Day 110

Back in April, during what we thought was the peak of the pandemic, Georgia was experiencing nearly a thousand new coronavirus cases a day, with a maximum 1,598 new cases on April 7 alone. Even though cases numbers weren't significantly declining in late April, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp decided it was time to "re-open" the economy and lift restrictive stay-at-home and face-mask orders.

Nothing bad seemed to have happened at first, largely because many Georgians used common sense and continued to voluntarily isolate themselves despite the lack of restrictions.  But starting about mid-June, "quarantine fatigue" began to set in, and new case numbers started to rise. Since June 28, we've only had two days with less than 2,000 new cases, and both of those days were still at levels similar to or greater than the April 7 peak.

Friday, July 10, Georgia set a new record, with 4,904 new cases in one day alone.

In response, several municipalities sensibly issued face-mask requirements for people outside of their homes, and Atlanta basically went back to shelter-in-place rules.  But Brian Kemp insists his state-wide order to re-open the economy supersedes any local regulations (his order explicitly states that no city or county can issue more restrictive orders).  Atlanta's new stay-at-home rule, he insists, is unenforceable and illegal.  Atlantans, Kemp insists,  are to continue to congregate in churches and stores, to dine at indoor restaurants, and to not wear a mask if they don't want to.  

The questions then becomes, why does Brain Kemp want us sick?

I'm not going to get dragged into an argument about the government's right to require masks - the government already requires seat belts, removal of shoes at the airport, and speed limits in residential neighborhoods, and few claim that's an infringement on their rights.  It's the government's job to help protect its people. Masks and masks alone won't stop the pandemic but they are an additional layer of protection, and not wearing masks most certainly helps the virus to spread.

Just look at the numbers.