Georgia mayor orders, rescinds, then restores social distancing policy all in one day
The mayor of Cumming, Georgia, is setting things straight after scrapping a city-wide social distancing order early Wednesday that he had put into effect just hours earlier.
In an announcement posted to the city’s Facebook page, Mayor Troy Brumbalow said he was rescinding the policy meant to protect the public amid the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Brumbalow wrote that while the order was meant as a precaution, “it’s obvious that a large portion of our public does not want government mandating the recommendations of public health officials.”
Part of the social distancing order residents were most upset with was the suggested appointment of as many as 100 special reserve officers to help enforce the new mandate. The directive, which was met with swift backlash, was set to take effect on April 1 before Brumbalow canceled it just around 3 a.m. Wednesday.
“I was looking at a worst case scenario caused by the pandemic as our police department has 18 officers,” he explained. “I can see that I didn’t communicate our thoughts and intentions clearly enough. People reacted strongly on social media thinking we were becoming a police state. That was never the intent.”
Cumming is located about 40 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Brumbalow said while he didn’t write the release announcing the original order, he would take “full responsibility” for it.
The mayor apologized to Cumming residents for the misunderstanding and concluded his post by stating “there is no longer a social distancing order in the city,” though he encouraged everyone to stay safe and wash their hands.
By 1 p.m. Wednesday, Brumbalow had announced a new emergency order to replace the old one.
He wrote in a Facebook post: “There are no special policemen. There’s no fine. In short, it says ‘keep 6’ from everybody else’ and our uniformed officers will be reminded of that.”
Under the original order, special police would have the power to issue penalties ranging from a $1000 citation to a maximum of 180 days in jail for those caught defying the city-wide mandate. The number of COVID-19 cases in the Peach State continues to grow with the number of confirmed diagnoses nearing 4,700 as of Wednesday afternoon, the latest numbers from Johns Hopkins University show.
“People are mad at you no matter what you do in this situation,” Brumbalow added, noting that social media has its pros and cons. “Do I wish I could rewind the past 24 hours? Absolutely, but I’ve learned from it and will move forward. All I have or will ever care about is the people in the city of Cumming.”
That sentiment was echoed by Cumming City Administrator Phil Higgins, who told McClatchy News he regrets that their plan to protect locals essentially “blew up in our face.” He explained the mayor’s initial order simply stated he had the authority to appoint additional officers — not that he intended to.
“A lot of people took this not as we intended. And that’s partly our fault.” Higgins said.
He also clarified that the city is not doing away with all social distancing policies.
“We want everyone in Cumming to practice social distancing,” he added. “We’re only rescinding the part of the order that had to do with the 150 additional officers. Our intent was to do good here. We never intended to for anyone to think that we weren’t wanting to promote social distancing.”
Higgins said the city should have a solid, better-explained order in place by end of day Wednesday.
This story was originally published April 1, 2020 at 4:16 PM.