Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021
Almost 60% of new Georgia
COVID cases are in K-12
BOC
continued from 1A
By Tim Darnell
Capitol Beat News Service
Almost 60% of all new
COVID-19 cases are now in
Georgia’s K-12 schools, the
state’s top epidemiologist
said Tuesday.
Cherie Drenzek, state epi
demiologist for the Georgia
Department of Public Health,
said the highly contagious
delta variant is responsible
for the surge.
“The delta variant began
spreading in Georgia around
July 4,” Drenzek told a virtual
meeting of the state’s Board
of Public Health. "There has
been an exponential increase
in cases, hospitalizations and
deaths over the last 60 days.”
According to Tuesday’s
COVID totals provided by
the state Department of Pub
lic Health, more than 1.1
million Georgians have con
tracted coronavirus since the
pandemic began in March
2020. A total of 20,806 Geor
gians have died, and there
have been more than 76,000
hospitalizations.
According to data provid
ed by Drenzek to the board,
there has been a 20-fold in
crease in cases; a 13-fold
increase in hospitalizations;
and a 17-fold increase in
COVID deaths since July 1.
However, both Gov. Brian
Kemp's office and Drenzek
said state data has begun to
show slight decreases over
the last seven days.
Dr. R. Chris Rustin, direc
tor of the department’s Di
vision of Health Protection,
said as of Tuesday, more
than 10 million vaccine dos
es have been administered
in Georgia, with 4.7 million
Georgians, or 45% of the
state’s population, being ful
ly vaccinated. About 5.4 mil
lion of the state’s residents,
or 53%, have received at
least one vaccine dose.
Rustin also said Georgia is
offering 136 sites for mono
clonal antibody treatments,
commonly known as Regen-
eron infusion.
Rustin said preliminary
data shows monoclonal an
tibody therapy is effective
mostly early in treatment.
“You have to get it early
on,” Rustin said, who add
ed the state Department of
Public Health is collaborat
ing with the Department of
Community Health to sup
port the existing sites across
the state.
“It’s important to stress
this is not a substitute for
vaccines,” Rustin said.
The treatment, according to
the Southeast Georgia Health
System, helps the immune
system stop COVID-19 from
spreading in people with
mild to moderate symptoms.
The antibodies are synthetic
proteins that are manufac
tured in a lab.
The therapy, according to
the health system, isn’t new;
doctors have long used this
treatment to deliver drugs
or radioactive substances di
rectly to cancer cells.
The U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has
given monoclonal antibody
therapy emergency use au
thorization for the treatment
of COVID-19.
According to the FDA,
clinical trials showed that
COVID-19 patients who re
ceived antibody infusions
had a significant reduction in
hospitalizations and deaths
compared to patients who re
ceived a placebo.
Florida is one state that has
launched a statewide initia
tive that offers the treatment
at 21 sites.
While Georgia offers the
treatment at far more sites
than its Sunshine State
neighbor, it seemingly has
no plans to sponsor a state
wide program.
When asked by Capitol
Beat if Gov. Brian Kemp has
any plans for such an initia
tive, the governor’s office
referred to Kemp's Aug. 24
authorization of 105 Georgia
National Guard personnel to
10 hospitals around the state.
“This Georgia National
Guard mission is in addition
to the 2,800 state-support
ed staff and 450 new beds
brought online, at a total
state investment of $625 mil
lion through December of
this year,” Kemp said.
R-l zoning, which attorneys said
was likely an oversight.
•approved a special-use re
quest for a convenience store
in an Agricultural Commercial
zoning district at 856 Atlanta
Hwy., Auburn.
•approved a special-use re
quest for a wedding venue at
288 He Gardens Dr., Winder.
•approved a developer par
ticipation agreement for the
Ingles lift-station upgrades in
Auburn to accommodate addi
tional planned residential sub
divisions in the area. The devel
opers of planned the projects
are covering the costs of the
upgrade and expansion, which
has an estimated $2.2 million
price tag.
•approved an agreement with
Golden Productions to manage
the 45 calendar-year days that
the county has rights to the In
novation Amphitheater under
an agreement with the Barrow
County School System. Golden
Productions will lease the facil
ity from the county at a rate of
$1,000 per day for a total con
tract amount of $4,500.
•approved an agreement with
the Georgia Department of
Transportation for the county
to provide right of way mowing
and maintenance for the future
roundabout at State Route 11/
Jefferson Highway and State
Route 211/Rockwell Church
Road once construction is com
pleted.
•approved an agreement with
GDOT for the county to provide
operation and maintenance of
the lighting system West Wind
er Bypass/SR 316 interchange.
•approved a letter of support
from the county for a poten
tial roundabout at SR 211 and
Dee Kennedy Road. GDOT is
studying the possibility of con
structing a roundabout at the
location, county public works
director Chris Yancey said, add
ing that if construction were to
proceed, the county would be
responsible for electrical and
maintenance costs.
•approved a replacement of a
wing wall in the county’s right
of way at 101 Pleasant Hill
Church Rd. in the amount of
$68,246.
•approved an annual mainte
nance and support fee for the
county’s CAD system in the
amount of $27,585.
•accepted a $1,400 grant from
the Superior Court Judges Judi
cial Council. The funds can be
used for drug-testing supplies,
travel and “program-specific”
equipment.
•approved a resolution re
ducing the size of the Board
of Tax Assessors from five to
three members. The board was
originally three members when
it formed and increased to five
seats over time, but the county
has had difficulty finding peo
ple to fill all the seats, county
manager Kevin Little said.
•reappointed Beth Buchanan
to the Board of Tax Assessors
for a six-year term that is set to
expire Oct. 1, 2027.
•met in closed session for
about 30 minutes at the end of
the meeting to discuss pending
and potential litigation. No ac
tion was taken as a result of the
session.
continued from 1A
implications of the charter
amendments. He contend
ed that implementing the
3-mill cap would jeopar
dize police and fire depart
ment funding and would
severely limit the city’s
ability to make improve
ments to its roads and bor
row funds for various pub
lic safety and infrastructure
improvements while elimi
nating “many services.”
Maynard’s harshest cri
tique was of the citizens’
veto measure, which would
allow citizens to follow
the same petition process
to initiate a referendum to
overturn any council votes.
“This would amount to
government by social me
dia,” he wrote. “You would
no longer be able to use
your property as allowed
by law because ‘the citi
zens’ can change the law.
Job creation and economic
development would cease.
Businesses require certain
ty in law to operate. With
out this certainty, busi
nesses will take their jobs
elsewhere and no new jobs
will come to Winder.
“This petition for a cit
izen veto would create an
unstable and chaotic city
government. For example,
every time someone re
ceives a citation they could
attempt to repeal the ordi
nance. Each effort to re
peal an action of the city
council would require the
city’s citizens to fund the
cost of the veto election
and any associated legal ac
tion — driving up cost and
driving down efficiency in
operations and distracting
the city from its mission of
providing critical services.
“The city would no lon
ger be able to contract with
others because the veto
would make any agree
ment uncertain. Suppli
ers, contractors and others
would not be willing to
make agreements or con
tracts with the city. The city
would have great difficulty
in obtaining needed sup
plies and services for the
people of Winder.
In a Facebook response
video, Burton claimed that
Maynard deliberately mis-
characterized the intent of
the petitions and said the
mayor “is trying to spread
around a bunch of propa
ganda.”
“This is not a mayor
who is not worried,” she
said. “This is a mayor who
seems very concerned at
the fact that his power and
refusal to listen to the cit
izens is being threatened.
If he were not worried, he
would not be doing this.”
Burton said the intent of
the millage rate petition is
not to cut police and fire
department funding, but to
oppose “wasteful spend
ing.” And she said the cit
izens’ veto measure would
not target property rights.
“This is not mob rule,”
Burton said. “We live in a
constitutional republic. I do
not believe in pure democ
racy. There has to be some
sort of political process in
order to affect change with
in your communities.”
As for the debate on term
limits, Maynard, who is in
his third term as mayor and
has twice been re-elect
ed without opposition,
claimed that imposing term
limits would “remove”
residents’ choice to elect
whom they believe is “the
best person for the job.”
“We already have term
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limits; they are called elec
tions.” he said.
While the presidency is
the only federal office that
carries constitutional term
limits, 36 states, including
Georgia, have term lim
its on their governors, and
15 states have placed term
limits on state legislators.
Municipal and county-level
term limits vary across the
country, though there are
currently no limits in Bar-
row County or its munici
palities.
“Term limits are not a
new thing,” Burton said
in response to Maynard’s
point. “Government is not
a thing people are supposed
to be making a career of.”
Burton said this week she
did not have a firm number
of signatures collected so
far on the petitions but that
she was planning a signing
event at the St. Ives subdi
vision pool from 11 a.m. to
2 p.m. Saturday and eyeing
other events as well. Res
idents are able to request
copies of the petitions from
the city clerk’s office.
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We Are All Connected
And all who
believed were
together and had all
things in common;
and they sold their
possessions and
goods, and
distributed them to
all, as any had need.
R.S.V. Acts 2:44-45
A ristotle claimed that humans are
political animals, meaning that we
live in a political society or
community, remarking further that only a
beast or a god would live by himself
away from others. One implication of
this view is that our minds are part
and parcel of the social fabric. Our
minds develop socially, by being
raised to speak a particular language
in a particular culture. And we are
literally connected to other people's
brains in that the smile on our face will
register in their brain and cause their brain
to make them smile, and their smiles will
have the same effect on us. We have been
taught the message of individualism for so
long that we don't often see the many ways
in which we are connected. Our minds truly
are social, think of how often we complete
each other's sentences or feel each other's
joys and sorrows. But, the philosophy of
individualism emphasizes our separateness
and makes us think that we can be just as
fully human as distinct individuals, as we
can when we are part of a larger group like
a family or a society. Since we live in a
world where it is possible to live alone, and
more people are choosing to do so, it
appears that at times we hold up the
individual as more important than the
collective.
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