We don't want people in Georgia to drop dead.
There it is. I've found it. One thing absolutely all of us can agree upon, related to this coronavirus crisis.
I mean, yeah, the tomahawk chop's as obnoxious now as it was in 1992, and the mere mention of Atlanta's still enough to send some locals into convulsions amid visions of a certain candy-armed left fielder being unable to throw out a certain gimpy baserunner. But even there, wishing the very worst upon the citizenry of an entire state would come across as a little crass.
We're on the same page so far?
OK, cool. Because as this is being typed, Georgia's as open as any state in the union. On April 24, Brian Kemp, the governor there, gave the green light for business to mostly resume as usual, albeit with specifically stated restrictions. He was ripped for it almost universally, not least of which was by the federal government and the president of the United States, who happens to share a party affiliation.
Everyone who ripped Kemp might be proven correct, given that spikes can take a week or even longer to show.
Everyone who predicted carnage in Atlanta and across Georgia might still be proven right.
Kemp might wind up costing tens of thousands of lives, untold pain, untold peripheral damage.
But again, we can agree that scenario wouldn't be ideal, right?
OK, cool. Because as of yesterday, according to the CDC, the nation's health protection agency which happens to be headquartered in Atlanta, the state of Georgia had 1,203 COVID-19 patients hospitalized and 897 ventilators in use. Both figures were the lowest on record since tracking began April 8. In the past week and a half alone, patients hospitalized decreased by roughly 20 percent.
And this despite an estimated influx of 60,000 people from other states in the past couple weeks, most of them presumably eager to conduct business anywhere they can.
Take a look:
ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTIONFor the first time, the U.S. recorded three straight days of 300,000-plus tests while the positivity rate is down to 9.1%, per the Johns Hopkins coronavirus testing hub. https://t.co/7UyqSzX5v7 pic.twitter.com/GsHXdj21p3
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 10, 2020
Fifteen seconds of the Allegheny River flowing in front of Heinz Field right now: pic.twitter.com/QLUVz10ePw
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) May 11, 2020
Mom. - DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS