Georgia's governor hit with wave of backlash over plans to begin reopening the state's economy on Friday

• Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was met by a wave of backlash after he announced plans to relax the state's stay-at-home measures against the coronavirus in order to begin revving up the economy.
• Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms were among those who criticized the decision.
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is also taking similar steps to reopen businesses and relax state stay-at-home orders.
• The World Health Organization warned countries against premature returns to daily life without thorough contact tracing.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has received substantial backlash after he announced Monday that the state would start reopening parts of the economy as early as Friday.

Kemp intends to allow gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, cosmetologists, estheticians, massage therapists, as well as hair and nail salons to reopen Friday, followed by theaters and dine-in restaurants Monday.

The decision is meant to gear up businesses that ground to halt during the state's shelter-in-place order, Kemp said during an address to the state Monday, adding that the current state model was unsustainable.

"We must find ways to revitalize communities devastated by COVID-19," Kemp said. "We must identify opportunities for economic growth and prosperity."

The move follows the release of Trump's guidelines for reopening the economy.

Kemp said that COVID-19 cases appear to be flattening out and that emergency room visits were declining, but data from Johns Hopkins University and CNN showed that COVID-19 cases in the state, while down 6% from the previous week from 6,000 to 5,700 cases, were still higher than the week that ended April 5, at 3,800 cases. Meaning that Georgia has not yet maintained a steady 14-day decline in cases, according to CNN, which epidemiologist note is essential to be able to reopen the economy.

Other crucial steps that experts say should be reached before relaxing state measures include hospitals safely treating all patients at non-crisis levels, testing every person who has symptoms, and extensive contact tracing and isolation of active cases.

Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams spoke out against Kemp's decision calling it a "false opening of the economy," and tweeted that it is "dangerously incompetent."

"There's nothing about this that makes sense," Abrams said in an interview on MSNBC. "The mayors of Atlanta, Albany, and Savannah have all questioned the wisdom of doing this. And the fact is the governor didn't consult with mayors before making this decision."

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms told Politico the announcement was completely unexpected and worrisome.

"I'm perplexed that we have opened up in this way. And again, I can't stress enough, I work very well with our governor, and I look forward to having a better understanding of what his reasoning is," Bottoms told Politico. "But as I look at the data and as I talk with our public health officials, I don't see that it's based on anything that's logical."

Some workers and citizens are concerned about putting business back online. Jamie Booth, a hairstylist in Atlanta, told the Daily Beast she was going to continue keeping her business closed.

"I am mortified and appalled he would open us up in the middle of our coronavirus peak," Booth said.

But Kemp is not alone in relaxing measures against the spread of coronavirus.

Colorado's governor, Jared Polis, also announced some business would resume starting Monday, April 27, as the state's stay-at-home order expires and the state moves into "safer-at home" recommendations, according to The Denver Post.

As states like Georgia and Colorado ease back into opening their economies, the World Health Organization warned that reopening too soon could cause a resurgence of cases without proper care to implement extensive contact tracing.

And according to epidemiologists who wrote an op-ed in The New York Times about the initial response to coronavirus — timing is everything.

Kemp's office did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment on the criticism.