‘Very Reckless Path': Atlanta Mayor warns Residents Of Covid Risk Despite Governor Reopening Economy

much of America is starting to reopen right now this week 32 states offering at least partial ways for people to return to life and work ground zero for all this might be Georgia where the Republican Governor Kemp pushed the state to reopen last week drawing criticism from President Trump who was contradicting his own past calls to reopen by knocking Kemp you can also see movie theaters and malls they're filling with people on lines there's a video from Atlanta making the rounds where you can see people setting off fireworks and watching a stunt-driving event so people are living many were also waiting in line for the new Jordan sneakers at this Atlanta mall but more activity obviously brings more risk in fact exposure to the virus in Georgia has spiked 40 percent since the governor reopened the state and the implications are broader the Trump administration has been raising the u.

s.

death estimate to nearly double by June in that blockbuster New York Times report that we were discussing so right now we turn to an official in the middle of this dilemma Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance bottom bottoms who opposes governor Kemp's policy while also stressing that she continues to seek a working relationship with him I know you're very busy thanks for making time for us tonight oh thank you for having me sure what are you advising your constituents your citizens to do in your city as you still are in a bit of a clash over policy with the governor I'll tell you I was so taken aback this weekend when I saw so many people out that I stopped for a moment and I asked my husband and all seriousness had I missed something about Kovach 19 because there were so many people out I thought that maybe something had changed that maybe this still was not a highly contagious virus that thousands of people were dying from each day and the reality is in Georgia people a lot of people didn't get passed it's okay to go back out and it's business as usual I think many people heard what they wanted to hear and I think we saw that reflected across the country but my message is consistent I am I am still encouraging people to stay home and listen I get it I I have an 18 year old in my house who is going stir-crazy it's beautiful in Georgia right now but the reality is that this is still a highly contagious virus and especially in the african-american community it is often deadly hmm I want to play a little bit of something we've been doing throughout our reporting which is listening to these frontline workers obviously you work with and oversee many of them as running a city take a listen at the place where I work the doctors the nurses the respiratory therapists the nursing assistants the pharmacist etc we'll all have to take a pay cut because people aren't doing what's right and the people that aren't doing things that are right all work in Washington there is no reason about the states who have had these super sick people should have to suffer we've suffered enough curious your response yeah I think it's incredibly selfish for those of us who don't have to risk our lives to each and every day to put people in a position where they're having to risk their lives and make sacrifices whether it be economically or otherwise well we look at other countries and we look at how they've gotten to the other side of this has been very simple they stayed in to flatten occur and we're nowhere near there in Georgia our numbers each day are running roughly between 25 and nearly a 30% increase between those testing positive and those who are dying from 7 days previously so even by the president's own standards we aren't there and it continues to concern me that we are going down what I feel to be a very reckless path I've spoken with the governor we've agreed to to disagree on this but I think the fact that we are testing this and we'll wait and see in 2 to 3 weeks we don't get a do-over with this testing that all means we'll see if more people get sick well that's why we highlighted the 40 percent jump we've seen and what's going on and and following what you're dealing with there in Atlanta and across Georgia Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance bottoms thank you so much hey I'm already Melbourne from MSNBC you can see more of our videos right here or better yet subscribe to our youtube channel below you could have been anywhere in the world that you're here with us and we appreciate that.