States back off re-opening
Western, southern states see no respite in surging infections
Arizona recorded more coronavirus deaths, infections, hospitalisations and emergency-room visits in a single day than ever before yesterday as the deepening crisis across the Sunbelt sent a shudder through other parts of the country and led distant states to put their own re-opening plans on hold.
States hit hard by the growing Covid-19 outbreaks across the South and West continued rolling back their re-openings, with California ordering bars, movie theatres and indoor areas in restaurants closed in about 70 per cent of the state.
Governor Gavin Newsom reported nearly 5900 new cases and 110 more deaths in 24 hours.
In Florida, the biggest hospital in the hardest-hit county, Miami’s Jackson Health System, scaled back elective surgeries and other procedures as it and others around the state braced for an influx of victims.
Florida recorded more than 6500 new cases — down from about 9000 on some days last week, but still alarming — and a running total of more than 3500 deaths. Ahead of the
Fourth of July, counties in South Florida are closing beaches to fend off large crowds that could spread the virus.
A masked Vice President Mike Pence paid a visit to an increasingly dire Arizona, where cases have spiked since stay-at-home orders expired in mid-May.
The state reported record singleday highs of almost 4900 new Covid19 cases, 88 new deaths, close to 1300 ER visits and a running total of nearly 2900 people in the hospital.
The run-up in cases has been blamed in part on what New Jersey’s governor called “knucklehead behaviour” by Americans not wearing masks or obeying other social-distancing rules.
“Too many people were crowding into restaurants late at night, turning these establishments into breeding grounds for this deadly virus,” MiamiDade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said in forbidding restaurants with seating for more than eight people from serving customers inside from midnight to 6am.
Health experts say the virus in Florida and other Southern states risks becoming uncontrollable, with case numbers too large to trace.
Marilyn Rauth, a senior citizen in Punta Gorda, said Florida’s reopening was “too much too soon”.
“The sad thing is the Covid spread will probably go on for some time though we could have flattened the curve with responsible leadership,” she said. “Experience now has shown most people won’t social distance at beaches, bars, etc. The governor evidently has no concern for the health of the state’s citizens.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the state was “not going back” on re-opening.
The soaring numbers have raised fears that many other states could see the same phenomenon if they reopen, or that people from the South and West could spread the virus to other regions.
The number of confirmed cases in the US per day has roughly doubled over the past month, hitting 44,800 on Wednesday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
That is higher even than what the nation witnessed during the deadliest stretch of the crisis in mid-April through early May.
The outbreaks in Florida, Arizona, Texas and California have already forced those states to reverse course and take such measures as shutting down bars and beaches and curbing restaurant capacity.
The virus in the US is blamed for more than 2.6 million confirmed cases and more than 127,000 deaths, the highest toll in the world, by Johns Hopkins’ count.
Worldwide, the number of infections is put at more than 10.6 million, with over a half-million deaths.
The real numbers in the US and globally are believed to be significantly higher, in part because of limited testing and mild cases that have gone unrecorded.