Atlanta fire chief in quarantine, awaiting COVID-19 test results
Atlanta’s fire chief has opted to self-quarantine pending the results of a COVID-19 test, one day after the city’s mayor announced that she tested positive for the virus. Randall Slaughter is being tested for the coronavirus “out of an abundance of caution,” Atlanta Fire and Rescue spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford confirmed to AJC.com on Tuesday. “He will also be in quarantine until his results return and will move forward based on those results,” Stafford said. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Monday announced that she tested positive for the virus. “COVID-19 has literally hit home,” Bottoms wrote. “I have had NO symptoms and have tested positive.” — Please read more on AJC.com for updates.
WATCH LIVE: President Trump, First Lady to address reopening U.S. schools
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump plan to participate in a “National Dialogue on Safely Reopening America's Schools” on Tuesday. >>Watch a live stream of the address below at 3 p.m. ET. On Monday, President Trump said that U.S. schools must open in the fall. Reuters reporter Makini Brice writes that the decision to reopen America’s schools is one that Trump has “limited power” over, as governors “struggle with a nationwide rise in coronavirus infections and states reverse and pause attempts to reopen.” >>Read MORE from Reuters here. And stay up to date HERE as Atlanta area schools release their plans for returning in the fall.
Governor declares State of Emergency, authorizes 1,000 National Guard troops to Atlanta
Gov. Brian Kemp has signed an executive order declaring a State of Emergency and authorizing the call-up of up to 1,000 National Guard troops in Georgia. The troops will be deployed as needed to protect state buildings, including the State Capitol, the Georgia Department of Public Safety headquarters, the governor’s mansion and the Georgia World Congress Center. The goal, according to the governor’s office, is to free up state troopers from those locations so they can help patrol the streets of Atlanta. “Peaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous, destructive agenda. Now, innocent Georgians are being targeted, shot, and left for dead,” Kemp said Monday. “This lawlessness must be stopped and order restored in our capital city. I have declared a State of Emergency and called up the Georgia Guard because the safety of our citizens comes first. This measure will allow troops to protect state property and dispatch state law enforcement officers to patrol our streets. Enough with the tough talk. We must protect the lives and livelihoods of all Georgians.” The order comes after a burst of violence across the city over the holiday weekend that left four dead, including an 8-year-old girl, and saw the ransacking of the headquarters of the Georgia State Patrol. Kemp, a Republican, issued the emergency order after threatening late Sunday to “take action” to curb the unrest in Atlanta if Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms failed to do so, a move that highlighted the complicated, and increasingly tense, relationship between two of the state’s most prominent politicians. The governor’s aides said earlier Monday that his emergency powers grant him the authority to deploy Georgia National Guard troops to Atlanta’s streets. He took that step in late May, after widespread looting and violence, at Bottoms' request. The mayor, who said Monday she tested positive for the coronavirus, did not immediately address Kemp’s decision. But she issued her own plea to residents to end the violence. At least 93 people were shot in Atlanta between May 31 — roughly when the George Floyd protests began — and June 27. That’s roughly double the number from the same span a year ago. “This random wild, Wild West shoot-‘em-up because you can, has gotta stop. It has to stop,” she said after the violent weekend. >>Read MORE on AJC.com.
