New York strives for normalcy as cases spike elsewhere

As the number of global cases of the novel coronavirus rose above the 9 million mark, and infections continue to rise in other parts of the United States, New York City entered “phase two” of its reopening, which means residents can finally get haircuts, shop for nonessentials, return to offices and dine outdoors for the first time in more than 100 days.

Once the epicenter of the global outbreak, the city was the last region in New York state to move into the second phase of reopening. Public playgrounds were also due to reopen Monday.

At his daily briefing Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio called it “a giant step for this city”.

“This is where most of our economy is,” he said.

But even with office workers allowed back, the streets of Manhattan were nowhere near the pre-pandemic level of activity. Businesses are still required to limit capacity and ensure physical distancing.

The New York Times reported that subways had relatively few riders for a Monday and that parks in business areas were sparsely populated during lunch hour.

“I’m really surprised this is still this empty,” Jason Blankenship, an optometrist, told the Times. “I thought it would be more people than this for sure. I wonder if all these people from these offices will ever come back.”

During the worst days of the COVID-19 crisis, New York state saw 1,000 deaths a day, which overwhelmed hospitals and led to makeshift morgues. On Monday, it reported 10 deaths from the coronavirus and less than 2 percent of new tests coming back positive.

The coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 120,000 Americans of the 2.3 million who have been infected and is still flaring in a dozen states that reported record increases in cases last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

But even as New York returns to some sense of normalcy, other parts of the country are seeing an alarming rise in infections.

A dozen states in the South and Southwest reported record increases in new cases. In some areas, 10 to 20 percent of tests came back positive. The same states often reported record hospitalizations, a metric not affected by increased testing.

The number of new cases rose by a record last week in Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, together home to about a third of the US population. Alabama, Georgia, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming also experienced record spikes. Florida just surpassed 100,000 cases, according to Hopkins data.

More troubling, health officials in the South said they are seeing more young people with the virus. The demographic shift has been noted in Florida, South Carolina, Georgia, Texas and other states that were among the first to reopen. Nearly half the states in the US are now reporting overall increases in infections.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said last week that people under 30 made up a majority of new cases in several counties, adding that the increase in infected young people could be related to Memorial Day weekend parties and visits to bars.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Friday that the median age was 37 for newly diagnosed coronavirus cases over the last week.

“That is a big change from where we were at the end of March and the beginning of April,” said DeSantis. “It was skewing much older at that time.”

Vice-President Mike Pence addressed the trend Monday on a conference call with governors, according to audio obtained by ABC News.

“We are seeing more people test positive under the age of 35, particularly in our discussions with the leadership in Florida and in Texas,” Pence said.

“The better part of half of the people that are testing positive in the new cases are people under the age of 35 ... so we’re working with those states and supporting measures that are being taken to address those issues in an appropriate way,” he added.

President Donald Trump travels to Arizona on Tuesday for a youth gathering in Phoenix.

Reuters contributed to this story.