Gov. Brian Kemp (left) and Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey (right) embarked on a statewide tour to promote mask use on July 1, 2020. (Gov. Kemp official Twitter account)
The evolving political back-and-forth on whether Georgia should require facial coverings in public entered a new phase this past week as Gov. Brian Kemp allowed cities and counties to mandate mask-wearing in many areas except homes and businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several cities have joined Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah in requiring masks following Kemp’s decision last week to drop a lawsuit against Atlanta officials over masking rules and a rollback of shelter-in-place requirements.
Cities including Columbus, Milledgeville, Warner Robins, Smyrna and Sandy Springs passed measures in recent days requiring masks on city-owned public property, which squares with Kemp’s latest executive order.
Rockdale County also passed a mask mandate, and officials in LaGrange this week approved a measure authorizing police to enforce mask requirements at local businesses that choose to adopt them.
Other cities including Valdosta and Macon are poised to consider mandating facial coverings in the coming days. At least one city, Covington, has already shot down a mask mandate proposal.
The Georgia Municipal Association has not yet compiled a list of which Georgia cities have adopted local masking requirements but is working on one, according to a spokeswoman.
Meanwhile, Kemp has declined to issue a statewide mask mandate in the face of a White House coronavirus task force report drafted earlier this month that recommends imposing one, as the governor maintains his position that public mask-wearing should be strongly encouraged but voluntary.
“We take their recommendations, but it doesn’t mean that every governor is going to follow every one of them,” Kemp said at a recent news conference.
The governor has urged Georgians to wear masks, wash their hands and avoid large gatherings, and pressed local governments to enforce a statewide ban on gatherings larger than 50 people.
The White House recommendations found the vast majority of cities and counties in Georgia saw more than 100 new positive cases per 100,000 people and positivity rates higher than 10% in early August.
The report notes those numbers put Georgia in a “red zone” for coronavirus infections and recommends adopting a statewide mask mandate, boosting protections in elderly-care facilities and limiting gatherings to 10 people or fewer.
Kemp lashed out at news outlets during a news conference for reporting on the White House report without emphasizing more the state’s COVID-19 data, noting the state has seen a decline in hospitalizations and seven-day average infection rates since last month.
“To scare people with one number is not fair to the general public,” Kemp said. “You are not giving them the benefit of the doubt to make good decisions based on all the data.”
But Georgia’s image and allure for business investments has likely already taken a hit amid intense debate over masks and conflict between the governor and some local officials like Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, said Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia.
“Georgia has not done well in terms of public relations with regard to this,” Bullock said. “Part of what a governor’s unwritten job involves is attracting new industries and investment to the state. I can’t imagine recent publicity involving coronavirus helps the state.”
Kemp dropped a lawsuit earlier this month that the state filed against the city of Atlanta over orders by Bottoms to require wearing masks in public and to reinstate a citywide shelter-in-place rule, which Bottoms later described as voluntary.
Shortly after, Kemp issued a new executive order that permits local governments in Georgia to impose mask mandates so long as they are not enforced in residences or on private property including businesses.
Rather than a mandate, the governor’s office last month launched a voluntary marketing campaign called the “Georgia Safety Promise” for businesses in the state to show they are keeping up with good social distancing, sanitizing and masking practices.
Restaurants in the state, which have been battered by the virus’ economic impacts, have mostly adopted masking practices for employees and customers since being allowed to reopen in late April, said Karen Bremer, CEO of the Georgia Restaurant Association.
Bremer, who helped launch the marketing campaign, said most Georgia restaurants have put up signs asking customers to wear masks on the premises and noted she has seen little resistance to facial coverings as restaurants seek to boost confidence that customers can dine safely.
“What I am hearing and I am seeing anecdotally is people wearing face coverings,” Bremer said in a recent interview. “There are not many [restaurants] that are not complying with that. I think there’s a social pressure there.”
The Georgia Chamber of Commerce also backs the mask-wearing marketing campaign as well as other cleanliness and distancing measures businesses can adopt to curb the virus’s spread.
“We encourage businesses to wear masks, practice social distancing, train staff and act responsibly,” said Lisa Sherman, the chamber’s external affairs vice president.
Still, a few instances of local businesses and residents opposed to wearing masks have cropped up in recent weeks. A group of residents in the Georgia city of Guyton near Savannah last month protested a mask mandate for all residents and visitors older than 11-years-old, the Effingham Herald reported.
Also, a Gwinnett County bakery and cafe drew attention this week for placing a sign outside the premises that read, “We do not wear mask[s], we do not do social distance,” CBS46 News reported. The station reported the bakery’s staff cited personal freedom in their decision to forgo masks.
Ultimately, as Georgia businesses weigh safety measures and ways to bring back customers, the focus should be on avoiding another widespread economic shutdown such as occurred during the statewide shelter-in-place order in April, said Clark Hungerford, president of Vinings Bank in Cobb County.
“We cannot afford that,” Hungerford said in a recent interview. “If we shut it down again, I don’t know that we ever get it restarted. That’s my biggest fear.”
ATLANTA – Georgia’s unemployment rate remained steady last month, but jobs and employment were on the upswing, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Unemployment in July stood at 7.6% , the same as in June but more than double the 3.4% jobless rate in July of last year. The national unemployment rate last month was 10.2%.
The number of jobs in Georgia rose by 43,800 last month to more than 4.4 million. Employed residents also went up by 55,466 in July to more than 4.6 million.
“Although the unemployment rate remained steady in July, it is promising to see positive growth in critical indicators like employment and jobs,” Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler said. “I believe you will soon see a gradual decrease in the unemployment rate as employment catches up with increases in labor force.”
After 17 consecutive weeks above 100,000, the number of initial unemployment claims filed in Georgia was less than 100,000 last week for the fourth straight week. First-time unemployment claims for the week ending Aug. 15 were 58,099, down 4,236 from the previous week.
Since March 21, the labor department has processed nearly 3.5 million initial unemployment claims, more than the last eight years combined.
The job sector accounting for the most claims during that period was accommodation and food services, with 832,068 claims. The health care and social assistance sector was next with 412,542 claims, followed by retail trade with 378,545.
More than 120,000 jobs are listed online at EmployGeorgia.com for Georgians to access. The labor department offers online resources for finding a job, building a resume and assisting with other reemployment needs.
Georgia Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry
ATLANTA – Traffic is back to pre-pandemic levels in most of Georgia, state Commissioner of Transportation Russell McMurry reported Thursday.
With the economy steadily reopening, the flow of cars and trucks along Georgia’s rural roads and interstate highways is back to normal, McMurry told members of the State Transportation Board during its monthly meeting Thursday. In fact, truck traffic is actually above normal in some parts of the state, he said.
Only in metro Atlanta is traffic still down significantly from levels seen before March, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the state and prompted Gov. Brian Kemp to issue a statewide stay-at-home order. That mandate has since been lifted for all but Georgians in long-term care facilities and those with chronic medical conditions.
Because the metro region accounts for such a large percentage of the vehicles plying Georgia highways, traffic flow statewide is still down 10% to 15% on average, McMurry said. Traffic across the state plummeted by up to half at the height of the economic lockdown.
McMurry said it’s still unclear how much the reopening of schools for the fall semester will affect traffic flows. He said he would know more by the time he reports back to the transportation board next month.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff (left) and Rev. Raphael Warnock (right) held a joint virtual townhall on Aug. 19, 2020. (Jon Ossoff Facebook video)
Democratic candidates for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats linked hands Wednesday night in a show of campaign unity aimed at invigorating the state’s Democratic voters ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.
Candidates Jon Ossoff, an investigative journalist challenging U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church running against U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., held a virtual town hall leading into the third night of the Democratic National Convention.
The event sought to highlight criticism of the Republican senators and to strengthen the Democratic frontrunner status of Warnock, who is competing alongside several other Democratic candidates in the race against Loeffler including Matt Lieberman, the son of former Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.
“This is a winning ticket,” Warnock said. “We represent the continuation of a grand tradition that is multi-racial, that is multi-religious … this is America at its finest.”
“It’s just an honor to be running alongside you, reverend,” Ossoff said. “Thank you.”
Warnock’s campaign estimated more than 123,000 supporters watched Wednesday’s event.
Democratic leaders view Georgia as a key battleground state with two Senate seats in play and shifting demographics that saw former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams lose by a slim margin to now-Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018.
Voter turnout is expected to top 5 million in November with a presidential contest and double the usual number of Senate seats in play, after former U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson retired at the start of the year due to health issues. Loeffler was appointed to hold his seat until the November election.
Warnock, who has held off on in-person campaigning so far amid the COVID-19 pandemic, used the virtual talk to stress his platform of expanding health care including Medicaid coverage and strengthening voter protections, a key Democratic stance that has been bolstered by Abrams.
Recent polls have shown Warnock running closely with Lieberman, who has raised far less in campaign contributions and took heat this month for a self-published novel criticized for containing racist tropes.
The presence of multiple Democratic candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot could play a huge role in deciding whether a Democratic candidate makes the likely runoff in January, with Loeffler also fielding stiff competition within her own party from U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville.
Ossoff, who lost a tight race to Republican Karen Handel for the 6th Congressional District seat in 2017, won the primary election outright in June to avoid a potentially expensive and divisive runoff for the Democratic nomination against former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson.
Tomlinson has also backed Warnock’s campaign, as has 7th Congressional District Democratic nominee Carolyn Bourdeaux and a host of state and national Democratic leaders, including Abrams.
GBI Director Vic Reynolds talks about criminal gangs at the State Capitol on Jan. 27, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
A new state task force has been working since July to crack down on human trafficking in Georgia.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Human Exploitation and Trafficking Unit, or HEAT, is focused on investigating crimes involving sex trafficking and labor trafficking as well as rescuing trafficked victims, said GBI Director Vic Reynolds said at a news conference Wednesday.
The task force launched July 1 with four agents including two investigators funded by a grant from the state Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC). The unit is based in Atlanta and works statewide with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, Reynolds said.
The new GBI unit is also working with financial investigators to locate traffickers and shore up cases against arrested traffickers, Reynolds said. The CJCC’s statistical analysis center is also helping to pinpoint trafficking hot spots.
Reynolds put out a warning that the new GBI unit aims to give human traffickers no quarter in Georgia.
“I want you to know without any equivocation that the GBI is coming after you,” Reynolds said. “And we intend on pursuing these cases in every corner of the state of Georgia.”
Curbing human trafficking has been a top priority for Gov. Brian Kemp since taking office last year as well as for First Lady Marty Kemp, who the governor charged with the trafficking-focused GRACE Commission to target traffickers and help victims.
The task force’s creation coincided with passage in the General Assembly of legislation to strip convicted traffickers of their commercial driver’s licenses and to help trafficked victims clean up any criminal record they may have. Kemp signed those bills last month.
“We’ve made it clear … that in no terms are perpetrators of modern-day slavery going to have any place in the state of Georgia,” Kemp said Wednesday.
