GA Coronavirus: Kemp Urges Georgians To Stay Safe Over Holiday

ATLANTA, GA — Gov. Brian Kemp barnstormed the state Friday ahead of the Labor Day weekend, warning against another coronavirus spike if Georgians don’t remain vigilant.

While touting recent drops in Georgia coronavirus numbers, Kemp cautioned that those gains could be wiped out if “some let their guard down,” according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Kemp made his comments during a news conference Friday morning at DeKalb-Peachtree Airport. His tour later took him to Valdosta, Savannah and Augusta, reported WSB-TV.

“Our state’s health and well-being rest on what Georgians choose to do over this Labor Day weekend,” Kemp said.

The key word is “choose.” Even while numbers spiked over the summer in what one expert described as a post-Memorial Day surge, Kemp has refused to mandate masks or other restrictions, instead urging their use but leaving it up to individuals.

“I believe that our local officials that have mandated masks think they’re doing the right thing to keep people safe,” Kemp said, as reported by the Atlanta newspaper. “There’s also people who don’t need a government mandate to do the right thing. That’s why I’m here today asking people to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

As numbers began to climb in July, Kemp sued one local official, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, for a mask mandate that he deemed “unenforceable.” As numbers continued to soar in August — and as national attention continued to focus on the spat between a Republican governor and a Democratic mayor —Kemp dropped the lawsuit in August, instead signing an executive order that allowed localities to mandate masks but not force private businesses to require them.

Kemp’s Labor Day tour is his second pre-holiday campaign to urge but not mandate COVID-19 safety measures. Just before the Fourth of July weekend, Kemp barnstormed the state, warning that college football could be on the line if Georgians didn’t mask up.

GEORGIA CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS

The Georgia Department of Public Health reported a total of 279,354 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 2:50 p.m. Friday. According to the health department’s website, that includes 2,132 newly confirmed cases over the last 24 hours.

Georgia also reported 5,931 deaths so far from COVID-19, with 65 more deaths recorded in the last 24 hours. In addition, the state reported 25,402 hospitalizations — 143 more than the day before — and 4,664 admissions so far to intensive-care units.

No information is available from Georgia about how many patients have recovered.

Counties in or near metro Atlanta continue to have the highest number of positives, with Fulton County still in the lead. Also, Hall County surpassed 8,000 cases for the first time Friday.

• Fulton County: 25,439 cases — 100 new
• Gwinnett County: 24,870 cases — 107 new
• Cobb County: 17,479 cases — 104 new
• DeKalb County: 16,900 cases — 63 new
• Hall County: 8,023 cases — 77 new

Counties in or near metro Atlanta also continue to have the most deaths from COVID-19. The lone exception is Dougherty County, site of Georgia's first major outbreak.

• Fulton County: 535 deaths — 4 new
• Cobb County: 401 deaths — 4 new
• Gwinnett County: 351 deaths — 5 new
• DeKalb County: 311 deaths
• Dougherty County: 180 deaths — 1 new

As of Friday, Georgia has administered more than 2.6 million COVID-19 tests, with about 10.4 percent of those tests the less reliable ones used to detect antibodies.

For the more reliable test for the virus itself, 10.5 percent of tests came back positive. For the less reliable test for antibodies, 7.8 percent came back positive. The overall positive rate was about 10.2 percent.

As more Georgians were tested over the last month, the percentage of positive tests inched upward from about 8 percent to more than 10 percent. However, over the last few weeks, the percentage of positives has stabilized at just more than 10 percent. According to the World Health Organization, positive test results should no more than 5 percent for two weeks before reopening for business as usual. Georgia largely reopened for business in April and May, and since then Gov. Brian Kemp has promoted the use of face masks but has steadfastly refused to mandate them.

All Georgia statistics are available on the state's COVID-19 website.

Globally, more than 26.4 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and nearly 871,000 people have died from it, Johns Hopkins University reported Friday.

In the United States, more than 6.1 million people have been infected and more than 187,000 people have died from COVID-19 as of Friday. The U.S. has only about 4 percent of the world's population but more confirmed cases and deaths than any other country.