Governor extends COVID-19 emergency orders once again as numbers appear to decline

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp extended the state’s Public Health Emergency order once again Monday, not pushing the end date of it until Oct. 10.

“The Public Health State of Emergency allows for enhanced coordination across government and the private sector for supply procurement, comprehensive testing, and healthcare capacity,” Kemp’s office said in a news release.

Kemp also extended his COVID-19 guidelines order that requires social distancing, bans gatherings of more than 50 people unless there is a distance of 6 feet between each person, outlines mandatory criteria for businesses, and requires sheltering in place for those living in long-term care facilities and the medically fragile, among other provisions.

That order now runs through Sept. 15.

The extensions come as the number of people catching the virus appears to be going down.

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August started with logging more than 3,500 new cases a day. That number has dropped to now just over 2,100 daily new cases in Georgia at month’s end, according to data analysts at Alpharetta-based IPC Global.

“In the whole month, we’re down 40% from where we were,” said Mark Meersman, IPC Global’s managing partner.

In Georgia, since schools have returned to instruction, Meersman noted the data has not shown a marked spike in cases.

“Currently, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Georgia are at their lowest since July 6. Cases reported yesterday were at their lowest point since June 22. The statewide positivity rate has declined in the past month, and there is ample testing capacity in every region,” Kemp’s office said.

Despite cases going down across the state, members of the White House coronavirus task force said last week that Georgia is still in need of aggressive action to fight the virus.

Georgia COVID-19 cases are trending in the right direction, experts say August started with logging more than 3,500 new cases a day. That number has dropped to now just over 2,100 daily new cases in Georgia at month’s end.

Cox Media Group