Restrictions on restaurants, bars, other businesses coming as officials look to limit exposure to coronavirus

ALBANY — Albany and Dougherty County are closing bars, gyms and other venues and limiting occupancy at other retail spaces for one week as they seek to limit the spread of the deadly and easily transmissible coronavirus.

Officials also announced at a Thursday news conference that the county will receive extra resources in the form of a testing team expected to accelerate the pace of processing tests for the virus, an epidemiology team from the state and a community quarantine center.

The prohibition on bars, gyms and other businesses will go into effect on Friday as part of a declaration that also prohibits dine-in eating at restaurants.

“One thing is, we’re going to prohibit gatherings of more than 10 people,” Albany Mayor Bo Dorough said. “This will especially prohibit worship services. We’re taking these measures to protect the community.”

The city’s recreational facilities, including parks, also are closed.

Restaurants will be allowed to provide curbside, takeout and delivery services.

Grocery stores, convenience stores and other businesses can remain open but will be asked to have customers observe a “6-foot rule” by maintaining a distance of 6 feet or more between each other.

“These decisions are not being made lightly,” Dougherty County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said. “This is a matter of life and death. It is not because we are anti-church. It is not because we are anti-business.”

The announcement came as Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital announced on Thursday two additional COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total of known deaths due to the coronavirus in Dougherty County to four, with results pending on several other patients who have died in recent days.

One of the two recent fatalities attributed to the disease was a patient who was hospitalized, and the second was brought in as a cardiac arrest patient and was never revived.

As of Thursday morning, Phoebe Health Care System has taken test samples for 750 people, Dr. Steve Kitchen, Phoebe’s chief medical officer said during the news conference.

Of those, the hospital is awaiting results for 671 patients.

“Over 600 (of the 671) are at home,” Kitchen said.

At the same time, the number of positive test results stood at 43, with 19 of those hospitalized and a number of those very ill.

Hospital personnel also have been affected.

“We have a total of 86 employees across our health system who have been tested,” Kitchen said. “We have six employees who have tested positive. Five are at home, one is in the hospital.”

The measures taken by the city and county are an effort to “flatten the curve,” that is to reduce individuals’ potential exposure to the coronavirus, which spreads easily from person to person, under guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health officials to slow the number of cases.

The measures are meant to prevent a huge spike in the number of seriously ill people that could overwhelm the capacity of the health care system, allow for individuals in the community to develop immunity and “buy time” for medical advances to emerge, said Dr. Charles Ruis, director of the 14-county Southwest District Public Health District.

“When it moves through really quickly, we are at risk of overwhelming our health care facilities,” he said. “If anyone was to say the COVID-19 situation is better, I’d say they are very much mistaken. If anyone was to say the COVID-19 situation is hopeless, I’d also say they were mistaken.

“Our best (response) for slowing down COVID-19 is social distancing, and we cannot say that too much. Church, weddings, dining in public — all of those things — we have to think about in a different way now.”

Health officials have expressed the belief for days that the number of confirmed cases will increase as they receive more test results.

Ruis also announced that his office will expand its testing effort beyond the categories of health care providers, first responders, and residents and employees at long-term care facilities that was announced on Wednesday. The expansion will include people who have pre-existing medical conditions.

Of Phoebe’s 38 intensive care unit beds, 24 were occupied on Thursday by patients who are suspected of having COVID-19 or being treated for the disease, Kitchen said.

The restrictions that go into place on Friday allow residents to continue eating food from their favorite restaurants while helping protect the community, said Barbara Rivera Holmes, president and CEO of the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce.

Many small businesses also are open for online purchases.

“Many of our businesses were proactive in making these modifications before the order to protect the public,” she said. “It is important to follow the guidelines of the CDC, and we can stem and flatten this curve, (and) the quicker we can get to a recovery period.”

Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
AlanMauldin[email protected]