Gov. Brian Kemp’s plan for reopening Georgia was met with surprise by many.

President Donald Trump publicly stated he disagreed strongly with Kemp’s decision. “It’s just too soon,” Trump said Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

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“I want him to do what he thinks is right,” Trump said. “But ... I think (opening) spas and beauty salons and tattoo parlors and barber shops in Phase One ... it’s just too soon.”

However, the AP reported Friday that Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had told Kemp they agreed with his plan earlier.

The shift came after top health advisers reviewed the plan and persuaded the president that Kemp was risking further spread of the virus by moving too quickly.

The businesses Kemp has announced can be reopened are the ones that he closed with his April 2 shelter-in-place order. Bars, live performance venues and amusement rides are still closed.

Locally, some leaders said that while they wouldn’t have made the same decision, they know Kemp has better information than they do.

Keith Brady, Newnan mayor

“Based on what I know, I wouldn’t have made that decision,” said Newnan Mayor Keith Brady. “But he clearly has more information than I have, and he made his decision based on that information.”

There seems to be a lot of confusion among people over what businesses were actually closed to begin with.

Brady recalled a retail shop owner who wondered when the governor would allow her to open. But her business, like most others, was never closed to begin with.

Brady said some business owners feel pressured to open because the governor said they can.

“That is not the case,” he said. “They can open if they want to. If they don’t feel safe about their own safety and the safety of their customers, they shouldn’t.”

With his original shelter-in-place order, and with the updates, Kemp overrode any local regulations.

The city of Newnan had been considering mandating some closures when Kemp’s April 2 order came out.

“I really didn’t appreciate that. I don’t think any mayor in the state did,” Brady said. “We know our communities better than the governor of any state knows any particular community.”

However, he also understands the confusion that would ensue with different cities and counties having different rules.

Paul Poole, commission chairman

Coweta Commission Chairman Paul Poole urges people to continue to keep their distance, even if businesses are opening up.

“That’s very important,” Poole said. “If you’ve got any kind of other health issues, you’ve got to really be careful. We’ve got to watch out for our family members, our children and everybody.”

He knows small businesses are hurting and have to open up to stay afloat.

“I just hope people will use common sense and businesses will use common sense,” Poole said.

Hospital numbers are down, Poole said, but “we’ve got to be careful and act like adults and practice the safety measures that the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Public Health have told us,” he said.

“I don’t think the governor would have done it unless he had some good information on it, but we’ve got to act like adults and take responsibility.”

That being said, Poole said he’s looking forward to a haircut.

“My hair is as long now as it was in 1969,” he said. “I don’t know exactly how people are going to handle that … I just want everybody to be careful.”

And if people are comfortable wearing a mask, wear one. “Some of us could be carriers and we don’t even know it. That is where the mask would be so important,” Poole said.

Chuck Enderlin, Coweta Democratic Party chairman

Chuck Enderlin is the chairman of the Coweta County Democratic Party. He and his family have had a personal experience with COVID-19 – he and his wife Jenny became sickened in early March.

Though they were never actually tested for COVID-19, they had all the symptoms and every other test was negative.

They never had to go to the hospital, but they were very sick. Enderlin recalled gasping for air for a week after he felt recovered. “We’re still not sure if there are permanent side effects,” he said. “This isn’t a disease that you just recover from and everything is fine and hunky-dory.”

Studies are finding people who have recovered being more prone to blood clots, and as a pilot, Enderlin is already prone to clots.

“It’s a very scary disease. It spreads rapidly. It’s 10-times deadlier than the flu, at least, and probably more so. And we’ve been able to contain it by shutting down everything,” he said. Opening back up “runs the risk of having a second spike in two weeks that is going to be much more severe,” he said. “We’re going to have to go through this same cycle all over again, only worse. That is not what anybody wants.”

From the party’s standpoint, “it’s too fast, it’s too soon. It goes against all of the health criteria,” Enderlin said.

The situation has led to most of the Democratic leaders finding themselves “standing in agreement with President Trump, for the first time, I think, ever,” he said.

Georgia needs more testing, Enderlin said. Some countries have been able to contain the disease with extensive, rapid testing, including people who aren’t showing symptoms.

“That is the biggest threat in all of this – if you have one asymptomatic person running around or working on one of those businesses, they can spread the virus to everyone else they come in contact with,” Enderlin said.

“If we could just magically shut down everything and everybody stays home and let this burn out, it would be gone. Obviously, we can’t do that,” he said. “What we’ve got to do is be smart about it, take our time, and know this is going to be a long recovery.”

Bob Blackburn, county commissioner

Coweta County Commissioner Bob Blackburn said he thinks Kemp made “exactly the right choice.”

If cases start to surge and it becomes necessary to pull back, “I don’t think Gov. Kemp would hesitate to shut it down,” Blackburn said. “I have full faith in Gov. Kemp.”

Blackburn said he also supports the president 100 percent. “If they have a difference of opinion between the two of them then … they’ll work it out,” he said.

Al Smith, county commissioner

Commissioner Al Smith, the sole Democrat on the board, said he is flummoxed by the decision.

“How out of touch can you be, when the president has put out a guide for a 14-day decline?” Smith asked, referring to the gating criteria. Smith said he tends to agree with the federal criteria for a two-week decline in cases.

“If that’s the best we can do, I’ll take it,” he said.

The state needs better testing and tracking of the disease, Smith said. He said he’s yet to hear Kemp “give a logical, analytical, or concrete reason why” he made the decision to allow businesses to open.

Georgia Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey said Monday that the state will certainly be at a 14-day decline by May 1, when the shelter-in-place order is set to expire.

“One more week could make all the difference in people’s lives,” Smith said. “What is waiting one more week going to hurt?”

Thursday afternoon, Kemp issued an executive order that included guidelines for the businesses that can reopen, as well as guidelines that those that were never closed will need to operate under. It includes new guidelines for grocery stores.

The 26-page order also extended shelter-in-place for high-risk groups through mid-May, extended social distancing requirements through mid-May, and encouraged everyone to wear face coverings while outside their homes except when eating or exercising.

Smith said the sheer length and scope of the order is “evidence that no one is yet ready to reopen in Georgia.

“The directive should be one page. Anything more is … we’re not ready yet.”