WABE’s Week In Review: Covid Surge In Georgia Hitting Hard
More than 20,000 Georgians have now lost their lives to COVID-19, according to data from the state department of public health. In a statement on Friday, Georgia Public Health Commissioner Doctor Kathleen Toomey said passing the milestone was “tragic but not surprising.”
Nearly all of the COVID-19 deaths in the state since vaccines have been available have been among people who have declined to get inoculated, according to Toomey.
More Georgians are currently hospitalized for COVID-19 than ever before and case levels rival those seen during last winter’s surge.
University staff and students protest for mask and vaccine mandates…
Chapters of United Campus Workers at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University held demonstrations recently to push the universities to act without approval from the Board of Regents, which sets policy for the University System of Georgia. The protests came after some USG employees resigned due to the lack of a mandate. One GSU professor was fired for refusing to teach without a mask requirement.
Currently, the system encourages vaccines and masks but doesn’t require either one.
Little fish, big drama…
The same people who worked to make sure the snail darter was protected in the 1970s are now saying it's ready to come off the endangered species list.
This fish was crazy controversial when the Endangered Species Act was brand new https://t.co/FxexVTZ0XQ
— Molly Samuel (@mollyis) August 31, 2021
Also in this episode…
–Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr indicted former Brunswick District Attorney Jackie Johnson, who was criticized for her office’s lack of response to the fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery.
–Georgia Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey says health workers are facing harassment and recently had to close a mobile vaccination unit because of anti-vaccination protestors.
–WABE’s Emil Moffatt looks into the new professional basketball development program called Overtime Elite setting up shop in Atlanta. Some two dozen high school-aged athletes will receive a starting salary of $100,000 as they attend classes, train and play at a new facility that’s set to open soon at Atlantic Station.
Top Stories
