US takes its first tentative steps to reopening businesses
Small parts of America are slowly reopening amid fierce debate about the risks involved.
Small parts of America are slowly coming back to life as some businesses and states take the first tentative steps towards reopening amid fierce debate about the risks involved.
Despite the coronavirus still claiming about 2000 lives a day in the US, the virus is hitting the country unevenly, allowing some areas to follow Donald Trump’s call to partly ease coronavirus restrictions.
But governors in hard-hit virus hot spots like New York, New Jersey and Michigan have refused to consider any step to reopen as protests against the shutdowns continue to erupt around the country.
In Seattle, Washington, aircraft giant Boeing says it will put 27,000 people back to work this week, while a leading farm equipment maker in North Dakota says it will bring 2200 employees back to work.
In Florida, some public beaches have been reopened while Texas is reopening state parks and South Carolina will reopen furniture, jewellery and clothing stores. Georgia said certain businesses including restaurants, gyms and hair salons could open this week.
State governors across the country, both Republicans and Democrat, are wrestling with the question of whether they can ease restrictions slightly without risking a surge in infections and deaths in their regions.
In Buffalo, New York, people blocked streets on Tuesday (AEDT) protesting stay-at-home orders, arguing that the western New York State should not be subject to the same restrictions as virus-hit New York City.
Across the country, a growing number of similar protests, many organised by conservative groups, are being held to highlight the economic toll of the shutdown which has seen more than 22 million people lose their jobs in the past four weeks.
However polls show that a majority of Americans say that social distancing measures to combat the virus — which has so far killed 42,223 people in the US — are more important to them than reopening the economy at this point.
A Yahoo News/YouGov poll published today found that 60 per cent of Americans opposed the protesters while 22 per cent supported them and 18 per cent were unsure.
The country’s top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday (AEDT) that no economic recovery was possible until the virus was successfully brought under control.
“Unless we get the virus under control, the real recovery economically is not going to happen,” he said. “If you jump the gun and go into a situation where you have a big spike, you’re going to set yourself back.”
In the nation’s virus hotspot of New York there are growing signs that the disease has peaked with 478 deaths in the previous 24 hours, the lowest level in two weeks.
“If you are looking for the optimist’s view, it’s not as bad as it was, but 478 New Yorkers died yesterday from this terrible virus,” Mr Cuomo said, describing the toll as “still horrifically high”.
“The question now is, assuming we are off the plateau and we are seeing a descent, which the numbers would suggest … how long is the descent and how steep is the descent?” Cuomo said. “Nobody knows.”
Mr Cuomo said he understood the desire of many people to restart the economy but he said New York could not afford to relax its restrictions while the rate of infections, hospitalisations and deaths remained so high. More than 14,347 New Yorkers have lost their lives to the virus.
Mr Cuomo said New York would co-ordinate with nearby states to ensure that nothing was reopened that would lead to the further spread of the virus.
“Beaches, public facilities, schools, parades, concerts – these would all be magnets for people. I work with our other states because if they open up a beach in Connecticut, you could see a flow of people from New York going to a beach in Connecticut if I don’t open our beaches,’ he said.
Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia
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