BATON
ROUGE, La. (AP) — Governors in 17 states have committed to regional
coordination to reopen their economies during the coronavirus outbreak —
but none are in the South, where leaders are going it alone, just as
they did in imposing restrictions.
As
questions about when and how to ease virus-control measures becomes
increasingly politically charged, governors in the Deep South have
resisted any appearance of synchronization, instead driving home their
message that each state must make its own decision.
Georgia
Gov. Brian Kemp plans to have many of his state’s businesses up and
running again as soon as Friday. Fellow Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill
Lee announced that most businesses will begin resuming operations as
soon as next week.
Some
other Republican leaders were taking smaller steps, like reopening
their beaches. In the virus hot spot of Louisiana, Democratic Gov. John
Bel Edwards was also taking a more cautious approach, announcing he’ll
first allow some non-emergency medical procedures to resume next week.
But
no one wants to coordinate. Edwards, for one, notes neighboring states
have less expansive outbreaks. Even when several Republican governors
held phone calls to talk about reopening plans, they insisted they
weren’t working in concert — and left out their Democratic counterparts
in the region.
“We’re trying to take, where we can, our destiny into our own hands,” said Kemp.
He’s
been one of the region’s most aggressive so far, allowing gyms, bowling
alleys, tattoo parlors and other businesses to reopen Friday, if owners
follow social-distancing and hygiene requirements. Restaurants can
bring back dine-in service and movie theaters can reopen by Monday.
Such moves runs counter to the advice of many experts and have left many businesses wary.
The
lack of regional coordination also raises concerns that a loosening in
one state — especially with insufficient testing — could lead to a spike
in cases in another. But agreement would be difficult in a region with
such disparate approaches.
The strategy stands in stark contrast to coordination elsewhere.
California, Oregon and Washington have agreed to synchronize how they
will begin lifting their shelter-in-place restrictions. Seven states in
the Northeast have done the same as have seven governors in the Midwest.
In the latter two regions, governors from both parties are involved.
In
the South, it’s ad hoc: Kemp said he’s talked to other Southern
governors, but he didn’t coordinate with any of them, even though urban
areas in Georgia lap over borders with several. Edwards and Republican
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves have also had conversations because of the
travel and business shared between New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf
Coast. But Edwards said he did not believe further coordination was
necessary.
“I
think if you look at those areas where this is happening, you have very
similar situations in terms of the amount of COVID that they have in
those various states and they have a much greater degree of
inter-connectedness in terms of their economies,” he said.
Beyond
easing the medical restrictions, Edwards says he’s waiting to see if
Louisiana’s improving trajectory — fewer hospitalizations, fewer people
on ventilators — remains on course, before deciding what steps he’ll
take when his stay-at-home order expires April 30. Louisiana still has
more cases and far more deaths than any other state in the region.
For
most people, the highly contagious coronavirus causes symptoms such as
high fever and a dry cough. But some people, especially older adults and
people with existing health problems, become much sicker and even die.
Elsewhere in the South, decision-making is varied.
Even
as neighboring Georgia pushed to reopen, Republican Alabama Gov. Kay
Ivey decided to keep a stay-home order in place through the end of the
month. Meanwhile, Arkansas’ Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, never
issued such a mandate, though he’s imposed other restrictions.
Reeves
in Mississippi and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, have allowed
beaches to reopen. Reeves also has said that nonessential businesses can
start offering curbside pickup or delivery.
In
South Carolina, barricades came off public boat ramps Friday. Closed
retailers, like department stores and specialty shops, were next, but
only, Republican Gov. Henry McMaster insisted, if strict social
distancing was followed. He let local governments decide whether to
reopen beaches. Most declined, for now.
Still,
it wasn’t clear if the state’s COVID-19 cases had peaked yet, since
state health data shows the number of coronavirus tests have fallen.
Georgia, too, is seeing a testing decline.
Experts
say that’s the opposite of what’s needed as restrictions ease. The
leader of South Carolina’s teaching hospital warned the state also
needed robust tracing of the people who have had contact with the sick.
“We
need to have in place the pieces to keep a second wave from becoming
crippling,” said Dr. David Cole, president of the Medical University of
South Carolina.
The
outbreak has hit different parts of the country in different ways — and
the response has been just as varied — so there isn’t one playbook,
said Dr. Richard Oberhelman, an infectious disease specialist at Tulane
University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New
Orleans.
“Coordination
makes sense, but the flip side is different states are in different
parts of the epidemic,” Oberhelman said, adding that communication
remained key.
Some
fear that if Southern states get too far out ahead of the rest of the
country, they could attract visitors — and possibly open the door to
more infections.
Myrtle
Beach has suffered, but if it starts to ease restrictions on hotels and
short-term rentals, it could see an influx of visitors looking for warm
weather far from hot spots. Without extensive testing, that could spell
disaster, infectious control nurse Debbie Borst told a meeting of the
Myrtle Beach City Council.
“The
public hears one thing, but they don’t realize we don’t have testing
available like other cities and states, so I’m worried that they have a
false sense of security concerning our numbers,” Borst said.
___
Collins
reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writers Jeff
Amy in Atlanta; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; and Emily
Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this report.
___
