Peach Tree Times

In an interview with WABE, Gov. Brian Kemp defended his decision to reopen the state economy during the midst of COVID-19.

“The local government shouldn’t be able to take your economic viability away when there’s no data that shows there are problems,” Kemp told WABE.

Georgia was the first state to reopen after the initial lockdowns due to the onset of COVID-19 infections. At that time, Kemp received criticism for his pro-economy, anti-lockdown approach to moving out of the pandemic, according to 11 Alive.

In the WABE interview, he expressed no regret for his handling of orders over the last 19 months, standing by his decision not to sign a universal mask mandate for schools.

“Our cases are going down again, our hospitalizations have dropped dramatically, and so I feel like we are over this hump again,” Kemp told WABE. 

In the interview, Kemp said he has been on the frontline advocating for residents to get vaccinated, stating the media “scared people” into not receiving the vaccine.

“But we have to keep our foot on the gas, continue talking with people about getting vaccinated and getting the pandemic behind us,” Kemp said.

During the interview, Kemp said that he did not force anyone to open their businesses, but rather gave people the opportunity to choose how to support themselves and their families.

He reiterated in July that he would not reimpose lockdowns on the state nor impose statewide mask mandates. According to Kemp, that decision was to be left to local areas to make their own decisions, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.

According to the Georgia Department of Labor, unemployment in the state has dropped for the last 13 consecutive months.