A state lawmaker who asked a public health official last week if Georgia could legally quarantine HIV-positive individuals now says her query was reported out of context.
During a Tuesday study committee meeting, State Rep. Betty Price (R-Roswell) asked Dr. Pascale Wortley, director of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s HIV epidemiology section, “The surveillance of partners, tracking of contacts, that sort of thing-- What are we legally able to do? And, I don't want to say the quarantine word, but I guess I just said it. Is there an ability? Since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition. So we have a public interest in curtailing the spread What would you advise, or are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?"
Price immediately came under fire, her comments drawing rebukes from human rights and LGBTQ groups, with some calling for her immediate resignation.
Since Friday, Oct. 20, when we first reported the story, 11Alive has made multiple attempts, by phone and email, to reach Price for a comment. The only response Price seemingly has given was to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, in which she is quoted as saying her question was reported out of context.
"I made a provocative and rhetorical comment as part of a free-flowing conversation which has been taken completely out of context," Price said in her statement to the AJC. "I do not support a quarantine in this public health challenge and dilemma of under-treated HIV patients.
"I do, however, wish to light a fire under all of us with responsibility in the public health arena - a fire that will result in resolve and commitment to ensure that all of our fellow citizens with HIV will receive, and adhere to, a treatment regimen that will enhance their quality of life and protect the health of the public."
BELOW: Price's comments come around the 1:02 mark.
Betty Price is the spouse of Tom Price, who resigned last month as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Price was a longtime metro Atlanta congressman who resigned to serve in President Donald Trump’s cabinet.
Tom Price, a physician, was charged with overseeing the overhaul of the Affordable Care Act, but resigned only eight months into his tenure because of uproar over his use of expensive, private jet travel while on official government business.
Betty Price is also a physician, and was elected to the state house in a 2015 special election. She represents parts of Roswell and Alpharetta in the General Assembly. In 2017 she was named a Deputy Whip for the GOP caucus, elected Secretary of the Fulton County Delegation, and serves on several committees, including the House Health and Human Services committee.
In 2015, only four states had more adults and adolescents living with HIV than Georgia, according to a fact sheet on the state’s Department of Public Health website. The total number of people living with HIV infection in Georgia on Dec. 31 of that year was 54,574, and nearly two-thirds of them lived in the Atlanta metro area.
"This bigotry and ignorance from an elected official is beyond outrageous," Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin voiced on Twitter.
Betty Price should resign. This bigotry and ignorance from an elected official is beyond outrageous. https://t.co/gypLgu6FSD
— Chad Griffin (@ChadHGriffin) October 20, 2017
Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, issued a similar condemnation.
“We have come a long way in how we understand and talk about HIV as a nation, and comments like those made by Georgia State Representative Betty Price fly in the face of that progress, and of basic decency," said Ellis in a statement. "This language coming from anyone is totally unacceptable, but coming from a medical doctor and a Georgia State Representative it is reprehensible."
"GLAAD is calling for a full apology for these remarks on behalf of all people affected by this harmful statement," Ellis added.
