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THE NEIGHBORHOOD News • Features
Hospitals swamped as
COVID-19 cases surge
By Collin Kelley and Chad Radford
U nder increasing pressure to ad
dress the surge in COVID-19
cases in Georgia, Gov. Brian
Kemp announced Aug. 16 that
state money would be used to
hire additional healthcare workers, expand
capacity, and close state offices on Sept. 3 to
encourage employees to get inoculated. The
state has now surpassed 1 million cases of
the virus since the pandemic began.
“I’m asking all state employees who
have not yet gotten their shot, to consider
scheduling it on or before Sept. 3,” Kemp
said.
Kemp said those who have already been
vaccinated can treat the Friday as a “thank
you for the work you have done and for
stepping up to help protect yourself and
others.”
The governor said Georgia will spend
another $125 million to finance 1,500
additional hospital workers. He said 450
beds at regional hospitals are being readied
to help swamped ICUs and emergency
rooms.
Atlanta’s emergency rooms and intensive
care units are packed, and many are turning
away or diverting patients to other hospitals
in the metro area.
The highly contagious delta variant of
the virus has cut a swath through Georgia,
which continues to have one of the lowest
vaccination rates in the country with
only around 40 percent of the population
inoculated.
At the end of August, Grady Hospital,
Atlanta Medical Center, Piedmont, and
Emory Midtown Hospital were often
on “diversion,” meaning its ICU and
emergency room were full. The number of
cases and hospitalizations have surpassed
last summer’s peak.
Kemp, who let the public health state
of emergency expire in July and continues
to oppose any type of mask mandate, said
there were no plans to reopen the overflow
hospital at the World Congress Center in
Downtown.
Meanwhile, Atlanta Public Schools
is requiring all of its students and staff to
wear masks and offered the vaccine to those
eligible. Local restaurants and businesses
have made headlines by requiring proof
of vaccination to enter, while local arts
organizations have announced they will do
the same for fall shows and concerts.
The City of Atlanta — which reinstituted
a mask mandate for public spaces including
businesses and restaurants — updated its
COVID-19 Resilience Plan to a color-
coded system — red, yellow, green and blue
zones. At press time, Atlanta is in the yellow
zone with key indicators having crossed into
the red zone.
A third booster vaccine from
both Pfizer and Moderna has been
authorized by U.S. Health officials for
those who are moderately or severely
immunocompromised, including cancer
patients and those who are HIV.
The third shot has not yet been
approved for those with diabetes or high
blood pressure, although the protocol is
expected to widen over the next few months
to include elderly patients, then those 50
and older, eventually to include those over
12 years old — much like the roll out of the
initial vaccines. un
City council tables vote on ‘cop city 1 training facility until Sept. 7
By Collin Kelley
A controversial plan to use land
earmarked for greenspace as a public safety
training facility for police and firefighters
was tabled by the Atlanta City Council
during its Aug. 16 meeting.
The council narrowly voted 8-7 to
table after listening to four hours of public
comment and demonstrators gathered
outside to protest the vote. The item is
now set to appear on the council’s Sept. 7
agenda.
Councilmember Joyce Sheperd, who
sponsored the original legislation, said she
was disappointed by the delay and refuted
claims that there hadn’t been enough
engagement with the community.
However, Councilmember Natalyn
Archibong said there had been “missteps” in
public engagement on the issue.
“We are going to work aggressively
to make sure we correct the public
engagement missteps, and do a much better
job of making sure we are clear and making
sure we have addressed the concerns,”
Archibong said.
The legislation before the council would
lease 85 acres of a 350-acre city-owned
property in DeKalb County off Moreland
Avenue, to the Atlanta Police Foundation
6 SEPTEMBER 2021 | ffi]
for creation of the police and fire training
facility.
The property has been known variously
as the “Prison Farm,” ‘Honor Farm” and,
more recently, as “Cop City” after plans
for the training facility were announced.
The property was used as labor farm for
low-level offenders but has been abandoned
since 1995.
The council’s finance committee
unanimously voted in August to advance
the proposal to the full city council with
an amended agreement requiring that the
remaining land be used for greenspace. trees
cut down during construction be replanted,
and community meetings be held about the
design of the training camp and usage of
greenspace.
The move by the city council and
support from Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms
has drawn sharp criticism since the city had
originally earmarked the property as part of
a proposed “South River Forest” park.
The South River Forest Coalition
(SRFC) — made up of residents from
City of Atlanta and unincorporated
DeKalb County, various civic, business,
neighborhood, and environmental
organizations — adopted a resolution
opposing the creation of the facility.
In its resolution, the SRFC said the
legislation and proposal before Atlanta
City Council is in direct conflict with
the Atlanta City Design, Aspiring to the
Beloved Community plan and adopted into
the charter of the city in November 2017.
The resolution states: “The SRFC
supports the highest and best use of the
former 300+ acre Prison Farm property
for Atlanta communities as a core tract of
green infrastructure to be protected in-
perpetuity as passive greenspace, for urban
forest and ecological habitat restoration to
protect the Intrenchment Creek and South
River watersheds, for the development
of an alternative transportation corridor,
and for future public recreational use, as
promulgated in the Charter of the City of
Atlanta.”
The city and the Atlanta Police
Foundation have said the training facility is
critical to retaining and training personnel
as the city combats an increase in violent
crime.lE]
AtlantalntownPaper.com