The long COVID-19 winter – and spring – are not over.
But given what’s happened in some conservative-leaning states around the country, you’d be forgiven if you thought the pandemic had suddenly vanished.
Last week, in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that his state’s mask mandate would end. He issued an executive order calling for “increasing capacity of all businesses and facilities in the state to 100 percent.” To seemingly emphasize his point, Abbott made his announcement at a restaurant.
In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves made a similar move, declaring in a March 2 tweet that the state was “lifting all of our county mask mandates and businesses will be able to operate at full capacity without any state-imposed rules. Our hospitalizations and case numbers have plummeted, and the vaccine is being rapidly distributed. It is time!”
In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice said bars and eateries could return to 100 percent seating, though he urged people to continue to wear a mask. And Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey expected the state’s mask mandate to be lifted on April 9.
Yet, in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp decided to stay the course.
In an appearance on CNBC, Kemp said: “We cannot take our foot off the gas even as we continue to open back up, which we’ve done and have been in Georgia for a very long time. I’m still encouraging people if you can’t socially distance, wear your mask, follow the regulations on sanitizing and cleaning.
“We’re allowing people in Georgia to do what they think is best and protect people,” Kemp said.
Regular readers know this Editorial Board has taken issue with Kemp over the lack of a statewide mask mandate here.
As Kemp explained during his interview with CNBC: “It was never about a mandate. Dr. Toomey and I both believe you don’t need a mandate to get people to do the right thing.”
Yet, we believed then – and now – that not having one has allowed too many people to ignore the commonsense guidance that the Georgia Department of Public Health and Kemp himself have urged Georgians to follow.
That said, the governor is to be applauded for continuing to move cautiously in further reopening the state – unlike some of his Republican counterparts across the country. Kemp is right in that Georgians shouldn’t “take our foot off the gas” until this pandemic’s toll of illness and death is much further in the rearview mirror.
Here in Georgia, the public health state of emergency remains in effect through April 6. And executive orders around COVID-19 social distancing and cleaning procedures for Georgia businesses continue through March 15. Those measures should remind Georgians that coronavirus remains a threat to our collective health at this point.
It’s even more important given that two recent variants of the virus have now been detected in Georgia. Both are more contagious and believed to cause even more serious health problems.
But things seem to be easing up a bit. Georgia and the U.S. have gained some ground after a surge of infections earlier this year. Georgians should be encouraged that our state has seen a declining curve of illness and deaths from COVID-19 in recent weeks.
Even more encouraging?
More than 2.3 million vaccine doses have been given here so far. Even so, Georgia ranks near the bottom in doses administered per 100,000 residents, according to CDC data. To increase access, the state has been adding mass vaccination sites. And it just made inoculations available to educators.
We all join Gov. Kemp in hoping that the vaccine supply will continue to increase until all Georgians who are at risk soon have access to the shot.
In the shadow of a virus that has killed nearly 16,000 people so far in Georgia, we will gladly take progress and relatively good news when and where we can get it.
But remember, this pandemic is far from over. Wear your masks. Keep your distance. Wash your hands often. And take the vaccine when your turn comes.
Doing those things will help get our Georgia back to where we all want it to be.
The Editorial Board.
