Georgia Sets Records, Glynn County

Sunday Reads – Sept. 5

Welcome to September. How did we get here so quickly? Here, of course, is a relative point.

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Georgia hits a health care milestone

While we’d vowed not to permeate this week’s edition with more COVID news, it must be noted that Georgia crossed the 20,000 deaths mark this week. The Georgia Department of Public Health also reminds us that there are likely at least 3,000 more deaths to be attributed to the deadly coronavirus. Dr. Kathleen Toomey said this week that 97% of the deaths in recent months are preventable — people who were not vaccinated. Toomey is Georgia’s commissioner of DPH. Hospitals are now treating more patients than at any other time in the pandemic and many facilities have reached the point where they cannot properly treat any other malady that arrives like heart attacks, broken legs, car accident victims.

Georgia’s string of healthcare records didn’t just start with the coronavirus. In past months, the state has hit bottom on national rankings for senior health care and access to overall health care. Recent reports with data taken just before the pandemic also found that mental distress in Georgia adults rose from 12.2 percent to 15.4 percent and the suicide rate rose, as well. Obesity is nearly two points higher than the national average at 33.1%. But most chilling of all is this: 70% of Georgia’s maternal deaths from 2012 to 2016 were preventable. The mortality rate for women giving birth in Georgia continues to be the worst in the country. Black women are nearly three times more likely to die during childbirth than white women in Georgia. Ongoing research at Morehouse School of Medicine is looking to define the factors — including care access and bias — that lead to the “largely preventable deaths” so those can be treated over time.

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Former D.A. faces charges

As the trial for the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery gets closer, another person related to the case faces a felony charge. The former Glynn County district attorney, Jackie Johnson, was indicted for violating her oath of office and “showing favor and affection” for one of the suspects during the shooting investigation. Johnson later handed off the case to another D.A. who eventually passed it along to another. Johnson was voted out of office in November.

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Glynn County Commissioners give up

After weeks of drama and behind-the-scenes work to get the county tax commissioner to take the Glynn County manager’s position, the block of four commissioners threw in the towel Thursday when they couldn’t agree on a contract for Jeff Chapman. The candidate-drafted contract on the table included $225,000 and 160 days of leave per year, among other items. In the wake of it all, the Georgia Attorney General’s office is reviewing the process for the selection to see if it broke state Open Meetings law. The saga will continue, as will the search for a Glynn County manager.

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Disappearing Georgia

As we learn more about the year’s Census numbers and the effects in the state, it’s more apparent that “rural Georgia” as we know it may be slowly disappearing. While 25% of the state’s land mass is considered rural, only 21% of its population is scattered through it. One of the counties with the worse losses is in Coastal Georgia — and the fastest growing county is, too. McIntosh lost 23.4% of its population over the last decade; Bryan County grew by 48%.

All of this plays into the current round of reapportionment as lawmakers figure out how to redraw the voting districts for the next decade. The Georgia legislature is firmly Republican and those votes are firmly rooted in rural areas, where the voters often feel left out as new businesses with hundreds of jobs end up in the more populated areas because of easier access to workers, workforce training and broadband technology. Redistricting aside, it’s a conundrum for all concerned and for Georgia’s future.

Your second cup

Today we’ll send you to The Water Main, work by American Public Media, where you’ll find the story of three women, Dominique, Roishetta and Alexis, who worked through their own losses last year during four federally recognized weather disaster events. Residents of Lake Charles, Louisiana, experienced Hurricanes Laura and Delta, then frigid cold and then flash flooding in nine months. This story is an inspiring and maddening look at the strength of people and the frailty of systems in uncontrollable situations. The story is detailed and painstaking, but if you’ve got time, please listen to the 51-minute audio version and think about options for people you know in Coastal Georgia if these devastating events occurred here. You may need to start a second pot.

Enjoy.

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