Stacey Abrams calls reopening of Georgia 'irresponsible, 'incompetent.' 'People are.. told.. to come back to work [and] risk the lives of your families.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, April 28, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Speaking on a Special Edition of the EPIDEMIC podcast, 2018 Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams blasted Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s plans to reopen many businesses in that state, calling the action “irresponsible” and “incompetent”; Abrams’ cited the decision’s particular impact on “people of color … in Georgia [who are] black and Latino and likely to be women. These are low wage workers who do not have the luxury of refusing to return to work if they refuse the call of their employers.” In addition to addressing Kemp’s decision, Abrams discussed how COVID-19 is impacting voting rights, the census, and having a disparate impact on minority communities. Her comments, and the entire episode of the EPIDEMIC podcast, are available for free on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts at apple.co/epidemicpod, as well as on Spotify, Google, Stitcher, and many others.

In her interview on EPIDEMIC, Abrams said:

- Governor Kemp’s decision to reopen businesses like tattoo parlors, beauty salons, and massage treatment centers was “an irresponsible decision that not only would I not have made [as Governor], but as a citizen, I am actively agitating against.”

- “When we are told that the economy is more important than the people, then we've made very wrongheaded choices.” Abrams also criticized the decision’s impact on female workers and workers of color, prevalent in service businesses, saying “people are literally being told to … come back to work [at the] risk the lives of their families.”

- A leading voting rights advocate, Abrams said that, in response COVID-19, the U. S. must “expand vote by mail options, which includes no excuse, absentee voting;” a failure to do so would mean that COVID could “limit the ability to use ... the right to vote.”

- Abrams also addressed COVID’s disproportionate impact on African Americans, saying, “When you have a system that refuses to acknowledge that there are racial dimensions to healthcare and equity and to the solutions, then we cannot serve our people.”

The EPIDEMIC podcast launched in February 2020 and is focused on how COVID-19 is changing our world—from the implications of public policy decisions to the latest science to the impact on human rights—featuring leading experts and community voices on science, public policy, economics, psychology and much more. EPIDEMIC is co-hosted by Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at NYU School of Medicine, and a Medical Analyst at CNN. Dr. Gounder also worked on tuberculosis and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, and was an Ebola worker during the West African epidemic. EPIDEMIC’s co-host is Ronald Klain, former White House Ebola Response Coordinator under President Obama.

EPIDEMIC, produced by Just Human Productions, debuted at #12 overall on Apple Podcasts' charts, and #1 in Medicine in the U. S., and is among the highest-rated podcasts about the coronavirus. In addition to drawing a vast audience in the U. S., EPIDEMIC has also been the number one rated medical podcast in 10 countries around the world.

About Just Human Productions
Just Human Productions is a 501(c)(3) non-profit science media organization at the nexus of storytelling, science and health communication, and community empowerment. Just Human Productions’ mission is to build community and collaboration around issues of health disparity through inspirational stories, evidence-based, solutions-oriented journalism, and a focus on people’s lived experiences. The organization produces two critically-acclaimed podcasts hosted by Dr. Celine Gounder: AMERICAN DIAGNOSIS, covering health disparities in the U. S. with seasons dedicated to youth and mental health, the opioid overdose crisis, and gun violence in America; and EPIDEMIC, a twice-weekly program co-hosted with Ronald Klain, featuring a broad range of experts and community voices discussing the coronavirus pandemic and its implications for our society and individuals.

Contact Information:

Dr. Celine Gounder
cgounder@justhumanproductions.org
justhumanproductions.org | epidemic.fm

Samantha Slosberg
press@staceyabrams.com

Dr. Celine Gounder
Just Human Productions, Inc.
+1 917-275-2618
email us here

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