The University System of Georgia is encouraging but not requiring students and professors to be vaccinated against COVID-19 (Mercedes-Benz Stadium photo)
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia is doing everything it can to prevent the spread of COVID-19 short of imposing a mask mandate, the system’s acting chancellor said Thursday.
The system’s policy encouraging but not requiring students, professors and other employees to get vaccinated and wear masks is in keeping with Gov. Brian Kemp’s position that mandates are divisive, and people should be given a choice.
“Everybody has the ability to get vaccinated,” Acting Chancellor Teresa MacCartney told the system’s Board of Regents. “Everybody has the ability to wear a mask.”
The university system’s decision not to require vaccinations or masks comes as COVID-19 cases continue increasing at some of the system’s 26 colleges and universities.
Some faculty groups have passed resolutions demanding mask mandates in indoor spaces where social distancing is difficult and have held demonstrations on some campuses.
MacCartney encouraged those demanding mask mandates to remain civil.
“I understand the concerns of some on our campuses and in our communities,” she said. “[But] attacking our presidents and campus administrators is not productive. It will not affect how we make decisions.”
MacCartney outlined steps the university system has taken to discourage the spread of the virus since classes began last month. She said the campuses have distributed 432,000 masks, 942,000 gloves, more than 1,000 gallons of hand sanitizer and more than 313,000 COVID-19 tests.
Most campuses are offering incentives to encourage vaccinations, and turnout at on-campus vaccination sites is on the rise, she said.
“It is an all-court press, and it will continue as long as we battle this pandemic,” she said.
MacCartney said surveys of students and parents found overwhelming support for resuming in-person classes this semester. The campuses shut down in March of last year when the coronavirus pandemic first struck Georgia, and students were forced to rely on virtual instruction.
“[Students] understand the challenges online learning had for them last year,” MacCartney said. “Being on campus, physically able to interact with professors, has a profound effect.”
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – The economic impact of the surging delta variant of COVID-19 has yet to be felt in Georgia.
Tax collections in the Peach State rose by 12.7% last month compared to August of last year, the state Department of Revenue reported Wednesday. Revenues are up 6.2% for the first two months of fiscal 2022, which began July 1.
Individual income tax receipts and sales tax collections for August showed similar healthy increases.
Individual income tax revenue rose by 13.9% partly due to a drop in tax refunds issued by the revenue agency.
Net sales tax collections were up by 11.7% compared to August of last year.
Corporate income tax receipts fell significantly, however, dropping by 134.7%, as refunds outstripped tax payments. Corporate income tax revenues typically are more volatile month to month than taxes on individuals.
Georgians paid 12.6% more in motor fuels taxes last month than in August 2020, no surprise considering the return of traffic to near-normal levels as businesses shut down during the pandemic reopened.
If state tax collections continue to show improvement, Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia lawmakers will enjoy the luxury of a healthy budget surplus entering the 2022 General Assembly session.
That increases the likelihood the state’s elected leaders will follow through with a promised pay raise for teachers and income tax cuts for Georgia taxpayers. Those were put on hold during the economic uncertainty brought about during the pandemic.
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Georgia airports need $1.3 billion for projects including runway extensions and terminal improvements, Carol Comer, director of the state Department of Transportation’s Intermodal Division, said Wednesday.
That need translates to $411 million a year for commercial and general aviation airports that receive only about $68 million a year in combined state and federal funding, Comer told members of a legislative study committee the General Assembly created this year to look for ways to secure enough funds to ensure growth in Georgia’s aviation industry.
“We don’t need a Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in every community,” she said. “We need different levels of airports to accommodate different aircraft.”
Georgia’s 105 public airports generated $73.7 billion in economic impact in 2019, according to a pre-pandemic study conducted by Colorado-based aviation consulting firm Jviation Inc., up from $62.6 billion in 2011. The airports accounted for more than 450,000 jobs with a payroll of more than $20 billion.
While Hartsfield-Jackson accounted for 90% of that economic impact, Georgia’s so-called second-tier commercial airports and general aviation airports across the state also are significant economic contributors, Jviation Vice President Travis Vallin said.
About 1.1 million visitors passed through the state’s commercial airports in 2019, spending $440 per trip on average, according to the study. The general aviation airports drew 1.4 million visitors who spent $54 to $192 per trip.
“Visitors to the state leave money behind,” Vallin said.
Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said airports are critical to their host counties’ economic fortunes. He cited instances where corporate prospects expressed interest in a city or county, only to arrive for a tour at a dilapidated terminal building and subsequently lose their enthusiasm for the area.
“These airports, particularly in rural Georgia, are the front doors for economic development in their communities,” said Clark, a member of the study committee.
Comer said Georgia’s airports have made significant progress in recent decades, thanks to infusions of state funding requested by then-Govs. Zell Miller, Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal.
But landing federal funding for airport projects is complicated by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) policies. For one thing, the FAA does not fund projects involving terminals, leaving those up to state and local governments, said state Sen. Tyler Harper, R-Ocilla, a member of the study committee and an amateur pilot.
“Sometimes, there’s not enough money to address projects we can’t use federal funding for,” he said.
Comer said the feds won’t fund projects of any kind at six Georgia airports, including the airports in Dahlonega and Moultrie. Seven others, including the Jekyll Island airport, only receive limited federal funding, she said.
Comer said another challenge is that Georgia is being substantially outspent when it comes to airport improvements by surrounding states that compete with Georgia for jobs. While Florida spent $329.3 million on airports during the last fiscal year and North Carolina was spending $125.5 million, Georgia only spent about $16 million, she said.
The $72.8 million in combined state and federal funds Georgia airports are slated to receive during the current fiscal year will only pay for 124 projects of nearly 300 project applications, Comer said.
Clark said domestic air travel is returning now to pre-pandemic levels but with a twist. More business travelers are expected to fly into and out of second-tier airports, which must be prepared for that growth, he said.
Clark said airports also must start getting ready to accommodate the advent of electric airplanes and the technology they will require.
“I don’t know that we’re going to do our jobs if we don’t think about long-term infrastructure needs beyond just paving runways,” he said.
Under the resolution creating the study committee, it has until the end of this year to issue recommendations.
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – For the second time in a week, a Georgia prosecutor has been indicted for misconduct in a criminal investigation.
Chattahoochee Circuit District Attorney Mark Preston Jones is charged with bribery, influencing witnesses, violating his oath of office and subornation of perjury. The most serious charge in terms of penalties is bribery, which carries up to 20 years in prison.
Jones is accused of trying to convince a law enforcement officer to testify that the defendant in a Muscogee County case, Elijah Farrel, believed deceased victim Sara Holtrop was cheating on him. That would have provided a motive allowing Farrel to be charged with murder.
“It is important for the citizens of Georgia to know that our office will not hesitate to enforce the rule of law, including when it involves the actions of a public official,” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said. “We look forward to presenting our case in court.”
A Muscogee County grand jury handed up the indictment Tuesday. The case was investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Last Thursday, a grand jury in Glynn County indicted former Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson for misconduct in the investigation of the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery last year.
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
ATLANTA – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has absorbed a storm of criticism in the national media for refusing to let school districts in his state impose mask mandates to discourage the spread of COVID-19.
But DeSantis has launched a statewide initiative to fight the virus that could take some pressure off his state’s hospitals.
The Republican governor has been crisscrossing Florida this week touting the success of monoclonal antibody treatment, which is now available at state-run sites.
“Since we’ve been doing those treatments, we’ve seen a decline in the hospital census for COVID,” DeSantis said Wednesday during a news conference in Fort Myers, Fla. “We’ve seen a decline in the emergency visits for COVID.”
While, DeSantis continues to promote vaccines as the best defense against COVID-19, some Floridians who have contracted the virus credit the treatment with keeping them out of the hospital.
Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced proteins that function like the antibodies made by the immune system in response to infection. Until recently, only hospitals offered the treatment, which was done through infusions.
Florida has opened 21 centers across the state that offer the antibodies to patients at no cost. Each patient receives four injections.
Monoclonal antibody treatments typically are used to prevent patients who have tested positive for COVID-19 from getting sick enough that they have to be hospitalized.
Georgia has yet to follow Florida’s example by launching a statewide initiative for monoclonal antibody treatments. However, the treatments are available at 136 locations in Georgia under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization, state Department of Public Health spokeswoman Nancy Nydam said Friday.
“At this time, the Georgia Department of Public Health is exploring all options for making monoclonal antibody treatment more accessible to Georgians,” Nydam said.
Georgia certainly could use the help of treatments that reduce the need for hospitalization of coronavirus patients. The state set a record for COVID-19 hospitalizations this week at 5,880, topping the previous high mark set last January.
As of Thursday afternoon, 1,103,756 Georgians had been diagnosed with COVID-19. The virus had resulted in 73,777 hospitalizations since the pandemic began in March of last year, with 23,006 confirmed or probable deaths.
This story available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
