Coronavirus has sickened thousands and killed hundreds in Georgia. (Image: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
By Dave Williams and Beau Evans
ATLANTA – Public health experts and local elected officials raised concerns Tuesday over whether Georgia businesses are ready to reopen safely while the coronavirus pandemic continues to chalk up new infections and deaths.
But business leaders welcomed Gov. Brian Kemp’s announcement Monday that some businesses will be allowed to reopen as soon as the end of this week as a first step toward getting critically needed cash back into their coffers.
Kemp said Monday a host of businesses including gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, barbershops and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen this Friday. Dine-in restaurants and movie theaters can throw open their doors next Monday.
While the number of Georgians who have died from COVID-19 was up to 799 as of noon Tuesday and positive cases had risen to 19,881, Kemp said the number of new cases is flattening and emergency room visits are declining. He also announced a plan to increase both testing for the virus and the contact tracing that follows patients who test positive for coronavirus.
“Our citizens are ready for this,” the governor said Monday. “People know what social distancing is.”
“We have the hospital bed capacity and the ramped-up testing and contact tracing,” he said. “I believe we will be able to stay on top of it.”
Georgia mayors criticize Kemp
Mayors across Georgia criticized reopening businesses as premature and potentially dangerous.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said during an interview broadcast by CNN that any progress Georgia has made against the spread of coronavirus stems from the statewide shelter-in-place order Kemp imposed through the end of this month.
“If we’re in a better position, it’s because we’ve been aggressive in asking people to stay home,” she said. “I’m perplexed that we have opened up in this way. I don’t see that it’s based on anything that’s logical.”
Athens Mayor Kelly Girtz, who issued a shelter-in-place order two weeks before the statewide order went into effect early this month, said it’s too soon to reopen businesses while there’s still a lack of adequate testing.
“It’s like sending a football player onto the football field saying, ‘Eventually, we’re going to give you some pads and a helmet. Eventually,’” he said.
Barbershops, beauty parlors and nail salons are exactly the type of settings where it’s impossible to maintain social distancing, said Albany Mayor Bo Dorough, also in an interview with CNN.
Dorough worried Albany, one of the hardest-hit outbreak areas in the country, could see a reversal of gains made recently toward curbing hospital admissions and viral transmissions due to social distancing.
“I understand the governor had a difficult decision to make,” Dorough said. “I do, however, think he made the wrong decision.”
Health experts fear another outbreak
Several public health experts also cast doubt Tuesday on whether the state is ready to reopen social gathering spots like restaurants.
Georgia has not met the federal criteria for seeing a steady decline in cases over a 14-day period before many businesses should start reopening, said Carlos del Rio, who chairs the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health.
“Clearly, we’re not there,” del Rio said on Facebook. “We haven’t even met that requirement.”
That opinion was echoed by Grace Bagwell Adams, an associate professor of health policy and management at the University of Georgia. She also noted testing still is not comprehensive enough to quickly track where the virus is spreading.
“In all likelihood, we’ll see the cases go back up,” Adams said Tuesday. “That’s just the reality of the way this virus spreads.”
Federal and state officials often cite modeling from the University of Washington that shows Georgia has passed its peak in the number of COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions. But other models compiled at the University of Georgia paint a different picture of the transmission rate, said Andreas Handel, an associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UGA’s College of Public Health.
That modeling shows COVID-19 cases appear to be flattening, but it’s not clear yet whether they have started to decrease, Handel said Tuesday. Until a steady decline happens, reopening businesses where people tend to congregate too soon could spark another outbreak, potentially worse than what Georgia has seen so far, Handel said.
“In my opinion, it’s too early,” Handel said. “I don’t see the numbers cropping up to where it would be comfortable for reopening.”
While infection rates will likely go up if restrictions are relaxed now, it’s tough to predict how dramatically they might go up due to the small pool of test results the state has so far, said Isaac Fung, an associate professor of epidemiology at Georgia Southern University’s Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health.
The trade-off, Fung said, is the elderly and people with chronic health issues who are most at risk from the virus have to keep isolated from the rest of the world longer than they would if popular gathering spots were to stay closed.
“The transmission is still going on in the community,” Fung said Tuesday. “Technically, there’s no end in sight until we have a very effective vaccine.”
Business leaders praise reopenings
While public health experts are worried about reopening businesses, one provision of Kemp’s order stands to benefit the health-care industry. Hospitals in Georgia will be allowed to resume elective surgeries, an important component of their revenue streams the COVID-19 outbreak has cut off.
Piedmont Healthcare’s 11 hospitals canceled elective surgeries back in early March.
“We took all of our resources, and really the services that provide the economic funding for the organization, and shut it off to build capacity in the system to be able to take care of the COVID patients as the pandemic rolled through Georgia,” Piedmont CEO Kevin Brown told the Atlanta Business Chronicle earlier this month.
“It’s an enormous fiscal cost to the organization, as well as other health care systems here in Georgia and across the country,” Brown said.
Chris Clark, president and CEO of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday the criticism of Kemp’s decision to reopen businesses ignores the “measured and reasonable approach” the governor is taking.
Businesses that wish to reopen will have to follow a lengthy set of guidelines, including taking their employees’ temperatures, practicing safe distancing, disinfecting the premises and providing masks, he said.
“[Kemp] didn’t just say, ‘The economy is open,’ Clark said. “Every business has to figure out how to operate in this new normal.”
Clark said the safety guidelines will require many businesses to limit the number of customers they can serve at a time.
“What they’re asking is just to do enough to get by in the short term,” he said. “This still isn’t going to save some businesses.”
Clark pointed out Kemp’s decision does not require businesses to reopen. In fact, he expects some will choose not to because they don’t feel ready.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger outlines absentee ballot initiatives in Georgia on April 9, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Georgia’s postponed primary election has drawn a federal lawsuit that seeks another delay to the end of June.
The suit, filed by a group of voters and advocates often at odds with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, also calls for his office to take several sanitation and security steps, including shelving a key component of the state’s new voting machines.
The Coalition for Good Governance is seeking to delay the June 9 primary until June 30 in the face of coronavirus, which has sickened thousands of Georgians and killed hundreds since last month.
The suit also asks the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia to force the state to scrap its new touchscreens for the primary in favor of all-paper ballots, which opponents of the new machines have sought in prior litigation.
The touchscreens, which figure as a critical part of the state’s 30,000 new ballot-marking devices, cannot be scrubbed and sanitized thoroughly enough to ensure the virus will not spread when voters use the screens to cast their ballots, the suit argues.
“The coronavirus will survive on the surfaces of touchscreen [devices] for days,” the suit says, “and using the [devices] for in-person voting will obviously enable the transmission of the COVID-19 virus.”
Additionally, the suit calls for the state to reimburse counties for providing Georgia’s roughly 8,000 poll workers with protective masks and gloves on Election Day and during early voting, and to expand several provisions for voting precincts to accept absentee ballots.
The 85-page complaint argues state elections officials are not prepared to hold the primary on June 9, even as Raffensperger’s office ramps up mail-in voting options amid the coronavirus scare.
“Unless in-person voting is carefully planned, regulated, and diligently managed, and unless significant changes are made to how people vote in Georgia, voting in Georgia will remain dangerous to voters and poll workers for the foreseeable future,” the suit says.
In a statement, Raffensperger dismissed the coalition’s claims and attributed the suit largely to political motives, particularly the push by many election advocates for all-paper ballots in Georgia.
“Groups across the country are disingenuously using a crisis to push their failed policies through the court system,” Raffensperger said. “For the liberals, it’s eliminating options for voters and moving to vote by mail.”
The Colorado-based coalition has clashed in the past with Raffensperger in court over the new machines, which opponents argue do not provide enough of a paper trail to guarantee voting integrity.
Raffensperger has repeatedly said the machines will be secure, noting they are the type of devices that the General Assembly last year mandated should be bought.
In recent weeks, Raffensperger postponed federal, state and local primaries originally scheduled for March and May until June 9, amid indications many poll workers might not show up for in-person voting and in the face of pressure from top Georgia lawmakers.
His office has pointed to federal law requiring deadlines for runoff results and ballot creation for the Nov. 3 general election as the reason why the June 9 primary likely could not be delayed again.
Raffensperger also touted steps his office has taken to expand mail-in voting, including by sending applications for absentee ballots to Georgia’s roughly 7 million registered voters – though the lawsuit argued thousands of voters have not received those applications since they were sent to residential addresses and not mailing addresses.
“As our secretary of state, I will continue to fight disingenuous groups who seek to take away options for voters,” Raffensperger said.
Raffensperger also said state officials are taking steps to “encourage the counties to maintain a clean and healthy in-person experience.” He did not specifically address what counties may do to keep the touchscreens clean throughout the voting process.
The lawsuit, citing directions from the device manufacturer, Dominion Voting Systems, claims the new voting machines would have to be shut down, wiped clean and dried after each time a ballot is cast to ensure proper sanitation.
Abiding by that cleaning protocol for every voter would “inevitably derail the in-person voting process and disenfranchise voters,” the suit says.
The suit also highlighted election issues seen earlier this month in Wisconsin’s primary election. News reports showed long lines of Wisconsin voters wearing face masks in the middle of the worst period of the coronavirus outbreak, sparking anguish over the potential health dangers and accusations of voter suppression.
“Unless injunctive relief is granted immediately, Georgia citizens will find themselves in the same position as Wisconsin citizens: unable to vote in person without exposing themselves to the virus [and] unable to vote absentee by mail because the state has not planned for and is not equipped to accurately process and count the anticipated deluge of absentee mail ballots,” the suit says.
Sen. Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia) will chair the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Official Georgia Senate photo)
State Sen. Blake Tillery has been tapped for a powerful position overseeing budget negotiations in the Georgia Senate, replacing the late Sen. Jack Hill as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Now in his second term, Tillery, R-Vidalia, will head up one of the General Assembly’s most influential committees that is tasked with crafting a state budget each year before sending it to Gov. Brian Kemp.
Hill, R-Reidsville, was one of the legislature’s longest-serving members before his death earlier this month at age 75. He had chaired the budget-wrangling committee since 2003.
Tillery’s district shares a border with Hill’s in Southeast Georgia. In a statement Monday, Tillery highlighted how the coveted appropriations chairmanship will stay in Hill’s region. He also praised Hill as “a mentor, teacher and friend.”
“No one can fill the shoes he leaves behind,” Tillery said. “I’m humbled and proud his position as chairman will remain in our region.”
Tillery steps into the role at a time when coronavirus is causing economic havoc in Georgia and across the country, driving unemployment numbers sky-high and hammering state revenues.
Then on Monday, an analysis from the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute warned the state budget for this fiscal year and next could be in the hole between $3 and $4 billion.
Tillery is poised to play a major role in the coming weeks once the General Assembly reconvenes to pass a coronavirus-impacted budget for the 2021 fiscal year. State lawmakers have not met since mid-March after suspending the 2020 legislative session as concerns mounted over the virus.
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who presides over the Senate and picked Tillery for the post, said Tillery is well-equipped to help lead budget talks as the appropriations committee’s former vice chairman.
“Coupled with his thoughtful wisdom, he is perfectly poised to lead the Senate Appropriations Committee – especially as we prepare to tackle serious budgetary issues,” Duncan said in a statement. “I am confident that he will succeed in this new role, because of his dedication to thoroughly understanding fiscal issues and his unbridled care for the people of this state.”
The Capitol building in Atlanta looms on “crossover” eve on March 12, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston has created a committee to look at how to close out the remainder of the 2020 legislative session, which was put on hold last month as concerns over coronavirus ramped up.
The General Assembly session has been suspended since March 13, leaving hundreds of bills and critical budget negotiations in limbo. Georgia is also under a statewide shelter-in-place order issued by Gov. Brian Kemp through the end of April.
Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, the state Senate’s presiding officer, have not indicated when they may reconvene the 2020 session, which they are empowered to do.
The General Assembly’s only legal responsibility is to pass a state budget for the upcoming fiscal year before July 1. Top lawmakers like Ralston have signaled the budget could see a dramatic overhaul prompted by the deep economic impacts from coronavirus.
In a letter sent Thursday, Ralston tapped five state lawmakers and several key Capitol staffers to serve on the committee. The committee aims to review protocols and recommend how to move forward with the session, Ralston said.
“None of us can know what the remainder of the session will look like,” he wrote. “All we can know is that how we conduct our business will be significantly different than when we suspended the session on March 13.”
The committee members include House Majority Leader Jon Burns, R-Newington, and House Minority Leader Bob Trammell, D-Luthersville.
Also included are Rep. Matt Hatchett, R-Dublin, who chairs the House majority caucus; Rep. William Boddie, D-East Point, the minority whip; and Rep. Mark Newton, R-Augusta, who chairs the House Special Committee on Access to Quality Health Care.
Among staff, the committee includes Bill Reilly, the House clerk; Ralston’s chief of staff, Spiro Amburn; Ralston’s constituent-services director, Holli Pitcock; and the House communications chief, Betsy Theroux.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger discusses an absentee ballot fraud task force on April 6, 2020. (Photo by Beau Evans)
County election officials in Georgia will have the option of installing drop-off boxes for absentee ballots in the June 9 primary election under emergency rules the State Election Board adopted Wednesday.
The new option for voters to send in their ballots comes as coronavirus continues spurring concerns over the safety of voters and poll workers at precincts on Election Day.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office has already started mailing absentee ballot request forms to Georgia’s roughly 7 million registered voters in a move to curb in-person voting on June 9.
On Wednesday, the State Election Board approved emergency rules allowing country registrars to set up drop-off boxes for voters to submit their absentee ballots in person, rather than by mail.
Counties will have the option of installing one or two secure metal boxes at either the registrar’s office or other county property for the June 9 primary, said Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s general counsel.
The drop-off box method will not be mandatory, Germany said. County registrars may decide whether to install them in their jurisdictions or not. But Germany said he expects widespread use of the boxes if counties have the option.
The state board also approved rules for securing the drop-off boxes, including how they are installed and overseen by certified elections officials to guard against tampering.
“Obviously, the security of the boxes is paramount,” Germany said at a board meeting Wednesday.
The rule approved Wednesday only allows drop-off boxes to be used for the June 9 primary, though Germany said the board could expand the option to more elections in the future if they want.
He also said Raffensperger’s office is looking at federal grants and other funding sources to help counties avoid having to foot the entire bill for installing the boxes.
Board members praised the move and eyed the prospect of permitting the drop-off option in future elections.
“I think this is a very good idea,” said David Worley, a board member and Atlanta attorney. “I’m anxious to see how this may play out in the primary and what we may need to do to use it later in the year.”
Election officials were thrown a curveball with coronavirus right as they were gearing up for the first statewide test of Georgia’s 30,000 new voting machines.
A huge surge in absentee ballot voting is expected with concerns over coronavirus unlikely to abate in the coming months. The option for all Georgia voters to request a mail-in ballot is only being offered for the June 9 primary so far.
Democratic Party leaders in the state have called for Raffensperger to skip the request step and send out absentee ballots now. They are also pushing to make expand absentee voting for the remainder of this year’s elections in Georgia.
Saira Draper, the Democratic Party of Georgia’s voter protection director, praised the move to allow drop-off voting and pressed Raffensperger’s office to lock in funding for counties.
“Offering limited-contact options to voters is prudent,” Draper said.
Georgia lawmakers cannot legally raise campaign contributions while the General Assembly’s 2020 session remains suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, the state agency board tasked with enforcing the state’s campaign finance laws decided Tuesday.
The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission voted 3-2 to keep intact the prohibition against campaign fundraising that applies while the legislature is in session, even though lawmakers have been sent home indefinitely to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic.
The suspension of the session on March 13 put legislative incumbents seeking re-election in campaign pickle ahead of the June 9 primary election.
Georgia lawmakers are facing a campaign pickle with coronavirus upending their ability to raise money for re-election efforts ahead of the June 9 primary election, with some complaining the situation puts them at a disadvantage against primary challengers free to raise as much money as they can bring in.
During a teleconference meeting of the commission Tuesday, board members disagreed on whether the 2020 session was technically “adjourned” and lawmakers could raise money, or whether the session is only “suspended” with legislative matters like passing the state budget still on the table and fundraising prohibited.
Ultimately, the board narrowly adopted a legal opinion stating that General Assembly members likely cannot legally raise campaign funds right now, despite the unprecedented emergency circumstances caused by coronavirus.
However, the ethics board also agreed state lawmakers can spend their own personal money on campaign purposes and reimburse those costs later from their campaign coffers.
Those reimbursements would have to be made within 60 days after the legislative session adjourns, according to a revised opinion that board members green-lit Tuesday.
Leaders in both House and Senate have not indicated when they might call for reconvening lawmakers to wrap up passing the state budget and formally end the 2020 session. That uncertainty has left some of the more than 40 sitting state lawmakers facing primary opponents worried.
Sen. David Lucas, D-Macon, was first to air his concerns about the fundraising ban moments after the state Senate moved to suspend the session. Concerns have also come from Sen. Horacena Tate, D-Atlanta, who has drawn three primary opponents.
Her attorney, Matt Weiss, told the ethics board Tuesday that sitting lawmakers like Tate will be at a disadvantage if the session remains in suspension limbo.
“There’s virtually no time for an incumbent in either the House or Senate to raise money before their primary,” Weiss said.
Weiss, along with ethics board members Robert Watts and James Kreyenbuhl, argued that the General Assembly has technically adjourned. Because of that, they said lawmakers should be allowed to fundraise.
Several board members, as well as Rep. Micah Gravley, R-Douglasville, said that is likely not the case because hundreds of bills remain alive in the session and that lawmakers still need to pass the 2021 fiscal year budget, which Georgia’s constitution requires them to do before July 1.
Gravley, who does not face primary opposition, pointed out Tuesday the legislature cannot officially adjourn for good – marking an occasion called “sine die” – until the budget is passed.
Until that happens, and the legislature adjourns “sine die,” Gravely said lawmakers will continue to be in session and unable to fundraise.
“The legislative session is still open,” Gravley said.
