Coronavirus Updates: Georgia Keep Growing As Report Projects 5,000 Deaths By August
Xuan Le wears as mask as she cleans her work station as Envy Nail Bar prepared to open last month, in Savannah, Georgia.
Russ Bynum / Associated Press
The Georgia Department of Health has confirmed more than 31,000 of coronavirus cases and 1,336 deaths statewide.
And public health experts say that as Georgia axes shelter-in-place precautions and continues to reopen the economy, those numbers are going to keep climbing.
A new report by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation projects nearly 5,000 COVID-19 deaths statewide by August.
This comes as Gov. Brian Kemp announced Georgia added 66 new Covid-19 testing sites statewide, and last week the state tested double the number of people it had the week before.
Jimmy Carter Urges Expanded Mail-In Voting Effort
Former President Jimmy Carter and the Carter Center are urging state and federal lawmakers to expand access and funding for mail-in voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The call comes as more than a million Georgia voters have requested an absentee ballot for the June primary elections.
Voting access has been a priority of Carter’s post-presidency and the work of the Carter Center.
The organization says in areas where COVID-19 infections haven’t gone down, the health risk of going to the polls will remain “unacceptably high.”
It’s urging online access to absentee ballot applications and pre-paid postage and drop boxes for the ballots themselves.
President Carter co-chaired a 2005 election reform commission. It found that while mail-in voting came with the potential for voter fraud – there has been little evidence of it in states with robust, secure vote-from-home programs.
Congress has already approved millions in election-related emergency funding, but many Democrats are calling for more.
Georgia Coalition Demands Meeting With Kemp
A diverse new Georgia coalition, made-up of state lawmakers, attorneys, and faith and social justice organizations, is demanding a meeting with Gov. Brian Kemp to discuss COVID-19’s toll on communities of color.
A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report shows that among a sample of eight Georgia hospitals, 83% of coronavirus patients were black.
The coalition says it wants to prevent further spread of the virus in vulnerable communities … as the state’s shelter-in-place order has expired and Kemp is reopening the economy.
The coalition includes state Sen. Nikema Williams, the NAACP, and the ACLU of Georgia.
Atlanta Rappers Serve Meals On Westside
Atlanta rappers T.I. and Killer Mike have served meals to 500 Westside residents as the coronavirus pandemic leaves millions of Americans unemployed and food-insecure.
The effort was a collaboration with the Grovepark community enrichment center, PAWkids.
After serving the food from the former Bankhead Seafood parking lot, the rappers also made surprise deliveries to local households, that included hygiene products and five hundred dollar gift cards.
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