Congressman Doug Collins On Hall County As A Coronavirus Hot Spot
Congressman Doug Collins represents Hall County, which has become a coronavirus hot spot in Georgia.
Matt Rourke / Associated PRess
Hall County has the highest per-capita rate of coronavirus infections in North Georgia.
Congressman Doug Collins represents Hall County and northeast Georgia. He said the rise in infections began a few weeks ago and has progressed faster over the past 10 days.
“With our agricultural industries with others, we just started to see it develop,” Collins said in an interview with WABE on Thursday. “And the more testing, of course, is happening, the more positives we’re seeing. The hospital is still maintaining plenty of supplies and plenty of bed space. So that’s good at this point.”
Hall County is considered the poultry capital of Georgia, which is the largest producer of poultry products in the country.
Collins said he wishes Gov. Brian Kemp would have included more input from local governments when making statewide decisions about the pandemic.
“I think they should have input … there should have been more of a regional approach and more interaction with regional governments who are the front-line folks to actually have to answer questions,” Collins said. “Not to be critical, but I think it’s just important to have locals involved to talk about what’s actually happening.”
Hall County’s community is being disproportionately affected by the virus. According to Northeast Georgia Health System, more than half of their positive cases from Hall County are Hispanic, while according to the Census Bureau, just under a third of the county’s population is Hispanic.
Collins said he is trying to ensure there’s enough Spanish-language material to educate residents.
“The concern you have with any population, is if you have a positive or you have someone who is showing symptoms as positive but are not in the hospital, is how you isolate them to keep others from contracting it,” he said.
“We’re just trying to make sure that everybody understands what to do, to wear the masks, keep social distancing, do the things they need to as best they can to slow the curve in each of their communities.”
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