Some COVID restrictions will soon be rolled back in Georgia, Kemp says. Here’s what’s changing

Georgia will roll back a number of its COVID-19 restrictions starting next week.

Large gatherings will no longer banned and shelter-in-place requirements will be removed. Some guidelines for restaurants and organizations have changed, like the distance between tables at restaurants, and police can no longer shut down businesses that fail to follow the state’s COVID-19 rules.

Governor Brian Kemp announced in a press release Wednesday that current restrictions will be renewed until April 7 and the new set of restrictions will go into effect April 8.

Georgia joins Mississippi and Texas in lifting COVID-19 restrictions and moving toward a reopened state.

But some experts say that Georgia isn’t ready to reopen yet. About 70-85% of a population needs to be vaccinated or recover from the virus for the population to reach herd immunity. Dr. Amber Schmidtke, a public health microbiologist and member of a Georgia coronavirus data task force, thinks another 3-4 weeks of full restrictions are needed before Georgia reaches that benchmark.

Reopening the state before herd immunity is reached could cause a resurgence in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, she said. The number of hospitalizations and deaths are already too high in Georgia, Schmidtke says, and they’d need to fall low enough to be comparable to death and hospitalization rates for the common cold or the flu. Only about a dozen counties in Georgia are currently in the yellow zone that would indicate low transmission, deaths and hospitalizations.

“Cases are a lot lower than they were during the winter surge, just about back to pre-surge levels, but even that was a high baseline,” Schmidtke said. “So we still have a lot of disease in our communities.”

Lifting restrictions may also send a false message to Georgians that the pandemic is over. Schmidtke classifies our tools against the virus into two groups: the vaccine, and non-pharmaceutical interventions like mask-wearing, social distancing, sanitation and other public health measures.

The easing of restrictions for restaurants and bars poses the greatest concern for transmission, Schmidtke said. Eating indoors is one of the riskiest activities to do during the pandemic, she says, and easing restrictions would put both diners and employees at higher risk.

Lifting the ban on large gatherings also poses a risk for high transmission, especially as mask-wearing decreases amid pandemic fatigue.

“I think all of these have the potential to be super spreader events,” Schmidtke said. “And that’s a risk while we still don’t have enough people vaccinated.”

Here’s what rules and restrictions will stay in place or change starting April 8:

What’s changing

• Gatherings are no longer banned.
• Shelter-in-pace no longer required.

• More general guidelines for infrastructure with fewer industry-specific requirements.

• Law enforcement can no longer close an organization for failure to comply with the state’s COVID-19 rules.

• Reduces any remaining distance requirements (i.e. distance between parties at restaurants, bars, and movie theaters, and between patrons of group fitness classes).

• 42 inches of distance required between groups at restaurants.

What’s staying the same

• Social distancing will still be recommended.
• Face coverings are strongly encouraged.
• Restaurants to screen employees for COVID-19, require employees to wear masks, sanitize and ventilate facilities.
• Recommended use of Plexiglass, mobile ordering, contactless payment, etc recommended for restaurants.
• Municipalities may still issue and enforce mask mandates if there are more than 100 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days.

Read the full executive order below:

This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 6:31 PM.