Wear Face Coverings in Public Settings (But Stay Home When You Can)

The Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission, the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH), and state officials urge all Georgians to continue to follow safe daily habits to reduce risk of exposure to COVID-19 and keep the virus from spreading.

Wear a face covering in public settings, practice social distancing, and wash your hands frequently.

Although the statewide shelter-in-place has been lifted for many people, the Mayor and Commission continue to strongly encourage residents to stay home except for essential activities.

A cloth face covering should be worn whenever people are in a community setting where social distancing may be difficult, such as in the grocery store, picking up food at a restaurant, or riding public transportation and especially in areas of widespread community transmission of COVID-19.

Cloth face coverings help slow the spread of the virus and help people who may be infected and not know it from transmitting it to others.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has easy-to-follow instructions on how to make a low-cost cloth face covering that are shown below.

Cloth face coverings should:

Allow for breathing without restriction
Cover the nose and mouth
Be laundered and machine dried after use.

Cloth face coverings should not be placed on children under the age of two, anyone who has trouble breathing, or anyone who is unconscious or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.

The use of cloth face coverings does not take the place of social distancing. Stay at least six feet from other people, do not gather in groups, stay out of crowded places, and avoid mass gatherings.

155 Positive Cases Confirmed in Athens-Clarke County, 13 Deaths

The state Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) case tracker (https://dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report) confirms 155 positive cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Athens-Clarke County with 13 deaths as of 5:40 p.m. on May 1.

The case tracker has recently been updated to a new format and provides additional county-level information, including the number of cases per 100,000 people (119.43 for Athens-Clarke County).

If you view the data, however, please be sure to check the area showing the definitions of the information presented. Some have different meanings than what you may expect.

The 13 deaths range in age from 60-98. Older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes are at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 and should always consult their healthcare provider if they are sick.

Backyard cookout with friends? Not right now.

Information Sources

The response to COVID-19 involves both rapid and extensive changes and also deliberate measures that take some time to consider.

Once official information is released from the Georgia Department of Public Health, the Northeast Georgia Health District, the State of Georgia government, or other local partners, we will report it on www.accgov.com/coronavirus and social media.

Additionally, this COVID-19 update newsletter will go out most days with new information primarily about the ACCGov response and plans. It may also include some local area information of note as space allows.