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From the AJC. He also officially closed K-12 through the end of the school year.
Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday said he is preparing a statewide shelter-in-place order across Georgia to try to curb the spread of a coronavirus pandemic that’s sickened thousands and is linked to the deaths of at least 139 residents.
The new rules, which he will issue on Thursday, are set to run from Friday through April 13. He also said he would immediately sign an order that would cancel K-12 schools through the rest of the academic year.
The Republican announced the decision after weeks of pressure from public health officials, local leaders and prominent politicians who warned that a failure to take drastic action could further strain Georgia’s healthcare network and lead to more deaths.
“I want to encourage my fellow Georgians to hang in there. I know you’re tired of this,” he said at a windy press conference outside the state Capitol. “But we must first overcome the obstacles in our path.”
Kemp had balked at more stringent restrictions to combat the disease, in part because he was worried more sweeping bans would cripple the economy in parts of the state where there are few known cases of the disease.
But he reversed course on Wednesday as a growing number of other Republican governors, including the leaders of Florida, Texas and South Carolina, instituted broader limits on mobility and shuttered more business to try to counter the disease.
He said his decision was triggered by "game-changing” new projections on the disease’s spread in Georgia and from President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force.
Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the head of Georgia’s public health department, said the new model showed higher rate of “community transmission” that leads to higher rates of infection.
“We have no immunity to this,” she said. “We don’t have a vaccine. Our bodies haven’t been exposed to this, and we can’t fight it off.”
Kemp said the shelter-in-place order will include exceptions for grocery stores, medical supplies and certain manufacturing, among other carveouts. It’s likely to allow restaurants to serve takeout but ban dine-in service.
He said law enforcement would actively enforce the restrictions, though he urged Georgians not to rush to stores.
“People do not need to panic,” the governor said. “The grocers are ready for this. They’ll be ready to restock ... People don’t need to be worried about buying for two weeks or two months.”
The governor earlier shut down bars, banned many gatherings, canceled public school through late April and urged the “medically fragile” and others vulnerable to the disease to stay at home.
But he expressed concern at taking more sweeping steps, such as a mandatory shelter-in-place order, in part because he worries they could cripple the economy in areas where there’s not yet confirmed cases of the virus.
Instead, he’s given local leaders leeway to take steps on their own, and dozens of cities and counties have enacted curfews, shuttered non-essential businesses and issued shelter-in-place orders.
That’s led to a hodgepodge of uneven restrictions across the state that morph by the day, and rising criticism from local officials that stricter uniformity is needed.