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Dawgs on Top?
GOVID TRENDS ARE IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER, AND MORE LOCAL NEWS
By Blake Aued news@flagpole.com
While Georgia appears to be trending the
right way on COVID-19 cases the past few
weeks, the Athens region is going in the
opposite direction.
As of last week, Georgia was fourth
among states in new cases per 100,000 peo
ple. Not great, but better than first, which
was where Georgia was sitting earlier this
month. Still, almost all of Georgia’s 159
counties, including Clarke, should be under
a shelter-in-place order, according to the
Harvard Global Health Institute.
Meanwhile, many University of Georgia
students are doing anything but sheltering
in place. The Red & Black sent reporters
downtown and found that some bars are
enforcing capacity limits, but others aren’t,
and apparently no one is enforcing social
distancing or masks on the sidewalk as
students wait to get inside. Athens-Clarke
County’s mask ordinance not only requires
masks inside businesses—although busi
nesses can opt out, as many college bars
have—but also outdoors when social dis
tancing isn’t possible.
The student newspaper also reported
that UGA Vice President for Student Affairs
Victor Wilson sent a letter Aug. 22 to Greek
organizations warning that the level of par
tying at fraternity houses is unacceptable.
Several sororities also allegedly skirted vir
tual rush by hosting recruits in person.
“The off-campus gatherings, the lack of
compliance to good public health practices,
and the continued behaviors that put your
friends’ and community members’ health in
jeopardy HAVE TO STOP,” Wilson wrote. He
must be shocked that college students are...
acting like college students.
In response, the Inter-Fraternity Council
passed a rule restricting visitors after 7 p.m.
But the IFC has done nothing to curb par
ties other than to ban alcohol at gatherings
of 50 or more. Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive
order bans gatherings of more than 50
altogether.
Before classes began, data gathered
by the New York Times ranked UGA third
among universities nationwide for the
highest number of COVID-19 cases
reported. UGA’s data gathering has been
imperfect, to say the least. It relies on pos
itive tests taken at the University Health
Center, as well as any taken elsewhere that
may have been self-reported. There is no
way to know for sure how many students,
faculty and staff have been exposed to the
coronavirus.
But what numbers exist are trending
upward. UGA reported 173 positive tests
for the week of Aug. 17-21, up from 68
cases the previous week. The positive rate
for UGA’s own tests rose from 0.38% to
2.35% from move-in week to the first week
of classes. That’s well below the nation
ally recommended positive rate of 5% for
reopening, but keep in mind that so far
UGA has tested only asymptomatic volun
teers in what it calls a pilot program. This
week, the university is asking a random
sampling of students to come get tested—
better, but still unscientific. And even if
the 2.35% positive rate is correct, that still
means 1,200 faculty, staff and students are
walking around with COVID-19.
Also, UGA is testing just 300 people
per day. Compare that to Georgia Tech,
which is testing 1,500 people per day, or
the University of Illinois, which is testing
about 20,000 people per day. UGA’s test
ing is being done by the vet school; Tech
doesn’t have a vet school, a college of public
health or medical school, and is still crush
ing UGA in this regard. Tech, like Illinois, is
using a new saliva test that received emer
gency approval from the Food and Drug
Administration. Any certified lab—and
UGA recently approved such certification—
can conduct these tests, which don’t require
swabs that are in short supply and can be
analyzed with a wider variety of reagents
than swab tests. But hey, if you don’t know
there’s an outbreak on campus, you don’t
have to refund anyone’s dorm or meal plan
money, and you don’t have to call off foot
ball, right?
Cases spiked in early July, a few weeks
after Kemp reopened bars and other
types of businesses that have a high risk
of spreading coronavirus. Now, Georgia
appears to be flattening the curve again,
perhaps because of local mask mandates.
That’s good news. But it doesn’t appear to
apply to the Athens region. The 10-county
Northeast Health District set a record
last week for the number of deaths in the
14-day rolling average, per Flagpole con
tributor Lee Becker’s blog, Oconee County
Observations. New cases continue to hover
around 130 per day in the region, with
approximately 110-120 COVID patients
hospitalized at any given time, and 90% or
more of critical care beds remain occupied
on a daily basis. The situation at Athens
hospitals will no doubt grow more dire with
the pending closure of Northridge Medical
Center in Commerce at the end of October.
The Jackson County facility is the ninth
rural hospital in Georgia to close in recent
years, largely due to Georgia’s refusal to
accept federal funding to expand Medicaid.
Odds and Ends
Athens-Clarke County has hired Robert
Cheshire to the newly created position
of capital projects director. Cheshire is a
former vice president for engineering con
sultants Maxwell-Redick and Associates.
Previously, he was interim city manager,
deputy city manager and city engineer for
the City of Statesboro. As capital projects
director, Cheshire will coordinate and over
see ACC SPLOST projects, as well as other
capital projects. In the past, ACC has hired
outside consultants to manage SPLOST, but
ACC Manager Blaine Williams brought the
position in-house.
In addition, the Clarke County School
District has hired Jillian Whatley as exec
utive director of student services, replacing
Dawn Meyers, who left the district in June.
Whatley has a doctorate in educational
leadership from Mercer University and
experience as a teacher and psychologist.
Interim Superintendent Xernona
Thomas also named Byron Schueneman
CCSD’s chief financial officer. Schueneman
has been interim CFO since Larry Hammel
resigned in July 2019.
On Thursday, Sept. 3, Avid Bookshop
will host an online conversation between
Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson
Hood and Julian Zelizer, author of
Burning Down the House: Newt Gingrich,
the Fall of a Speaker, and the Rise of a New
Republican Party. Zelizer, a Princeton
University professor, posits that President
Trump is the logical culmination of the
path Gingrich put the GOP on in 1994.
Pay-what-you-can tickets are available at
avidbookshop.com.
Five Points residents are probably
aware that Earth Fare is open again under
new ownership. The company filed for
bankruptcy in February, and the original
Asheville, NC-based owners bought several
locations, including the one in Athens, and
have reopened four stores so far. ©
Nancee Tomlinson
Attorney at Law
Experienced advocate for
individuals in criminal,
juvenile, and probate matters
Tomlinson-lawfirm.com
706-200-1777
Time Slot Reservation Required
'Masks on' for Check-In / Bus ride
KAYAK CANOE CAMP
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@WUGAFM I WUGA.ORG
THIS VBILB
HB.HO, OFFICERS.' I'M HERE TO
HELP RESOLVE THE SITUATION
WITH THESE LAWLESS RIOTERS!
I WAS So INSPIRED BY THAT
HEROIC YOUNG MAN IN KENOSHA.'
NOT TO MENTION THAT 8RAVE
ST. LOUIS GUN COUPLE FROM THE
R.N.C. WHO PROBABLY INSPIRED
HIM!
by TOM TOMORROW
I'M A RUGGED INDIVIDUALIST,
COMPLETELY UNANSWERABLE To
ANY CHAIN OF COMMAND! I'M
HERE TO TAKE MATTERS INTO MY
OWN HANDS—JUST LIKE IN THE
MOVIES!
SEPTEMBER 2, 2020 | FLAGPOLE.COM
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