Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has defended his plans to reopen certain businesses in his state later this week, after coronavirus task force coo...
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has defended his plans to reopen certain businesses in his state later this week, after coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms both publicly questioned the motion's logic.
Kemp announced Monday that gyms, bowling alleys, salons, barbershops and a number of other indoor facilities that have been closed across Georgia since April 2 will be permitted to reopen this Friday.
Restaurants, which have been banned from in-person dining since the shelter in place order was issued, will also be allowed to reopen on April 27 along with movie theaters.
The Georgia governor has since face a litany of backlash among critics who have called the motion is both premature and irresponsible.
Dr. Brix also voiced concern, saying she doesn't understand how Georgia residents will be able to get haircuts or tattoos while still honoring social distancing guidelines. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms expressed similar confusion too, claiming the plan didn't appear to be based on 'anything logical'.
But speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Kemp assured that he is taking a 'measured step' with his plans and urged any doubters to 'look at the guidance that we are going to be putting out the rest of the week.'
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has defended his plans to reopen certain businesses in his state later this week, after coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms both publicly questioned the logic of the motion
Kemp announced Monday that gyms, bowling alleys, salons, barbershops and a number of other indoor facilities that have been closed across Georgia since April 2 will be permitted to reopen this Friday
'I don't know how': Dr. Deborah Birx said she didn't know how Georgia residents could go to certain shops but still keep social distancing in place. 'But people are very creative,' she said
The controversial decision, which Kemp called 'the gateways to the phase one part of the president's [economy reopening] plan', was made in collaboration with a number of health experts, he explained.
'They support a measured opening, which is what we are doing,' Kemp said. 'It's going to be very limited in scope. Basic operations.'
In order for the business to remain in operation they must meet 20 separate requirements, including regularly screening employees for signs of illness, enforcing regular hand washing and prohibiting large gatherings of workers.
On Monday, Kemp revealed one of the motivating factors behind the partial lockdown lift was the thought of Georgians 'going broke worried about whether they can feed their children and make the mortgage payment.'
Elaborating on that point when speaking to FOX earlier, Kemp voiced concerns over the 'civil repercussions' and development of 'mental health issues' among business owners if their stores remain closed indefinitely.
'We are talking about a few businesses that I closed down to help flatten the curve, which we have done in our state,' Kemp said, 'But for us to continue to ask them to do that while they lose everything, quite honestly, there are a lot of civil repercussions of that, mental health issues. We are seeing more patients in our trauma centers in our state.
'People are just tired of it. It's a tough balance. I understand where folks ... may agree or disagree,' he added. 'I've got some people that are protesting me because I took this step and I may have others that protest because I didn't go far enough.'
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms voiced similar confusion to Dr. Brix, claiming the plan didn't appear to be based on 'anything logical'
Restaurants, which have been banned from in-person dining since the shelter in place order was issued, will also be allowed to reopen on April 27 along with movie theaters.
When pressed on his decision to reopen gyms, which are probable breeding grounds for the virus, the governor reiterated that business owners will still have to adhere to 'strict social guidelines'.
'You have to give that fitness owner or that owner of the hair salon the ability to be able to be a partner in this fight that we are in,' Kemp said. 'They are going to have to follow the strict guidelines. I would tell you that I would imagine there are people in gyms that will be a lot safer than they would be going to the grocery store or some of the other places of business that are part of the critical infrastructure spend designated by the federal level.'
'This is going to take some common sense,' he continued. 'Our people have learned. They have helped us be a solution to the problem of flattening the curve and start getting to the other side of it.'
As of Tuesday evening, Georgia has 20,166 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has suffered 818 deaths.
Despite the widespread criticisms that has followed in the wake of his announcement, Kemp says he is putting his faith in the people of Georgia to 'behave themselves'.
'We'll be putting those guidelines out. If people don't want to go [to the gym], they don't have to go. If people don't want to open the gym, they don't have to,' Kemp said.
But when you close somebody's business down and take [the] livelihood of that individual and those employees and they are literally at the base of losing everything, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt,' he said.
'I think they're going to do the right thing.'
Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, listen as President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 21, 2020, in Washington
Coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx was asked about Kemp's announcement during Tuesday's White House briefing.
She did not endorse the idea – but neither did she rule it out. Birx did not provide a theory for how it would be possible for people to follow the Centers for Disease Control recommendation that they stay six feet away from other people to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus.
'So I believe people in Atlanta would understand that if their cases are not going down, that they need to continue to do everything that we said – social distancing, washing your hands, wearing a mask in public,' Birx said when asked at Tuesday's briefing how Georgians could visit the establishments while sticking to the guidelines.
She made her comments at at yet another White House briefing that was not attended by infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. 'So if there's a way that people can social distance and do those things, then they can do those things. I don't know how. But people are very creative,' she said, with President Donald trump standing nearby.
'So I'm not going to prejudge, but we have told people very clearly and the president's guidelines made it very clear about the expectations of Phase One and remember Phase One also included social distancing in restaurants, social distancing in every place that was entertainment and keeping your own individual social groups to less than 10,' she said of the administration's phased recommendations for reopening.
Gov. Brian Kemp says Georgia is on track to meet the criteria to begin easing social distancing and reopening Georgia's economy as health officials continue battling the spread of COVID-19. Seventy-two per cent of Americans said returning to normal is a moderate/large risk
Trump then jumped in, and said he planned to speak to Kemp Tuesday night.
'The example you just gave, are they doing testing before they go in? We have to find that out. That's why i'm speaking to the governor in a little while and will be asking him those questions.'
The state is approaching 20,000 coronavirus cases, with fewer than 700 dead.
Kemp said Monday when announcing the move that workers at the stores must have their health evaluated, although he did not say they must be tested for the virus.
Birx allowed for local differences in conditions, and noted that she earlier defended a decision to reopen Jacksonville, Florida beaches due to relatively low incidence of the virus as compared to Miami.
'So I'm not going to second-judge anyone about their decision-making. What i'm going to say is we were very clear in what we really believe protects the safety of Americans and that is clearly laid out in the opening Up America,' she said.
The comments by Birx come as a substantial majority of Americans believes it is too soon to get back to 'normal' pre-coronavirus life – as citizens of Georgia and South Carolina prepare to hit the gym or the beach under relaxed social distancing orders.
A total of 72 per cent of Americans believe returning back to normal is a moderate or large risk, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll, the latest to reveal stark partisan divides over how to deal with the coronavirus.
Underneath that top-line number are deep differences. A majority of 52 per cent of Democrats think going back to people's normal lives is a 'large' risk, according to the survey. But among Republicans, the number is just 21 per cent.
Georgia gyms, tattoo parlors, and bowling alleys can open as soon as Friday under Kemp's latest orders. Hair salons and massage therapy can as well, as long as social distancing guidelines are practiced.
By Monday, movie theaters and restaurants will be allowed to open.
South Carolina's Gov. Henry McMaster is allowing local authorities to make decisions on when to open the state's beaches, pulling back overriding state orders. Department stores and some other retail businesses may open as soon as Tuesday.
President Trump's guidelines leave it up to governors to reopen – although they say a state should have 14 days of declining infections
The Clermont Hotel's marquee displays "Be Safe Atlanta" as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the United States on April 18, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia
Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division Corporal Barry Britt, right, enforces Gov. Bryan Kemp's order to open the beaches on Tybee Island, Ga., Saturday, April 4, 2020, allowing people to exercise outside, with social distancing of at least six feet because of the coronavirus outbreak
A police officer directs cars into a coronavirus testing facility at Georgia Tech Monday, April 6, 2020, in Atlanta. The testing is by appointment only and requires a referral
Unused self check in kiosks for Delta Air Lines in very quiet International Terminal of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 17 April 2020
The 265th Infectious Control Georgia Army National Guard enters Canterbury Court, a senior living facility in Atlanta, to disinfect the building during the coronavirus pandemic, Friday, April 10, 2020
Republican governors in Florida and Tennessee are also taking steps to peel back their stay-home orders.
Texas became the first state to commit to partially reopening from April 20, starting with public parks and retailers on a 'to-go' basis.
The move comes as President Trump urged a national reopening, then came out with new guidelines that acknowledge governors have the power to issue orders.
Said Kemp: ''I think this is the right approach at the right time. We're not just throwing the keys back to these business owners. We're talking about people (who had) the government shut down their business.' Georgia was among the last states to impose stay-home orders.
Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was among those questioning Kemp's order. 'I've searched my head and my heart on this. I really am at a loss as to what the governor is basing this decision on,' she told CNN Tuesday.
Trump has also made comments defending groups of protesters who have blasted stay-home orders imposed by state capitols, and sent out tweets calling to 'LIBERATE' three Democratic-run states where protests were being held.
White House guidelines by the coronavirus task force issued last week call for coronavirus and flu-like cases to be on a 'downward trajectory' for a 14-day period before states should move to a 'Phase One' reopening.
Public health officials have warned that without adequate testing in place to locate infected people, states that reopen could experience a second wave of infection.
Dr Margaret Hamburg said on Tuesday she was worried about some states easing coronavirus lockdown restrictions because they do not yet meet President Trump's minimum criteria
“I'm worried that we don't know enough about how the virus has penetrated their communities and their states. We don't know about the possibility for explosive spread of the virus as people go back into these social gathering settings,' former FDA commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg told NBC's 'Today' show regarding the push by southern states to reopen.
'I hope they will move forward slowly. Certainly they need to have in place adequate testing,' she said.
'Some of these places are not even meeting the minimum threshold criteria that was put out in the Trump White House coronavirus task force guidance,' Hamburg said.
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