Monday morning, DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond formally declared a state of emergency then issued an executive order that prohibits public gatherings of 10 or more people, placing restrictions on local restaurants and other businesses, and enacted a voluntary curfew.
Under Thurmond’s executive order, residents are asked to “shelter in place as much as possible” and follow a “voluntary curfew” that will run from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day. Businesses deemed “non-essential” are also ordered to close during those hours. Effective Tuesday, public gatherings of 10 or more people will be prohibited and businesses like bowling alleys, gyms, fitness centers, nail salons, spas and other personal grooming facilities will be ordered to keep their occupancy below that threshold.
Restaurants, breweries and bars will be prohibited from offering dine-in service and restricted to take-out and delivery. They will also be allowed to sell unopened wine and beer for consumption off-site.
Thurmond also says, Workforce DeKalb “will immediately utilize $1.3 million to assist DeKalb workers dislocated from their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“While COVID-19 is a serious threat to public health, we cannot ignore the realities of the economic fallout so many businesses and employees are experiencing,” Thurmond said in a news release. “We are experiencing parallel health and economic crises.”
What is not clear is if the City of Atlanta will institiute a voluntary curfew.
As of 1:00 PM, there are 41,026 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States. There are 772 confirmed cases in the state of Georgia.
“While COVID-19 is a serious threat to public health, we cannot ignore the realities of the economic fallout so many businesses and employees are experiencing,” Thurmond said in a news release. “We are experiencing parallel health and economic crises.”
