Yesterday I asked about Georgia's governor Brian Kemp:
What does Kemp think will happen in Georgia? Does he wish for more deaths in his state? Is it malice that is driving him? If not malice what is it?
The question is still open and there is now more data to find an answer.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp Sues Atlanta to Block City From Enforcing Its Mask Mandate
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is suing Atlanta to block the city from enforcing its mandate to wear a mask in public and other rules related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, in a suit filed in state court late Thursday in Atlanta, argue that Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has overstepped her authority and must obey Kemp’s executive orders under state law.
“Governor Kemp must be allowed, as the chief executive of this state, to manage the public health emergency without Mayor Bottoms issuing void and unenforceable orders which only serve to confuse the public,” the lawsuit states.
Kemp on Wednesday clarified his executive orders to expressly block Atlanta and at least 14 other local governments across the state from requiring people to wear face coverings.
This is irresponsible. It is not Atlanta Mayor Lance Bottoms who is confusing the public. It is Kemp who is doing it. We do not just ask people to put on seat belts, we mandate it.
It was also Kemp who decided to put out fake numbers:
Georgia Massaged Virus Data to Reopen, Then Voided Mask Orders
Among the last U.S. states to lock down, Georgia in April was first to widely reopen, after just three weeks. Critics said the state misrepresented its data to justify the move, and they predicted disaster.
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[T]he same week Kemp ordered the reopening, his administration began presenting data in a way that made the state appear healthier than it was, said Thomas Tsai, a professor at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.The technique involved backdating new cases to the time of first symptoms or taking a test, instead of reporting them as they were reported to the state, like Georgia had previously done — and like most states do.
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The effect — as states were being told to predicate their reopenings on two weeks of declining case numbers — was to artificially make Georgia’s trends look better. The state began adding new cases to past dates on its trend line, making current numbers both too low and incomplete, Tsai said.“What’s deceptive is that they shave off the most recent two weeks,” he said. “If you look at the most recent two weeks, it’s always very low. It always looks artificially like a downward trend.”
Looking again at Georgia's data we can tell the moment Georgia did this.
Source: COVID Tracking Project – bigger
Around the beginning of June the new case numbers suddenly went to zero while a hump was added to the earlier data. The trick helped Kemp to reopen the state.
But the virus can not be tricked by fake accounting. Without sufficient countermeasures the epidemic will accelerate, more people will die from it no matter how many times Kemp massages the data.
A leaked White House document lists Georgia as one of the 18 states which are in a coronavirus "red zone" and should take serious measures to stop a further rise:
A document prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force but not publicized suggests more than a dozen states should revert to more stringent protective measures, limiting social gatherings to 10 people or fewer, closing bars and gyms and asking residents to wear masks at all times.
The document, dated July 14 and obtained by the Center for Public Integrity, says 18 states are in the “red zone” for COVID-19 cases, meaning they had more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week. Eleven states are in the “red zone” for test positivity, meaning more than 10 percent of diagnostic test results came back positive.
Source: Public Integrity – bigger
Kemp, some of the other governors, and Trump do not understand that it is not the virus that is now hurting the economy. The economic damage that is occurring now in Georgia and elsewhere is caused be the lack of countermeasures which are needed to be able to live with the virus while it continues to circulate.
We are still a year or so away from a good vaccine that can be produced in sufficient numbers. Until at least half of the population is somehow immunized against it we will have to live with it without allowing it to spread freely. Masks are the easiest and cheapest way to stop the virus from jumping from person to person.
The experts in the latest Grand Round video of the UCSF explain why that is the case. They also add a point that should reinforces the message. There are signs that countries with mask mandates had on average less serious cases. The reason is that the dose matters. We know from other viruses that an infection with a high dose of viruses will create more damage than one with a low dose. Masks may not stop all infections but the help to keep the virus dosage low.
Under the current circumstances wearing a mask, even a not perfect one, is the best thing one can do for ones health AND for the economy. It is high time for Kemp to learn that.