April's death toll in Georgia: 1,007 residents. Shelter-in-place ends -- for most. Rant: The Fact Attack and flattening the myths.

Today's headlines: An awful April: State's death toll surged by 1,000 in 30 days, most of which came during the shelter-in-place order. In Northwest Georgia, it climbed from 7 to 55. Kemp lets shelter-in-place expire at midnight but orders those 65 and older as well as those with heart/lung/other chronic ailments to stay home. Business: Georgia Department of Labor has processed 1.37 million claims since mid-March; 444,195 Georgians have received their first payment. Business: The 'shell' comes off 241 Broad St. and it has downtown buzzing about what's next. Spring safety scores from Leapfrog show As for Redmond Regional, Cartersville Medical, AdventGordon; B for Floyd. Politics: 1 million absentee ballots requested so far. Reminder: U.S. Senate Democratic candidates debate Sunday at 5:30 p.m. House 14 Monday at 3 p.m. RANT OF THE DAY: 1,007 deaths in 30 days. We call them the “Flat Earth Society,” a growing pack of Facebook trolls who try to collect enhanced unemployment benefits while swatting away at the deadliest facts of coronavirus. They doubt the numbers. They consider COVID-19 just another case of flu. They suspect the liberals are behind it in an effort to make Trump look bad. They believe it also is a ploy to tank the economy in order to hurt all Republicans. And, of course, the media is at fault for spending too much time on reporting the deaths and misery. But maybe what follows will.  The state's death toll from coronavirus surged by more than 1,000 in the 30 days of April.  In those same 30 days, the number of positive tests in Georgia ballooned from 4,117 to 26,260 -- and rising. Locally, it more than doubled, from 284 cases in the five-county area to 619.  Now consider this: Brian Kemp let the statewide shelter-in-place order expire as of midnight, citing favorable data and the need to get Georgia back to work. He extended it for those 65 and older, and those with pre-existing medical conditions from heart and lung ailments to diabetes and obesity. So after 1,000 deaths during sheltering-in-place in April, it will go away in the much more lax, much more social days of May?