Daily Rate Of COVID Deaths, New Cases Down In Month Since Georgia Reopened

The daily rate of new COVID-19 cases and deaths in Georgia appears to be lower now that its governor has lifted his stay-at-home order.

This finding is based on comparing the average number of new cases and deaths per day as reported by Georgia’s department of health during the last week of the lockdown to that of the first month after it was lifted.

On April 24, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp lifted the lockdown on businesses such as gyms and fitness centers, barber shops and hair salons, massage therapists and bowling allies. On April 27, movie theaters reopened and restaurants resumed dine-in service.

From April 16 to April 23, the week leading up to the reopening, Georgia averaged 788 new cases of COVID-19 and 38 deaths a day.

On April 23, Georgia had 21,883 confirmed cases and 881 deaths.

If the daily rate of new cases and deaths during the week leading up to Georgia’s April 24 reopening had held during the month that followed, the result would have been a total of 46,307 COVID-19 cases and 2,050 deaths by May 24. That is not what happened, however.

Instead, Georgia reported that as of May 24, it had seen 42,902 COVID-19 cases with 1,827 deaths. In other words, the rate of new deaths and cases each day has gone down, not up, since the state began lifting restrictions on its society and economy.

As the state started to reopen, many mainstream media outlets criticized Georgia for doing so too soon.

On April 29, the left-leaning magazine The Atlantic ran a story with the headline: “Georgia’s Experiment in Human Sacrifice, The state is about to find out how many people need to lose their lives to shore up the economy.”

On April 30, The New York Times published a commentary by a physician, Dr. Keren Landman, critical of Georgia’s reopening. Its headline: “Georgia Went First. And It Screwed Up.”