Ill-advised ‘we’re open’ actions work against public health

The last thing Georgia needs this fateful Spring Break week are crowds at beaches and parks.

That’s what makes the latest formal and informal actions by state officials both puzzling — and inexcusable.

Gov. Brian Kemp belatedly moved last week to order Georgians to stay at home. The ink on that overdue paperwork had barely dried before the realization spread that Georgia’s beaches could reopen as a result of the order.

This after local officials had previously closed beaches on Tybee and St. Simons islands. State-owned Jekyll Island had also closed its beaches. Kemp’s order, which took effect Friday evening, nullified local officials’ prudent and proactive actions.

To their credit, local and county officials have generally been well ahead of the state in trying to limit the spike of coronavirus illnesses and deaths. The number of cases is sobering to anyone with a whit of common sense. Even more dismaying is the continued rise in suffering and loss of life. As of noon Monday, COVID-19 had killed 229 people in Georgia, and hospitalized nearly 1,400.

Controlling this pandemic requires people to keep their distance from one another, effectively depriving the virus new opportunities to spread. The state was already late in ordering that.

So signaling now that our beaches are open for business sends a terribly wrong message, one that unnecessarily raises public health risks — both for those seeking relief from cabin fever as well as first responders tasked with trying to enforce social distancing.

Even worse is that a top aide to Gov. Brian Kemp has once more taken to social media to effectively pooh-pooh the pandemic’s peril. As the AJC reported, “Georgia — go to the beach, lake or a state park!” said Tim Fleming, the governor’s chief of staff, in a Facebook post late Saturday. “They are all open and despite what the media is reporting there have been no issues on Georgia beaches or lakes today.”

Fleming is right on at least one point. The “issues” around this pandemic won’t be visible — at least not without a microscope – on our lovely beaches, lakes or parks.

They’ll likely come later, as a virulent disease gets the chance to further stretch its legs — and reach — among Georgians who heed Fleming’s reckless counsel and head to the beach. We can’t afford that risk.

Fleming’s “y’all come” antics on social media openly flout the advice and warnings of his boss and state and national public health officials, as well as elected leaders — many of them Republicans.

Even if there is no reckoning for Fleming’s and Kemp’s latest ill-advised actions, we urge Georgians to heed the warnings of this state and nation’s medical and public health professionals.

Stay home to flatten the curve of COVID-19’s rise. The more we all do that, the sooner we can defeat this pandemic and move to begin rebuilding our lives and economy.