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  • Ibrahim J. Awad, Esq.

Re-Opening Stores During Covid-19


I hope everyone is staying safe. I wanted to share my insights. As to governor Kemp's order of reopening certain establishments like massage parlors, like bowling alleys like gyms, like tattoo parlors.

A lot of people may have the question that well, if governor Kemp is reopening the economy and permitting these establishments to run, that means that everything is good, like we are flattening the curve. We've hit the peak, and everything is fine and dandy.

Now, unfortunately, the economy, of course, is very important. We need to reopen the economy. However, there's something that is missing to ensure the safety of the public, which is adequate testing.

We don't have adequate testing to really differentiate between who has the virus and who does not. And since we know people can have the virus and be totally asymptomatic, meaning they're not sneezing, they're not coughing. They don't exhibit shortness of breath, and they are still spreading the virus unknowingly. So. as it pertains to my duties as a personal injury and wrongful death attorney, it's very unique that I am able to share my insight as to how we can prevent harm.

I really only work on cases after the harm is done, and I can foresee issues happening. And it's not just due to my cleverness, it's already begun. There's actually a lawsuit that has already been filed in Illinois against Walmart due to the death of one of their employees. They didn't have enough protective equipment in place. They did not have a system of identifying those who had the virus. They did not quarantine those who exhibited signs of having the virus. They did not abide by social distancing guidelines as espoused by the CDC and we know that they did a lot, but they just did not do enough.

There's a lot of guidelines that the cdc proposes, and yet Walmart was not even able to fully comply with all those requirements. Now if Walmart didn't comply, it's going to be very challenging for mom and pop stores to abide by the suggestions and the requirements posed by the CDC.

So, it does not mean that we have flattened the curve. Governor Kemp's order unfortunately just makes it seem that selective quarantine, absent sufficient testing, is going to be acceptable. It's not acceptable. Last statistic I saw was that we're only testing 8 out of every 100,000 people. We don't know who has the virus. We don't know who is spreading the virus, and we don't know who doesn't have the virus.

So, opening up these establishments really opens up liability exposure to liability on these establishments for not implementing the requirements and the guidelines as espoused by the cdc. Again, its unique for me to share my insight because I can only work on cases. Actually, after the harm is done, I don't want to be working on these cases.

I don't want a family that is grieving and mourning the loss of their loved one to call me and say we suspect that our loved one passed away because there was not sufficient protocol in place. So please take this to heart.

Just because governor Kemp says you have a right to reopen the establishment doesn't mean it is right to do so. Unless we have the sufficient testing that we need, then we can determine how we can reopen the economy. I pray that no one is harmed further. It seems like we have not flatten the curve. And reopening the economy at this point is premature. If you have any questions please let me know in the comments below.

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