Member-only story

A Funeral, a Mourner, and a Murder Trial Equal a COVID-19 Outbreak

H. Michael Harvey, JD
2 min readApr 3, 2020

--

Photo by Timothy L Brock on Unsplash

Down in tiny Albany, Doughtery County, Georgia, 837 people have tested positive for Coronavirus, 32 of whom died after contracting the virus as of 1:05 pm on Friday, April 3, 2020 (See https://www.phoebehealth.com/patients-and-visitors/coronavirus/coronavirus-update).

Of the 176 Georgians who have died from this respiratory disease, Albany’s 32 deaths are more than Atlanta’s 23 as of Thursday evening, April 2, 2020 (See https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-news/breaking-coronavirus-cases-top-georgia-163-deaths-reported/3jRQEx8o1JUecocEVUz9KO/).

The number of deaths is surprising because Albany has less than 100,000 residents, while Atlanta has 486,000 as of the 2017 census report.

Albany began incubating the virus three weeks ago when a visitor from Atlanta drove down to Albany to mourn the death of a friend from causes unrelated to the Coronavirus. This visitor tested positive for COVID-19 and, according to local authorities, infected the local mourners. It is unknown if the visitor knew before traveling to Albany if the virus was present.

According to Governor Brian Kemp, following the funeral, a resident of Albany, who attended the funeral, “visited another funeral, and fish fry,” then reported to the Dougherty County Courthouse to discharge the civil…

--

--

H. Michael Harvey, JD
H. Michael Harvey, JD

Written by H. Michael Harvey, JD

Harvey is Living Now Book Awards 2020 Bronze Medalist for his memoir Freaknik Lawyer: A Memoir on the Craft of Resistance. Available at haroldmichaelharvey.com

No responses yet