Atlanta

Day cares, restaurants work to implement Kemp’s new rules

ATLANTA — Social distancing, as well as employee and customer screenings, will remain a part of life in Georgia at least through May 31, as will the ban on music venues, bars and clubs.

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot took a closer look at what the governor’s newest executive order does, and how some businesses could be helped by it.

Day care centers are some of the businesses that seem to benefit the most. Under Kemp’s new order, day care centers will be allowed to reopen Thursday and have up to 20 children per classroom. That’s double the amount of children under previous guidelines.

Some smaller day care centers couldn't open because of the original guidelines, but under this new order, more children are allowed in the facilities.

Elliot talked to one day care owner who plans to reopen.

Glenda Williams owns Loving Arms Child Development Center. The day care on Hill Street has been in her family more than 60 years.

COVID-19 forced her to shut down March 14 and lay off her seven teachers. Williams said she will now be able to reopen and rehire all of her teachers.

"We're just sprucing up, making sure everything is sanitized and waiting on the children," Williams said.

Williams said her teachers are very excited to have their jobs back. Williams said she’s also excited because she misses the kids.

Channel 2′s Mike Petchenik talked to the Deputy Commissioner of Childcare Services Pam Stevens about the decision to allow day cares to reopen.

“It’s a hard call, but we have to balance it with we don’t want people desperately looking for childcare and not able to find licensed child care,” Stevens said. She said about half the state’s day cares have reopened and the must follow strict guidelines.

Stevens said day cares are inherently good at controlling infectious disease.

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“That’s a big part of what we do every day of the year,” Stevens said. “We’re good at this.”

Petchenik talked to the owner of Open Arms Lutheran Child Development Center, who said they are taking many extra precautions -- they even had a new air purification system installed.

Petchenik talked to one father, Jamie Pate, who said he jumped at the chance to send his son back to school when his day care opened last week.

“We’re big proponents of coming back to the school,” Pate said. “It’s been a challenging time, even with someone in the house to take care of the kids.”

Another father, Cary Blumenfeld, wasn’t so sure about sending his 3-year-old back to day care.

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Blumenfeld recovered from COVID-19, but his father-in-law was hospitalized and on a ventilator for weeks.

“I’ve seen how bad and how quickly it can get bad,” Blumenfeld said.

“We’ve all heard the rumblings about kids getting sick, and I think that’s our biggest concern,” Blumenfeld said.

Stevens said the state is keeping a close eye on numbers, and if they see any upward spikes in cases, they will reevaluate whether to reduce the numbers allowed. She stresses it’s a parent’s choice whether to send their kid back, but she wants then to chose a licensed facility that has to follow these guidelines.

Guidelines loosen for restaurants:

Day cares aren't the only businesses benefiting from Kemp's new orders. Restaurants can also now have more people in dining rooms, 10 people per 300 square feet.

Elliot spoke to one restaurant owner who had to shut down and could now reopen partially even earlier than she thought.

Kristen "Red" Sumpter owns Red's Beer Garden on Boulevard. They make gourmet hot dogs. The pandemic hit right after her grand opening, which Sumpter said has not been easy.

“So we were open two months before we had to temporarily close because of COVID,” Sumpter said. “We had to temporarily lay off our employees. That was the biggest loss for us.”

Red’s just reopened for takeout and delivery, but under the governor’s executive order, she’s seriously considering reopening completely, but only if she sees a consistent decline in COVID-19 cases.

“We are hoping to open our dining room and our beer garden outside probably some time around the beginning of June, but for now, we’re just going to keep monitoring,” Sumpter said.