Gov. Brian Kemp recognizes Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler for exceptional efforts during COVID

ALBANY – The day after receiving a commendation for the work he performed during the worst of the COVID 19 pandemic, Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler reflected on that time when southwest Georgia was a global hot spot for the disease.

The commendation presented to Fowler on Wednesday by Gov. Brian Kemp said that the coroner served residents of Dougherty County and the state “with dedication despite facing times of unprecedented difficulties.”

Fowler “worked throughout the COVID 19 pandemic to support those facing their own personal challenges as well as those posed by the pandemic … (and) championed several initiatives aimed at keeping the people of southwest Georgia safe.”

Since the novel coronavirus arrived in Dougherty County in March 2020, 541 county residents have died of the disease, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. COVID 19 was the probable cause of death in an additional 95 cases.

Only 11 of the state’s 159 counties have had more deaths from the disease than Dougherty County.

“We were one of the hardest hit,” Fowler said.

During the pandemic, the coroner said, he worked to ensure that as many of the deceased as possible were tested for the disease, even when many coroners were not pressing to do so.

“We felt it was important to get those people tested,” he said. ”A lot of locations did not do this. I just wanted to keep our community aware. People wanted to know what the hot spot was, who was being infected. My thing was keeping them informed as much as possible.”

During the months of having a heavy caseload, Fowler donned his mask, gloves and protective body suit to visit residences where residents died, sometimes multiple family members.

“We didn’t know all the modes of transmission at the beginning,” he said. “Going into people’s homes where people had died with COVID and the rest of the family members didn’t have masks on. I was going into these different homes with the danger of taking something home to my family.

“The one thing is personally knowing the people that died prematurely. Some people didn’t know what we had in this community, so many people and co-workers dying.”

While the disease hit the black community hardest, due to underlying health conditions including diabetes and hypertension that made them more vulnerable, it was not limited to that population and ultimately impacted everybody, Fowler said.

During their meeting on Wednesday, he said that the governor referred to him as the “hardest-working coroner in Georgia,” noting that designation was inspired by the calls he received from other coroners and from funeral home directors during the pandemic.

Fowler has assisted at some 24 major disaster situations, both at home and abroad, from the 9-11 Twin Towers scene in 2001 to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to tsunamis in Asia.

The governor also mentioned Fowler’s efforts to keep residents informed.

When Dougherty County became a hot spot, the coroner, as well as city and county officials and Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital personnel, held frequent news conferences that were streamed online during the worst of the pandemic.

During one of those conferences, Fowler bluntly made the point of the importance of wearing face masks and taking other precautions to prevent the spread of the disease by plopping a body bag on top of the podium. That gesture was to make the point of how those measures could protect individuals as well as their loved ones and the vulnerable residents who were at greater risk if they became infected.

“They were looking at the TV presentations we did,” Fowler said. “My thing was trying to educate the public, educate the funeral homes.

“I told people to get the vaccination, to get tested. I was going to neighborhood watches, going to different churches. I thought it was very important to continue sounding the alarm.”

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