Coronavirus Updates: Atlanta Sports Are Slowly Coming Back

The NFL is still moving forward with its preseason, although the league is reportedly looking at scaling back the number of exhibition games the Falcons and other clubs will play.

The NBA is back in action later this month, but only the top 22 teams were picked to finish out the season, meaning the Atlanta Hawks won’t be taking part. The Atlanta Dream and the WNBA are scheduled to start later this month as well.

All leagues are conducting regular COVID-19 tests, but it’s not clear when fans will return to live events.

This comes as the Georgia Department of Health confirmed more than 97,064 cases of COVID-19 in the state and 2,878 deaths Monday afternoon.

Georgians Will Have To Quarantine If They Go To Chicago

Residents from Georgia are among those from 15 states that will have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival to the city of Chicago starting Monday

That quarantine also applies to Chicago residents coming back from Georgia or the other states–that have a high per capita rate of confirmed cases or are seeing a recent surge.

Chicago’s mayor said the move is to preserve the gains the city has made during the pandemic.

Those who violate could face fines. It’s unclear how Chicago will enforce the order.

It comes as Georgia is seeing new confirmed cases spike here with thousands of new cases a day. The state was one of the first in the country to reopen its economy. So far, Gov. Brian Kemp has resisted stricter regulations or require face masks.

Deaths Likely To Follow Hospitalizations, Expert Says

Georgia has seen a steep rise in COVID-19 cases over the last week that is far surpassing the mid-April peak, but the number of people dying from the disease isn’t going up.

But it may be just a matter of time.

Doctors have learned a lot about treating the illness caused by the coronavirus, and outcomes for patients are improving. Also, they say the people catching the coronavirus tend to be younger now. However, doctors say younger people are also dying, especially if they have pre-existing conditions.

Jon Lewin, with Emory Health Systems, says with the higher number of COVID-19 patients now in hospitals, the death rate will go up, soon.

“Death, unfortunately, lag hospitalizations by about two weeks, so what we’re seeing now in increase in hospitalizations sadly is going to mean increase in death in the next two or three weeks,” he said. “There is no way that that won’t be true.”

Health officials say until a vaccine is developed, only social distancing, mask-wearing and hand washing can help curb the amount of COVID-19 cases in a community over time.

Atlanta Council To Decide On Help For Renters

Atlanta could soon help certain renters who’ve lost income because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The city council is expected to vote on the use of federal funds Monday.

Back in March, Congress passed the CARES Act, which gave Atlanta more than $80 million to respond to the pandemic.

The City Council plans to decide Monday whether to give some of that to residents struggling with rent.
A proposed program would give tenants $1,000 for up to three months.

The fund is expected to reach just short of 7,000 tenants.

Local officials have warned of a coming eviction crisis. In Fulton County, landlords have filed nearly 2500 eviction cases since the pandemic began. Evictions are on hold at least for a few more weeks.