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Front-Runner for Country's Dumbest Governor to Reopen Essential Bowling Alleys, Nail Salons Friday
Vanity Fair
Mon Apr 20, 2020
Category: Health News
Area: Atlanta
Brian Kemp seemingly asked for a list of the businesses where people are in closest proximity, a key factor to spreading COVID-19, and said, Let's start with those.
Approximately two weeks ago, Georgia governor Brian Kemp made a name for himself when he announced on the steps of his state's capitol that he was a massive imbecile. Sure, he didn't use the exact words "Citizens of Georgia, I've gathered you here today to announce that I've tested positive for an I.Q. of less than nine," but he might as well have. Because it was then - on April 2, 2020 - that Kemp revealed he had only just learned that asymptomatic carriers of the novel coronavirus could spread the disease. Despite his office being located roughly 6.5 miles from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and children having known for at least a month how the virus could be transmitted, Kemp told reporters: "Those individuals could've been infecting people before they ever felt bad. But we didn't know that until the last 24 hours."
Kemp was overwhelmingly criticized for his astonishing lack of knowledge about the disease and, obviously, rightly so. But apparently, instead of laying low for a while, listening to experts, and taking the steps necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 in his state - where cases have continued to rise - he's decided to double down on his image as a wildly ignorant politician who doesn't avail himself of easily accessible information, listen to public health experts, or take the necessary steps to avoid reopening the economy too early and causing an even greater spike in cases. Because not only is he allowing some companies to get back to business on Friday, he seemingly asked for a list of the places where people were most likely to contract the disease and said, Let's start with those:
Kemp announced on Monday that gyms, hair salons, nail salons, barbershops, and bowling alleys will be allowed to reopen in the state on Friday - even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise. During an afternoon press conference, Kemp said that the statewide shelter-in-place order will expire on April 30, however he urged the "medically fragile" to continue to hunker down until May 13. The announcement comes even as top health officials maintain that the best way to prevent further spread of the virus at this stage of the pandemic is to continue enforced social distancing.
As of Monday, Georgia has recorded over 18,301 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and at least 637 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. The governor, who cited the pandemic's heavy toll on the state's economy, said that some restaurants and movie theaters can reopen on Monday as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines. He also gave the greenlight to churches to hold in-person services.
As Axios noted earlier today, there is wide consensus that places like hospitals and grocery stores are obviously "essential" businesses, but others, like World Wrestling Entertainment, crafts chain Hobby Lobby, and Bath & Body Works, seem to fall in a gray area. Hair salons and nail salons, where people must be within inches of one another (if not touching) and gyms, where people sweat all over everything, seem like less of a great idea to reopen from the get-go. And then there are those "essential" bowling alleys.
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