States across America Start Easing Coronavirus-Related Restrictions
by Jorge Coromina
The U.S. states of Georgia, Oklahoma and Alaska have begun loosening lockdown orders on their pandemic-wounded businesses, even as the confirmed US death toll from Covid-19 has passed 50,000 and despite warnings from health experts that such steps may be coming too early.
Other states, such as Florida and Michigan, are also showing some tentative signs of starting to ease restrictions. In Colorado Governor Jared Polis has announced that a previously issued “stay-at-home” mandate is being updated to a “safer-at-home” mandate, with select businesses also now reopening. In Texas some businesses, including restaurants, have opened in defiance of state guidance.
The tentative first moves feed into a national debate over how much and how quickly the US should reopen as the virus wreaks havoc in both, to such an extent that it has cratered the once-booming economy as it continues to kill hundreds of Americans every day.
Thousands of people crowded beaches in Southern California this weekend amid the coronavirus pandemic, despite a statewide stay-at-home order implemented by the governor last month.
While beaches in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties remained closed, they were open in Ventura and Orange Counties. However, beachgoers still had to adhere to a patchwork of guidelines and restrictions, including keeping parking lots closed to discourage outside visitors and limit crowds.
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Montana allowed some businesses to reopen Monday under new health guidelines as several states begin to relax coronavirus lockdown restrictions in a bid to get America’s workers safely back to work.
The moves to reopen follow in the steps of Georgia, Oklahoma, and Alaska, which on Friday began loosening lockdown restrictions on businesses despite health officials warning the gradual return to daily life might be happening too soon.
In the hardest-hit states of New York and New Jersey, part of a metropolitan region of about 32 million people, state governors signaled that even limited restarting of business activities was at least weeks away.
Business shutdowns have led to a record 26.5 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits since mid-March with forecasts by the Trump administration that the jobless rate would likely hit 16% or more in April.
Public health authorities warn that increasing human interactions and economic activity may spark a fresh surge of infections just as social-distancing measures appeared to be bringing coronavirus cases under control.
