In the Loop
-
Flagpole Wants to Hear Your #QuarantineTales
For many Athens residents, this is an unprecedented moment: A virus spreads unpredictably throughout the globe; schools and workplaces are closed; most days are spent indoors, for weeks at a time. In short, “normal life” either is nonexistent or has become something else entirely.
We at Flagpole want to hear and share your stories of living, working, playing and hoping in these tumultuous times. How has the coronavirus altered your life? How are you responding? How would you like to see others respond? What do you miss about life before sheltering in place? What has sheltering in place, oddly, brought back into your life? (A skill? A hobby?)
Your quarantine stories can be fact or fiction, prose or poetry, lighthearted anecdotes or heavy accounts, or comics or photographs. Please limit them to 500 words, and we’ll publish as many as we can in future issues of Flagpole. Email all submissions to Associate Editor Noah Rawlings at [email protected].
-
UGA Hosts Webinar on Stimulus Funding
Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
The University of Georgia's Small Business Development Seminar will host a webinar Tuesday at 10 a.m. for Athens business owners to help them understand stimulus funding that is available and how to apply.
The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/276560811. The call-in number is +1 (646) 876-9923, and the meeting ID is 276 560 811.
The SBDC also has a website with more information about small business relief.
For more information, call 706-542-7436 or email [email protected].
-
COVID-19 Kills 12th Person in Northeast Georgia
Clarke County added one new death as a result of COVID-19 in the noon Daily Status Report for Friday, bringing the total deaths in the 10-county Northeast Health District of the Georgia Department of Health to 12.
The death was of a 98-year-old male with underlying conditions.
Elbert County, the sole county in the region without a confirmed COVID-19 case, added a single case in the 24 hour period from noon of Thursday to noon of Friday.
-
COVID-19 Cases Continue to Rise in Athens
Clarke County now has 54 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with seven residents dying from the disease, according to the latest numbers from the Georgia Department of Public Health.
In Georgia, 5,348 cases have been confirmed, with 163 deaths.
Those who have died in Clarke County range from age 60–89, according to DPH. At least four had underlying conditions making them more susceptible to the disease.
At least 15 University of Georgia students and employees have tested positive. They include one student worker who helped hundreds of fellow students move out of the dorms late last month, after UGA canceled in-person classes for the semester, according to the AJC. UGA said it has notified coworkers and students who checked out during times the student who tested positive was working.
-
Kemp Closes K-12 Schools for Rest of School Year
Many probably saw this coming, with just four weeks between Gov. Brian Kemp's projected return date of Apr. 27 and the end of the Clarke County school year May 21, and no end to the coronavirus pandemic in sight, but Kemp announced today that he will keep public K-12 schools in Georgia closed for the rest of the 2019–2020 school year.
CCSD shifted to online learning three weeks ago and had planned to keep it up at least through the end of the month. The latest announcement, though, throws activities like proms and graduation ceremonies in doubt.
-
Shelter in Place Ordinance Likely to Be Extended
Mayor Kelly Girtz said he will propose extending the current state of emergency for another month, keeping many businesses shuttered and requiring people to stay at home unless on essential business into May and possibly June.
"We think that, realistically, based on what epidemiologists and other similar scientists are saying, we’re looking at at least a June time frame before we get back to anything resembling normalcy," Girtz said at a commission work session Mar. 31.
One recent study projects that COVID-19 deaths in Georgia will peak around Apr. 23. But lifting social distancing measures too early could result in another spike of cases.
-
CCSD Changes How to Pick Up Meals While Schools Are Closed
Interim superintendent Xernona Thomas.
Clarke County School District Officials are holding off on announcing a date for schools to reopen as they await further local, state and federal guidance about the coronavirus pandemic.
Last week, Gov. Brian Kemp ordered public K-12 schools to stay closed until at least Apr. 24. In the meantime, SAT and ACT testing dates have been postponed, Advanced Placement tests will move online, and Milestones tests have been canceled. The mid-spring break will take place as planned Apr. 10–13, with no assignments on those dates, according to communications manager Beth Moore.
-
Earth Fare Will Reopen Under New Ownership
Photo Credit: Blake Aued
Earth Fare’s founder and a group of other Asheville, NC investors are buying some of the shuttered grocery stores and reopening them—including Athens’ Five Points location, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Earth Fare abruptly announced the closure of all 50 stores in February and went into bankruptcy. The Asheville group—made up of former Earth Fare executives and other business owners—paid $1.9 million for stores in Athens, Asheville and Roanoke, VA, as well as the Earth Fare name and web address, the Citizen-Times reported. A similar chain, Whole Foods, bought several other locations.
Page 5 of 235, showing 8 posts out of 1877 total, starting on # 33, ending on 40