Mr. Kemp, in his news conference on Monday, said that he had been frustrated by the issue of testing capacity, but that he also believed that the crisis had leveled off enough to ease restrictions and help alleviate the economic anguish they have helped create. Georgia has had more than 19,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 775 deaths, according to state public health officials.
He said that stores were not reopening for “business as usual,” noting that social distancing rules still must be enforced, and that businesses should check employees’ temperatures for fevers and ramp up sanitation efforts.
The move to reopen, he said, was “a small step forward and should be treated as such.”
Mr. Kemp and Mr. Lee, both Republicans, were among the governors who were criticized for being slow to impose statewide closure orders. Both had expressed concerns about an invasion of civil liberties and the economic strain that closing down large parts of the economy would create.
Parts of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a string of barrier islands whose beaches are popular with tourists, are also moving forward with lifting restrictions for entry, officials said.
Emergency officials from Dare County, N.C., which includes the towns of Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Southern Shores, said in a statement on Monday that the decision was based on “careful consideration of the science, trends, data and resource availability.” The county has had 15 diagnosed cases, with one death, officials said.
In Ohio, even as plans were being put in place to reopen, a state prison about an hour’s drive north of the capital became the largest-known source of coronavirus infections in the United States, continuing a trend of fast-moving outbreaks in crowded, confined spaces.
Officials said that at least 1,828 inmates — almost three-quarters of the population — had tested positive for the coronavirus at the minimum- and medium-security prison in Marion, Ohio. That is more than the number of known cases from a meatpacking plant in South Dakota and a Navy aircraft carrier docked in Guam.