Gov. Kemp Defends Partial Shelter-In-Place Order For Georgia
Gov. Brian Kemp is defending his partial shelter-in-place order, applicable statewide to those with “increased risk of complications” from the coronavirus, including the elderly and those undergoing cancer treatment.
In an interview with WABE, he outlined where he thinks Georgia is and why he doesn’t think a broader restrictive order — as many other states, countries and cities including Atlanta and Savannah have instituted — is necessary right now.
Why limit the shelter-in-place order?
Well, I felt like we had the right response from a state perspective. I mean, look, I understand that cities are dealing with a little bit different situation than a whole state. Certainly, the city of Atlanta has been much different from a lot of the other 600-plus cities around Georgia. And, you know, I’ve been supportive of what the local communities are doing, but also felt like we had a lot of Georgians that were not paying attention and not doing the things that the president and the vice president’s task force and myself and the nation’s governors had been asking.
But we’re also continuing to follow the data on this and looking at a lot of different ramifications, not only from the virus, but economically and other things. And that all factored into my decision-making process.