Cobb County declares state of emergency through April 15

Cobb state of emergency
Cobb commissioners practice social distancing while discussing an emergency declaration Tuesday.

Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in the county, limiting hours for non-essential businesses, barring restaurants from dining room service and ordering citizens to “shelter in place” for the next three weeks.

His executive order in response to the Coronavirus pandemic (you can read it here) takes effect at noon on Wednesday and continues through noon on April 15.

That means that public gatherings — inside and outdoors — of more than 10 people are prohibited anywhere in the unincorporated part of Cobb.

The hours for non-essential businesses are restricted from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Restaurants can offer only takeout delivery or curbside pickup services.

Restaurants that are licensed to sell alcoholic beverages can sell them unopened to takeout or curbside customers during the hours they’re allowed to do so on their pouring licenses.

Businesses that are open must maintain social distancing guidelines of having a minimum of six feet of distance between people while they’re in the establishment.

(A list of essential and non-essential businesses as well as the emergency declaration are being posted on the county website.)

The order does not include a curfew or mandatory quarantine, which Boyce has said he does not want to impose.

“We’ve done our best to have informal social distancing,” Boyce said during a special Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday morning. “And as we saw this weekend it’s simply not working.”

Boyce said the declaration could be advised, depending on recommendations from public health officials monitoring the spread of the virus.

“If we need to consider closing all non-essential businesses and tighten other provisions we will do that to protect the residents of this County,” he said in a statement issued by the county.

As of 7 p.m. Tuesday, Cobb had 90 confirmed Coronavirus cases and five of Georgia’s 38 deaths. Statewide, the number of cases has grown to 1,092. Of those confirmed cases, nearly 33 percent have been hospitalized, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.

Cobb public health officials urged commissioners Tuesday to order a shelter-in-place to slow the spread of the virus in Cobb, which has had one of the highest totals of Coronavirus cases in Georgia, since there’s no vaccine or medication.

They also said medical and health-care capacity needs to be alleviated as the number of cases has grown.

The full declaration also will be posted on the county’s website; once we have it we’ll also link to it here.

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4 thoughts on “Cobb County declares state of emergency through April 15”

  1. This is and additional timeline for those who have been adhearing to the Presidents 15 day request. Now 3 more weeks? What justified the decision for 3 weeks vs say 2 weeks? Taking the 15 days asked for from the president and if 2 weeks were added that’s, as far as I can tell, more than anywhere else in the country?

  2. How does your decision affect businesses trying to pay employees and pay county utilities and employees that are dependent to pay their bills and feed house and educate their children, does anyone consider that? Please reply

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