Inadequate protection

As of Wednesday, all 50 US states have begun lifting at least some of the restrictions imposed on daily life by the novel coronavirus.

That is happening even though at least 17 states, as of Tuesday, were still seeing upward trends in average new daily cases over the past week, data from Johns Hopkins University showed.

Connecticut was the last state to begin to lift its original restrictions. As of Wednesday, it was nominally allowing offices, outdoor dining spaces, stores and malls, museums and zoos to reopen with some restrictions. The state never shut down manufacturing, outdoor construction, parks or beaches.

More than 1.5 million confirmed cases had been recorded in the US, where the death toll reached 91,938 on Wednesday, Johns Hopkins data showed. Globally, there have been more than 4.9 million and 323,000 deaths.

The nationwide shutdowns to slow the spread of the virus are blamed for over 36 million people losing their jobs since mid-March.

Despite the nationwide reopening, many public health officials and some political figures continued to raise concerns that increased activity would put US residents at greater risk of a new surge of infections. infections

On Tuesday, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee charged that some workers are being pushed “back into the workplace” without adequate protection against the coronavirus, an allegation rejected by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

“How many workers should give their lives to increase the GDP or the Dow Jones by 1,000 points?” asked Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat.

Mnuchin replied: “No workers