Tuesday, August 25,2020 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
NGHS wary
of Labor Day
virus spike
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
The Northeast Georgia Health System has
now been treating COVID-19 patients for five
months, and “what began as an emergency
response has really turned into a long-term
strategy,” according to Melissa Tymchuk, chief
of staff for the health system.
Some recent changes at the health system
include allowing visitors for some hospital
patients and allowing one person to accompany
a patient to a prenatal visit.
As the hospital adapts some practices,
though, it is preparing for an increase in
patients that could come as students go back
to school, the Labor Day weekend approaches
and the flu season begins.
Dr. Supriya Mannepalli,
chair of the hospital’s Infec
tion Prevention and Con
trol committee, said people
should still follow precautions
such as wearing a mask and
practicing social distancing.
“It’s interesting how after
any major holiday, we’ve
seen our numbers spike up,
Mannepalli
Hall Schools in session
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
A Wauka Mountain Multiple Intelligences Academy student gets her temperature checked Monday, Aug. 24, by Erin Smith as
Principal Pamela Doig, right, greets students as they arrive for the first day of school for Hall County Schools.
■ Please see NGHS, 3A
Jobless in Ga.
may soon get
a $300 boost
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Unemployed Georgians who saw their $600
federal weekly supplement end in July may
soon get a $300 weekly boost for up to three
weeks.
The Federal Emergency Management Asso
ciation approved Georgia’s grant application
for the additional funding on Sunday, Aug. 23,
according to a Georgia Department of Labor
press release on Monday, Aug. 24.
The boost stems from an executive order
signed Aug. 8 by President Trump, who
approved up to $44 billion from FEMA’S Disas
ter Relief Fund to extend the jobless benefit to
workers who lost wages due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
States would have to contribute an additional
$100 per week, but that could be as part of the
existing weekly benefit provided by the state,
Department of Labor spokeswoman Kersha
Cartwright said Monday.
“If you are receiving $365 each week in
regular (jobless) payments, now you will
receive that payment plus the new $300. You
will receive $665 for the week,” she gave as an
example.
The plan was to provide the additional fund
ing for three weeks, after which “additional
benefits are contingent upon availability of
remaining FEMA funds,” according to the
labor department.
And states will be required to request
additional disbursements weekly after the
three-week period of benefits are distributed,
officials said.
Depending on funding, the program could
run until Dec. 27.
“The Georgia Department of Labor will
deliver a system meeting the new FEMA guide
lines to process these weekly supplements
as quickly as possible,” Labor Commissioner
Mark Butler. “We will continue to work with
the US Department of Labor, FEMA, and Gov.
(Brian) Kemp’s office to provide financial sup
port for Georgians during this pandemic. ”
Students return on hybrid schedule
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesville.com
Wauka Mountain Multiple Intelligences
Academy students enter the building
Monday, Aug. 24, on the first day of
school for Hall County Schools.
Class is officially in session in Hall
County schools.
Half of Hall County’s in-person students
returned to classrooms Monday morning
for the district’s hybrid reopening.
Students whose last names start with
A through K will be in schools on Mon
day and Wednesday of this week, and
students with last names starting with L
through Z will attend school on Tuesday
and Thursday. All students will be back
on Friday. That schedule will repeat the
second week of school.
Students not in the classroom for the
first day of school have been directed to
math and ELA video lessons posted on
the Hall County School District website.
For all other students who selected the in-
person instruction option, classes began
to get underway on Monday, district offi
cials said the precautionary protocols
implemented have been successful so far.
“We’re feeling really good about where
we are today,” said district spokesman
Stan Lewis. “We’ve got students socially
distancing in the lunchroom line in our
elementary schools. We’ve got kids fol
lowing directional arrows that are direct
ing one-way traffic down hallways. We’ve
got students that are socially distanced in
classrooms, socially distanced in the hall
ways. I’m seeing really good things.”
Lewis said he didn’t have any official
numbers on the number of students wear
ing masks in school buildings but based
on his time spent in multiple schools,
the mask wearing rate has seems “100%
across the board.”
“I think we’ve done a very good job
explaining to folks that that’s going to be
the expectation,” he said. “Our students,
they will do the right thing, and they’ll
work with us on this. I think parents will
support us as well.”
■ Please see HALLSCH00LS, 3A
Brenau embarks on 1st day of fall semester
BY KELSEY P0D0
kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com
Gray clouds and mist settled over Bre
nau University in Gainesville as small
numbers of students quietly hurried to
their first classes of the semester Monday
morning.
Although the start of college looked dif
ferent than in years prior because of new
COVID-19 protocols, many students said
this difference didn’t come as a surprise.
“My first day was comfortable just
because we know what the world is going
through,” Brenau sophomore Dennisse
Rodriguez said as she walked past Pierce
Auditorium. “No one was like, ‘This is
weird.’ It was just like a normal class even
though we were all kind of separated.”
Anna Feng, who had just left a gender
studies class with Rodriguez when she
spoke with The Times, said she felt safe
attending her first course of the semester
because everyone at Brenau is required
to wear a mask. When she entered the
classroom, she said cleaning wipes were
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Brenau University students Dennisse
Rodriguez, left, and Anna Feng walk
between classes Monday, Aug. 24, during
Brenau University’s first day of the Fall
semester.
offered to students.
“As a resident student here, I just feel
like the school life is not really fun any
more because we can’t be as a big group
walking around campus anymore,” she
said. “Other than that, I feel like it’s the
best time to focus on studying. ”
Feng said her only worries revolve
around on-campus living.
“I have a roommate — that’s some
thing I was concerned about,” she said. “It
would be better if they separated us with
our own rooms.”
Despite the dreary weather and pan
demic, fraternal twins MaryWynn and
Sally Brannon couldn’t help but express
enthusiasm for their first day of college.
The two freshmen had just finished
their English class as they walked to the
math and science department building.
Sally said their first course gave them a
“good taste of what it’s all about.”
“We’re both playing tennis, so we’re
excited,” Sally said. “It was just a good fit
all around.”
Like many students at Brenau, Stepha
nie Rangel, a sophomore, is taking a com
bination of in-person and online classes.
■ Please see BRENAU, 3A
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