More public health transparency is needed in Georgia. 

Only informed people can make informed decisions. 

Gov. Brian Kemp has repeatedly said he trusts the people of Georgia to make the right decisions and do the right things. 

Kemp has said laws are not needed to force people to do the things they ought to do.

When half of eligible Georgians remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 and the vast majority of those individuals are not wearing protective masks or social distancing, it is hard to wrap your head around that logic. 

Still, if the governor is right, or if you follow the logic that when people know the truth they will do what they must do to protect others and themselves, then information is crucial. 

State agencies, including the Georgia Department of Public Health, are lagging in compliance with open records requests and public data available to the the people of Georgia is lacking in detail. 

While state offices resumed full operations months ago, even with state employees — including I/T staff and records custodians — resuming in-office work with full access to both electronic and printed documents, timely compliance with records requests has not resumed. 

It is time to stop using the cover of COVID to stall public records compliance. 

Having to wait weeks, months and even a year for open records requests to be satisfied is not only unacceptable, in Georgia it is illegal. 

State leaders seem to think there is no longer a public health crisis in Georgia, so stop making COVID-19 excuses for not producing documents and data. 

Specifically, the people of Georgia need much more information about how the delta variant and COVID-19 surge impacts our youth. 

More granular data with full breakdowns by age, condition and location, along with contact tracing results, would go a long way toward helping people know the unvarnished truth which Gov. Kemp says will lead to people making the right decisions to do the right things. 

Jim Zachary is the editor of The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s director of newsroom training and development and president emeritus of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.