A week after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp plunged Georgia into the middle of a national social experiment — rolling back restrictions on businesses in an effort to restart the economy after a monthlong shutdown to halt the spread of COVID-19 — some restaurants, salons and tattoo parlors remain…
on gyms, barbershops, hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys last Friday and allowing restaurants and movie theaters to open on Monday.
Still, Kemp has pressed on, allowing the state’s shelter-in-place order to expire at midnight Thursday, while urging Georgians to practice social distancing and wear face coverings in grocery stores and when picking up food at restaurants. “It’s all drive-through customers,” said Christiana Threats, an assistant manager, as a line of sedans and SUVs snaked around the building.
“If the virus subsides and Georgia is one of first states to get the economy restarted, we would be ahead of the curve,” said M.V. “Trey” Hood III, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia. “But it is a risk because people are really still anxious about this.” Still, she said, she needed to earn money. She and her co-worker Carlos Mckibben, 19, had propped black plastic crates on the floor against the counter to stop customers from getting too close.As a cook, Mckibben made $10.60 an hour. Living in the American Inn & Suites behind the diner, he was struggling to pay $420 a week in rent.Georgians filed initial unemployment claims last week, up about 19,000 from the previous week, according to the Georgia Department of Labor.
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