DeKalb CEO urges reopening businesses to go beyond Kemp’s mandates

(Source AJC) By law, DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond can’t force residents or businesses to follow coronavirus guidelines that are any more stringent than those recently outlined by Gov. Brian Kemp. Under Kemp’s order, businesses that reopen Friday — and places like restaurants and theaters that can do so Monday — must follow a series of guidelines. They include screening workers for fever and respiratory illness; enhancing workplace sanitation; maintaining proper social distancing; and wearing masks and gloves if appropriate. In his aspirational order, Thurmond urged, advised, encouraged and implored DeKalb County businesses to go a few steps further. The order asked business owners not only to encourage symptomatic employees to stay home, but to allow workers who have a symptomatic individual in their household to stay home as well. It also asks business owners to consider expanding paid leave policies to alleviate the economic pressure for sick employees to show up at work. In addition, the order asked businesses to provide employees with as much personal protective equipment as possible; to encourage patrons to wear masks; and to clean and sanitize public restrooms between each use.

Earlier in the week, Thurmond questioned Kemp’s decision to start loosening virus-related restrictions on certain businesses, saying he was praying it was the right plan but “preparing for the potential that it may have been a mistake.” Thursday’s executive order was part of those preparations. In addition to urging business owners and employees to take additional precautions, Thurmond asked DeKalb County houses of worship to continue sticking to remote services. It also asked for the state to develop and implement a more robust testing and tracing program — and for the governor and others to “assist and support a rigorous investigation” of COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on communities of color. The latter, Thurmond said, should “include an analysis of the cause and underlying factors that precipitated the outbreak and steps that must be taken to prevent pandemic infections in the future.”

DeKalb County has second-highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Georgia. About 55% of DeKalb County’s 760,000 residents are black, and recent zip-code level data provided by the DeKalb board of health showed a significant number of coronavirus cases in predominately black areas of the county.