Gov. Kemp 'comfortable' allowing public health emergency to expire
ATLANTA - In an exclusive television interview just hours before the scheduled expiration of Georgia's Public Health State of Emergency, Gov. Brian Kemp said he was ‘comfortable’ with the decision.
"I feel very comfortable making this move," Gov. Kemp explained.
The governor issued an Executive Order on March 14, 2020, declaring the state's first-ever public health emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic. The governor has extended the state of emergency each month since then, but his office announced last week that it would be allowed to expire at midnight Thursday.
"Our cases are down 92%. Hospitalizations remain below 500 at one point they were all-around 5,000. So, we have a lot of bandwidth out there," said Gov. Kemp. "So we don't need the Public Health State of Emergency anymore."
The emergency declaration, ratified by the state legislature, gave the governor broad powers to respond to the virus.
- March 14, 2020--Gov. Kemp signed Public Health State of Emergency Executive Order
- March 16, 2020--The Georgia House and Senate ratified the order
- March 23, 2020--Gov. Kemp issued a shelter in place order for Georgians in nursing homes, closed bars, and imposed a ban on large gatherings
- April 2, 2020--Gov. Kemp expanded the shelter in place order to all Georgians, closed gyms, theaters, and amusement parks, and banned in-restaurant dining
- April 20, 2020--Gov. Kemp announced Georgia would begin the reopening process
- April 24, 2020--Gyms, hair salons, tattoo parlors allowed to reopen with safety protocols
- April 27, 2020--Restaurants cleared to reopen dining rooms
- April 30, 2020--Georgia's shelter in place order was lifted, except for vulnerable populations
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Gov. Kemp said he would issue a new Executive Order this week to aid in the state's recovery. Those orders were posted to the governor's website late Wednesday.
"We'll continue to be able to do everything we need to do to be able to do vaccine rollout, continue to do contact tracing, you know, all the public health measures to keep people safe, to move us further away from the pandemic," said Gov Kemp. "But it'll also be really focused on livelihoods and how we respond and help with long-term economy recovery in our state that I believe will be generational."
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