State reopenings stall as coronavirus cases rocket
What happened
At least 19 states slammed the brakes on plans to ease their coronavirus lockdowns after the U.S. recorded more than 40,000 new Covid-19 cases a day this week, the highest number since the start of the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, told Congress to expect a “very disturbing” surge—perhaps 100,000 new cases a day—if the latest outbreak isn’t contained. The U.S. has so far registered more than 2.7 million infections and at least 130,000 deaths. Cases are surging across the Sun Belt, with Texas, Florida, Arizona, and California accounting for half of all new infections. In Arizona, where stay-at-home orders expired in mid-May, record single-day highs were recorded in new cases (4,900), deaths (88), and ER visits (1,300). Republican Gov. Doug Ducey ordered bars, gyms, movie theaters, and water parks to close for 30 days; banned gatherings of more than 50 people; and said that hospitals nearing capacity could activate “crisis care” rules for rationing resources.
Daily new cases in Texas exploded from 600 at the start of June to 8,076 on July 1, leading Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to close bars and limit restaurants to 50 percent occupancy. California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered bars to shutter, and halted indoor operations of restaurants and cinemas in most of the state. Blaming Florida’s surge on young people defying social-distancing rules, GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis prohibited the on-site consumption of alcohol at bars. But he insisted the state was “not going back” on reopening even as it tallied a record 9,585 cases in a single day. In a new Monmouth University Poll, 64 percent of Americans said they worried their state was lifting lockdown restrictions too quickly.
What the editorials said
DeSantis reopened Florida at the urging of President Trump, said the Miami Herald, promising our economy would blossom and coronavirus cases would stay low. With businesses across the state locking down again and Floridians falling sick, it’s now clear reopening has not “been good for our—or the economy’s—health.” In the absence of commonsense statewide leadership, local authorities have been forced to take charge. Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe counties have all closed beaches ahead of the July 4 weekend, and the city of Miami has mandated the wearing of face masks in all public areas.
It’s easy to blame Republican leaders for reopening “too fast and too soon,” said The Wall Street Journal. But staying in total lockdown was never going to be economically feasible, and “flare-ups are inevitable until there’s a vaccine or herd immunity.” Still, even with the latest outbreaks, America is doing relatively well in its fight against the disease. Covid-19 deaths have fallen from about 2,000 a day in late April to below 600 today, and the U.S. has recorded far fewer deaths per 100,000 people (38) than the U.K. (66), Spain (61), and Italy (57).
What the columnists said
The geography of the pandemic’s early course “lured some Republican politicians into complacency,” said Amy Davidson Sorkin in NewYorker.com. When the virus was battering New York, they could pretend that “bad things could happen only to subway-riding city dwellers.” Yet Trump allies like DeSantis continued to deny reality as Covid-19 hit their home states, claiming that increased testing accounted for the growing case numbers. That’s nonsense. Arizonans, Floridians, and Texans are right now waiting for hours at drive-through testing stations that cannot keep up with demand.
The president remains “willfully indifferent” to his ability to save lives, said Zachary Wolf in CNN.com. He refuses to put on a mask, saying recently that some people wear them only to show disapproval of him. Recognizing the scale of the calamity, top Republicans— including Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—have begun urging Americans to wear face coverings. “This simple, lifesaving practice,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, shouldn’t be “part of a political debate.” The subtext of their advice is terrifying: “People will die when folks follow the president’s lead.”
Trump has built himself a “Sun Belt time bomb,” said Natasha Korecki and Marc Caputo in Politico.com. He pushed GOP-led states to reopen and not worry about social distancing or masks, and the inevitable viral surge has only fed Joe Biden and Democrats’ argument that Trump is “incapable of bringing stability or healing in a time of crisis.” Polls now show Trump trailing Biden in Arizona and neck and neck in Florida and Texas. If he loses any of those states, “his re-election is all but doomed.”