America’s Authoritarian Governor
Georgia had an early surge of the virus, and now cases are spiking again. Brian Kemp has refused to learn a thing.
"Georgia’s response to the pandemic has not been going well. It was bad from the beginning: Back in early April, weeks after other states took initial precautions, Georgia dawdled toward a shutdown while its coronavirus cases surged. Still, less than a month later, the state chose to be among the first in the nation to reopen, bringing back businesses known to accelerate the virus’s spread, such as restaurants and gyms, even though new infections had never made a significant or sustained decline. In June, the state welcomed back bars. What happened next was predictable, and was predicted: Case counts came roaring back. More people got sick and died. Many of these deaths were preventable. The state now has the sixth-highest number of coronavirus cases in the United States, behind five states with significantly larger populations."
"In Georgia, and around the world, it has become clear that a novel virus doesn’t respond to the
anti-scientific, expertise-shirking preferences of modern authoritarianism."
"... like the authoritarian he’s shown himself to be, Kemp seems intent on maintaining the disastrous course his administration has plotted so far, at the expense of the people of Georgia. “It’s truly unbelievable,” Heiman said. “
It will be a case study for decades to come of what an utter collapse of political and public-health leadership looks like.”