Georgia residents try to determine what they’re allowed to do as state reopens amid COVID-19
While confusion remains for some Georgians who might not be exactly sure what they can and cannot do and where they can and cannot go as the state contends with the coronavirus crisis, one rule of thumb might be: If it’s open, have at it.
That is, of course, in accordance with the required (or suggested) safety measures.
One can, it seems, now go to theaters (if any are open), have a meal in a restaurant dining room, get a haircut, a massage or a tattoo.
But as Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement April 27, “Bars, nightclubs, operators of amusement park rides, and live-performance venues will remain closed.”
What’s more, people 65 and older — even ones who are not, as the governor put it, “medically fragile” — must continue through mid-June to follow the shelter-in-place guidelines, which allow people of all ages the leeway to venture out for essential matters.
You must shelter in place through June 12 if:
- You’re 65 years old or older
- You live in a nursing home or long-term care facility
- You have chronic lung disease
- You have moderate to severe asthma
- You have severe heart disease
- You are immunocompromised
- You are have Class III or severe obesity
- You have diabetes, liver disease or chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis
Georgians who don’t fall into those categories are encouraged to continue social distancing through mid-May.
Staying safe
Precisely what “essential” means largely remains a matter of personal interpretation.
The prevailing advice about how best to proceed in this uncertain climate appears to be: Wear a mask, keep your distance, wash your hands and hope for the best.
“I’m just trying to do like everybody else,” Raines Newberry, who is in the insurance and financial-planning business in Macon, said, “and go along, get along, you know?”
Newberry, who is 79, has continued going to his office in the weeks since the pandemic hit, which, so long as social distancing measures are adhered to, wouldn’t appear to run afoul of the governor’s guidelines.
At least Newberry hoped not, he said, joking, “because they could come lock me up every day.”
He said he tries to wear gloves and a mask when he goes to the post office and other places. For him, sheltering in place doesn’t mean being idle.
“I ain’t sitting at home every day, all day, sitting around and twiddling my thumbs,” he said.
“I think we better move ahead like Brian Kemp’s saying. We’re gonna be so far behind the damn eight ball we ain’t gonna be able to do anything.”
Confusing times
Instructions and information on what to do and what not to have occasionally bordered on the surreal.
In one of Kemp’s recent COVID-19 orders, in a portion related to the reopening of restaurants and other public venues, the governor had to go so far as to define hand sanitizer: “any hand antiseptic, hand rub, soap, or agent applied to the hands for the purpose of removing common pathogens.”
The same declaration went on to reassure the masses that “nothing in this Order shall be construed to suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of firearms or ammunition.”
Potential confusion over what is OK to do and what not OK may be more “of a situation where people just aren’t paying attention,” Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman said.
Freeman suggested that one of the avenues to halt the spread of infection that might be stressed more is that for healthy older people to take extra care when tending to older loved ones or acquaintances who aren’t in such good shape.
“Say they’re caring for their mother and she’s in her 80s, but she’s not in a nursing home, and they’re going to see her every day. Maybe they would want to visit her outside,” Freeman said.
“Common sense,” he added.
But that hasn’t always been in vast supply.
“I wrote a letter on Facebook a couple of weeks ago,” Baldwin County Sheriff Bill Massee said of a message he posted regarding the coronavirus crisis. “The way I ended it, I said, ‘Use common sense. If you don’t have any, ask a friend.’”
With statewide restrictions being relaxed and eateries and other businesses cleared to reopen, Massee said, “I don’t think everybody is complying with all the rules. Just from riding by and looking at some restaurants. To be honest with you, I don’t think people are taking it as seriously was we (in law enforcement) are. They’re not wearing masks and they’re not doing some other stuff that our deputies are doing.”
He said altering the local culture, the way people are accustomed to doing things, is not easy.
“We’re Southern,” Massee said. “We hug people, shake hands and we like to get together and cook out and all that. It’s a cultural thing, and we’re gonna really have to look at changing it.”
This story was originally published May 7, 2020 at 5:00 AM.