About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (March 25, 2020)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Wednesday, March 25, 2020 5A County, cities begin forced closures of businesses BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday ordered closures of bars and nightclubs statewide beginning at noon Tuesday as part of the state’s efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Gatherings of more than 10 peo ple, unless the people can be kept six feet apart, will also be banned. The ban will be in effect through April 6. The Georgia Department of Public Health will be authorized to close any busi ness for noncompliance. Local governments can put additional restrictions in place, but the statewide ban applies to all. The Georgia Municipal Association is advising all of the state’s 538 cities to order overnight curfews and close gyms, movie theaters and other businesses. Kemp has favored letting local govern ments decide whether to require stricter limitations. His statewide actions fall short of those issued in most other states, despite pressure from some lawmakers and health experts for tougher measures. Under state law, local governments “can make, amend, and rescind orders, rules, and regulations as necessary for emer gency management purposes,” according to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia’s guidelines for counties. Hall County The Hall County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted at a 4 p.m. meeting Tues day to require restaurants and bars in unin corporated Hall to close their dining rooms and bans patio dining. Takeout, delivery and drive-thru service will be allowed for restau rants, and beer and wine can be sold with takeout meals. The rules go into effect at 3 p.m. Wednes day and will be in effect for 72 hours. The rules can be extended by the chairman of the Board of Commissioners, and County Administrator Jock Connell said Tuesday that extensions can be expected as officials monitor the pandemic. Cafeterias in hospitals and nursing homes are exempt. Purchases of supplies to address the virus will also be exempt from the county’s pur chasing policies. Gainesville To reduce the spread of COVID-19, the Gainesville City Council passed a resolution Monday restricting restaurants and bars to takeout service only and closing fitness cen ters, movie theaters, live performance ven ues, bowling alleys and arcades in city limits. Gainesville was the first city in Hall County to pass restrictions on businesses dur ing the pandemic. The rules go into effect at 3 p.m. Tuesday, March 24. Cafeterias in hospitals and nursing homes are exempt from the rule. The Council also declared a state of emer gency in Gainesville with the resolution passed Monday. Oakwood Oakwood has two declarations regard ing the coronavirus under legal review, City Manager B.R. White said Tuesday, March 24. To go into effect, they would have to be approved by the Oakwood City Council. “Neither propose a curfew but do close all restaurants’ in-house dining and extend restaurants the opportunity to still provide beer and wine for take-out or delivery,” he said. Eight of Oakwood’s 43 restaurants allow dine-in seating for its patrons, White said. The Oakwood City Council will meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 25. The public can join the meeting via phone or online: global.gotomeeting.com/join/111209045 Phone: +1 (872) 240-3212 Access Code: 111-209-045 Flowery Branch Flowery Branch City Council voted via a Tuesday online meeting to close restaurants to in-house dining and allow restaurants with a valid license to sell beer and wine as take out or delivery. Braselton Public gatherings on property owned by the town, including the Town Green, are canceled until further notice. Non-essential businesses are encour aged to close, and restaurants are advised to only offer takeout, delivery or drive-thru service. An executive order has not yet been issued. Lula While officials are encouraging people to follow public health guidelines, the city has not placed restrictions on businesses. Dahlonega All recreation, gym, fitness, and entertain ment facilities are required to close. Restaurants and other eating establish ments must close their dining rooms, but delivery, drive-thru, and curb-side pickup are allowed. SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Northeast Georgia Health System employees form an assesmbly line of sorts Tuesday, March 24. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has set out guidelines for mask usage during the COVID-19 crisis, including what to do when no masks are available. MASKS ■ Continued from 1A said Michelle Zimmerman, spokeswoman for Northeast Georgia Medical Center Brasel ton, who is helping to coordinate the effort. Working with 1,200 pounds of donated fabric, the employees are cutting and using patterns, with the help of sewing machines, to make the covers. Some 32 employees are helping with the work. Some of the employees are athletic trainers who work in the now-closed schools, “so this is a perfect opportunity, right there,” Zimmerman said. Kim Stuckey, a secretary in outpatient rehabilitation who can’t work her regular job as outpatient clinics are closed, is helping with sewing, including training folks to sew. “They’re desperately needed,” she said of the mask covers. As for hospital staffing during the health crisis, “we are continu ally evaluating how we will opti mize staffing as this pandemic continues to evolve,” said Luisa Gutman, NGHS chief human resources officer. “Like most health systems across the nation, we’re seeing less patients due to postponing elective surgeries and pausing many other non-essential ser vices. We’ve adjusted staffing to meet the current demand.” Gutman added: “Some employ ees have the option and ability to work from home. Others are being asked to be flexible with schedules, and we offer several options to help them find other roles to aid our response.” Some of those options include signing up for the “resource pool,” which tries to place employees in tasks across the system, such as sewing the covers. The pool has about 180 people, Gutman said. People in the community also are seeking to help with mask making, including a couple of groups making the covers. “The response has been so fantastic,” said Lacherisa Prai rie, value analysis manager with the health system, who is help ing in the effort. “It’s just been overwhelming. I go home every night astonished.” Dr. Supriya Mannepalli, who heads Northeast Georgia Medi cal Center’s Infection Prevention & Control Committee, said the health system is “focused on find ing alternative solutions to our traditional rectangular surgical masks.” “We have more of a supply of (respirators) than we do surgical masks,” NGHS spokesman Sean Couch said. Surgical masks aren’t “con sidered respiratory protection,” but they do provide the wearer “protection against large drop lets, splashes or sprays of bodily or other hazardous fluids” and protect “the patient from the wearer’s respiratory emissions,” according to the CDC. “We would rather any sewn surgical masks be four-ply and made of a denser material. We’re researching patterns and materi als to meet our infection preven tion standards, and we’ll share that info with the community as soon as we have it,” Mannepalli said. “We know everyone is eager to help, and we want their help,” she added. “We just want to be sure we’re giving them clear direc tion so we don’t waste time and material.” Forsyth County man dies from coronavirus BY BRIAN PAGLIA bpaglia@forsythnews.com Forsyth County’s first death related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, was reported Tuesday by the Geor gia Department of Public Health. The individual was an 88-year-old male, according to the department, one of 38 people in Georgia who have died since the coronavirus outbreak. It’s unknown whether the indi vidual had any underlying medical conditions, according to department records. The DPH could provide no further information. Forsyth County had eight con firmed cases of COVID-19 by the end of Tuesday during a day in which the number of infections in Georgia topped 1,000. Little information has been avail able about the county’s positive COVID-19 cases, except that one is confirmed to be an employee at a Publix in Cumming and another is an employee at a manufacturing plant in the county. MEET OUR 2020 DANCING FOR A CAUSE CAST! Master of Ceremonies—Lydia Sartain Announcing our 10 celebrity dancers for the 7th Annual Dancing for a Cause - a collaborative event that will take place on August 29, 2020 at the Chattahoochee Country Club. Proceeds support the missions of: Alliance for Literacy ^ Center Point—Student Services Rape Response ^ Center Point—Teen Pregnancy Prevention Sponsorship tables are now available - call your favorite dancer to secure one now! More information and voting at: dancehallcounty.com
