States easing restrictions slowly amid fears of dangerous variants
LANSING, Mich. — States are loosening their coronavirus restrictions on restaurants and other businesses because of improved infection and hospitalization numbers but are moving cautiously, in part because of the more contagious variant taking hold in the U.S.
While the easing could cause case infaction rates to rise, health experts say it can work if done in a measured way and if the public remains vigilant about masks and social distancing.
“If the frequency goes up, you tighten it up. If the frequency goes down, you loosen up. Getting it just right is almost impossible,” said Dr. Arnold Monto, a public health professor at the University of Michigan. “There’s no perfect way to do this.”
As Michigan’s coronavirus rate dropped to the nation’s fifthlowest over the past two weeks, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said bars and restaurants can welcome indoor customers next week for the first time in 2½ months. But they’ll be under a 10 p.m. curfew and will be limited to 25 percent capacity, or half of what was allowed the last time she loosened their restrictions in June.
The state previously authorized the resumption of in-person classes at high schools and the partial reopening of movie theaters.
“We’re in a stronger position because we’ve taken this pause,” Whitmer said. “But we are also very mindful of the fact that this variant is now here in Michigan. It poses a real threat.”
The COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. has climbed past 425,000, with the number of dead running at close to all-time highs at nearly 3,350 a day on average.
But newly confirmed cases have dropped over the past two weeks from an average of about 248,000 per day to around 166,000. And the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 has fallen by tens of thousands to 109,000.
At the same time, health experts have warned that the more contagious and possibly more lethal variant sweeping Britain will probably become the dominant source of infection in the U.S. by March. It has been reported in over 20 states, including Texas.
Other mutant versions are circulating in South Africa and Brazil. The Brazil variant has been detected for the first time in the U.S., in Minnesota.
Chicago and surrounding suburbs allowed indoor dining over the weekend for the first time since October. Major cultural attractions including the Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium reopened with crowd limits.
Steve Lombardo III, an owner of a Chicago-area restaurant group, called being able to seat customers indoors a “huge boost.” One of its most famous restaurants, Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse, has been using hospitalgrade air filtration systems in the hopes of staying afloat, he said.
“Will we be making money? Probably not,“Lombardo said. “But we won’t be hemorrhaging money like we have the last three months.”
Washington, D.C., also recently ended its monthlong ban on indoor dining, but one in New York City remains in effect.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom this week lifted stay-at-home orders he imposed last month when hospitals were so overwhelmed with virus patients that they were on the verge of rationing lifesaving care.
Restaurants and places of worship will be able to operate outdoors, and many stores will be able to have more shoppers inside.
Jen Diaz, a 38-year-old technical writer from Santa Clarita, Calif., who works remotely and hasn’t left her home since a trip to the supermarket in March, said she was “horrified” when she heard the governor’s announcement.
She has rheumatoid arthritis, and her treatments suppress her immune system, but she has yet to receive a vaccination because she’s under 65.
“I was really, really proud of California’s response at first” in the early months of the pandemic, she said. “Suddenly we’re just opening everything. ‘Let’s go to the mall!’ ”
She added: “The government doesn’t seem to be taking this as seriously as it once did, on a state level.“
In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown announced that some indoor operations such as gyms and movie theaters can reopen Friday with limited capacity. Indoor dining is still banned in the hardest-hit counties.
Not all places are taking as cautious an approach.
After North Dakota dropped to the nation’s second-lowest case rate, Republican Gov. Doug Burgum this month not only relaxed limits on the number of people who can gather at restaurants and bars but also allowed a statewide mask mandate to expire last week.
“The fight is far from over, but we can certainly see the light of the end of the tunnel from here,” Burgum said.