Atlanta Residents Asked to Take a Survey on the City’s Businesses and Restaurants Reopening

Residents of Atlanta are being asked to voice their opinions on how the city should reopen for business by taking an online survey. The survey is featured on the city’s official COVID-19 response website, #ATLStrong.org, which is meant to provide public resources, guidance, and updates on the novel coronavirus and its impact on Atlanta. People can also complete the survey by calling 404-546-0311.

Questions on the survey range from a person’s willingness to patronize restaurants, salons, and sports venues right now, to measures that must be taken by businesses in order for people to feel safe returning.

The public survey comes in response to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s latest order allowing certain businesses to reopen and restaurants to resume dine-in service across the state. Restaurants are permitted to reopen dining rooms as long as establishments meet a list of 39 required guidelines to achieve “minimum basic operations.”

It’s unclear how the data collected in the survey will be used by the city. Eater Atlanta reached out to the Atlanta mayor’s office for more information.

Gov. Kemp’s latest executive order supersedes any similar orders mandated on the local level, and restricts local leaders, like Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, from implementing more rigid safety measures for businesses and restaurants in their cities.

Some metro area cities are already finding creative solutions to the dine-in conundrum restaurants now face in order to maintain the health and safety of employees and diners. The city of Brookhaven, just north of Atlanta, announced a new Temporary Outdoor Restaurant Operations Permit. The no-cost permit allows restaurants to utilize tents, parking lots, and other outdoor spaces as potential seating areas that might not otherwise fall under Brookhaven’s current code ordinances.

The governor provided an update on the state’s response to COVID-19 during another press conference earlier this week. However, he did not say whether he would extend the statewide shelter-in-place order, which is set to expire on Thursday, April 30, at 11:59 p.m. Gov. Kemp could make a decision on the order today.

Under the current shelter-in-place order, Georgians can continue with outdoor activities and leave their homes for essential medical appointments, to gas up their cars, or to procure food and supplies. Social distancing of six feet or more must be adhered to in public, when not with members of a single household.

Mayor Bottoms has widely criticized the governor’s decision to allow businesses like spas and hair and nail salons to reopen and restaurants to resume dine-in service. Following the governor’s press conference last Monday when he announced these close-contact businesses would reopen, the mayor told ABC News Prime she was unsure of the data Gov. Kemp referenced to make his controversial decision to lift statewide restrictions

To receive official COVID-19 updates from the city of Atlanta, text “ATLCOVID19” to 888777.

Stay home if sick. Check the Georgia Department of Public Health website for guidance and twice-daily updates on the latest number of reported COVID-19 cases.

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