Gov. Kemp speaks 1-on-1 with Channel 2 about rising COVID-19 numbers, criticism over election

ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp says he has a full plate handling everything, such as continued criticism from the White House, a surge in COVID-19 cases and accusations of Chinese collusion to get Joe Biden elected.

Some Republicans from Georgia and all the way up to President Donald Trump are upset with him over the results of November’s election.

Channel 2 anchor Justin Farmer spoke exclusively with the governor on Wednesday, where Kemp addressed all of the issues.

“Maybe the most fascinating one is that you are in collusion with China to get Biden into the White House,” Farmer said about the accusation that Kemp helped Biden win Georgia.

“Yeah, well, I know several people have made that accusation. I’m not sure who it is. I can tell you that that’s absolutely ridiculous. Nobody worked harder for this president before Nov. 3 than I did in this state,” Kemp said.

There’s been no evidence whatsoever that Kemp or the Secretary of State are part of some election fraud or scheme.

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Farmer also asked the governor about this week’s surge in coronavirus cases. The seven-day average was up more than 60% over last week.

“My urging would be to people is like, look, just for the next week or two, now that we’re over Thanksgiving, just try to take it easy. Don’t try to do too much. Don’t get out if you don’t have to. Do the essential things. Keep to your family unit. Let’s just help flatten the curve the next two weeks,” Kemp said.

When asked about a mask mandate, Kemp said they don’t work.

“If you look at North Dakota and South Dakota right now, one of them has a mask mandate, one does not, and they’re both in the same place. They’ve got the highest cases in the country,” Kemp said.

He said hospitals in the metro area are getting more stressed but adds hospital management told him that stress comes from more than COVID-19 cases.

“The hospital are definitely getting stressed, but I think, and I would hope, that people would realize and the media would report, it’s not just from COVID that they’re getting stressed. I think that we still have less than 20% people statewide, on average, of COVID patients in the hospitals. In my conversations with the hospital CEOs, they’re stressed because they’ve got more trauma. They’ve got more car wrecks, more cars on the road, people are having wrecks. You’ve got violent crime that we’ve seen here in the city of Atlanta with gunshot victims,” Kemp said.

Farmer asked the governor if he has confidence in a vaccine and if he and his family would get it. He said yes, but only after health care workers and the elderly.

Timeline of when some people in the state of Georgia may receive the COVID-19 Vaccine

Cox Media Group