New York Governor: Opening it too quickly costs lives

“The more people are in contact with other people, the higher the infection rate with the virus. The more people become infected, the more people die, “said Cuomo at his daily press conference on Tuesday. This is the reason for the drastically higher forecasts. “If we open quickly, there is a price.”

Previously, two new calculation models for the course of the pandemic in the USA had become public, which assume a significant increase in the death rate due to the opening of some states. The IHME Institute now expects that the number of deaths could rise from currently around 69,000 to around 110,000 by the end of the month. Only from the end of July should the number of victims stabilize at around 134,000. Just a few weeks ago the university had assumed that a plateau would be reached in midsummer with around 90,000 deaths. Despite this threatened escalation, US President Donald Trump and some governors are urging the ailing economy to reopen quickly.

The particularly hard hit US state New York presented a plan on Monday to open up the economy and society in several phases. Initially, some shops and production facilities should be allowed to reopen under strict conditions, and construction work may also be resumed. In phase two, among other things, finance and insurance services and the rest of the stores follow. After that, restaurants and hotels and, at the very end, places for art, entertainment and recreation as well as educational institutions should reopen.

The state has exit restrictions until May 15. When the opening can begin afterwards will differ per region and depends on the number of new infections and deaths. For metropolitan areas like New York City, no more than two new Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants may be admitted to hospitals per day. If the numbers rise sharply, Cuomo emphasized on Tuesday, the restrictions would be tightened again.

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