Coronavirus: More protesters push to ‘reopen America’

US governors appear to be bowing to pressure to ease restrictions, despite new virus hot spots emerging.

Far-right commentator Alex Jones yells into a microphone during the "Reopen America" rally on April 18, 2020, at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas.

Stores in Texas will soon begin selling merchandise with kerbside service, and hospitals can resume non-essential surgeries. In Florida, people are returning to beaches and parks. And protesters are clamouring for more.

Governors eager to rescue their economies and feeling heat from President Donald Trump are moving to ease restrictions meant to control the spread of the coronavirus, even as new hot spots emerge and experts warn that moving too fast could prove disastrous.

Adding to the pressure are protests against stay-at-home orders organised by small-government groups and Trump supporters. They staged demonstrations Saturday in several cities after the president urged them to “liberate” three states led by Democratic governors.

Protesters at the "Reopen America" rally on April 18, 2020 at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas.

Protests happened in Republican-led states, too, including at the Texas Capitol and in front of the Indiana governor’s home. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott already said that restrictions will begin easing next week. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb – who signed an agreement with six other Midwestern states to co-ordinate reopening – said he would extend his stay-at-home order until May 1. Meanwhile, infections kept surging in the Northeast.

Rhode Island, between the hot spots of Massachusetts and New York, has seen a steady daily increase in infections and deaths, with nursing home residents accounting for more than 90 of the state’s 118 deaths. The state’s death rate of around 10 people per 100,000 is among the nation’s highest per capita, according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project.

Massachusetts had its highest number of deaths in a single day on Friday, with 159. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, citing the advice of health experts, said states should wait until infection rates and hospitalisation decline for about two weeks before acting.

Trump, whose administration waited months to bolster stockpiles of key medical supplies and equipment, appeared to back protesters.

“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, ” Trump said in a tweet-storm in which he also lashed out at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, for criticising the federal response. Cuomo “should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining,”’ the president said.

At his Saturday briefing with reporters, Cuomo cited more progress. The daily increase in deaths in New York state fell below 550 for the first time in more than two weeks as hospitalisation continued to decline.

But the crisis is far from over: Hospitals are still reporting nearly 2,000 new COVID-19 patients per day, and nursing homes remain a “feeding frenzy for this virus,” he said.

“We are not at a point when we are going to be reopening anything immediately,” Cuomo said.

In Texas, several hundred people rallied on steps of the state Capitol to call for an end to social restrictions. Many protesters sought an immediate lifting of restrictions and chanted “Let us work!” in a state where more than 1 million people have filed for unemployment since the crisis began.

The rally was organised by a host of Infowars, owned by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who joined protesters on the Capitol steps. Jones is being sued in Austin over using his show to promote falsehoods that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut was a hoax.

Elsewhere, a few hundred demonstrators cheered and waved signs outside the Statehouse in New Hampshire, which has had nearly 1,300 cases of the virus and more than three dozen deaths through Friday.

“Even if the virus were 10 times as dangerous as it is, I still wouldn’t stay inside my home. I’d rather take the risk and be a free person,” said one of the protesters, talk show host Ian Freeman.

Trump is pushing to relax the U.S. lockdown by May 1, a plan that hinges partly on more testing.

Public health officials said the ability to test enough people and trace contacts of those who are infected is crucial before easing restrictions, and that infections could surge anew unless people continue to take precautions. In Asia, some nations that until recently appeared to have the outbreak under control reported a fresh increase in cases Saturday.

Japan’s total case number rose above 10,000. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he’s concerned that people are not observing social distancing and announced a 100,000-yen ($930) cash handout to each resident as an incentive to stay home. Singapore reported a sharp, one-day spike of 942 infections, the highest in Southeast Asia, mostly among foreign workers staying in crowded dormitories. That brought the total to almost 6,000 in the tiny city-state of 6 million.

AP