Coronavirus Updates: Kemp Extends Some Closures, Eases Other Restrictions

Kemp said Georgia is headed in the right direction in its effort to contain COVID-19, although others still point to areas of concern.

Kemp on Monday noted that the fewest ventilators were in use and the fewest patients confirmed to be positive for the coronavirus were in Georgia hospitals since the state began keeping those statistics on April 8. The number of hospitalized patients fell again Tuesday to 1,125 statewide, while the number of ventilators in use ticked up to 884.

On Tuesday, Georgia was reporting more than 34,000 confirmed cases overall and 1,461 confirmed deaths from the virus.

Concerns remain about geographic hot spots and disproportionate harm to African Americans and Hispanics. The Morehouse School of Medicine on Tuesday released a study that found that, even when accounting for differences in poverty, health insurance and population density, Georgia counties with higher shares of African American residents have higher shares of confirmed COVID-19 rates.

The Northeast Georgia Health System, a four-hospital group based in Gainesville, continues to warn that it could exceed the capacity of its staff to care for patients next week. The hospital system’s overall patient numbers have held steady in recent days, but the share of ventilators in use rose to 44% of capacity Tuesday. The region has large numbers of Spanish-speaking residents concentrated in poultry plants.

Santiago Marquez, president of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a member of Gov. Brian Kemp’s coronavirus task force, told The Valdosta Daily Times that undocumented immigrants fear testing sites staffed in part by National Guard members.

“I don’t think we have a good handle on how many Hispanics actually are infected as we do with the general community,” Marquez said.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr on Tuesday issued a letter to Congress signed by 20 other Republican attorneys general calling for lawsuit protections to cover businesses, manufacturers of personal protective equipment, emergency workers, healthcare workers, healthcare facilities, and members of law enforcement.

Carr wrote that Congress and states should enact a “common-sense framework to provide liability protections for much-needed goods and services while still ensuring victims are able to seek legal redress and compensation where appropriate.”

Carr’s move came as businesses across the state continued to reopen. Tourist trolleys are running again in Savannah, but with 6 feet chained off between seats and reduced stops. Old Town Trolley Tours Savannah General Manager Garry Patrick told WTOC-TV that the company is currently carrying about 100 people a day, compared to the more than 1,200 it would normally carry daily.

The YMCA of Metro Atlanta said it would reopen 19 of 24 facilities on a limited basis starting Friday. A whitewater rafting company said trips on the Chattahoochee River in Columbus would resume Saturday, but with new methods dictated by social distancing.

Another business getting back to normal is the state lottery. Brad Bohannon, the Georgia Lottery Corp.’s vice president for government relations, told the state House Higher Education Committee Tuesday that lottery sales recovered in April after drooping in March.

“Most other forms of entertainment were limited,” Bohannon said. “April sales rebounded really well.”

He said the lottery now estimates it will return more than $1.1 billion in profits to the state this year to finance college aid and preschool classes. Bohannon said the lottery anticipates raising its profit estimate again after May.

The state’s justice system remains frozen, though, after Chief Justice Harold Melton on Monday extended the statewide judicial emergency through June 12, barring jury trials and grand juries in most instances. The order has been in effect since March 14, with Melton saying courthouses remain unprepared to comply with social distancing and health precautions. Some courts are conducting hearings remotely.

Virus Unleashes Wave Of Fraud Amid Fear And Scarcity

A 39-year-old former investment manager in Georgia was already facing federal charges that he robbed hundreds of retirees of their savings in a Ponzi scheme when the rapid spread of COVID-19 presented an opportunity.

Christopher A. Parris started pitching himself as a broker of surgical masks amid the nationwide scramble for protective equipment in the first desperate weeks of the outbreak, federal authorities said. He was soon taking in millions of dollars.

Except there were no masks.

Law enforcement officials say Parris is part of what they are calling a wave of fraud tied to the outbreak.

Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security, is leading a nationwide crackdown. It has opened over 370 cases and so far arrested 11 people, as part of “Operation Stolen Promise,” according to Matthew Albence, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“It’s incredibly rampant and it’s growing by the day,” Albence said. “We’re just scratching the surface of this criminal activity. ”

Parris was on pretrial release for the alleged Ponzi scheme when he was arrested last month in what authorities say was an attempt to secure an order for more than $750 million from the Department of Veterans Affairs for 125 million face masks and other equipment.

“He was trying to sell something he didn’t even have,” said Jere T. Miles, the special agent in charge of the New Orleans office of Homeland Security Investigations, which worked the case with the VA Office of Inspector General. “That’s just outright, blatant fraud.”

Parris has not yet entered a plea to fraud charges and his lawyers did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Nationwide, investigators have turned up more than false purveyors of PPE. They have uncovered an array of counterfeit or adulterated products, from COVID-19 tests kits and treatments to masks and cleaning products.

Steve Francis, director of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, which is overseen by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says authorities have tracked counterfeits flowing into the U.S. from 20 countries and for sale through thousands of websites.

Rural Hospitals Short On Funds, Official Says

Georgia’s rural hospitals may need more federal money to keep them open through the coronavirus pandemic.

Monty Veazey, who heads the Georgia Alliance for Community Hospitals, said one of its member hospitals in southwest Georgia needs to raise more than $2 million by July 1 or it will close. About 25 other hospitals, he says, have just 30 days cash on hand to pay operating expenses.

“It’s going to be tough for any rural hospital to get through this without help from the government.”

Veazey said some hospitals have gotten emergency funding from the Department of Health and Human Services. And while lucrative elective surgeries are slowly returning, there’s worry it still may not be enough.

Atlanta Hotel Industry Facing Unprecedented Crisis

Atlanta’s hotel industry is in crisis.

That’s according to a recent article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Jessica Saunders, the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s managing editor talked to insiders and top hoteliers in Atlanta.

WABE’s Alex Helmick spoke to Saunders about what hotels are doing to survive during this period of the coronavirus.

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Saunders said the hospitality industry has been a key industry in Atlanta for decades. She called this current period, a “severe crisis.” Atlanta hotel’s biggest concern is their staff, she said, adding that “layoffs are very concerning” to hoteliers.

The hotel industry wants to get back to normal as soon as it is safe, Saunders said.