Kemp eases more COVID restrictions; opposes vaccine passports

Kemp eases COVID restrictions — *Cobb’s COVID cases by date of onset is nearing last fall’s figures. Source: Georgia DPH. For more **click here**.*

As COVID-19 metrics continue to drop and more vaccines are being made available to Georgians, Gov. Brian Kemp this week took two more major steps in the state’s recovery from the pandemic.

In an extension of a 13-month executive order first issued at the start of the pandemic, Kemp announced that he is eliminating a ban on large gatherings that’s been in place since March 2020.

His new order (you can read it here) also eliminates any remaining shelter-in-place requirements and ends remaining distance mandates, such as dining parties at restaurants and bars, movie theaters and between patrons in group fitness classes.

The order also eliminates the ability of law enforcement to close organizations for failing to comply with provisions of the order.

New confirmed COVID-19 cases in Georgia have fallen to levels from last fall, according to onset date figures. As of March 25, the seven-day moving average was 1,234 cases across the state.

In Cobb County (as seen in the graphic at the top) that figure is 119.9 cases in a seven-day moving average.

That’s both for PCR and Antigen tests combined, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health daily status report.

Community spread figures also continue to drop, with Cobb having a 14-day average of 144 cases per 100,000 for the PCR tests.

Public health officials say “high” community spread is anything more than 100 cases per 100,000.

It’s been since mid-February when we last updated Cobb COVID numbers, which then had counted 814 deaths and 54,441 cases.

As of Friday, there have been 921 deaths and 58,872 confirmed cases in Cobb since the pandemic began in March 2020, according to Cobb and Douglas Public Health.

The agency is continuing to roll out vaccine distribution, and is booking appointments for next week at Jim Miller Park in Marietta and Arbor Place Mall in Douglasville.

More than 4.5 million vaccine doses have been administered in Georgia since January, according to the DPH vaccine dashboard, including nearly 288,000 in Cobb County.

That’s both via Cobb and Douglas Public Health and private providers, including physicians and pharmacies.

Kemp also this week joined a handful of governors in saying he does not support a government-issued “vaccine passport” for citizens to show proof that they’ve been immunized.

He said in a Tweet that “while the development of multiple safe, highly effective COVID-19 vaccines has been a scientific miracle, the decision to receive the vaccine should be left up to each individual.”