Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on Monday said reopening the state has not been "as bad" as she thought it would be, though she cautioned it was still "too soon" to say.
Bottoms has criticized Gov. Brian Kemp for reopening, and in late April called his decision "baffling" and said she was "dumbfounded" by the choice.
Kemp last month became the first governor in the country to allow the reopening of salons, movie theaters, dine-in restaurants, and gyms.
During an interview with MSNBC's Brian Williams on Monday, though, she said "it's not as bad as I thought that it would be.
"So, I am pleased about that, but I still think it's too soon to say," she continued. "The reason being, whereas initially, we were seeing increases between deaths and people testing positive, rising anywhere from 25 to 30% over a seven-day period. Right now, we're somewhere between 12 and 15%. And it's better than it was, but it's still not great. We've still not seen that 14-day decline, as recommended by the CDC.
"So, we're not quite there where I can say that we are out of the woods, because we are not," she added. "Because what we know, as we reopen this state, we'll also see whether or not this impacts our number of people who are testing positive."
More than 38,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 in Georgia, and 1,640-plus have died.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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