'We don't have room to keep bodies': Georgia coroner describes coronavirus impact as the state starts to ease lockdown restrictions and reopen non-essential businesses
A coroner who works in one of Georgia's hardest hit counties has revealed that there is not enough space to hold the bodies that have piled up as the state begins to reopen.
Georgia became one of the first states to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions last week when Governor Brian Kemp allowed some non-essential businesses to reopen.
The state has recorded at least 890 deaths due to COVID-19 with Dougherty County recording the largest number of deaths than any other county at 108.
Michael Fowler, a coroner in Dougherty County, where there are more than 1,400 confirmed coronavirus cases, said that though his area is better equipped than it was three weeks ago, bodies are still piling up.
He also noted that funeral homes are also struggling to keep up with the number of deaths.
'They had said the same thing: We don't have room to keep bodies,' Fowler told WBUR.
'They [are] kind of processing funerals quicker and cremation a little bit quicker now than they normally do because they have so many bodies stacking up.'
Georgia became one of the first states to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions last week when Governor Brian Kemp allowed some non-essential businesses to reopen. A hairdresser is seen wearing a face mask while cutting the hair of a customer in Pooler, Georgia, on Saturday
Beaches in Georgia have also opened. Beachgoers are seen at Tybee Beach in Tybee Island, Georgia, on Saturday
Gov Brian Kemp tweeted that he was confident in his reopening plan after speaking with members of the administration
Fowler told the news site that there is also a lack of available gravesites and a limit on the number of family members who can visit the gravesites.
'The families can't go back and see them, so you're not even able to say goodbye to them,' he told WBUR. 'So the virus came down on them, they rushed to the emergency room and they just died.'
Fowler's revelations comes just days after Georgia began reopening some of its businesses.
The Georgia easing is targeted at businesses including fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, hairdressers, nail salons and massage therapists.
Critics have questioned how it is possible for any sort of meaningful coronavirus prevention measures to be instigated at businesses that are, by their nature, up close and personal.
President Donald Trump claimed last week that he 'wasn't happy with Brian Kemp,' though Kemp's own advisors have since stated that both the president and Vice President Mike Pence were privately supportive of the plans to reopen.
Protesters Chris Sturdivant, 34 (left), and Cozmo Whitest, 32 (right), hold a banner that reads 'People over profits' in the Virginia-Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta, which has a large number of restaurants and tattoo shops - some of which have reopened
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms revealed on Monday that she had been blindsided by the governor's announcement.
She said was 'perplexed' and 'upset', stating: 'There is nothing about this that makes any sense.'
And while some businesses opened their doors on Friday, there were still quite a few business owners who refused.
Some, like Elite Edge Gym owner Jason Colleran, 38, decided to do a 'soft opening' Friday as they navigate new protocols.
Members of his gym will have to enter through the front door and exit at the back to encourage social distancing.
Nail salon owner Tracey Phin, 36, opened her store on Friday as the state eased lockdown restrictions
A woman can be seen working out at Elite Edge Fitness after it opened on Friday
Only six to eight students will be allowed in the facility at a time which will allow around 30 feet between them in this commercial gym.
Body art studios, estheticians, hair designers, massage therapy and training facilities have a list of 13 state issued guidelines to follow.
They include no walk-in customers, requiring patrons to sanitize their hands on entering and before any treatment, staggering work schedules so that no more than 50 per cent of staff are there at one time and requiring employees to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) 'as available and appropriate'.
Workers had been instructed to remove all magazines and ornaments that people might touch and to set up caution tape inside the salon preventing people from sitting down.
Instead clients will have to wait in their cars and go into the salon one at time. Chairs will be wrapped in plastic.
Kemp's push to get Georgia back to business continues on Monday when dine-in restaurants and movie theaters will be allowed to reopen under social distancing and sanitation conditions the details of which have yet to be released.
Alaska also started phase one of its reopening on Friday, with Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee all set to push back their coronavirus lockdowns by easing restriction as early as Monday.
'We don't have room to keep bodies': Georgia coroner describes coronavirus impact as the state starts to ease lockdown restrictions and reopen non-essential businesses
!['We don't have room to keep bodies': Georgia coroner describes coronavirus impact as the state starts to ease lockdown restrictions and reopen non-essential businesses]()
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April 27, 2020
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