3 states ease lockdowns as U.S. COVID-19 death toll passes 50,000
25 April, 2020
Even as the confirmed U.S. death toll from coronavirus rose past 50,000, salons, spas and barbershops reopened Friday in Georgia and Oklahoma with a green light from their Republican governors, who eased lockdown orders despite health experts' warnings.
Alaska took a similar step, allowing restaurants to resume dine-in service and retail shops and other businesses to reopen, all with limitations. Some municipalities chose to maintain stricter rules.
Though limited in scope, and at the mercy of social-distancing restrictions, the reopenings marked a symbolic milestone in the debate raging in the usa - and the world -- concerning how quickly political leaders should lift economically damaging lockdown orders.
Similar scenarios have already been playing worldwide and can soon proliferate in the U.S. as other governors wrestle with conflicting priorities. Their economies have been battered by weeks of quarantine-fueled job losses and soaring unemployment claims, yet health officials warn that lifting stay-at-home orders now could spark a resurgence of COVID-19.
The coronavirus has killed a lot more than 190,000 persons worldwide, including - by Friday - more than 50,000 in the United States, according to a tally published by John Hopkins University from government figures. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher.
In Oklahoma, Gov Kevin Stitt authorized personal-care businesses to open, citing a decline in the quantity of men and women being hospitalized for COVID-19. Those businesses were directed to keep up social distancing, require masks and frequently sanitize equipment.
Still, a number of the state’s major cities, including Norman, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, were opting to keep their bans set up until at least the finish of April.
Amy Pembrook and her husband, Mike, reopened their beauty salon in the northwest Oklahoma town of Fairview after it turned out shuttered for about per month.
“We’re super worked up about going back, but we've caught just a little flack from persons who say it’s prematurily .," Amy Pembrook said. "We just said we can live in fear for some time or we are able to trust that everything will be OK.”
With deaths and infections still rising in Georgia, many companies planned to remain closed despite Gov. Brian Kemp’s assurance that hospital visits and new cases have leveled off enough for barbers, tattoo artists, massage therapists and personal trainers to return to utilize restrictions.
Kemp’s timeline to restart the economy proved too ambitious even for President Donald Trump, who said he disagrees with the fellow Republican’s plan.
On Friday, Trump signed a $484 billion bill to assist employers and hospitals under stress from the pandemic - the most recent federal effort to keep afloat businesses that contain had to close or reduce. In the last five weeks, roughly 26 million people have filed for jobless aid, or around 1 in 6 U.S. workers.
With out a tried-and-tested action arrange for how exactly to pull countries out of coronavirus lockdown, the world is seeing a patchwork of approaches. Schools reopen in one country, stay closed in others; face masks are mandatory occasionally, a recommendation elsewhere.
Kids still attend soccer practice in Sweden while they aren't even allowed outside in Spain. As governments and scientists fumble around, still struggling with so many unknowns, folks are being left to take potentially life-affecting decisions.
In Georgia, David Huynh had 60 clients booked for appointments at his nail salon in Savannah, but a clothing store, charms shop and chocolatier that share a street corner along with his downtown business, Envy Nail Bar, remained closed.
“The phone’s been staying ringing off the hook,” Huynh said. “We’ve probably gotten hundreds of calls within the last hour.”
Four women clutching face masks were waiting outside when the salon opened for the very first time since March 26.
“Yes, I am prepared to get my nails fixed,” said Alina Davis, a police officer for the neighborhood school system, who kept working through the entire crisis.
Meanwhile, Nikki Thomas is overdue for a visit to her hair stylist, but she’s barely ventured outside her house in the six weeks since she's been working at home. She had no plans to improve that now just due to Kemp’s decision.
“It’s obviously extremely stupid and I’m simultaneously exhausted therefore angry I could barely see straight,” Thomas, 40, said in a phone interview.
The gradual reopenings come as coronavirus testing continues to lag across the USA. To date, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project, slightly below 4.7 million people have already been tested in the united states of 330 million people.
A lack of tests and supplies has hampered the U.S. effort from the beginning. About 193,000 people were tested on Thursday. That’s a rise from the two-week daily average of 163,000, but much less than what public health authorities estimate is needed to get a handle on the virus.
Researchers at Harvard have estimated at the least 500,000 daily tests are needed, and perhaps much more, so as to safely reopen the economy.
In Michigan, Gov Gretchen Whitmer lengthened her stay-at-home order through May 15, while lifting restrictions so some businesses can reopen and the general public can take part in outdoor pursuits like golf and motorized boating through the coronavirus pandemic.
Michigan has almost 3,000 deaths related to COVID-19, behind only New York and NJ among U.S. states.
NY reported its lowest number of daily COVID-19 deaths in weeks on Friday. The state recorded 422 deaths as of your day before - the fewest since March 31, when it recorded 391 deaths. A lot more than 16,000 people have died in the state from the outbreak.
In Denver, Mayor Michael Hancock extended the city’s stay-at-home order and non-essential business closures through May 8 just as Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a fellow Democrat, prepared to relax some statewide restrictions next week.
Health officials in Colorado ordered the immediate closure of a Walmart in Aurora, a Denver suburb, after three persons linked to the store died after being infected with the coronavirus and at least six employees tested positive.
Source: japantoday.com
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