NEW YORK (Reuters) – The governor of New York State, the first major source of contamination in the United States in the spring, on Wednesday announced a set of new restrictions in the face of the resumption of the epidemic due to the new coronavirus and to the increase in hospitalizations.
Andrew Cuomo has ordered bars, restaurants and gyms closed starting at 10:00 p.m. and limited the number of people allowed to meet for private parties to 10.
These measures, similar to those already announced the day before by several other states including California, will come into force on Friday.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the city’s average seven-day positive test rate was 2.52%. Schools will have to close and switch to distance education if this rate rises to 3%.
“This is our LAST chance to stop a second wave,” he warned on Twitter.
The northeast of the United States is generally facing signs of an upsurge in the epidemic, which the region, which was hit hard in the spring, had since managed to control.
The whole country is affected by this second wave, with a number of new infections exceeding 136,000 Tuesday for a seventh consecutive day and more than 60,000 people hospitalized for the first time since the start of the epidemic.
The death toll in the United States exceeds 230,000.
More than 1,450 deaths were recorded on Tuesday, a level that had not been reached since mid-August, according to an analysis of data carried out by Reuters.
Several states in the Midwestern or West of the country recorded a record number of deaths on Tuesday, such as Alaska, Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
(Maria Caspani and Peter Szekely; French version Bertrand Boucey)
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