California pulls the emergency brake. Other US states are also reversing easing of their corona requirements.
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Loosening undone
Sacramento (dpa) – Due to rapidly increasing new infections, California is undoing many of the loosening of its corona requirements. Bars, cinemas and museums in the most populous U.S. state must close, Governor Gavin Newsom said.
In addition, restaurants may no longer serve guests in closed rooms. Likewise, in 30 districts, including Los Angeles, gyms, churches, hairdressing salons, and many offices and shopping centers would also have to shut down if this took place in closed rooms, Newsom said. Around 80 percent of the state’s 40 million residents live in the affected districts.
The huge school district of Los Angeles announced that due to the ongoing corona pandemic in the school year beginning on August 18, students can only learn online until further notice. “The health and safety of everyone in the school community is nothing where we can compromise,” it said. The government of US President Donald Trump is putting pressure on states and local authorities to open schools normally again in the new school year.
As a result of the easing of California’s corona requirements, the number of new infections, Covid patients in hospitals and reported deaths has recently increased significantly. On Sunday, for example, the authorities reported around 8,500 confirmed new infections and 72 deaths. In total, there are more than 320,000 reported infections in the state on the west coast.
In California’s northern neighboring state of Oregon, wearing a mask outdoors will in future always be required if a sufficient safety distance to prevent infections is not possible. In addition, meetings or celebrations with more than ten people should not take place in closed rooms, said Governor Kate Brown. This does not apply to religious gatherings, among others.
In the state of West Virgina in the eastern United States, Governor Jim Justice decreed that events will no longer be able to meet 100 people, but a maximum of 25. Popular festivals, fairs and concerts are forbidden until further notice. “It’s not fun to close things,” Justice said. But being careful now is the only way to get back to normal later.
The number of new infections is currently increasing in several states – including Florida, Georgia, Texas, California and Arizona. The Mayor of the Texas city of Houston, Sylvester Turner, therefore called for strict exit restrictions for at least two weeks. “We have to slow down the spread of the virus,” he told CNN. The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, rejects strict measures such as exit restrictions. Houston reported confirmed new infections on Monday 1544.
Nationwide, approximately 60,000 confirmed new infections per day have been reported daily in the United States, a country with around 330 million inhabitants, which is a dramatic worsening of the pandemic. For comparison: In Germany, only around 200,000 infections with the pathogen Sars-CoV-2 have been detected since the pandemic began. In the United States, data from Johns Hopkins University have reported 3.35 million confirmed infections since February. More than 135,000 people died from an infection.
Trump, who is applying for a second term in November, has been pushing for a comprehensive reopening of the economy for months. Critics therefore accuse him of downplaying the scope of the pandemic and not doing enough to combat it.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200714-99-780522 / 2
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