Governor announces Shelter In Place order for Georgia

ATLANTA, Georgia (WDEF) – Governor Brian Kemp says new information from the CDC is a game changer in how the state has to approach the COVID-19 crisis.

So he will issue a statewide shelter at home order on Thursday requiring everyone to stay put unless going to work or getting supplies.

The Governor says in the last 24 hours, they have learned that the virus infection is happening much quicker than first thought.

So people are spreading the virus before they have any symptoms.

The state had been telling people to go home if they feel sick, but now that isn’t good enough anymore.

As a result, Gov. Kemp says the new modeling is taking a serious turn for virus spread.

He says Georgia faces a peak hospital capacity on April 23rd, so we have three weeks to prepare.

Here are a list of actions the Governor has announced today:

— Georgia schools are now closed for the rest of the year

— The National Guard is calling up 100 soldiers to deploy to nursing homes to help with cleaning protocols

— Officials will monitor campgrounds and bodies of water to make sure people do not cluster in groups.

The details of the shelter in place order will come out tomorrow. It will be in effect from Friday through April 13th (but could be extended).

The governor and his team addressed other pieces of information this afternoon, also.

Albany is the hardest hit area in Georgia right now.

Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey says the city has one of the highest COVID-19 rates in the world.

The Governor says the Albany outbreak seems to have begun at one funeral where multiple people were exposed.

Dr. Toomey says Georgia has seen several clusters erupt from funerals, church services and at jails.

The National Guard has deployed specialty units to

april 23rd.. peak hospital capacity

national guard sent to daugherty county, worst hit.. units created to work at hospitals

guard activating 100 soldiers to deploy to nursing homes with positive patients to help cleaning

15% increase in domestic abuse cases at Atlanta hospital

officials monitoring campgrounds and bodies of water, they will approach people and order to disperse

last 48 hours, modeling taking a dramatic turn for GA

CDC says infection happening faster, transmitting earlier than expected before showing symptoms.. dr. toomey… this is a game changer for us

ga closing school for rest of the year

tomorrow shelter in place order friday thru april 13th to create uniformity across georgia

outbreaks at church services, funerals, jails

before they said don’t go out if you are ill, now they are saying stay at home before you become ill

Albany has one of the highest rates of covid in the world.. .. came from funeral service in Albany that fueled the explosion

National Guard… 13 medical support teams, building infection control teams, manning food banks

Enforcing with state authorities and people deputized