Long diary but important information on how the state of Georgia is responding to the pandemic crisis.
In spite of announcing last week that Georgia voters would ALL be mailed absentee ballot applications “soon” (I have yet to see mine) so that the primary election day May 19 can go forward with maximum safety to voters and poll workers, Republican House Speaker, David Ralston
“wrote in a letter Sunday that a further delay of Georgia’s upcoming primary election is justified because there will still be a state of emergency” then.
(SNIP)
He suggested holding the election June 16.”
Georgia law allows for elections to be postponned 45 days in case of emergency. Ralston believes that the law allows an extension of a further 45 days if the emergency persists.
Postponement a second time may allow time for the pandemic to subside, but opponents to the proposal argue that 1) a further postponement adds to election confusion, thus voter suppression; 2) it reduces voter incentive since the primary may already be decided by then; 3) it can be a manipulation of the entire Democratic voting process since the Republican presidential candidate is decided.
No vaccine against Covid-19? No therapies? No problem in Georgia. Public officials’ response to SARS-CoV-2 is to confuse it to death by issuing conflicting statements to the public.
(GA Governor Brian) Kemp (R) said he welcomed the tougher restrictions from local governments and singled out Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, saying that he spoke several times with her before she implemented a shelter-in-place order across Georgia’s largest city.
And he said he was not worried about a patchwork of responses that have left some areas under voluntary curfews and others with scaled-back restrictions in place.
Then this:
But over the weekend, Tim Fleming, Kemp’s chief of staff, criticized local governments of “overreach” for taking more stringent steps to curb coronavirus.
The disagreement stems from a complicated set of circumstances that include advisories from
Dr. Carlos del Rio, an Emory University epidemiologist who delivered a presentation to the Georgia Municipal Association last week urging cities to declare public health emergencies.
The source of Dr. del Rio’s statistics apparently offended some people at The Federalist because it led to “ill advised lockdowns” by city and other officials. The epidemiologist’s data came from COVID Act Now . The Federalist felt they were skewed toward doomsday scenario.
In Georgia, COVID Act Now predicted 688 hospitalizations by March 23. By that date, they had around 800 confirmed cases in the whole state, and fewer than 300 hospitalized. (The Federalist)
We appear to have caught up. As of 7 p.m. Sunday, the death toll in Georgia stood at 83, with the number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased to 2,683.
Dr. del Rio stands by his report. Regretfully. The scandal that indicates a partisan political battle rather than a disagreement over legitimate methodologies in analyzing coronavirus data arises from — you guessed it — a voting irregularity lawsuit brought by Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action, in which. . .
. . .the suit mentions Carlos del Rio, the chair of the Department of Global Health Studies at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.
When del Rio went to his voting precinct on November 6, he was told that he could not vote because an error in a state database caused his surname to be listed as “delRio,” a difference that left poll workers unable to verify him as a voter. After explaining the issue to elections officials, del Rio was eventually allowed to cast a ballot, but only “after being forced to navigate a lengthy process,” according to the lawsuit.
No mention of Dr. del Rio’s party affiliation.
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Georgia Department of Public Health Statistics
Updates Now Issued at Noon and 7:00 PM
3/3/2020 First day of reporting 3 cases, 0 deaths
3/12/2020 First death reported 1 death
3/27/2020 Noon report 2,001 cases; 566 hospitalized (28.29%) ; 64 deaths (3.2%)
3/30/2020 Noon report
COVID-19 Confirmed Cases: |
No. Cases (%) |
Total |
2809 (100%) |
Hospitalized |
707(25.17%) |
Deaths |
87 (3.1%) |
COVID-19 Testing By Lab Type: |
No. Pos. Tests |
Total Tests |
Commercial Lab |
2507 |
10671 |
Gphl |
302 |
1895 |
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Discussion
Leading age group demographic remains 18-59 years-old, which stands at 57% of all cases, with no reported changes from last Friday in the profile. Breakdown by sex also remains steady at 49% female, 48% male.
Deaths: 48 male deaths; 38 female, 1 unknown. The oldest victim was age 95 male, the youngest was a 29 year-old female.
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News You Can Use
The Covid Tracking Project
Atlanta Coronavirus Live Blog
Interactive Map Coronavirus Cases in GA