By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
AUG. 25, 2020 | Governor Brian Kemp’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has certainly been wishy-washy if not questionable. His lack of understanding that local officials, particularly mayors, by definition ought to be able to order their populations to wear masks seemed unreasonable. If the local mayor thinks that his area is severely threatened by the pandemic, as an emergency measure, the mayor should protect his citizens and have the inherent right to order masking.
The governor’s picking of a fight with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was monumentally inappropriate. It seemed more like the governor was picking on her because she was of another party, more than anything else, and also not kowtowing to what the governor thought was the right action.
As criticism of the governor rose, and the news media started to question him more, what does an entrenched state leader do? He reacts in the usual manner, attacking the Atlanta newspaper, saying the paper is not being fair. It’s the standard ploy of a politician who is not seeing matters go his way. Overall, what this seems to be indicating is that the governor is getting bad advice from his staff, who are not pointing him in the direction with solid facts on which he can base his decision.
Yet we will side with the governor on one use of the pandemic figures. The Atlanta newspapers keep telling us of the total number of Georgia confirmed cases from the virus (252,222 as of Sunday) and the total number of deaths in the state (5,092 as of Sunday.) Those are facts. But these two numbers tell us nothing of whether the virus is slowing or spreading. We believe that is the crux of the governor’s fight with the AJC.
Kemp
In a press release on Sunday morning, the governor outlined what he wanted to see. It made sense. He charged: “As expected, the Atlanta Journal Constitution refuses to write about it (or print the GADPH (Georgia Dept. of Public Health) data) because the numbers provided usually expose the bias of Georgia’s ‘flagship paper.’”
What the public needs to know is the most recent trend, not the history of how many are sick or dead. The governor put it this way: “We need to make sure that Georgians know their sacrifices are yielding measurable results.”
He then outlined that:
- Georgia’s weekly statewide cases decreased by 11 percent.
- The seven-day moving average of new cases is down 30 percent since the peak in late July.
- The positivity rates decreased from 12.2 percent on August 7 to 9.4 percent on August 21.
- Hospitalizations are down 10.5 percent since August 14, and down 25 percent since Georgia’s daily high of 3,200 on July 30.
Gwinnett’s own Medical Director, Dr. Audrey Arona, on Monday supplied GwinnettForum with the latest statistics. It showed that the 14-day case rate is 322/100k. This continues to decrease, but still considered high level of community transmission. The Positivity for 14-days is 8.5 percent, which continues to decrease but is considered a moderate level of community transmission.
Governor Brian Kemp may not have handled the coronavirus pandemic flawlessly.
But his idea that his constituents want to know whether the overall situation is improving, rather than the totals of deaths and cases, makes sense. The governor’s own “news judgment,” in this case, seems more appropriate than the newspaper’s.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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