Kemp Faces Criticism For Not Knowing How Coronavirus Spreads

Andrea V. Watson
Updated ·2 min read

ATLANTA, GA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is feeling the heat as national media outlets and Twitter have scrutinized him for his most recent confession. Despite public information from several health experts two months ago, Kemp admitted Wednesday in a news conference that he was just made aware that asymptomatic people can still spread the new coronavirus.

The governor said the information is what led to his decision to issue a statewide shelter-in-place for Georgia.

The statewide shelter-in-place order is to be in place from Friday through April 13.

“So what we’ve been telling people from directives from the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) for weeks now — that if you start feeling bad, stay home — those individuals could have been infecting people before they ever felt bad,” Kemp said.

“Well, we didn’t know that until the last 24 hours” he added. “This is a game-changer for us.”

Health experts had warned since January about the possibility of the virus being spread by people who don’t show symptoms.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC News in January that, "There's no doubt ... that asymptomatic transmission is occurring.”

At the time, though, it was unclear how widespread it was occurring.

The White House coronavirus response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, said last month that young people could spread the virus without any symptoms.

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On Monday, CDC Director Robert Redfield said as many as 25 percent of people infected with the new coronavirus could show no symptoms, reports the Huffington Post.

He said the CDC has been able to confirm in recent weeks that the virus was still passing to others from asymptomatic people. Even so, Redfield has been warning people since February, according to CNN, that the virus could still be spread.

More than 1 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed worldwide and more than 51,500 people have died, Johns Hopkins University reported Thursday afternoon. The United States had over 236,300 cases — the most of any country — as of Thursday afternoon, with more than 5,640 deaths.

Fulton County's 712 cases are the most of any Georgia locality. The next highest totals are 507 in Dougherty County, DeKalb with 396 cases, Cobb with 329 cases, Gwinnett with 282 cases, Bartow with 147 cases, Carroll with 133 cases and Clayton with 148 cases.

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This article originally appeared on the Atlanta Patch