(CN) — In Savannah, Georgia, the azaleas bloom white and pink in the squares for which the city is known. But few people travel the city streets now, only the occasional local riding a bike or walking a dog.
Savannah Mayor Van Johnson II issued a stay-at-home order Tuesday morning, as local governments across the state take different approaches to the coronavirus outbreak. The companies offering horse-drawn carriage rides through the streets lined with trees covered in Spanish moss are closed, according to Erica Backus, a spokesperson for Visit Savannah.
The same goes for the tour company that hires an actor to dress as Forrest Gump and run through Chippewa Square, where the classic movie was filmed.
Chatham County, where Savannah is located, has 10 confirmed cases of the virus known as Covid-19 as of Friday afternoon, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Normally, this would be a peak tourism season for Savannah, with hotel occupancy rates 80 to 85%. But the hotels are operating at about 6% capacity. According to the mayor, the city is losing $150,000 a day.
From the port city of Savannah to communities in the Blue Ridge Mountains, local governments in Georgia are weighing whether to place more restrictions on their residents to stop the spread of the coronavirus after the governor issued a limited stay-at-home order on Monday.
As governors in other states issued orders for only essential businesses to remain open and residents to shelter in place, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp — besides including provisions such as limiting groups of 10 or more people — only ordered the medically vulnerable and elderly to stay at home until April 6.
This left city councils and county commissions with many questions: Should local governments order residents to their homes? Perhaps a curfew is necessary? Or should they simply follow the guidance handed down by the White House and Atlanta?
The result has been a varying response across the state.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms merely referenced Kemp’s March 14 state of emergency declaration when she ordered residents to stay home and for homeless residents to seek shelter Monday evening.
Tuesday was the tipping point, according to two dozen infectious disease clinicians. After that date, any delay implementing a stay-at-home order “will lead to an earlier and higher peak of infected Georgians that will completely overwhelm our hospital systems,” Bottoms’ order said.
Atlanta sits in Fulton County, which is one of two counties most affected by the spread of the coronavirus in the Peach State. On Friday afternoon, Fulton led the state with 307 confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Like Atlanta, Savannah was one of the cities to go beyond Kemp’s executive order.
A few days after it issued its order, Savannah issued a clarification — after receiving its own clarification from the state – that no, vape shops are not considered essential businesses. The follow-up order also closed barbershops and salons and opened pawn shops.
During a press conference Tuesday, Mayor Johnson asked Kemp for more state-level action to bring more consistency across Georgia, specifically mentioning there were businesses operating in the city that were not regulated by it.