Georgia Governor Kemp commits $100M to combat coronavirus in state
Gov. Brian Kemp asked the General Assembly Wednesday to add $100 million to this year’s state budget to deal with the impacts of coronavirus in Georgia.
“The spread of coronavirus represents a significant threat to our state’s health network, financial well-being and, most importantly, the health and safety of our citizenry,” Kemp wrote in a letter to the chairmen of the state House and Senate Appropriations committees. “Therefore, we must be ready to respond quickly and thoroughly to any outbreak of disease within our state.”
The governor sent a separate letter to House Speaker David Ralston and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, the state Senate’s presiding officer, requesting the funds.
The money will come from the state’s budget reserves, which have been growing larger year by year since the fund was nearly depleted during the Great Recession. The fund now stands at a healthy $2.8 billion.
A spokesman for Ralston released a statement Wednesday supporting the governor’s plan.
“Speaker Ralston is committed to ensuring adequate resources are available, and he is confident in the federal, state and local personnel who are working tirelessly to manage this situation,” Kaleb McMichen said.
The CDC announced Wednesday that it was going to provide states and local governments with more than $560 million to help fund the COVID-19 response. Georgia will receive roughly $15 million from the CDC.
Georgia’s bill for coping with coronavirus is mounting day by day as the number of confirmed cases of the virus continues to rise.
As of Wednesday night, according to the latest update from the governor’s office, the state Department of Public Health was awaiting testing confirmation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on three additional presumptive positive cases of COVID-19.
That brought the total number of presumptive positive cases in Georgia to 19. Twelve cases have been confirmed: three in Fulton County, three in Bartow County, two in Cobb County, two in Floyd County, one in Polk County and one in Lee County.
Meanwhile, the state has opened seven emergency mobile units at Hard Labor Creek Park in Morgan County to isolate COVID-19 patients.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 9:27 AM.