U.S. death toll in coronavirus outbreak surpasses 90,000

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 climbed over 90,000 on Monday as more states and cities announced plans to slowly reopen their economies and test their residents.

The number of confirmed cases nationwide neared 1.5 million, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, which has been tracking infections and deaths. Experts have cautioned that cases and death tolls likely undercount the real cost of the coronavirus outbreak.

Despite the rising death toll, the nation’s hardest hit city, New York, saw a decline in its daily rate of new hospitalizations for patients suspected of having the novel coronavirus to 48, down from 77 the day before, Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news briefing Monday.

De Blasio called the drop “a wonderful sign” that the virus is easing its grip on the city of 8.6 million, but he cautioned that the city won’t be ready to start relaxing some social distancing restrictions until the first half of June at the earliest.

He has said nonessential workers will be urged to work from home “for the foreseeable future” and that he hopes students can return to classrooms at the start of the new academic year in September.

The last thing he wants to do, he said, is to act too early and create a false sense of security, only to spark a new wave of infections as people return to their usual social habits.

“Our goal is to get it right the first time,” de Blasio said. “We cannot have something where we have to shut down again . ... It’s going to be day by day, week by week.”

With summer approaching, he said social distancing at the city’s beaches would remain in place, and for anyone thinking about going out for drinks at a bar or restaurant as those establishments reopen, de Blasio had this advice: “Get your drink and go home. Do not allow gatherings to occur. It’s just not safe.”

Gov. Phil Murphy of neighboring New Jersey struck an even more cautious tone, saying residents in his state shouldn’t expect work or social life to return to anything close to normal until a proven vaccine becomes widely available, which public experts say could take a year or more.

But on Monday, Murphy signed an order allowing the reopening of some outdoor recreational facilities, including tennis clubs, community gardens, golf courses and shooting ranges. Over the last week, he’s loosened restrictions on nonessential construction, retail businesses, beaches, boardwalks and lakes.