WABE’s Week In Review: COVID-19 Spreads As Schools Reopen And A Major Change After A Runoff Election
Although students between the ages of 6 and 16 are required to attend school in Georgia, thousands of metro Atlanta students haven’t been able to consistently participate in online learning or still remain “non-engaged” even as some districts have resumed in-person classes.
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Some schools in Paulding and Cherokee counties that returned to in-person learning were forced to have hundreds of students and staff quarantine after a number of people in both counties tested positive for COVID-19. Neither school district required masks as part of the dress code.
As a result, Paulding shut down and will return next week to having in-person learning two days a week and virtual classes three days a week. Etowah High School in Cherokee County is set to be back to in-person learning Aug. 31.
Follow schools reopen and the latest education news here.
A runoff election in Georgia this week changed two significant parts of Fulton County’s criminal justice system. Fani Willis, a former assistant district attorney, beat her former boss, longtime Fulton DA Paul Howard. And Pat Labat beat incumbent Ted Jackson in the Fulton sheriff’s race. WABE’s Lisa Rayam spoke to both the winners from Tuesday’s runoff.
A debunked conspiracy and a Congressional candidate…
In Georgia’s very red 14th Congressional district, Marjorie Taylor Greene defeated fellow Republican John Cowan on Tuesday. Greene is a supporter of a debunked QAnon conspiracy theory of a Satanic “deep state” undermining President Donald Trump. She has also made racist remarks about Muslims and Jews. After her runoff victory, Trump on Twitter, called her a rising star in the Republican party.
Greene is likely going to win the seat in November against Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal. The district voted 75% for Trump in 2016.
A mostly smooth runoff…
Turnout was much lower for Georgia’s runoff election than the June 9 primaries. But WABE has been investigating what Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and local officials, like Fulton Elections Chief Richard Barron, are doing to get past absentee and in-person voting snags before November.
Fulton County had a goal of nearly 80% for early voting or voting-by-mail. Only 20% were predicted to come into the polls Aug. 11.
WABE reporter Emil Moffatt says Fulton County came pretty close to hitting those marks. He told WABE’s Jim Burress that overall turnout was 11%, and about 23% of those Fulton voters stood in line this week. That in-person turnout is the county’s ballpark goal for November.
Harris, not Bottoms or Abrams…
The “Political Breakfast” team talked about presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden’s pick of California U.S. Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms–an early supporter of Biden– and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams had been mentioned as possible running mates on the 2020 ticket.
More COVID-19 updates…
- This week we saw Gov. Brian Kemp file a motion to withdraw his lawsuit against Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms over her decision to issue a citywide mask requirement. Kemp had argued the mandate violated a state order that barred local governments from issuing their own public health rules.
- While some college football conferences have decided to postpone their seasons, the SEC, ACC, and Sun Belt Conferences are all still planning to play. That’s even as a handful of college athletes have been found to have a rare heart condition, myocarditis, that can be caused by the coronavirus.
- And this week, Georgia’s Supreme Court extended a judicial emergency for the fifth time, prohibiting jury trials and grand juries. But when it comes to evictions, some courts around metro Atlanta have already resumed hearings.
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