About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2020)
Save up to $115 COUPONS INSIDE eh t ettncs Weekend Edition - JULY 25-26,2020 | $2.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Murphy: GHSA got it right with giving green light to fall sports, sports, 12B a COVID-19 numbers rise SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Nurses wearing masks work Monday, July 20, inside the emergency room at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center. NGHS sees new virus peak, urges precautions to slow spread BY MEGAN REED InRiflp mreed@gainesvilletimes.com 11 IC::)IUC Hall looking to ease erosion control rules BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Hall County is proposing to allow more land to be disturbed at any given time during con struction projects, which some believe will negatively affect Lake Lanier. The move would loosen local restrictions and defer to state regulations on erosion and sedi mentation control. The county now allows only 20 acres of land to be disturbed at any given time; however, the state allows for 50 acres. Some jurisdictions opt to be more restrictive, according to Michael Berry, manager for the erosion and sedimentation unit with the Geor gia Environmental Protection Division. Devel opers can apply for exceptions to the rule, Berry said. Srikanth Yamala, the county’s public works director, said county staff periodically review ordinances for possible updates, and in review ing the erosion and sedimentation control ordi nance found that Hall’s restrictions were more stringent than other jurisdictions. “Since our 20-acre requirement went into place, there were several other enhancements the EPD has done, like introducing the stream buffer requirementsYamala said. The EPD website lists guidelines for erosion control. The Hall County Board of Commissioners held a first hearing Thursday, July 23, and a second hearing is set for their 6 p.m. meeting Thursday, Aug. 13. Commissioners meet at the Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville. ■ Please see EROSION, 7A Hall switches to citations for misdemeanor pot charges BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Around the time of the COVID-19 outbreak in March, Hall County Solicitor General Steph anie Woodard met with public safety officials and discussed the recent changes in the law concerning hemp and misdemeanor marijuana charges. “One of the things that all of the chiefs and the public (safety) executives that were in the discussion with me agreed was not knowing when testing by the state would be available — (from) the (Georgia Bureau of Investigation)— and what the testing procedures would be,” she said. Woodard said there was concern from law enforcement about taking someone into cus tody with cases that could not be immediately addressed. The solicitor general said the Geor gia Hemp Farming Act created a “collateral consequence” of a testing issue for the GBI mis demeanor marijuana testing. ■ Please see MARIJUANA, 9A COVID-19 patient numbers at the Northeast Georgia Health Sys tem have now passed their previ ous peak after declining and then plateauing through May and June. Now, the hospital is encouraging the community to take precautions while health care providers pre pare for a second wave of COVID-19 patients. The health system was treat ing 155 patients at its facilities on Friday, July 24, according to data on its website. Patient numbers were slightly down from Thursday, when the system was treating 168, its new peak. The previous peak had been 159 patients, which it reached on April 29 and then matched on Wednesday. “Back in June, things had kind of calmed down. We never went down to zero (patients). We were still seeing a lot of patients in the hospital that had COVID,” said Dr. John Delzell, vice president for graduate medical education and 78 Hall County Jail employees tested for COVID-19 or put in quarantine since April, 4A incident commander at the health system. “And then, as people have gotten out and about more, people out in the community are not wear ing masks and are out more, that definitely starts to increase the transmission in the community.” Delzell said the hospital noticed the increase shortly after the Fourth of July weekend, and although it can not be definitively attributed to the holiday, many people in the com munity did start spending more time in public around then. On May 1, the health system was treating 146 COVID-19 patients, and two weeks later, the number was down to 95. By May 29, it had declined again, to 58 patients systemwide, and numbers stayed relatively steady for a few weeks, ■ Please see COVID-19,4A To mask or not to mask? NGPG physician shares medical insight BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com As COVID-19 continues to spread, the mask debate has taken center stage across the country, and Hall County is no exception. For many, wearing a face covering in public has become as familiar as putting on a pair of shoes. Others view it as a violation of their rights or a pointless inconvenience. The Times interviewed Dr. Garey Huff Jr., a family medicine physician with Northeast Georgia Physicians Group Family Health Associates, to share his professional insight into the arguments surrounding COVID-19 protection. When should someone wear a mask in public? Masks, including cloth face coverings, are a critical component against fighting COVID- 19 because they have been proven to reduce the spread of the disease, according to Huff. “They should be worn any time that an individual is in a public space where they ■ Please see MASKS, 5A ‘...As people have gotten out and about more, people out in the community are not wearing masks and are out more, that definitely starts to increase the transmission in the community.’ Dr. John Delzell incident commander, NGHS DEATHS 2B Leslie Boulter, 62 Darryl Butler, 57 Evelyn Carpenter, 80 Sara Lee Cloud, 77 R.C. Delong, 85 Edward Gaither Jocelyn Guttierez, 39 Zona Hennigh, 95 Melvin Jackson, 68 Steven Johnson, 68 Robert Konkle, 75 Samuel Long, 59 James Loudermilk, 30 Ryan Marshall, 32 Lamar Millsap, 70 Celia Montgomery, 86 Wiley Norris, 85 John Peck, 89 Mary Puccio, 63 Arthur Rhodes Mario Rodriguez, 68 Dr. William Sell, 91 Wenda Skinner, 82 Ellen Smallwood, 74 Mitchell Smallwood, 41 Sarah Spear, 96 David Sprouse Theresa Stamey, 54 James Truesdale, 82 John VanMeter, 55 Hansel Williams, 84 4 0 9 01 06825 9 A FIRST FOR HERNIA SURGERY IN GEORGIA. Northeast Georgia Medical Center HERNIA CENTER
