U.S. presses on with reopening
A map of the United States on the website Covidexitstrategy.org tells the tale: a majority of states do not meet the criteria set by the White House for reopening their economies, and have rising numbers of coronavirus cases, dwindling hospital capacity and insufficient testing
WASHINGTON (AFP) — More than a dozenUSstatesarereportingtheirhighest daily tolls of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, but President Donald Trumpandmanylocalofficialsareshowing no signs of worry and have ruled out new lockdown measures.
TheUSchapteroftheglobalhealthcrisis hasshiftedfromNewYorkandthenortheast to the south and west, with a particular focus now on hospitals in Arizona, Texas and Florida.
Thelatterwillhostthemostvisibleparts oftheRepublicanpresidentialnominating convention in August, after Trump’s spat with the Democratic governor of North Carolina over the need for masks and a scaled-back event prompted a switch.
WhilesomestateslikeVirginiaandNew Yorkmoveaheadwithreopeningbusinesses, other places like the city of Nashville, Tennessee and the Pacific state of Oregon are slowing down.
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has announcedaone-weekpauseintheeasing oflockdownrestrictionsthatbeganamonth ago, after a rise in cases in both urban and rural areas.
A map of the United States on the website Covidexitstrategy.org tells the tale: a majority of states do not meet the criteriasetbytheWhiteHouseforreopening theireconomies,andhaverisingnumbers of coronavirus cases, dwindling hospital capacity and insufficient testing.
While the US hit 100,000 COVID-19 deaths on 28 May, it will probably reach 130,000 by the 4 July Independence Day holiday,accordingtoanaverageofseveral epidemiological models.
Youyang Gu, an independent data scientist whose forecasts have turned outtobequiteaccurate,predicts200,000 deaths by 1 October.
“It’s important that we remember that this situation is unprecedented. And that the pandemic has not ended,” Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a media briefing on Friday.
Redfield’s comments came as the CDCunveiledlong-awaitedguidelinesfor
Americans seeking to restore some bit of normality to their daily lives.
Amongthem:maintainsocialdistancing, wear masks in public and bring your own food and drink to barbecues with friends.
The Trump administration allows that there are new flare-ups in coronavirus caseloadsinsomestatesbutinsiststherewill benoshutdownoftheeconomyifasecond full-blown wave arises.
Larry Kudlow, director of the National EconomicCouncil,toldFoxNewsonFriday, “Thereisnoemergency.Thereisnosecond wave.”
Hot spots Insomeplaces,morewidespreadtesting has contributed to a higher number of reportedcaseseachday.Manyoftheseare mild and do not lead to hospitalization.
In Florida, where Trump is now technically a resident, the Republican governor says there has been a “modest”increase in cases but that the hospitalization rate is stable — far from the spikes that New York saw.
On a national level, the CDC says hospitalizations are on the wane, and in spots where they are rising, the situation isnot“dramatic,”saidtheCDC’sCOVID-19 response incident manager, Jay Butler.
ButinArizona,casenumbershaveshot up,ICUbedsarenow78percentoccupied and Phoenix has emerged as a hot spot.
“Weopenedtoomuchtooearlyandso ourhospitalsarereallystruggling,”Mayor Kate Gallego said at a panel discussion with other US mayors.
This is also the case in Texas, where the number of people hospitalized has risen steadily since the long Memorial DayweekendinlateMay,whichmarksthe unofficialstartofsummerandsawarush of people headed to the beach.
WhilethenumberofdeathsintheLone StarStatehasnotshotup,thehospitalization figures show the virus is spreading.
“People are driving the reopening because they’re tired of the shutdown,” Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC last week.
“Most states didn’t really achieve the criteria set up by public health officials forreopening,ortheWhiteHouse,yetthey reopened,becausethepeopledemandedit,” Gottlieb said.