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Are COVID Cases Really Going Down?
PROBABLY NOT, AND MORE LOCAL NEWS
By Blake Aued and Tyler Wilkins news@flagpole.com
The University of Georgia reported 421 pos
itive COVID-19 tests for the week of Sept.
7, down from a revised total of 1,490 for
the week of Aug. 31.
“These data give us some cautious opti
mism that cases might have plateaued on
our campus,” Garth Russo, executive direc
tor of the University Health Center and
chair of UGA’s Medical Oversight Task 5
Force, said in a news release. “However, g
we are by no means out of the woods £
yet. We know that we had a short week M
due to the Labor Day holiday, and we
hope that we will not see a spike in pos
itive cases from activities that weekend.
Each member of our campus commu
nity must remain diligent in our indi
vidual efforts to curb the spread of the
virus if we want to keep these numbers
on a downward trend.”
However, there are signs that the
decrease in cases is mainly the result
of less testing, rather than slowing the
spread of coronavirus. The positive rate
among 1,665 asymptomatic students,
faculty and staff who took surveillance
tests was 7.6%, down only slightly from
9% the previous week.
The news was met with skepticism
on Twitter, with students speculating
that their peers are simply not getting
tested or not reporting the results
because they don’t want to quarantine
or risk sanctions on Greek organizations,
and faculty noting that students are
increasingly opting to take hybrid classes
online.
UGA reported that there were 94 posi
tive tests at the University Health Center,
down from 405 the previous week, but
did not say how many people were tested.
Positives at other local testing sites were
down from 201 to 50, and positive tests at
unknown locations reported through the
DawgCheck app declined from 741 to 151.
Clarke County’s overall numbers are also
trending downward, with the seven-day
rolling average of new cases dropping from
a high of 141 on Sept. 9 to 52 on Sept. 19.
Another method of testing told a differ
ent story. The UGA Center for the Ecology
of Infectious Diseases is sampling Athens’
sewage to measure how many viruses are
contained in human waste, which in the
past has correlated with or even preceded
trends in new cases. “This week, the level
of SARS-CoV-2 continued to exceed 1
million copies of virus per liter of sewage,”
researchers concluded. “While the 7-day
running average of new cases has declined
in Athens-Clarke County, there were no sig
nificant changes in the level of SARS-CoV-2
virus in wastewater, compared to those
observed on September 9, 2020.”
To date, Clarke County had recorded
4,855 cases of COVID-19, with 41 deaths—
including four last week—and 203 hospital
izations among Clarke residents, according
to the Georgia Department of Health. Cases
in the past two weeks were fourth-highest
in the state.
The situation remains dangerous enough
that Athens-Clarke County commissioners
pondered limiting gatherings to 10 or fewer
at their Sept. 15 agenda-setting meeting,
as well as perhaps beefing up an ordinance
on loud and unruly gatherings. (Gov. Brian
Kemp’s executive order caps gatherings
at 50.) Even that might not be enough,
though. According to Georgia Tech virolo
gist Stephen Beckett, a gathering of 10 peo
ple in Clarke County has an 80% chance of
including someone with COVID-19. [Blake
Aued]
Tensions Boil Over at COVID Protest
As national news outlets cover UGA’s
response to the COVID-19 pandemic and
photos of unmasked students standing
outside Athens bars surface on social
media, UGA faculty, staff and students
are demanding the university take further
action to curb the spread of the virus.
Hoping to grab the attention of the
administration, UGA students Arianna
Mbunwe and Jessica Jaconetti, along with
Athens resident Josey Wallace, organized a
two-day sit-in at the Tate Student Center’s
plaza on Thursday, Sept. 17 and Friday,
Sept. 18, followed by a protest at the Arch
on Saturday, Sept. 19.
The trio compiled a list of demands
on behalf of frustrated university mem
bers, which it will give to President Jere
Morehead. The demands call for UGA
administrators to listen to their public
health experts, improve COVID-19 testing
capabilities, have an outside organization
assess the public health risks of football
season, allow students and faculty auton
omy to switch to online classes, lessen the
financial burden for students who withdraw
from classes and hold UGA-affiliated orga
nizations accountable for ignoring COVID-
19 guidelines.
“These six things are things we actually
think will help minimize the risk of every
one who lives in Athens, not just UGA
students,” said Mbunwe, who has amassed
thousands of followers on Twitter for her
posts about racism in Greek life and photos
of unmasked students not social distancing.
United Campus Workers of Georgia
members and prominent figures in the
Athens community voiced their concerns
alongside students in front of the Arch. The
speakers included Athens Anti-Discrimina
tion Movement Vice President Mykeisha
Ross, Athens-Clarke County Commissioner
Russell Edwards and former Georgia House
District 119 Rep. Jonathan Wallace.
“Jere Morehead is a punk, y’all,” Edwards
said to the crowd. “I’ve got a problem with
the way UGA has addressed this crisis,
because it ain’t about blaming the most pro
active government in this state. It’s some
blame-passing bullshit. I’m tired of my alma
mater starting to look like University of
Georgia Republicans.”
The protesters stood on both sides of
the Arch, holding signs that elicited honks
of solidarity from drivers, and chanted,
“Shame on UGA,” and, “Do better, UGA.”
After the protest ended, a handful of stu
dents walked to the Office of the President,
placing their signs in front of the building
on the North Campus lawn. As the orga
nizers wrapped up, a pedestrian sans mask
coughed on a protester for an “immature”
sign that read, “If you don’t wear a mask,
your mama’s a hoe.” [Tyler Wilkins]
After releasing the latest COVID-19
numbers on Sept. 16, UGA had another
public relations disaster on its hands later
that day, when the student organization
UGA Votes revealed that the university
had rejected previously approved plans to
host early voting at the Tate Center and
Stegeman Coliseum over social distancing
and liability concerns. UGA quickly back
tracked and said it would allow early voting
at Stegeman—not on the court or in the
relatively open concourse, but instead in a
“club room” smaller than a gymnasium.
After thousands of students, alumni and
others piled on—including voting-rights
advocate Stacey Abrams and Star Trek
actor George Takei—UGA announced
that, “While the University cannot host
an election site at the Tate Center during
a pandemic, the institution remains more
than willing to make a safer site, such as
the Coliseum, available as approved by the
Secretary of State and the local elections
office.”
The ACC Board of Elections had
approved both Tate and Stegeman as early
voting sites back in August. But on Aug. 27,
UGA informed ACC that Tate was no lon
ger an option, and on Sept. 4, the athletic
association pulled an offer made in July to
use Stegeman, according to ACC Director of
Elections and Voter Registration Charlotte
Sosebee.
By Friday, Sept. 18, Stegeman was for
mally back on the table, and the Board of
Elections re-approved it. Early voting will
take place there, inside an approximately
40-by-90-foot “club room,” on Oct. 27-29
from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Security concerns pre
vent voting on the court or in the relatively
open concourse area, election officials said,
because voting machines must be kept in a
locked room with limited access when not
in use.
Tate was an early voting site in 2016 and
THIS MSIIIN WfILI
THE ANCIENT HORROR AWAKENS
FROM ITS SLUMBER ONCE MORE.
FEED ME, MORTALS' FEED ME
FEAR AND TURMOIL AND LOATH-
IN6 AND DESPAIR' FEED ME!
FORTUNATELY FOR THE MON-
STROSITY, IT IS THE YEAR 2020.
ITS TELEPATHIC COMMAND SWEEPS
ACROSS A NATION ALREADY
TEETERING ON THE BRINK.
I HUNGER...FOR PERVERSE
STUPIOITY AND MINDLESS
OUTRAGE!
by TOM TOMORROW
DOES IT AFFECT THE PRESIDENT?
WHO COULD EVEN TELL?
THE VIRUS WILL GO AWAY ON
ITS OWN—WITH HERO MEN
TALITY! OUR DEATH TOLL IS
VERY LOW, IF YOU DON'T COUNT
THE BLUE STATES ! I HAVE
THE BEST BRAINWORMS'
MASK MANDATES
ARE A PLOT TO
CONTROL US-
WITH MASKS'
THE HORRIFIC THING GORGES
ITSELF ON THE PSYCHIC DIS-
CORD OF 2020 AMERICA.
DEMOCRATS ARE THE ENEMY
OF THE PEOPLE! I WANT TO
BE PRESIDENT FOR LIFE!
BUT IT MUST CONSTANTLY ES
CALATE THE CHAOS AND LUNACY
IN ORDER TO FEED ITS HIDEOUS
ADDICTION.
ONLY DON
ALD TRUMP
CAN SAVE
US—
—FROM THE DEEP
STATE PEO0-
PHILES AND
CANNIBALS T
BEFORE LONG, THE CREATURE
GETS ITS OWN SHOW ON FOX.
LOW-I.Q. DEMOCRATS DON'T GET
IT—THE "MCCONNELL RULE” DOESN'T
APPLY TO REPUBLICANS!
Arianna Mbunwe (center) and other UGA students, along with faculty and Athens residents, protested UGA’s COVID-19
response Sept. 19 at the Arch.
4
FLAGPOLE.COM | SEPTEMBER 23, 2020
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