A few states, especially in the south, are deciding to open up now that the worst of the COVID-19 threat appears to have passed over them. Despite the fact that there are still several areas, even in some of these states, that are hotspots, overall, things look okay enough for citizens to begin returning to work, and return to some sliver of the life they knew before.
Of course, that doesn’t make a whole lot of people happy. Particularly in the press. Particularly in the national press.
In Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution released an op-ed saying that Governor Brian Kemp was acting “too soon.” They attack his plan to allow businesses to open up late this week and early next week, despite the fact that his order specifically states the stay-at-home order is still in place (meaning, you go run your errands or you go to work and then you come home, nothing extra). People in rural parts of the state — and, indeed, in rural parts all over the south — see the virus numbers decreasing. They see a light at the end of the tunnel. And they are desperately hurting, financially.
Despite that, the press is attacking states like Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina, because those journalists are based in major metropolitan areas and simply do not understand life in these rural areas.
They, you’ll note, are still employed. They are still working. They aren’t hurting in the economic ways people in these states are. They are based in and around Washington D.C. and New York City. They are working right now, and don’t have the pressure on them to find a way to make ends meet because their job is suspended or just gone. They don’t know the struggle from month-to-month over whether or not their business is going to survive this.
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