A little over a week ago, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced that a number of businesses, including such places as bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, barbershops, and nail salons, would be allowed to reopen April 24 as long as they followed safety guidelines. That already led to one hot take: that Kemp’s plan was to kill off poor people and blacks — Stacey Abrams’ voting base, that is — thus clearing the way for his reelection.
What’s odd is that Georgia has gotten all the bad publicity. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis had also announced a “safer at home” policy by which hair salons, tattoo shops, and dentists would be able to reopen as long as they maintained social distancing and followed safety guidelines.
The Atlantic has a piece about Georgia reopening by Amanda Mull.
Georgia’s most vulnerable residents are being offered up as guinea pigs for governors across America who are eager to see what happens when you send people back to work in a pandemic, writes @amandamull: https://t.co/JNU79hRNAL
— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) April 29, 2020
Whoever wrote the headline was really going for clicks, though:
I'm so old I remember when this was a serious magazine. pic.twitter.com/kynNhl5EAw
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 29, 2020
Here’s Sean Trende from RealClearPolitics:
To be clear about something: Almost every comparison to the seasonal flu with this virus is wrongheaded save for one, and it is the one that a lot of people are tripping over to respond to here: The notion that balancing lives and the economy here is uniquely immoral. 1/
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 29, 2020
Because we make those "human sacrifices" every year. We could more-or-less eradicate seasonal flu — which kills a lot of people, though probably an order of magnitude less than COVID-19 — by shutting down every winter. 2/
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 29, 2020
We don't, because we conclude that we can "sacrifice" 20-60k people, including children, to have a functioning economy and society. 3/
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 29, 2020
And over the course of our lifetimes, those annual "sacrifices" probably *will* outnumber deaths from COVID-19. Maybe over the course of a decade, depending on the final fatality rate estimate for COVID. 4/
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 29, 2020
So look, I personally think Georgia is getting a bit over its skis opening up its economy. There's a significant chance it's getting the cost-benefit wrong. But don't pretend that the cost-benefit itself is evil, unless you are willing to take some pretty extreme stances. 5/5
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 29, 2020
To be fair though, Georgia was one of the states that was cited (I forget by who right now) as still worsening but they're also the first to start re-opening. The headline is brazen, but it does seem like a pretty nutty gamble they, of all states, are taking.
— Liran Kapoano (@kapoano) April 29, 2020
I think GA probably made a mistake. But good lord.
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) April 29, 2020
Indeed.
The liberal panic at the nation getting back to work has reached peak freak. They believe they can only win w more suffering and pain. What an ugly way to be. https://t.co/Hp6BZ3KTgT
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) April 29, 2020
This is fear porn addiction. The witch doctors have never been right.
— Loss Intress (@NBurdens) April 29, 2020
Georgia’s most vulnerable shouldn’t be leaving their homes. The rest of us have to feed our families.
— Biglittlebilly2 (@biglittlebilly2) April 29, 2020
Is Georgia's governor sending the state's most vulnerable people back to work? No, vulnerable people can remain in quarantine.
— Smartacus enthusiastically (@fivestarmichael) April 29, 2020
Really?
They have guns to these people's heads, forcing them to re-open?— BloomStreetBlues (@grenwuld) April 29, 2020
You people are disgusting & immoral. No one is being FORCED to go to work. “Human sacrifice” is the most vile description of freedom I’ve ever seen in my life.
— SeldenGADawgs (@SeldenGADawgs) April 29, 2020
They can stay home. I have a restaurant my employees have the option to come back to work or stay home. When they feel safe i will have a job waiting for them. I do not have the luxury of staying closed if I was closed much longer there would be no restaurant to reopen.
— rich o (@richo1313_o) April 29, 2020
Will this take age as badly as "Florida eschews early lockdown, is destined to become Italy in a matter of weeks"?
— RapRock 'Hussein in the Membrane' Obama (@Mitch___Lowe) April 29, 2020
But not Colorado's vulnerable residents?
— Guitarish (@DavidInFlalala) April 29, 2020
Why wasn’t Colorado included in this
— Big D (@danocode3) April 29, 2020
The fourth letter of the alphabet.
— Kenny Fullmer (@kfullmer89) April 29, 2020
Strange how the focus is all on Georgia, and nothing on Colorado. Especially since they both reopened.
The difference? Im guessing the letter next to the governor's name— Slickwyck (@cparker1182) April 29, 2020
What about Colorado doing the same thing? Interesting you’re choosing to solely focus on a red state #MediaVirus
— Cody Silverman (@codysilverman) April 29, 2020
Odd. We never see these types of stories about Colorado. Almost as though if you have a Democratic governor everyone is basically okay with reopening. https://t.co/uGFUmoPjSo
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 29, 2020
Odd that you haven't done one of these breathless "Human Sacrifice" articles on Colorado, which by the metrics is slightly worse than Georgia, but is opening up roughly the same way and at the same time.
(D)o you have a reason for that?
— Aldous Huxley's Ghost™ (@AF632) April 29, 2020
Now do NY’s nursing homes and the vulnerable
— ScottyG (@S_Gunther) April 29, 2020
In other news, the governor of NY just realized that he has been running a massive experiment on his people for the last month and a half, when the rest of us were pretty much locked down.
Media has applauded him.https://t.co/MovzeZGi7R
— Bäsēball Gûy frœm Cæli (@baseball_cali) April 29, 2020
I really enjoyed @amandamull's hyperbolic story on the increased rates of cancer, domestic abuse, child abuse, suicides, and other social ills thrust on the world's most vulnerable due to government overreactions to COVID. Oh wait, that investigation didn't happen???
— Omnipotent Moral Busybody (@OBusybody) April 29, 2020
I noticed you don't have a whole lot of likes on this article. Looks like panic and fear-mongering is starting to wear thin.
— Marty on the Cell (@shadow_case) April 29, 2020
This is wishcasting. Our numbers are trending really good in Georgia. We are going to do our best to stay alive to spite your dumb article.
— OK Taco ? (@fastnerman) April 29, 2020
Delete your stupid paper blog.
— Saifedean Ammous (@saifedean) April 29, 2020
Related:
Hot take: Gov. Brian Kemp sending disenfranchised Stacey Abrams voters to die by reopening some businesses like bowling alleys https://t.co/VrrbCo5cGS
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 21, 2020
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