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Georgia is set to open up lots of businesses statewide Friday — despite not meeting the benchmarks to move into Phase One of the White House's reopening 

Even President Trump, who said at the White House coronavirus task force briefing Thursday that it's "awe-inspiring" to see states opening up, thinks Kemp is moving too fast.

"I didn't like to see spas opening, frankly," Trump said. "I didn't like to see a lot of things happening. And I wasn't happy with it. And I wasn't happy with Brian Kemp. I wasn't at all happy."

Here's why — Georgia's confirmed coronavirus cases and deaths from COVID-19 are 

 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (which happens to be based in Atlanta) describes 

community spread coronavirus as "widespread" 

in the state. That goes against all the principles laid out in the guidelines. 

Measured against other states, Georgia is nowhere near the bottom for cases — it has actually had the 

Let's take a look at those guidelines point by point and see how Georgia stacks up:

Downward trajectory of flu-like illnesses reported within a 14-day period:

Downward trajectory of COVID-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period:

Downward trajectory of documented cases within a 14-day period:

Downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period: 

Robust testing program in place for at-risk health care workers, including emerging antibody testing.

Trump said he told Kemp "you're not in guidelines," but also that "I'm letting you make your own decision, but I want people to be safe, and I want the people in Georgia to be safe. And I don't want this thing to flare up, because you're deciding to do something that is not in the guidelines.'"

As of Thursday evening, there were almost 22,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Georgia, according to the state's 

. At least 881 people have died from the virus. And both of those are 

That's part of why the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations, or IMHE, at the University of Washington, on Thursday pushed its projected date for 

. According to the model, it has not passed its peak for projected deaths or hospital use.

Trump is giving Kemp and other governors the space — for now — to proceed as they want, but it's a risky experiment with people's lives at stake. 

President Trump took the old saying that "sunlight is the best disinfectant" to a whole new level at Thursday's briefing. He had William Bryan, the science and technology adviser to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, give a presentation about admittedly "emerging" results that coronavirus could slow with direct sunlight and humidity. 

, that respiratory viruses are slowed when there's more water vapor in the air. It makes it harder for the droplets to spread. Cold, dry air makes it easier. 

But instead of sticking to that reasonable explanation, and despite Bryan's caveat that "it would be irresponsible" to say "summer is going to totally kill the virus," Trump waded into speculation of the potential of powerful lights and disinfectants to clean the lungs.

He went on to ask Dr. Deborah Birx, response coordinator of the coronavirus task force if she's heard using "the heat and the light" to treat coronavirus.

Trump boasted at one point: "It dies very quickly with the sun" and that "I think a lot of people are going to go outside all of a sudden." 

One reporter asked why there'd been a hot spot then in a hot and humid place, like New Orleans.

When another reporter pointed out that people are tuning in for information about what to do to stay safe, Trump fired back. 

"I'm the president, and you are fake news," he said, adding what he's saying about heat and light is "just a suggestion. We're here to present ideas." 

But when leaders throw out unvetted and unproven suggestions, it just creates more chaos and confusion.

Here are other highlights from Thursday's White House coronavirus task force's daily briefing:

"We'll see what happens. We've had a lot of very good results, and we had some results that perhaps aren't so good. I don't know. I just read about one, but I also read many times good, so I haven't at all, and I'd say it's a great — for malaria, for lupus for other things, and we'll see what it is, but I guess, Deborah, they have many studies going on on that. So we'll be able to learn."

— Trump on why he's scaled back his promotion of hydroxcholorquine to treat coronavirus. Deborah, at the end of his remark, is Dr. Birx.

Coronavirus has infected a fifth Of New York City, testing suggests

Some 2.7 million New Yorkers may have already been infected with COVID-19, highlighting the extreme reach of the virus. 

Scientists probe how coronavirus might travel through the Air

Researchers are investigating exactly how COVID-19 could spread, including examining the possibility of the virus traveling through the air a person expels when breathing or speaking.

Virus researchers cast doubt on theory of coronavirus lab accident

The Trump administration has advanced a theory that the coronavirus may have released as a result of a lab accident in Wuhan, China, but virus researchers interviewed by NPR say that it would be nearly impossible for the virus to have emerged under such circumstances.  

Health

Politics and Government News

COVID-19

Domenico Montanaro

Author

Georgia is set to open up lots of businesses statewide Friday — despite not meeting the benchmarks to move into Phase One of the White House's reopening guidelines. 


Sun rays, disinfectants and false hopes: Misinformation litters the road to reopening

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