U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a prominent civil rights leader, served 33 years in Congress before his death on July 17, 2020. (Official U.S. House photo)
Gov. Brian Kemp Monday called a special election for Sept. 29 to fill the remainder of U.S. Rep. John Lewis’ term following the civil rights icon’s death earlier this month.
Required by state law, the special election will only apply through the end of this year. The general election on Nov. 3 will decide who serves the next full term representing Georgia’s 5th Congressional District, a seat Lewis held for decades.
A runoff for the special election would be held on Dec. 1, if needed.
Georgia Democratic Party leaders last week picked state Sen. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, to replace Lewis on the Nov. 3 ballot after the longtime congressman won the primary in June. She faces Republican Angela Stanton King.
Lewis, a prominent civil rights leader who was beaten by police in Selma, Ala., during a protest march in 1965, served 33 years in Congress before his death at age 80 following a seven-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
He was poised to defend his seat for an 18th consecutive term prior to his death on July 17, which sparked a complicated and quick-moving process for state Democrats to pick his replacement to square off against King rather than let Republicans claim the reliably blue district.
Kemp, a Republican, announced the Sept. 29 special election as Lewis’ casket lay in state at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday. His casket is scheduled to lie in state at the Georgia Capitol on Wednesday, followed by a funeral service in Atlanta on Thursday.
Williams, who currently chairs the Democratic Party of Georgia, has touted her background as an activist and tested lawmaker, casting herself in the mold of Lewis as a fighter who will push for voting rights. She was elected to the Georgia Senate in 2017.
The 39th District state Senate seat Williams held will also require a special election to pick a Democratic nominee to replace her on the Nov. 3 ballot. That contest will decide the seat since no Republican nominee is on the ballot.
U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and CMS Administrator Seema Verma (top left) talk COVID-19 concerns with Georgia health-care and nursing home leaders in Atlanta on July 27, 2020 (Photo by Beau Evans)
Georgia hospital and health-care leaders pushed a top U.S. health official and U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler Monday for more federal funding amid a recent surge in COVID-19 cases.
At a roundtable talk in Atlanta, representatives from the state’s largest hospitals and nursing-home associations detailed growing concerns over maintaining care and curbing infections due to tight finances, difficulty procuring test kits and health disparities in minority communities.
They laid out challenges with retaining hospital and nursing staff, receiving enough sanitization materials and keeping seniors in long-term care facilities from becoming depressed due to prolonged isolation as the virus continues battering Georgia.
More federal funds for health-care providers in a second round of coronavirus relief will be critical to fend off a large increase in positive cases and intensive-care hospitalizations over the past month, several hospital executives said Monday.
“Anything we can get is important because the financial burden, especially in hot spots, has been really tremendous on health-care centers and hospitals,” said Dr. Jonathan Lewin, president and CEO of Emory Healthcare in Atlanta.
Monday’s talk was hosted by Loeffler, R-Ga., and Seema Verma, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Loeffler, who has brought legislation to broaden insurance coverage for telemedicine, aims to focus on federal aid for schools, health-care providers and businesses as Congress hashes out another funding package.
So far, Loeffler has opposed calls to extend $600 weekly federal unemployment benefits in effect since April that are set to expire at month’s end, arguing many businesses have struggled to bring employees back to work amid unemployment benefits that may be higher than their regular paychecks.
“What we have to look at is making sure the relief goes to those most impacted,” Loeffler said. “We’re looking at restaurants going bankrupt, going out of business. We have to know that there are areas that have been more impacted than others and making sure we’re addressing that particular issue.”
State officials have helped increase staffing levels at around 50 hospitals and 70 long-term care facilities in Georgia via staff augmentation contracts since March, said Frank Berry, commissioner of the state Department of Community Health.
Keeping that extra support in place will be critical as the summer months wear on and hospitals face capacity issues as more patients are admitted, Berry said.
But positive COVID-19 cases and intensive-care hospitalizations are still climbing, sparking worries among hospitals and providers that health-care finances already pummeled by the virus since March could get worse.
“Our volumes are significantly higher in this wave than they were in the previous,” said John Haupert, president and CEO of Grady Health System in Atlanta. “What we’re very concerned about now is there is not a great compliance with social distancing and masking in our community.”
Nursing homes stumbled early in the outbreak due to lack of training in infectious-disease control measures and a severe shortage of tests that could help facility staff quickly isolate infected residents.
Many elderly residents are showing signs of weight loss and depression due to their isolation as long-term care facilities remain locked down across the state, said representatives from several nursing-home groups.
“We are identifying the need that they have to see each other,” said Deborah Meade, board chair of the American Health Care Association.
Verma, the federal Medicaid administrator, said her agency has started sending “point-of-care” test kits to nursing homes across the country to conduct COVID-19 tests for residents and staff inside facilities rather than off-site. Around 1,000 kits have already been sent, she said.
Verma called those kits a “game changer” that would help elderly-care facilities curb infection rates so that residents can begin interacting with each other at a safe distance and potentially receiving visitors.
“This has been an incredibly difficult time,” Verma said. “I think the tests that we’re doing are really going to be that turning point and allowing for that reunification [with families], and allowing for them to have a better quality of life inside the nursing home.”
Health-care leaders also discussed infection and treatment disparities among minority communities, which have seen higher positive-case rates compared to white populations during the pandemic.
Those disparities could affect ongoing clinical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine, said several leaders. Minority communities have historically been under-represented in clinical trials and tend to express more distrust for the effectiveness of vaccines as a result.
Public messaging that resonates with those communities will be key to inoculating as many people as possible in minority communities once a vaccine is approved, said Laurie Reid, a registered nurse and member of the Atlanta Black Nurses Association.
“Vaccine is good all day long,” Reid said. “Vaccination [buy-in] is going to be another issue.”
ATLANTA – A Utah-based maker of mattresses and pillows will build its first East Coast plant in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday.
Purple Innovation Inc. will invest $21 million in a 520,000-square-foot facility in Henry County. The new plant is expected to create 360 jobs in the south side of metro Atlanta.
Purple Innovation was formed in 2015 by two brothers with extensive experience in materials science, Tony and Terry Pearce. It uses a patented gel technology – the Purple Grid – to provide support without sacrificing comfort.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome an all-American success story like Purple to the extensive list of advanced manufacturers using innovative technologies and skills to create in-demand products right here in Georgia,” Kemp said.
Joe Megibow, the company’s CEO, said Purple Innovation spent a lot of time searching for a suitable site for its first East Coast plant before settling on McDonough.
“It was important to find a community of hardworking and talented individuals who could help us bring the factory to life,” Megibow said. “The community of Henry County has proven that this is the right place to make our investment for Purple’s future.”
Purple sells its products directly to customers through its website, purple.com, and through wholesale partners and Purple showrooms across the country. The company is expanding to the East Coast to meet customer demand.
“Advanced manufacturing has always been an integral part of Henry County’s economy,” said Pierre Clements, chairman of the Henry County Development Authority. “Purple will be a great addition.”
The company expects the new plant to be fully operational next year.
ATLANTA – Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jon Ossoff was still waiting Monday to find out whether he has coronavirus, two days after being tested for COVID-19.
Ossoff, who is challenging Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said he was told to expect a result from the test within two to four days. He was tested on Saturday after his wife, Dr. Alisha Kramer, an ob-gyn at Emory University, tested positive for COVID-19.
Ossoff noted that some people have received results from COVID-19 tests quickly, while others have had to wait up to two weeks.
“In order to respond to this crisis, we need to get fast results for everybody,” he said. “We need elected officials to listen to and implement scientific expertise.”
In keeping with that theme, the Ossoff campaign released its second general-election ad on Monday, accusing Perdue of echoing misinformation President Donald Trump has disseminated during the coronavirus pandemic downplaying the threat posed by the virus.
The ad “Echo” alternates sound bites Trump has delivered on the low risks posed by COVID-19 with nearly identical quotes from Perdue.
For his part, Perdue charged Ossoff in a news release Monday with falsely claiming legislation Perdue introduced in the Senate last week would deny federal grants to schools that do not reopen immediately to in-person instruction.
“It’s puzzling that Jon Ossoff would be against a good faith proposal that gives our schools, teachers and parents the tools they need to reopen safely now and in the coming weeks,” said Casey Black, a senior spokeswoman for the Perdue campaign. “The SCHOOL Act uses guidelines recommended by the [federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], pediatric health-care experts and local school officials and provides the resources to reopen with confidence.”
Meanwhile, Ossoff said his wife has been improving steadily during the last three days since testing positive for coronavirus.
Ossoff said his decision to self-quarantine after his wife tested positive is not affecting his campaign.
“I was already in de facto quarantine,” he said. “I haven’t done a public campaign event in more than a month.”
Ossoff won the Democratic nomination to oppose Perdue last month. Perdue was unopposed for the Republican nod for a second six-year term.
ATLANTA – A German auto parts manufacturer is bringing its first manufacturing plant in the Southeast to Northwest Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday.
GEDIA Automotive Group will invest $85 million in a state-of-the-art plant in Whitfield County that will create 200 jobs in the greater Dalton area. The facility will produce parts for electric vehicles.
“As we are a national leader in manufacturing, logistics and workforce training, I’m confident this family-owned business will be very pleased with their decision to join the growing electric vehicle ecosystem here in Georgia,” Kemp said. “Once again, the state’s consistent investment in our Germany-based European office is paying off.”
GEDIA supplies lightweight automotive parts to Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and other automakers around the world. The Georgia plant will be the company’s second in the United States, joining a plant in Michigan.
Friday’s announcement came as state Commissioner of Economic Development Pat Wilson was traveling in Germany to meet with government officials and trade partners. GEDIA’s German headquarters in the Bavaria region is among Wilson’s stops.
“This project is an essential step into the future for GEDIA,” said Markus Schaumburg, one of two GEDIA Automotive Group CEOs. “Moving closer to the original equipment manufacturers allows us to serve the American market even better.”
The new plant is expected to begin operations during the third quarter of next year.
