Breaking News
President Trump Parts Ways with Gov. Kemp on Reopening Businesses
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he told Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that he “disagreed strongly” with Kemp's decision to begin allowing some nonessential businesses to soon reopen.
Speaking at a daily White House briefing Wednesday evening, Trump said he told Kemp he had misgivings over the governor's plan, but would not stand in his way.
“The people of Georgia … have been strong, resolute, but at the same time he must do what he thinks is right,” Trump said of Kemp. “I want him to do what he thinks is right. But I disagree with him on what he's doing. … But I think (opening) spas and beauty salons and tattoo parlors and barbershops in phase one … it's just too soon.”
A spokeswoman for Kemp didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Trump: ‘I’m not happy with Brian Kemp’ https://t.co/XgDGck93CU pic.twitter.com/JAZIpDVz8g
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) April 24, 2020
Kemp's plan to begin cracking open the Georgia economy faces two major hurdles – the state is struggling to increase testing for new coronavirus infections and boost tracking of those in contact with infected people.
However, on Wednesday, the state reported almost 6,000 tests over 24 hours, with Kemp saying on a conference call with Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler that Georgia was “really ramping up” its capacity.
Those tests Wednesday show Georgia with more than 21,100 infections, 4,000 hospitalizations and 846 deaths, according to the state Department of Public Health.
Bartow County has had 259 cases and 27 deaths, as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Georgia has ranked in the bottom 10 per capita in testing. After expanding capacity, the number of tests administered in Georgia had plateaued between 3,500 to 4,000 a day.
“There are a lot of people that are hurting really bad right now on the financial end of things – our hard-working Georgians. And we're trying to do all we can to allow them to start moving back into the work force in a limited and safe way,” Kemp said.
Trump's reopening guidelines call for Georgia to test health care workers, people showing symptoms and to screen others not showing symptoms.
But critics have questioned Kemp's adherence to those guidelines, which recommend 14 days of declining new infections before moving to the reopening phase Kemp has called for. On Friday, elective medical procedures will resume and barbershops, nail salons and gyms will reopen with restrictions. Limited in-restaurant dining will resume Monday.
“At best, you're only seeing a week's worth of decline,” said Dr. Colin Smith, an epidemiologist and professor of public health at Georgia State University.
President Trump today said he informed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp that he “strongly” disagreed with his decision to begin reopening parts of the state as soon as Friday.
"But at the same time, he must do what he thinks is right" Trump added https://t.co/JqPaavlfhR pic.twitter.com/tz9WilCdti
— POLITICO (@politico) April 22, 2020
State Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey vows Georgia will expand its ability to “aggressively” trace the contacts of infected people.
“This is the way we're going to keep spread from occurring, even as we begin to gradually open up the state,” Toomey said.
Sean Bear, an epidemiologist with the department's eight-county district that includes Savannah, said intensive contact tracing has likely helped slow infections in his region. Bear said the coastal district kept tracking contacts, unlike areas where rising caseloads forced officials to largely stop.
The state hasn't said how many people are tracing contacts now, how many it seeks, or how quickly the state's 18 public health districts can ramp up.
Toomey said her department is retraining people who normally inspect restaurants and hotels to do contact tracing, as well as repurposing others who work to control the spread of tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. There are also plans to train medical and public health students.
Toomey and Kemp said the state will use a cellphone app to track infected people, and ask those people to voluntarily share cellphone data so that the state can find other contacts.
Kemp said the app would be provided by the MTX Group, which Google says provided apps to New York and Florida. Authorities didn't answer Tuesday how much Georgia is paying MTX.
The Georgia Board of Cosmetology and Barbers on Wednesday also set guidelines for reopening barbershops and salons.
The guidelines include screening, cleaning and the use of personal protective equipment.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp responded on Twitter to President Trump's comments during the White House coronavirus briefing that he disagreed “strongly” with the decision to reopen some businesses in the state https://t.co/NvEa02TeiZ
— CNN (@CNN) April 23, 2020
“Under our sanitation laws and rules, we are charged with the responsibility of protecting consumers from the spread of contagious diseases everyday in our salons,” board Chairman Kay Kendrick said in a prepared statement. “By adding the safety guidelines that have been developed by the board and some of our industry leaders in the cosmetology and barber profession, we feel that our professionals will be able to do an even better job of protecting themselves and their clients.”
While common sense dictates a barber or hair stylist cannot remain at least six feet from a customer, the guidelines require employees to wear masks at all times and suggest shops consider providing masks to customers. Also, customers should wear masks “to the extent possible” while receiving services.
The guidelines also suggest shops use touchless infrared thermometers to take the temperature of employees each day and of customers entering the premises. Shops should additionally screen customers by asking them whether they have experienced a cough or fever or been near anyone exhibiting these symptoms within the last 14 days.
– The Associated Press and Capitol Beat News contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2020 The Daily Tribune News, All Rights Reserved.
Up Next:
5 Comments
Why is he against Georgia opening up but all for those states with the protesters to open Makes no sense!
strange that trump agreed with Kemp one day, then disagreed with him another day. Flip flop, flip, flop.
Is Cosmetology services a vital business, considering the close personal contact between the operator and their customer? Is the risk of transmission sufficiently reduced by employee only PPE (face it, masks cover part of the head,
which means the customer will have to remove it to have their hair done )? I don’t feel it is, and President Trump is disagreeing with Georgia’ plan based on those and other concerns. Not getting your hair done during this pandemic isn’t a necessity, it’s an inconvenience. By all means, allow some service providers/businesses to re-open, but look at each and base the Yay or Nay on transmission risk assessment.
I hope everything works out for Kemp, and Georgia. I am thinking it will.
The country does not need to reopen like nothing ever happened.Peoples lives matter more than that