佐治亚州的企业不必遵守当地的新冠肺炎措施就像新的行政命令下的口罩或疫苗授权，因为该州的医院继续被拉伸到极限。
州长布莱恩·肯普周四发布了一项行政命令，该命令将防止企业被迫遵守当地司法机构制定的新冠肺炎法令。这位共和党州长说，发布这项命令是为了保护正在复苏的企业免受“另一轮关闭”他说，这并不妨碍企业遵守当地命令，但这些法令不会被强制执行。
坎普在宣布这一命令的新闻发布会上表示:“地方政府将无法强迫企业成为城市的口罩警察、疫苗警察或任何其他繁琐的限制，这只会导致员工被解雇、收入下降和企业关门。
在新冠肺炎病例上升的情况下，佐治亚州的几个城市已经恢复了口罩强制令。上个月，亚特兰大发布了一项命令，要求在公共室内空间使用口罩，包括私人企业。附近，迪凯特发布了类似的命令，尽管企业可以选择退出。萨凡纳已经发布了一些室内公共空间的口罩授权，尽管它不包括企业。
该命令出台之际，佐治亚州各县都出现了“大量的新冠肺炎病例”最新新冠肺炎预报来自费城儿童医院政策实验室的研究人员。
该州现有的重症监护室床位数量也在减少。根据美国卫生与公众服务部的最新数据，佐治亚州的ICU容量为94%。
位于盖恩斯维尔的佐治亚州东北部卫生系统医院挤满了新冠肺炎病人。医院官员周四向美国广播公司证实，随着新冠肺炎患者填满床位，医生们一直在救护车内治疗一些需要紧急护理的患者，同时等待床位开放。医院还在急诊科后面为溢出的病人搭建了帐篷。
医院官员说，亚特兰大市区的一些医院正在分流，当急诊科爆满时，他们正在拒绝救护车。
周四，该州一些最大医院系统的医生恳求人们接种疫苗，因为他们正被新冠肺炎患者淹没。
“我们的医院又一次挤满了人，他们挤满了年轻人、老年人和那些没有接种疫苗的共病患者，”威尔斯达卫生系统的丹尼·布兰斯特特博士在与亚特兰大几个大城市卫生系统的医生和官员举行的新闻发布会上说。“我们看到这个峰值上升得非常非常快，上升速度与我们在冬天看到的峰值相当或超过了。”
布兰斯特说，新冠肺炎住院患者中超过92%没有接种疫苗。
亚特兰大儿童保健中心的首席医疗官詹姆斯·福滕贝里博士告诉记者，该医院正在观察一种对儿童的“重大影响”在传染性极强的三角洲变异体激增期间。
“我们的团队在我们的急诊科、急救中心和医院看到的新冠肺炎阳性患者比大流行期间的任何时候都多，”福滕贝里说，并指出周四整个系统的三家医院有31名患者与新冠肺炎在一起。“令人欣慰的是，只有一小部分新冠肺炎检测呈阳性的儿童需要住院治疗感染，但这并不意味着他们没有经历疾病，以及可能是重大疾病的情况，并错过了学校和体育等正常活动。”
Fortenberry恳求学校的所有教师、工作人员、学生和访客遵循疾病控制和预防中心和美国儿科学会的建议，无论疫苗接种情况如何，都要戴口罩。
“为了我们的孩子，我们应该尽一切努力保护他们，”他说。
根据美国疾控中心的数据，在佐治亚州，47.4%的12岁及以上的居民完全接种了疫苗，而全国的这一比例为59.8%。
坎普没有为州政府雇员发布任何疫苗授权，尽管他已于9月3日关闭了州政府办公室，以鼓励公职人员接种疫苗。
“我们有三种拯救生命的疫苗广泛可用，”他周四说，同时敦促人们与他们信任的人谈谈接种疫苗的问题。
Georgia governor enables businesses to reject COVID-19 mandates as hospitals overflow
Georgia businesses won't have to comply with localCOVID-19 measureslike mask or vaccine mandates under a new executive order, as the state's hospitals continue to be stretched to their limit.
Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order Thursday that will keep businesses from being forced to follow COVID-19 ordinances put in place by local jurisdictions. The Republican governor said the order was issued to protect recovering businesses from "another round of shutdowns." It doesn't prevent businesses from complying with local orders, but the ordinances won't be enforced, he said.
"Local governments will not be able to force businesses to be the city’s mask police, the vaccine police or any other burdensome restriction that will only lead to employees being let go, revenue tanking and businesses closing their doors," Kemp said during a press briefing announcing the order.
Several cities in Georgia have reinstated mask mandates amid rising COVID-19 cases. Last month, Atlanta issued a mandate requiring mask use in public indoor spaces, including private businesses. Nearby, Decatur issued a similar mandate, though businesses can opt out. Savannah has issued a mask mandate for some indoor public spaces, though it doesn't include businesses.
The order comes as there is "substantial case incidence" of COVID-19 throughout counties in Georgia, according to thelatest COVID-19 forecastfrom PolicyLab researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
The number of available intensive care unit beds is also dwindling in the state. According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ICU capacity in Georgia is at 94%.
Northeast Georgia Health System's hospital in Gainesville is overflowing with COVID-19 patients. Hospital officials confirmed with ABC News Thursday that as COVID-19 patients fill up beds, doctors have been treating some patients needing emergency care inside their ambulance while waiting for a bed to open up. The hospital has also set up a tent behind the emergency department for overflow patients.
Some hospitals in the Atlanta metro area are on diversion and are turning away ambulances when their emergency departments are full, hospital officials said.
On Thursday, doctors from some of the state's largest hospital systems pleaded with people to get vaccinated as they're being inundated with COVID-19 patients.
"Our hospitals are once again filling up, and they're filling up with young people and old people and those with comorbidities who have not been vaccinated,” Dr. Danny Branstetter of Wellstar Health System said during a press briefing with doctors and officials from several metro Atlanta health systems. "We're seeing this peak rise very, very quickly, and rising to match or exceed the peaks we saw in the winter."
Over 92% of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated, Branstetter said.
Dr. James Fortenberry, the chief medical officer at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, told reporters the hospital is seeing a"significantly greater impact" on childrenduring the surge of the highly contagious delta variant.
"Our teams are seeing more COVID-19-positive patients in our emergency departments, urgent care centers and hospitals than at any time in the pandemic," Fortenberry said, noting that there were 31 patients across the system's three hospitals with COVID-19 on Thursday. "Thankfully, only a small fraction of children who test positive for COVID-19 need to be hospitalized to treat their infection, but that doesn't mean that they don't experience illness, and what can be significant illness, and miss out on normal activities like school and sports."
Fortenberry implored all teachers, staff, students and visitors at schools to follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics and wear masks regardless of vaccination status.
"We owe it to our kids to do everything that we can to protect them," he said.
In Georgia, 47.4% of residents ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated, compared to 59.8% nationwide, according to CDC data.
Kemp has not issued any vaccine mandates for state employees, though he has closed state offices on Sept. 3 to encourage public employees to get the shot.
"We have three lifesaving vaccines widely available," he said Thursday while urging people to speak with someone they trust about getting vaccinated.
