FWith a sufficient drop in hospitalizations due to the coronavirus, New York and some large American urban areas are resisting the sirens of deconfinement, but other American states are moving forward, such as Georgia, which authorized the reopening of its restaurants on Monday.
The Democratic governor of New York State, epicenter of the epidemic with 292,000 confirmed cases out of a total of American cases now close to one million, repeated Monday that it was necessary to act “with intelligence” not to risk seeing the epidemic skyrocketing.
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Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced that he will extend containment measures “in many parts of the state” beyond May 15, even though a reopening of the construction and manufacturing sectors is being considered in the next few months. less affected areas. He explained his caution by a number of hospitalizations and new cases which are declining less quickly than expected, and another 337 deaths from the disease in the past 24 hours.
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The city of New York, the economic engine of the United States at a standstill since mid-March, could be the last to restart.
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According to tests carried out on a sample of 7,500 people, nearly one in four metropolitan residents has antibodies linked to the virus, according to Cuomo.
Proof that deconfinement is still a long way off, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio indicated that he would close at least 65 km of urban roads – now deserted – within a month in order to facilitate social distancing for New Yorkers who would benefit from the spring to walk around.
New Jersey, neighboring New York state and the second most affected state with more than 6,000 dead, as well as the region of the federal capital Washington or California remain firm in their containment. On the other hand, more than half a dozen states have already started to partially “reopen” their economies.
Other states are deconfining
The Republican governor of Georgia (south), Brian Kemp, was one of the most aggressive, reopening some businesses Friday before authorizing the reopening of restaurants on Monday, with protective measures for both employees and customers.
Kim Kaseta, one of the first customers of the Waffle House restaurant chain in Atlanta on Monday, was delighted.
“It’s an inexplicable feeling, because it’s something that has never happened before,” she told AFP of the restrictions so far imposed on non-essential facilities. “We need human contact,” she said, in front of a masked employee cooking eggs.
While several polls show that a majority of Americans are worried about a premature reopening, many restaurants in this state have nonetheless remained closed or limited to take-out.
Tennessee, another southern state led by Republican Bill Lee, also authorized the reopening of restaurants on Monday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that shopping malls, theaters and museums could reopen on May 1, at 25% capacity.
Other states that are starting to allow a takeover are Alaska, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Mississippi, Colorado and South Carolina.
Insufficient testing
Many governors nevertheless continue to deplore an insufficient testing capacity to revive the economy without relaunching the epidemic.
Harvard researchers also estimated Monday that despite progress, the majority of states still did not have sufficient capacity to begin deconfinement by May 1.
Their analysis contradicts Donald Trump’s assertion that the United States has sufficiently increased its screening capacity.
Fueling the confusion about his position in the face of the epidemic, the American president was to make a new press point on Monday, after having canceled it initially.
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