Georgia Small Business Owners Agonize Over Whether to Reopen as Governor Loosens Restrictions
By: Natalie Frank
Tags: Covid 19, Politics, Government, Business, Psychology

Friday April 25th saw many nonessential businesses in Georgia beginning to reopen with many more to follow on Monday April 27th following an order by Georgia’s Governor, Brian Kemp. With most of the COVID 19 cases occurring in Atlanta, residents outside the metro area have praised the effort to get the economy back on track. But many in Atlanta are not happy about the move with some being outraged.

While not the only attempt at reopening businesses in the South, it is by far the broadest with other states like South Carolina being more cautionary in their efforts. Earlier this week Gov. Kemp announced that hair salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors, massage parlors, gyms and bowling alleys could reopen Friday with dine in restaurants, movie theaters and some clubs able to open on Monday.

The Mayors from several of the biggests cities in Georgia, including Macon, Savannah and Atlanta have protested the Governors relaxing of his stay at home order, which was also one of the last to be put in place. In particular, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms begged residents to stay home, even though Governor Brian Kemp lifted his shelter-in-place orders and signed an order that reopened many nonessential businesses. She and others are searching for legal actions that can be brought against the Governor in an effort to protect residents from increased risk of exposure.

Many small business owners worried that Kemp’s decision was premature, especially considering reservations from experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci who is the head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at NIH. In an interview about opening Atlanta businesses, Dr. Fauci said, “That could be setting us back. It certainly isn’t going to be helpful”.

Even President Trump, who previously advocated for businesses to begin reopening across the country, came out against Georgia’s governor’s call to reopen small businesses. In a Tweet he took the Governor to task.

Yet owners are suffering financially, many paying for rent and expenses from their own pockets due to being denied SBA loans. Many employees are also dealing with hardships being denied unemployment because they are on unpaid leave not technically unemployed.

Some owners have expressed dissonance between wanting to do what they think is right and what they have to do in order for them and their families to survive, as well as for their employees financial wellbeing. They feel they have been forced to act in a way that they feel is unethical, which potentially puts lives at risk and goes against other officials including the President who have come out against businesses reopening at this time.

Across states where shelter in place orders have been lifted and businesses are already opening, small business owners feel they’ve been put in a terrible position they weren’t prepared to deal with. They are struggling with state versus federal guidance, financial versus physical well-being and individual freedom versus the collective good of society at large.

The announcements made by governors of four states, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Ohio occurred right after President Trump’s release of phase-by-phase guidelines for reopening segments of the country. The first recommendation under these guidelines was that before a state lifts shelter in place orders, that they confirm a two week downward trend in symptoms and documented cases of COVID-19. None of these states followed this guideline and in fact, cases and/or deaths from COVID-19 were continuing to rise in all of them.

While Ohio boasts a low rate of COVID-19, this is likely due to the fact they rank near the bottom of states nationally in terms of testing for the coronavirus. They have tested only .88 percent of their population compared to the national average of 1.43 percent. Only five states rate lower than them, one of which is South Carolina which has tested only .86 percent of its population.

Ohio reported that their new cases have begun to decrease over the past few days although the number of deaths continue to rise. South Carolina’s rates continue to rise. Rates for both states would likely be far higher if their testing was more in line with the national average. As of now they are only testing the people who are seriously ill.

On April 25th, Tennessee saw the largest jump in new cases diagnosed since the beginning of the crisis with 1.7 percent of their population tested. In Georgia, rates continue to rise as does the death toll due to the virus. With .89 percent of their population tested, almost 25 percent of them were positive.

I have to say, given my family lives in Atlanta, I come down squarely on the side of outrage over this move. It will take about two weeks to know if it is linked to a further increase in cases. By then, there is no telling how many people in the state might be infected. At a minimum, I’m sure we won’t see the state’s rates leveling off or dropping in the near future.

I’m not incredibly worried about my family as they are all staying inside for now. But if the outbreak doesn’t abate or worse yet increases because of this idiotic move on the part of the Governor, in addition to more illness and deaths, that will also mean more time before my family and others remaining in quarantine can resume a normal life.