Kemp Readies For Spike In Coronavirus

From the Georgia Recorder: By Stanley Dunlap - April 17, 2020

Gov. Brian Kemp toured a new makeshift COVID-19 hospital at the Georgia World Congress Center Thursday, while later President Donald Trump unveiled a three-phase plan for some states to start slowly reversing the recent closing of businesses and other aspects of public life.

Public health officials project Georgia is still two weeks away from the peak surge of patients at hospitals across the state and Kemp said this week his focus is preparing the health care system for that crunch.

Georgia lags behind the vast majority of states in testing for COVID-19. The state Department of Public Health Thursday reported 617 Georgians have died from the disease since early March. The state also reported 3,260 patients hospitalized and 16,368 people with positive tests.

The Trump administration’s new recommendations offer what the president says are tiered, flexible guidelines on how states can start reopening businesses, while leaving the timing and precise steps up to governors.

“Healthy Americans will be able to work as conditions on the ground allow,” Trump said. “Instead of a blanket shutdown we will pursue a focus on sheltering the highest-risk individuals. We’re establishing clear, scientific metrics and benchmarks on testing, new case growth on hospital capacity that must be met before advancing to each phase.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a staunch Trump backer, said at a news conference this week that his most pressing concern is preparing to muster more testing, hospital beds and health care workers to handle the expected surge.

The governor is consulting with Trump’s White House staff, a state economic impact committee and coronavirus task force, Georgia’s legislative leaders, medical experts and others. He said Thursday he’s building a coalition to navigate a return to a more public way of living.

“These are conversations I’m not only having with people that want to get back to work and open the economy, but also with hospital CEOs to make sure they’re on board with that and that we have the capacity,” he said. “Because when that happens we’re going to have new cases that pop up. We’re going to have a little bit more demand.

“We’ve got to be comfortable that we can handle that demand and that’s what we’re working on right now.”

The potential long-term extent of the pandemic’s damage to the economy is becoming clearer by the week. The state Department of Labor commissioner said Thursday nearly 1 million Georgians are expected to file an unemployment claim in the month since the state started shutting down in mid March to contain the outbreak.

A Georgia State University study predicts a major shortfall in sales tax revenue to state and local governments, potentially up to $1.3 billion due to struggling hospitality, airlines, restaurant and entertainment industries.

The university’s Fiscal Research Center report says the leisure industry accounts for 5.6% of the state’s gross domestic product and 19% of sales tax revenue.

Kemp waited longer than many governors before announcing a shelter-in-place order April 2. That order came a couple of weeks after he declared a state of emergency, which gives him broad powers.

Governors of some states are developing plans to open workplaces again, primarily in regions where outbreaks started weeks earlier than the new coronavirus hit Georgia. Georgia, Florida and other southern neighbors are not at projected peaks of coronavirus cases yet.

On Thursday governors representing Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio and Minnesota, Kentucky and Indiana signed a pact to work together on restarting their economies. Other coordinated regional approaches are in the works in the west and northeast.

This story was originally published by the Georgia Recorder. For more stories from the Georgia Recorder, visit GeorgiaRecorder.com.