It was 5 years ago last month on March 2, 2020, that the first cases of the COVID-19 virus were discovered in Georgia. The first of the state’s deaths came 10 days later. One year after that, there were over 868,000 cases confirmed and over 17,200 people had died of COVID related issues.
Governor Kemp had declared a public health emergency on March 14. In the following days, the Governor would close the schools and universities and by April 2, he would issue a statewide shelter in place order. Many of Georgia’s businesses by mid-March of 2020 had voluntarily closed their doors and issued work-from-home instructions to their employees.
I was in that work-from-home category. On March 18th, I left my office due to the COVID pandemic, and it would be almost 2 years before I would return. During the early part of the shutdown, I made a point of driving around metro Atlanta in an effort to find out how the region looked. What effect had the shutdown had on life in metro Atlanta?
In recognition of the fifth anniversary of the COVID shutdown, I’ve gathered some of the imagery that I captured while driving around the region and edited this video… a brief look at the way we were in the spring and early summer of 2020.
That is quite a masterpiece, Lance, …. a long look into the rearview mirror of what was considered a very bad dream by most. Did you do all of that driving and filming around the metro area with the thought of someday doing a Covid documentary? I wouldn’t be at all surprised. There are familiar scenes that bring back memories of long-extant places and things….the Big Chicken on “Highway 41″…. the ‘Clairmont’ on Ponce with its unique ‘lounge’, ….and even the familiar (to me) WPA era colonial style city hall in the community where I was raised. (2:28)
Thanks for the look back, Lance, but I sincerely hope that there isn’t a repeat in our future anytime soon.
Cheers.
Greg, it’s great to see your name again. You’re a long-time supporter of our Stories of Atlanta series, and we always appreciate your perspective. I learn something every time you post. Rather than a long-game vision for a Covid documentary, not sure I’m that clever, my motivation for driving around the metro region was curiosity. I was fascinated with being able to drive anywhere without running into traffic. On the downside, where ever I went, the result was always the same…everything was closed. Hoping that this would never happen again, it seemed like a picture worthy moment. Thanks for watching and offering your insights Greg, you do E.P. proud.