Gov. Brian Kemp said Thursday he was extending the state's public health emergency for another month, though July 12, but he also said he would relax some social distancing requirements on residents and businesses.
The new requirements, which take effect June 1, would allow bars and nightclubs, closed since April 3, to reopen if they follow a strict set of rules designed to keep patrons and employees safe. The size of individual groups would increase from 10 people to 25. More can gather provided there is six feet of distance between people, the governor said.
"Now with enhance testing and encouraging data, we are seeing a slow, careful transition to a new normal," Kemp said at his weekly coronavirus briefing at the state Capitol.
Kemp said bars that choose to reopen would have to adhere to 39 mandatory measures that include screening workers for illness, limiting building capacity to 25 and conducting regular sanitation.
Kemp said he hoped the new regulations would allow the state's beleaguered economy to begin its recovery, but he urged residents to continue to follow the state's guidelines to prevent a second outbreak.
"We have used data, science and the advice of health care professions to chart our path forward," he said. "Our next step, likes the ones before, put the health and well-being of our citizenry first."
He urged people to continue to follow social distancing rules, practice good hand hygiene and wear a mask when around other people.
Kemp also announced:
- Summer schools will be allowed to meet, provided they meet 11 requirements dealing with social distancing and sanitation.
- The shelter-in-place for people 65 and older or the medically fragile continues through June 12.
- Overnight summer camps will be permitted in Georgia if they meet 33 specific new regulations.
- Live entertainment venues remain closed, but Kemp said it working with owners of some facilities to begin to study a way to reopen them.
- Professional sports leagues in Georgia can resume operations, provided they strictly follow the guidance issue by their respective leagues.
The ease in restrictions comes at a time when the numbers of positives cases appears to be on the rise. But Kemp and others say the uptick in cases over the Memorial Day weekend is tied to a private testing firm which reported a backlog of more than 15,000 tests over the weekend, some of which were taken back in April.
He said he and state health officials are closely monitoring the numbers, but he does not believe a second wave is starting.
"If people will continue to follow the guidelines, we don't necessarily have to have s second wave," he said. "We can keep mitigating, mitigating, mitigating where the risk is so low, it really allows us continue to open things up more than we have."
