Southern hospitality is not just a phrase, it’s part of the culture, but in the age of coronavirus, it’s wearing thin.
Many locals and public officials have yanked up the welcome mat from the doorstep of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They’re desperate to stop the influx of people traveling into Northeast Georgia from out of town.
“I’m up here in the north end of the county and we’re just covered up with people from Atlanta who are coming up here to play,” said Habersham County Commissioner Tim Stamey Saturday during an emergency called meeting.
As commissioners crafted language to declare a public health state of emergency, Stamey urged them to temporarily ban tourists from Habersham. He called out an Atlanta newspaper for articles he claims have steered people this way. And while commissioners opted for a much softer version of his recommendation – they instead encouraged visitors to abide by their home county’s shelter in place orders (section 6) – Stamey made his point.
“Our southern hospitality’s gone out the window for two weeks,” he said.
It definitely has in Fannin County.
On March 25, commissioners there banned visitors from areas with stay-at-home orders and shut down all tourism rentals. They even went so far as to kick out tourists whose reservations began on the day the emergency order went into effect. They were given 48 hours to leave.
Mixed messages
On March 26, the US Forest Service ordered a hard closure of several popular area tourist sites. Twenty-four hours later, the federal agency shut down nearly two dozen hiking trails in and around Habersham and White counties.
This approach of ‘if you close it, they won’t come’ is not stopping everyone. Some people are defying the closures, others are confused by mixed messaging.
Earlier this month Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order requiring medically-fragile Georgians to shelter in place but everyone else is under the jurisdiction of their hometown or county. It’s different for everyone everywhere even between the state and federal governments.
The US Forest Service shut down sections of the Chattahoochee National Forest, but Georgia’s state parks remain open. [The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has closed visitor’s centers and playgrounds at its state campgrounds but other facilities remain open.]
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Governor Brian Kemp and DNR Commissioner Mark Williams Sunday released a joint statement. It did little to clear up the confusion.
“We, too, enjoy exploring Georgia, but we urge people to stay mindful of social distancing, follow best practices, and avoid large crowds,” they said. They did say park rangers would begin enforcing social distancing and crowd limits on lakes and at campgrounds, but many are still treating such rules as requests.
That leaves local elected officials grappling with how best to protect their communities.
Doing “the best we can”
During a called teleconference meeting Monday morning, White County Sheriff Neal Walden and EMA director David Murphy told commissioners they’ve witnessed people in areas that are shut down. Someone pried open a locked gate at the trailhead to Yonah Preserve. Forest rangers spent the weekend turning away visitors to Yonah Mountain and Raven Cliffs.
“We’re doing the best we can,” Walden said.
The sheriff agreed with local leaders who have said they don’t want visitors coming in from Atlanta where COVID-19 infection rates are high but added, if they have to arrest them, it could end up infecting the jail and cost the county more money to isolate them.
White County commissioners Monday evening announced several things the county will now do to address the problem, including posting deputies at several local trailheads.
Currently, White County still only has one confirmed case of COVID-19. The Department of Public Health reported the first confirmed case in Banks County on March 30. Habersham, Rabun, Towns, Union, and Elbert counties are the only remaining counties in Northeast Georgia with none. While that most likely will change, people want to hold the virus at bay as long as possible – even if that means holding back the welcome mat.
“If I was in Atlanta I’d like to get out of Atlanta myself,” White County Commission Chair Travis Turner said according to WRWH News. “Any other time we would like to see the tourism, but right now for the next 2-4 weeks stay at home and don’t bring it up here to us.”
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