The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
States reopen as experts warn of second wave of coronavirus
Millions of people across the U.S. were able to venture out to movie theaters, retail stores, restaurants and other businesses for the first time in weeks as governors in several states allowed stay-at-home restrictions to expire.
In Texas, an executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott allows many retail stores, restaurants, malls and movie theaters to reopen at 25 percent capacity amid the coronavirus outbreak; in rural counties with five or fewer confirmed coronavirus cases, retailers can open at 50 percent capacity. In Utah, restaurants and salons and gyms also may open with some restrictions. Other states, including Idaho, Maine and Tennessee, are easing some restrictions, some over the objections of local leaders.
But governors in states extending or expanding their orders in the face of rising death tolls from the pandemic continued to face pushback and protests amid skyrocketing unemployment rates.
In Michigan, hundreds of protesters, many carrying assault-style weapons and wearing body armor, entered the State Capitol on Thursday night, demanding the end to stay-at-home orders. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer late Thursday declared new states of emergency and disaster after the GOP-controlled legislature denied her request for a 28-day extension.
Friday morning, President Donald Trump tweeted that the protesters were “very good people” and that Whitmer should compromise.
“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire,” Trump said on Twitter. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”
The discord comes as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassed 1 million this week. On Friday, the death toll from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, climbed past 64,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The decentralized process of reopening the economy has led health experts to warn of a second wave of coronavirus cases, particularly since some of the states reopening parts of their economies have not had consistently declining numbers of confirmed cases. Federal guidelines for easing restrictions recommend there be a 14-day decrease in cases, improved testing and a return to normal conditions in hospitals.
“There are some states, some cities, kind of leapfrogging over the first checkpoint,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday on CNN. “And, I mean, obviously you could get away with that, but you are making a really significant risk.”
In New York, by far the state hardest hit by the pandemic, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that schools would remain closed for the remainder of the academic year. He made the announcement after 289 New Yorkers died in the 24-hour period ending Friday. He said that was down from 306 deaths the day before. The rate of hospitalizations continues to fall, he said. Nearly 24,000 people in New York have died from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday that the city will open 40 miles of streets this month to pedestrians in a bid to encourage social distancing as the weather warms up. De Blasio said May will be a decisive month in the city’s battle to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The mayor criticized governors who are lifting restrictions.
“There are some other parts of the country that have not focused on the evidence as part of reopening, and I hope and pray that it doesn’t backfire and that the governments in those states don’t act in a hasty manner,” de Blasio said. “We are not going to let that happen here.”