Healthcare workers from 59 counties send Gov. Kemp a letter. Here’s what it said – 11Alive.com WXIA

The workers who signed the letter represent 59 counties in the state.

ATLANTA On Friday, a total of 2,169 Georgia healthcare workers sent a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp, copied to public health commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey, strongly recommending that he adjust his COVID-19 strategy.

The healthcare workers are employed in 59 counties across the state and include more than 1,200 physicians, 450 nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, as well as other front-line healthcare workers, including pharmacists, social workers, psychologists, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, laboratory technicians, and many others.

Our letter reiterates that basic public health interventions work, but they need to be forcefully implemented at the state level to be effective, Dr. Carlos del Rio, an infectious diseases physician and Executive Associate Dean for Emory at Grady.

11Alive News has reached out to the governor's office for a response to the letter.

Here is a copy that was provided to 11Alive:

Georgia is setting records for new COVID-19 diagnoses and current hospitalizations, and deaths areclimbing. Georgia healthcare workers are increasingly concerned about the direction of the pandemic inour state. Earlier this month, over 1400 of us wrote you to express our concerns, and today over 2,150of us write to ask again that you revisit your strategy for combatting the virus.

We appreciate that managing the state of Georgia is an enormous task and that you are trying tobalance controlling the virus against damage to the economy and the livelihoods of workers. We shareyour concerns, as economic well being directly impacts the health of our patients. We firmly believe thatif policy decisions are made based on science, economic benefits will follow. Likewise, this pandemicbegan with a new virus about which we knew very little, and we understand that keeping policies in linewith the rapid accumulation of scientific knowledge continues to be a challenge. Now is the time toupdate policies to align with current science.

Although our current strategy is falling short, the good news is that there are concrete steps that youcan take to dramatically curtail the surge without completely shutting down the state. Your actions inApril were effective in flattening the curve of cases and preserving our fragile hospital infrastructure.The recent surge of cases associated with decreased social distancing is placing our hospitals at riskagain, and aggressive actions are urgently needed.

Here are the troubling facts we now must confront.

We reached a new peak of 4,813 COVID-19 cases on July 24, and a peak 7-day average of 3,745on July 24. Prior to your shelter in place order on April 3, the highest number of cases reportedper day was 1,085 on March 31. Also, compared to March-April when most cases were in fewcounties, now cases are occurring in urban, suburban, and rural Georgia.

Our current hospitalizations have increased substantially since June 13, reaching a new record of3,200 on July 30 and more than 3,000 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 every day since July19. Hospitals are increasingly on total or ICU/CCU diversion across the state.

Our ICU capacity statewide is strained, with only 12-16% of beds available statewide, and half ofhospital regions having 15 or fewer ICU beds available on July 20.

Deaths also are moving upward, with 82 reported on 7/24, the second highest daily report ever.We know that deaths lag behind cases and hospitalizations by weeks, and that a strainedhospital system also will increase deaths.

Our percent positivity for tests has risen as high as 17.1% on July 23, when the ideal is below 5%and a level above 10% raises a red flag. This increasing positivity rate underscores that newcases are a result of worsening community transmission, not simply more testing and that casesare being missed and their contacts never traced.

Due to the sheer size of the outbreak encompassing multiple states, our testing infrastructure isstrained and wait time has increased substantially with many individuals reporting that it takesup to two weeks to receive results, effectively eliminating the benefit of contact tracing.

According to the July 14 White House Coronavirus Task Force report that is provided to Governorsweekly, Georgia is now in the Red Zone of states for which more stringent steps are recommended.Disease trends are moving in the wrong direction in Georgia, according to the Task Force. Georgiaqualifies for Red Zone status by having over 100 cases per 100,000 population as well as test positivityabove 10%. The Task Force made the following recommendations for Georgia:

1. Mandate statewide wearing of cloth face coverings outside the home.2. Allow local jurisdictions to implement more restrictive measures.3. In all counties with 7-day average test positivity > 10%, close bars & gyms, require strictsocial distancing within restaurants, limit gatherings to 10 or fewer persons.

In addition, the Task Force recommends specific actions aimed at increasing testing access, decreasingturn around time for tests, intensifying contact tracing, protecting seniors in long-term care facilities,and improving public health messaging about risk of serious disease in all age groups.

We endorse the Task Force recommendations, with modifications, as they mirror those we made inour letter of July 2. We have added some additional caveats to the recommendations cited above, andwe have added some additional recommendations. Our current recommendations and rationale are asfollows:

We recommend a temporary statewide face covering requirement outside the home, and foroutdoor situations in which social distancing of at least 6 feet cannot be maintained.

Governors of 30 states, including those of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, and Indiana, haveimplemented face covering mandates. We applaud you for wearing a mask whenever you are inpublic and for encouraging the use of masks by the public. Unfortunately, this has not beenenough to achieve widespread mask usage in Georgia. CDC recently published an articleentitled, Universal Masking to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 TransmissionThe Time Is Now,emphasizing the importance of universal masking to control the pandemic.1 Evidence shows thatface coverings are effective in preventing virus spread and that mandates are substantially moreeffective than recommendations in decreasing transmission. Projections estimate that newcases would decrease by as much as 40,000 if 95% of Americans wore masks until November 1.A recent survey by the Medical Association of Georgia found that 87% of 1300 physicianscompleting the survey said they believed Georgians/visitors should be required to wear a facemask or covering. Furthermore, CDC Director Dr. Redfield said recently that if everyone wore aface mask we could control this epidemic in 4 8 weeks. Why not mandate face coverings inGeorgia for an 8 week period?

We recommend that you close bars and nightclubs, and prohibit indoor dining as well asgatherings of more than 10 people, including at houses of worship. While we understand yourreluctance to shut down the state due to economic repercussions, the repercussions of notcontrolling the virus will take a heavy toll on our economy, as well as our health. Maintainingphysical distance is nearly impossible in bars and nightclubs which are ripe settings for viralsuper-spreading, especially among younger persons in whom the surge of cases is nowconcentrated. The risks of dining indoors have been well documented, as people cannot bemasked while eating. Numerous outbreaks across the country including in Georgia - havebeen associated with indoor worship services.

We recommend that you empower elected officials around the state to institute morestringent requirements as appropriate for their jurisdictions. As you have pointed out, thepandemic affects different areas of the state differently. There now are local epidemics all overGeorgia, each with different characteristics. Local control of local epidemics is essential, and

We recommend that you greatly expand testing and contact tracing in the state. Lines fortesting are so long that working people cannot devote the hours needed to stand in them.Appointments are booked for days ahead in many locations. In some rural counties, people arebeing referred to sites that are hours away. Turn around time for test results is sometimes overtwo weeks, eliminating the benefit of contact tracing. It is time to consult with local experts onmechanisms for expanding the capacity of academic and hospital labs around the state, and tocollaborate with academic, hospital, and public health labs that have capacity out of state.Testing sites must be rapidly expanded throughout the state, and contact tracing must beexpanded in collaboration with local communities and reported with transparency, as is done bystates such as Oregon.

Finally, we strongly recommend that you take action to eliminate Georgias racial and ethnicdisparities in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Resources must be targeted tomost impacted communities, specifically African-American and Hispanic/Latinx communities.Data must be appropriately collected in order to understand our local epidemics. As of today,Georgias most impacted racial group is unknown, and this is unacceptable. While weunderstand the complexities of collecting data on race and ethnicity through large commerciallaboratories, the state must mandate and enforce the collection of these data, and make thedata public.

We also invite you to visit one of the many hospitals currently caring for patients with COVID-19, and weare happy to arrange such a visit. By acting decisively now, you can save thousands of lives and avoidillness for hundreds of thousands of Georgians. Your actions will have immediate impact, although itmay take weeks to see cases decrease substantially. As cases decrease, the strain on testing, contacttracing, and PPE availability also will lessen, improving the efficiency of all of our systems. Decreasedcases will lead to improved economic outcomes and allow us to more safely open schools in the Fall.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of this urgent matter.