical centers have been able to return medical test
results in a matter of hours,” the letter stated.
Augusta
University President Brooks Keel said the university’s Medical College of
Georgia is using a variety of innovative approaches to speed up test results,
including setting up two drive-through test facilities that are conducting more
than 100 tests per day and expanding a virtual screening app to include more of
the state.
“This is why
we’re here,” Keel said. “It’s times like these that we, as the state’s academic
medical center, step up and lead.”
Both Augusta
University and Emory have developed their own tests for coronavirus and are
actively processing results each day.
