On Wednesday, Atlanta United players began their first individual practices since March and Killer Mike and T.I. helped pass out meals. Here’s your Thursday morning update:
• As of publication time, there have been 31,193 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Georgia. 1,332 people have died. 217,303 tests have been conducted. 5,795 of those tested were hospitalized at the time. [GA Dept. of Public Health]
• What will happen to us next? It’s the question everyone wants an answer to and perhaps the hardest to determine. According to the AJC, Projection models seem to agree that Georgia’s re-opening will lead to an increase in cases and deaths—just how many varies from model to model. The IHME model, which while widely cited hasn’t always been super accurate, shows a death toll of 5,000 in Georgia by August. Another projection model, a collaboration between Georgia Tech, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Boston Medical Center, created a report on April 24, the day hair salons and other businesses were allowed to re-open. It shows the longer we keep social distancing, the less deaths we’ll see. But the model says that if we enforced a “lockdown” for just four weeks—described as “a complete ban on travel, including canceling flights and closing inter-state travel and local travel, as has been done in some countries such as Italy, China, and India” along with allowing only trips to grocery stores and pharmacies—we’d see the least amount of deaths among the model’s three predictions and in the least amount of “shutdown” time. Of course, to really know what is going to happen in Georgia—and the rest of the country—we’re just going to have to wait and see. [AJC]
• The latest coronavirus report from the Fulton County Board of Health has been released—it looks the changes in new COVID-19 cases between this past Friday and Monday. The report includes maps and breaks down cases by zip code. [Fulton BOH]
• Killer Mike and T.I. teamed up with PAWkids to distribute meals from Bankhead Seafood Market, the restaurant they purchased two years ago. 1,000 meals were distributed to Grove Park residents on Wednesday, and program plans to continue weekly. [GPB]
• Volunteer police and firefighters in DeKalb County have been handing out thousands of kits containing face masks and hand sanitizer. 10,000 kits are set to be distributed to residents in the coming weeks. [Fox 5]
• How will restaurants survive COVID-19? They’re gonna need our help—not to mention help from local and federal policymakers. Our June issue, the Resilience of Restaurants, will examine how food service industry workers are coping and what we can do to help them stay afloat. You can read the feature online now: 10 ways to help restaurants survive COVID-19; how couples in the industry are adapting; and how Buford Highway can emerge from this. The issue will be on newsstands in June, and you can always subscribe here.
• Atlanta United players are back on the practice fields. While group practices are still outlawed, players can participate on individual practices in their own cordoned-off segments of the outdoor practice field in Marietta. Players weren’t allowed to get close to each other or use locker rooms or indoor facilities. [AJC]
• This AJC headline will probably make you laugh, but it’s a completely valid topic for discussion nowadays—”How to combat your bad breath, now that you smell it under your mask.” Brush your teeth before you mask up, and lay off the garlic. [AJC]
