South Fulton under curfew; some council members self-quarantine

The city of South Fulton’s leaders have placed what appears to be Georgia’s first coronavirus-related curfew on its businesses and 100,000 residents.

City Council approved the curfew Tuesday night and made it effective immediately and until further notice. It bars anyone from leaving home between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. unless for work or medical purposes.

The curfew also bans gatherings of 10 or more people.

“I know some people are angry,” Mayor Bill Edwards told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday, “but I’d rather you be inconvenienced and angry than sick.”

Edwards said the move will hopefully slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. City leaders are worried about South Fulton’s sizable population of seniors, who could be prone to serious cases of the deadly virus.

During Tuesday’s council meeting, discussion of the curfew was put on hold for several minutes so the city attorney could draft the curfew ordinance in the middle of the meeting. She then emailed it to council members.

As with other elected boards trying to meet online for the first time, South Fulton’s teleconference meeting did not go well.

“This is ridiculous,” said Councilwoman Helen Z. Willis. “This is an embarrassment to the city. We can’t have this happen again ... this meeting violated a lot of our rights.”

Edwards and Khalid Kamau were the only two council members who physically attended the meeting. That’s because a city spokesman said some members might have been exposed to coronavirus and are in self-quarantine.

Edwards said he, along with council members Willis and Corey Reeves, attended the National League of Cities’ Congressional City Conference 2020 in Washington, D.C., from March 8-11. The National League of Cities published an online letter Tuesday saying that two people tested positive for COVID-19. The letter said the two people “attended general sessions and workshops.”