Georgia keeps key virus information from public
I have been following the date in GA pretty darn closely and I'll just say the data in the last couple of weeks has been odd and erratic. The numbers are wildly up and down. I noticed that as soon as the hospitals were reported as having full ICU's and it made it in the paper some of the hospitals started denying it and the ICU data with GEMA suddenly dropped.
Now, I'm no genius but I thought it was weird that consistently rising ICU beds suddenly dropped in number once the public was expressing concern. I wondered at the time if the numbers were being fudged OR if they were pushing people out of the ICU as soon as they could. THIS is just my own opinion here!
But I know a nurse at a hospital that was supposedly diverting patients and ended up in the AJC. They and the hospital were seriously angry and touchy about the subject and said it was lies and "fake news". When the AJC interviewed hospitals on this this exact same hospital refused to address it or discuss it.
I also know that for months according to employees this hospital was keeping a daily tally on a white board of how many covid patients they had. When the lock down was restricted they stopped publicly sharing with their own employees the number of patients other than to constantly downplay it to them...according to the employee I know.
I'm just saying I think due to the unfortunate political climate regarding COVID we have giving incentives to hide and downplay the seriousness and the true extent of what's going on in Georgia.
But don't take my anecdolate info on it. Here's the AJC sharing how whatever is going on is fishy as well.
"Documents that could show how Georgia has managed key aspects of the
coronavirus pandemic are being withheld from the public, in what open government advocates say are possible violations of public records laws.
GEMA isn’t the only Georgia agency that has failed the transparency test during the pandemic. In response to AJC records requests, the Georgia Department of Public Health
said it would not provide a response to the requests until as long as 30 days after the governor declares the public health emergency has ended.
After legal challenges from the AJC and other news organizations that received similar responses, the DPH said it would provide the documents. In response to a May 13 open records request from the AJC, the agency on July 14 said it wanted $2,700 to produce the documents. The AJC paid but has yet to receive them.
Marshall sees government transparency problems across the country. He said federal agencies are “trying to interfere with states’ and state agencies’ transparency obligations under state law.”
“It’s very worrying,” he said, “especially in an area as serious as COVID-19 response, which could not be more crucial for the public to understand.”
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