ATLANTA — Sen. Clint Dixon stood before the Georgia Senate last week, he said, to "fight for the well being of students." His bill, the Unmask Georgia Students Act, was close to passage. And an ally's proposal to expand its scope from one year to five years, he said, was backed by none other than the state's top pandemic scientist, Georgia Commissioner of Public Health Dr. Kathleen Toomey.
"The governor did discuss this with Dr. Toomey, and she is in favor of the bill," as well as the proposed expansion, Dixon told the senators.
That last part was not true, it turned out; Toomey had not vetted the expansion. But the exchange highlighted a glaring absence in hearings this year about bills on pandemic measures at the state Capitol: testimony from the state's own public health pandemic experts.
