More than a hundred thousand Georgians and other residents have signed several petitions to block Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen the state as it grapples with the deadly COVID-19.
More than 92,000 people have signed one Change.org petition entitled “Tell Gov. Kemp: Shut Down TODAY, Save Lives,” while almost 40,000 citizens put their names to the petition “Shut Brian Kemp down on re-opening businesses.” Another 10,000 folks went with the one called “Too Soon to Open Georgia.”
As most Georgians and Americans know, Kemp signed an executive order that will take the locks off the doors of some establishments on Friday, April 24, 2020. Among them are barbershops, beauty salons, tattoo parlors, massage therapy stores, bowling alleys and similar businesses.
Restaurants and theaters can reopen on Monday, April 27.
Interestingly enough, the “shelter-in-place” mandate issued by Kemp at the top of the month was due to expire on April 30, 2020. This is causing some people to wonder what could be the rush to reopen the state a week earlier than originally designated.
Nevertheless, Georgia will become the first state to “reactivate” its economy, however small, after the nation ground its economy to a screeching halt in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As the aforementioned numbers reveal, many Georgians are displeased and fearful, including the mayors of Atlanta, Augusta and Albany. The latter city experienced two heartbreaking outbreaks of COVID-19 after townsfolks attended two funerals in March, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told ABC News.
“This is going to violate social distancing expectations of six feet which is impossible given the nature of the job,” wrote Megan Meberg, the author of the petition ‘Too Soon To Open Georgia!’
“He is putting our healthcare resources, service workers, and their families at unnecessary risk.”
An equally perturbed Meghan Dowlen, the creator of the “Shut Brian Kemp down” petition, added this thought:
“We cannot keep putting our economy and personal agendas over human lives,” she said. “This kind of negligence has no doubt spread the virus further, and the chances of more people getting sick/dying will most certainly be higher now.”
