Cobb state of emergency

Cobb County declares state of emergency through April 15

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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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Georgia Coronavirus cases top 1,000, Cobb with 86; 32 deaths statewide

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Cobb Commissioners Coronavirus meeting

The number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in Georgia continues to rise dramatically. As of noon Tuesday, there were 1,026 positive test results across the state, after more than 800 were reported Monday night.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the death toll also has risen, to 32 on Tuesday, up from 25 on Monday.

Cobb County had 86 confirmed Coronavirus cases as of noon Tuesday, and at least five deaths.

The latter figure is according to Dr. Janet Memark, director of Cobb and Douglas Public Health, in a briefing before Cobb commissioners Tuesday morning.

They held a special meeting to discuss a state of emergency declaration. Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has drafted an order that he was expected to formalize Tuesday afternoon.

Boyce didn’t need to get a vote from his colleagues, but wanted them to have a public discussion of the matter.

Memark is calling on Boyce to issue a shelter-in-place order that’s similar to what is in effect in the city of Atlanta.

Under shelter-in-place, most businesses would close, except those deemed essential, and citizens would be ordered to stay at home, except to shop for necessities.

On Monday, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued a shelter-in-place for certain at-risk populations and ordered bars and nightclubs closed. But he declined to issue a broader shelter-in-place statewide.

Boyce’s draft order was distributed to commissioners before Tuesday’s meeting but was not made public beforehand.

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Memark said the health care system in Cobb could be overrun soon if more aggressive social distancing measures are not undertaken.

She said testing for the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is not a short-term solution because of a limited supply of test kits and because the virus is spreading so fast.

Test results are typically returned in 3-7 days, she said.

“We are on the upswing of cases and just below our capacity for health care this time,” she told commissioners.

She said there are fewer than 50 ventilators at the two full-service hospitals in Cobb County.

More than anything, she said, social distancing measures need to be followed to stop the spread of the virus.

After noting that many people were out over the weekend in large gathering spots, at parks, restaurants and other places, Memark said that “the message isn’t getting out strongly enough.”

Until Tuesday’s new figures, Cobb had the second-highest number of cases in Georgia. Fulton leads with 184, followed by DeKalb with 94, Dougherty with 90, then Cobb.

Dr. Danny Branstetter, director of infection prevention at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital, told commissioners—who were seated spaced apart at distances recommended in social distancing guidelines—that a shelter-in-place order “will buy us time” and help preserve health-care capacity.

Boyce, who on Friday said he didn’t want to close businesses, said “this is a tough call” but that the measures that have been followed thus far are “not working. We’ve got to give serious consideration to something like shelter-in-place.”

He had the general support of most of his colleagues, including South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who listened in and participated in the meeting via teleconference from her home. She said it was important for the board “to set an example for our community.”

But commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb warned that by “narrowing the window” for citizens to get out and do essential things, like food shopping, “you bring more people together.”

“Government cannot do everything,” Ott said. “At some point in time, people have to take personal responsibility. A shelter-in-place in a county with 760,000 people is not enforceable.”

Boyce was clear that his order will not include a curfew, as has been ordered in other states and locales.

 

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