About half of U.S. states taking first steps to reopen
Some do so while ignoring ‘Opening Up America Again’ safeguards
WASHINGTON » With initial White House social distancing guidelines expiring Thursday, about half of the U.S. states were pressing ahead with plans to ease restrictions on businesses and social life, aiming to revive economies stalled by the coronavirus while keeping people safe.
The enormous pressure on states to reopen was highlighted by fresh Labor Department data showing around 30 million people had sought unemployment benefits since March 21, or more than 18.4% of the working-age population.
Federal guidelines encouraging people to cur
tail nearly all public activities also are poised to expire after President Donald Trump indicated he did not intend to extend them.
“They’ll be fading out because now the governors are doing it,” Trump told reporters Wednesday, referring to the restrictions.
More restrictions will be lifted today as additional states, including Iowa, North Dakota and Wyoming, ease their rules.
The latest reopenings represent a pivotal moment in America’s response to the virus, even as the number of deaths from the virus in the United States has surged past 60,000. As of today, more than a dozen states will have begun to partially reopen their economies and restart public life, raising concerns among health experts about another spike in cases that may not be detected in official numbers for two weeks.
Some states are planning to ease restrictions without the “Opening Up America Again” safeguards that the Trump administration itself had recommended April 16, including declines in the infection rate and expanded virus testing.
The safeguards sought to give some parameters for relaxing restrictions.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned states not to move too fast, a refrain of many public health officials since states, led by Georgia, started relaxing restrictions.
“You can’t just leap over things to a situation where you’re really tempting (the virus) to rebound. That’s the thing I get concerned about. I hope they don’t do that,” Fauci, a White House coronavirus task force member, told NBC’s “Today” show.
Fauci said he expects federal approval for the first drug to prove effective against the coronavirus to happen “really quickly.” Remdesivir, made by California’s Gilead Sciences, hastened the recovery of COVID-19 patients in a major government study, and it also might have reduced deaths, according to Fauci.
Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, said he is in overall charge of the project aimed at finding a vaccine for the virus as quickly as possible.
“Whatever you can humanly do, we’re going to have,” he said. “I hope we’re going to have a vaccine, and we’re going to fast-track it like you’ve never seen.”
Asked who is in charge of Operation Warp Speed, Trump said, “You know who’s in charge of it? I am.”
“I’m the one who gets blamed,” he added.
The number of coronavirus cases is climbing in many parts of the country, although peaks appear to have been reached in New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, and other places.
Kansas, Virginia and Arizona reported a record number of new cases, and Minnesota reported a record number of new cases for the second day in a row.
Washington, D.C., posted a record number of deaths.
The total number of U.S. deaths has topped 61,000, with well over 1 million confirmed cases.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D- San Francisco, said that many states still do not have enough testing capacity, which most experts say is a prerequisite for a safe reopening.
“What will give people confidence to go into the workforce — (is) that they know that their co-workers had been tested and cleared to be there,” Pelosi said at a news conference.
In the latest of a patchwork of announcements made across the country over the past several days, Florida on Wednesday became one of the largest states to ease some of the restrictions that have crippled business activity.
“There is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said as he unveiled his phase one plan due to start Monday to relax the mandatory workplace closures and stay-athome orders imposed four weeks ago.
Texas unveiled a similar reopening strategy to take effect today.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy plans to allow state parks and golf courses to reopen Saturday.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requested an extension to a state of emergency in Michigan that had been due to expire Thursday.
Hundreds of protesters, some of them armed, returned to the state Capitol to denounce Whitmer’s stay- at- home order and business restrictions.
The Republican- led Michigan House refused to extend the state’s coronavirus emergency declaration and voted to authorize a lawsuit challenging Whitmer’s authority and actions to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
In a sign that the worst may be over in hard-hit New York, the 1,000-bed hospital ship Comfort steamed out of Manhattan on Thursday after a monthlong stay.
The Navy vessel, painted a gleaming white with red crosses, was a symbol of hope when it arrived March 30 to absorb an anticipated crush of patients that, under the most dire projections, could have overwhelmed hospitals.
With the success of stayat-home orders and social distancing, the extra capacity never was needed, allowing the ship to return to its home base in Norfolk, Virginia.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York would hire thousands of people to trace the contacts of people who test positive for the coronavirus. He also announced a halt to New York City subway service from 1 to 5 a.m. to disinfect trains.