Countries divided over reopening
Politicians weigh risk of easing rules against cost of continued shutdown
LONDON—Regional and political rifts are emerging in many countries over how fast to lift the lid on the coronavirus lockdowns, as worries about economic devastation collide with fears of a second wave of deaths.
French mayors are resisting the government’s call to reopen schools, while Italian governors want Rome to ease lockdown measures faster. As the British government looks to reopen the economy, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon has warned that acting too fast could let the virus wreak havoc again.
“Any significant easing up of restrictions at this stage would be very, very risky indeed,” Sturgeon said Thursday. The economic damage around the globe mounted. In the U.S., nearly 3.2 million laidoff workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, the government said, bringing the running total over the past seven weeks to 33.5 million. When the country’s April unemployment rate comes out on Friday, it is expected to be as high as 16 per cent, a level not seen since the Depression.
Neiman Marcus, the 112-yearold luxury retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the first U.S. department store chain to be toppled by the outbreak.
And the Bank of England projected that Britain’s economy will shrink by 14 per cent this year, its biggest decline since 1706, when Europe was locked in the War of the Spanish Succession.
In Britain, where the official death toll stands at more than 30,000, second only to the United States, Prime Minister Boris Johnson was expected to extend a more than six-week lockdown on Thursday, but hopes to ease some restrictions on economic and social activity starting next week. He said the government will act with “maximum caution” to prevent a second wave of infections.
As governments grapple with when to restart their economies, the Trump administration has shelved a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention document with step-bystep advice to local authorities on how and when to reopen restaurants and other public places.
The 17-page report with detailed instructions on what precautions to take was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told it “would never see the light of day,” according to a CDC official who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke to
The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In France, more than 300 mayors in the Paris region have urged President Emmanuel Macron to delay the reopening of schools, set for Monday. Many mayors around the country have already refused to reopen schools, and many parents will keep their children home even where they are functioning again.
Italian regional governors are pressing to open shops and restaurants, just days after the country began easing its twomonth lockdown by allowing 4.5 million people to return to work in offices and factories.
Governors want to be allowed to present their own plans for reopening, tailored to the rate of infection and economic needs of their regions. After an outcry from the country’s Roman Catholic bishops, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte said that public masses will be allowed to resume on May 18.
In Spain, support for the government is crumbling after seven weeks of a strict lockdown, with some regions and opposition parties demanding an end to the state of emergency declared on March 14. The government argues that it is far too soon.
Some of Germany’s 16 powerful state governments are more impatient than others to open up businesses such as restaurants and hotels. At a meeting Wednesday with Chancellor Angela Merkel, it was agreed that state leaders would have wide leeway to decide when to open more sectors of the economy. They also will have to reimpose restrictions locally if infections rebound.
In Russia, where the number of new infections is growing fast, President Vladimir Putin delegated the enforcement of lockdowns and other restrictions to regional governments, leading to wide variations across the country.