Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

ALBANY — Gov. Brian Kemp offered Albany as “a good model for the entire state” in its battle against the coronavirus pandemic Wednesday as he and State Department of Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey brought their “Wear a Mask Tour” to Albany.

Both Kemp and Toomey spoke briefly to news media outside the Pretoria Fields Brewery in downtown Albany after a luncheon at the brewery.

“I’d like to first personally thank the people on the front lines here: Scott Steiner and his staff at Phoebe (Putney Memorial) Hospital, all the health care workers and the first responders,” Kemp said. “They did heroic work during this pandemic. I’d also like to thank companies like this one located behind us (Pretoria Fields, which converted its brewing equipment to making hand sanitizer during the early stages of the pandemic), businesses that pivoted to help their fellow citizens at a critical time in the state.

“Pretoria Fields was granted a permit to make hand sanitizer in a couple of days instead of the weeks it usually takes. That’s the way government should work.”

During remarks before the press briefing, the governor singled out Steiner, Dougherty County Schools Superintendent Ken Dyer, Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler — who, he said, “at one time had the toughest job in the country” — the local legislative delegation, and “community leaders like Barbara Holmes, Mayor (Bo) Dorough and Chris Cohilas who have fought to rebuild our economy.”

Cohilas praised Kemp and his staff for “answering our every request” and bringing masks, “helicoptering in” personal protective equipment and bringing in the National Guard to help clean nursing home facilities where the virus was particularly active.

“Some people say we can let up now, but we’re not out of the water,” Cohilas said. “We can see land approaching, but we have to keep paddling.”

Toomey said other areas of the state can learn from Albany’s response to the pandemic. The community, as Cohilas noted, once ranked third in the world (per-capita) for COVID-19 cases and deaths before using “all the tools afforded us by Gov. Kemp and the state” to dramatically lower the number of new cases.

“It’s such an honor to get out into the community and meet the people I’ve been working so closely with for the last few weeks face-to-face,” the public health commissioner said. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you for your work. Because of that work, your community already knows the lessons we want everyone to follow throughout the state.”

Kemp, too, said the recent uptick in positive test results in the state and in the country shows that “we can’t grow complacent or wary.”

“I’m confident the people in this community will do the right thing; you guys are probably better prepared for this virus now than anywhere else in the state,” the governor said. “Keep social distancing; it works. Keep wearing face masks; it works. And keep washing your hands several times a day … and use this company’s hand sanitizer.”

Staff Photos: Carlton Fletcher
File Photo: Carlton Fletcher