The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Hunt is on for medical supplies as virus spreads
Kemp could deploy Ga. National Guard to deliver equipment.
Georgia is scrambling to replenish medical supplies, add hospital beds and set up quarantine facilities in anticipation of a dramatic surge in coronavirus infections.
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, grew by 21 percent in Georgia on Tuesday, following a similar increase the previous day. State officials reported 146 cases in 27 counties in every region of the state.
More than one-third of the 420 people tested for the virus so far in Georgia got positive results, suggesting that as testing becomes more widespread, the number of confirmed cases could grow exponentially.
Authorities have attributed one death in Georgia to the coronavirus. But the coroner in Dougherty County, Michael Fowler, is investigating three others that he suspects were caused by COVID19, the Albany Herald reported late Tuesday. Attempts to reach Fowler were unsuccessful, and a spokesman for the governor’s office said he had no information on the deaths.
The virus has hit southwest Georgia hard. More than 200 patients treated by Phoebe Putney Medical Center in Albany are waiting for coronavirus test results from a private laboratory, and six cases already have been confirmed in Dougherty County.
As the number of cases grows across the state, some of Georgia’s hardest-hit communities are experiencing shortages of critical medical equipment, said Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state public health commissioner.
The state ordered several hundred thousand protective gowns, gloves and goggles from private providers and is seeking more equipment from the federal government. Gov. Brian Kemp said that under the emergency powers granted him Monday by state lawmakers, he could deploy the Georgia National Guard to deliver the equipment to places with the most urgent shortages. Kemp has plans to call as many as 2,000 National Guard troops to active duty if needed.
“It will help us face issues that we’ll potentially see ... with medical supply shortages and hospital bed space,” Kemp said in a news briefing. “That’s a serious concern, probably one of the biggest.”
Kemp also said a new quarantine center — the state’s second — is expected to open at the Georgia Law Enforcement Training Center in Forsyth County by the end of the week. State workers are placing 20 trailers there to hold coronavirus patients who do not need hospital treatment but have no way to self-quarantine. One patient is quarantined at Hard Labor Creek State Park in Morgan County, where officials have set up seven trailers.
Later, Kemp signed into law a midyear budget that funds the state through the end of June and includes $100 million to deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The General Assembly approved the measure last week after Kemp requested extra money to boost the response by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Public Health. Lawmakers also added $5 million in state spending on rural hospitals, which they said may face special costs associated with the virus.
Kemp urged Georgians to continue social distancing to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. But he took no action to restrict public gatherings, unlike several other governors. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for instance, shut down all bars and nightclubs in the state for 30 days beginning Tuesday — which was St. Patrick’s Day.
In his remarks to reporters on a webcast, Georgia’s governor tried to balance his calls for calm with the seriousness of the outbreak.
“These are really abnormal circumstances,” Kemp said, “and we’re going to have to work through it. We’re all in this together.”
As he spoke, a makeshift facility to handle coronavirus cases opened in the parking lot of Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in Marietta.
Staffed by more than a dozen volunteer physicians, nurses and paramedics, the facility will assess and treat coronavirus patients outside the main hospital building. Seven similar facilities are ready to be deployed around the state, said state Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta, a physician who works with the Medical Association of Georgia Medical Reserve Corps.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Army Corps of Engineers will be dispatched to create similar field hospitals — Trump compared them to “MASH units” — in states that request help. The corps also will work to convert closed hospitals for coronavirus patients.
Trump also proposed a stimulus package worth nearly $1 trillion to deal with the rapidly worsening economic pain from the outbreak.
Kemp, too, sought to alleviate the economic effects of the outbreak by seeking a declaration from the U.S. Small Business Administration that will allow small companies in Georgia to apply for disaster loans. “It is clear there have been significant economic damages to countless businesses across the state, and it is expected that these conditions will persist for weeks to come,” Kemp wrote to Kem R. Fleming, the SBA’s director.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the City Council approved a $7 million proposal from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms that will provide funding to food programs for children and the elderly, assist hourly workers for city contractors, help struggling small businesses and address virus-related issues involving people who are homeless.
But the council did not take up five executive orders that Bottoms issued on Monday to limit public gatherings, including in bars and restaurants, to no more than 50 people. Under a city ordinance, the council must ratify any such emergency order at its next meeting.
While Bottoms’ orders expired late Tuesday, a spokesman said the mayor planned to issue replacement orders.
The move appeared to be part of a parliamentary maneuver that will enable Bottoms to keep the restrictions in place while avoiding a lengthy legislative process at the council, which is not scheduled to meet again until April 20.
Staff writers Yamil Beard, Greg Bluestein, Stephen Deere, Ariel Hart and Tamar Hallerman contributed reporting.