Georgia Today: General Assembly prep; 'Crime is down says Atlanta mayor; Infectious disease expert

Peter Biello: Welcome to the Georgia Today podcast from GPB news. Today is Friday, Jan. 5. I'm Peter Biello. On today's episode, state education leaders and lawmakers gathered to discuss priorities ahead of the next session. Atlanta's mayor celebrates a reduction in crime. And with flu and COVID-19 infections on the rise, we'll tell you more about what to expect and how to keep yourself safe. These stories and more are coming up on this edition of Georgia Today.

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Education

Story 1:

Peter Biello: Georgia's education leaders want more support for the statewide shift in how kids are taught to read, and more support for mental health in public schools. Those are some of the priorities that surfaced today in an annual meeting of education experts and lawmakers ahead of the General Assembly set to convene on Monday. The advocacy group Georgia Partners for Excellence in Education organized the event. State school Superintendent Richard Woods told the gathering he's pushing for an update of the state's funding formula for public schools — the QBE, or quality basic education formula.

Richard Woods: It really has not changed since 1985. Um, back then I was doing chalkboard and chalk. Uh, and you don't really see chalkboard and chalk and, and actually typing my test on an old manual typewriter.

Peter Biello: Experts also warned about the coming end of billions of dollars in federal pandemic-era emergency school funding later this year.

Story 2:

Peter Biello: Georgia's state tax collections aren't growing as fast as they were several years ago. But that doesn't mean Gov. Brian Kemp and lawmakers won't have room for new spending. Pay increases for public employees and teachers, more spending on health and education and more tax breaks all could result when state lawmakers convene Monday for the next session.

Story 3:

Peter Biello: Georgia Republicans and Democrats are gearing up for what promises to be a hotly contested election year. Leaders in both parties today announced new efforts to sway voters and recruit candidates. On the GOP side, former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler presented the national rollout of a technology company she founded to support conservative candidates. On the Democratic side, the state party unveiled a plan to recruit enough candidates to make sure no Republican goes unchallenged for offices up and down the ballot.

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Andre Dickens

Credit: GPB News

Story 4:

Peter Biello: Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens says crime is down in the city. At a press conference yesterday, he and Atlanta Police Chief Darien Schierbaum touted year-end statistics showing crimes against people, including homicides and aggravated assaults, fell by 17%. In Washington this morning, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland echoed similar progress nationally but warned against complacency.

Merrick Garland: We know that hard-fought progress can easily slip away, and we must remain focused and vigilant. That said, we are encouraged by the data we are seeing indicating a decline in homicides. The FBI has reported that the number of homicides fell over 6% nationally between 2021 and 2022.

Peter Biello: Atlanta officials say property crimes also fell by 7%, but not all of the data was positive. Motor vehicle thefts were up 61% from 2022 to last year, according to the data, and shoplifting rose 22%.

Story 5:

Peter Biello: Atlanta transportation officials say it could take 10 weeks to repair a bridge that's been damaged by fire twice. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports traffic on Cheshire Bridge Road has to take a detour in the meantime.

Amanda Andrews: Councilmember Alex Wan represents District 6, where the bridge is located. He told constituents in a recent newsletter the initial plan was to keep one lane open, but it was ultimately decided to complete repairs all at once. Business owners near Cheshire Bridge are already reporting a loss of business due to the closure. Terri Stark, co-owner of The Laundry Lounge, says they moved to this location four months ago and they're frustrated with the city.

Terri Stark: Until something is done to help the homeless and kind of get them out from underneath the bridges, we're concerned this is just going to be a reoccurring issue.

Amanda Andrews: This is the second time the bridge has been closed due to fire damage in two years. For GPB news, I'm Amanda Andrews.

Story 6:

Peter Biello: Georgia-based shipping giant UPS has announced a new return-to-office policy. The company said this week it's ending hybrid work and requiring corporate employees to work in-person five days a week, with a few exceptions, beginning March 4. The move affects thousands of non-operations UPS employees at the company's campuses around the world. Those include workers at the company's corporate headquarters in Sandy Springs, north of Atlanta.

Story 7:

Peter Biello: The federal government has agreed to a $3.6 million settlement with five homeowners whose land was seized for the Atlanta BeltLine. The AJC reports that all five lived on Flagler Avenue in the Piedmont Heights neighborhood in 2017, when they and other neighbors were ordered to remove property like fences, garages and gardens that sat in the way of the trail's path. A federal judge had awarded another group of neighbors $12 million last February, after ruling that their property was illegally seized. The five homeowners were part of a separate lawsuit that made similar arguments. There's one remaining Flagler Avenue homeowner seeking compensation in a case that's ongoing.

Story 8:

Peter Biello: An Athens man is scheduled to be sentenced next month for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol. 22-year-old Jake Maxwell became the latest Georgia resident to be convicted for actions during the deadly attack three years ago tomorrow. Maxwell was found guilty of felony civil disorder and other charges last month. Prosecutors say he got into a physical struggle with an officer, attempted to grab his baton and watched for hours as other rioters became increasingly violent. He's one of 22 Georgians arrested on Jan. 6-related charges. Those include an Americus lawyer sentenced to serve 18 months in prison, and a man from southeast Georgia's Effingham County who was a member of the Oath Keepers and pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. A Savannah man has a plea hearing later this month.

Story 9:

Peter Biello: A nonprofit organization that gives minority- and women-owned businesses access to capital, coaching and connections, celebrated the opening of its first office in South Georgia yesterday. Regional Director Tommie Beth Willis of Access to Capital Entrepreneurs, or ACE, says the group has helped more than 2,000 businesses in Georgia.

Tommie Beth Willis: ACE has been open in Georgia, North Georgia specifically, and metro Atlanta for 20-plus years, and we're now bringing those resources to South Georgia and to be able to grow local businesses, put jobs in local communities and grow local economic development.

Peter Biello: The office in Tifton opened last year and serves Georgia south of Macon.

Story 10:

Peter Biello: Flu and COVID-19 infections have been increasing for weeks across the US, with high levels of flu-like illness reported in 31 states, including Georgia just before Christmas. New York City last week instituted a mask mandate for the city's 11 public hospitals, and similar measures were ordered at some hospitals in Los Angeles and Massachusetts. Health officials predict infections will continue to grow. For more on this, we turn to Dr. Carlos del Rio, Distinguished Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine. Thank you very much for speaking with me.

Dr. Carlos del Rio: Delighted to speak to you.

Peter Biello: So both flu and COVID-19 are rising at the same time right now. Some public hospitals across the country are returning to some of the measures we saw in 2020. What can you tell us about what hospitals are doing in Georgia?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: Well, it's different hospitals doing different things. Some hospitals ... aren't seeing more patients than others. What we're seeing mostly right now in most hospitals is an increase in flu. Flu is pretty common. People were testing about 1 in 3 testing positive for flu. As far as COVID, it's only about 1 in 10 testing positive. The key for both diseases is people should be vaccinated. Because when you see people that are vaccinated for flu or with the updated COVID monovalent booster, that what you see is people get infected, but they're not getting sick, they're not ending up in the hospital. They get sick. I mean, they feel bad. Don't take me that they're not going to feel bad, but they're not going to end up in the hospital. They're not going to end up in the ICU. They're not going to end up critically ill.

Peter Biello: How much of a factor is RSV right now?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: RSV is currently not much of a factor. We're not seeing a lot of RSV.

Peter Biello: What are vaccination rates like for flu and COVID-19 in Georgia right now?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: They're pretty low. They're lower than we would like them to be. They're in the maybe 20% to 30% in the flu and maybe about in the teens for COVID.

Peter Biello: Okay. And is it too late to get vaccinated?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: It's not too late to get vaccinated. The other thing I want to talk about is not only vaccines. For both diseases, we have treatments, right? You should get treated if you get infected. Again, I go back to my personal experience. When I had flu, I got tested. I started with Tamiflu with oseltamivir and I did quite well.

Peter Biello: There are drugs specifically for COVID, like Paxlovid. How effective is that?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: Oh, they're pretty effective as well. I mean, they're pretty effective, again, in preventing severe disease, hospitalization and death. So people that are eligible for them, in general, we like to reserve them for people over the age of 60.

Peter Biello: Mm-hmm. And are people noticing that they're sick in time to qualify for drugs like Paxlovid?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: You know, they are, but they're not going into treatment. And— and they're not — they're not thinking the treatment is going to help them. And that's what I worry about. So I think we need to get the message out that if you are infected, you should talk to your health care provider, and you should try to access therapy as soon as possible, because that makes a big difference.

Peter Biello: How effective are the over-the-counter COVID tests?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: They're pretty good. They're actually still very good. And so is — there's one test commercially available that actually has both COVID-19 and flu included. And it's very good at detecting either of those diseases.

Peter Biello: So what I'm hearing you say is that if you're sick, get tested. If you're positive, seek treatment. And if you're not sick yet, get vaccinated because that will help prevent serious illness.

Dr. Carlos del Rio: Absolutely. You just summed it up very well.

Peter Biello: Well, how long do you anticipate this current outbreak of viruses will last?

Dr. Carlos del Rio: Well, typically respiratory virus season lasts anywhere between four to six weeks. But again, if I can tell you one thing we've learned from respiratory viruses, whether it's COVID or influenza, is you don't make predictions because it's really hard to predict.

Peter Biello: Dr. Carlos del Rio, thank you very much for speaking with me.

Dr. Carlos del Rio: Uh, delighted to talk to you.

Peter Biello: Dr. Carlos del Rio is distinguished professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Emory University School of Medicine.

Peter Biello: And that's it for this edition of Georgia Today. If you want to learn more about any of these stories, visit our website gpb.org/news. And if you haven't subscribed to this podcast yet, take a moment and do it now. We'll be back in your podcast feed on Monday. If you've got feedback or a story idea, we would love to hear from you. Email us. The address is GeorgiaToday@gpb.org. I'm Peter Biello. Thanks again for listening and have a great weekend.

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