|
|
|
Reopenings
stall as
U.S.
records
nearly
50,000
cases of
COVID-19
in
single
day
Peter
Szekely
reuters.com
(Reuters)
-
Governors
of U.S.
states
hit
hardest
by the
resurgent
coronavirus
halted
or
reversed
steps to
reopen
their
economies
on
Wednesday,
led by
California,
the
nation’s
most
populous
state
and a
new
epicenter
of the
pandemic.
New
cases of
COVID-19,
the
illness
caused
by the
coronavirus,
shot up
by
nearly
50,000
on
Wednesday,
according
to a
Reuters
tally,
marking
the
biggest
one-day
spike
since
the
start of
the
pandemic.
“The
spread
of this
virus
continues
at a
rate
that is
particularly
concerning,”
California
Governor
Gavin
Newsom,
a
Democrat,
said in
ordering
the
closure
of bars,
bans on
indoor
dining
and
other
restrictions
in 19
counties,
affecting
over 70%
of the
state’s
population.
The
change
in
California,
which
was the
first
U.S.
state to
impose
sweeping
“stay-at-home”
restrictions
in
March,
will
likely
inflict
more
financial
pain on
the
owners
of bars
and
restaurants
who have
struggled
to
survive
the
pandemic.
The
epicenter
of the
country’s
COVID-19
epidemic
has
moved
from the
Northeast
to
California,
Arizona
and New
Mexico
in the
West
along
with
Texas,
Florida
and
Georgia.
Texas
again
topped
its
previous
record
on
Wednesday
with
8,076
new
cases,
while
South
Carolina
reported
24 more
coronavirus
deaths,
a
single-day
high for
the
state.
Tennessee
and
Alaska
also had
record
numbers
of new
cases on
Wednesday.
The
United
States
recorded
its
biggest
one-day
increase
of
nearly
48,000
new
infections
on
Tuesday,
including
more
than
8,000
each in
California
and
Texas, a
Reuters
tally
showed.
New
Mexico
Governor
Michelle
Grisham,
a
Democrat,
on
Wednesday
extended
the
state’s
emergency
public
health
order
through
July 15,
saying
that
authorities
would
“aggressively”
enforce
mandatory
mask
rules.
“I
want to
be as
clear as
I can
possibly
be: New
Mexico,
in this
moment,
still
has the
power to
change
the
terrible
trajectory
of this
virus,”
Grisham
said.
“But our
time is
limited.
And we
are
staring
down the
barrel
of what
Texas,
Arizona
and many
other
hard-hit
states
are
grappling
with.”
‘VIRUS
ON THE
PROWL’
In
Indiana,
Republican
Governor
Eric
Holcomb
halted
his
state’s
phased
reopening
until at
least
mid-July.
“We
just
have to
accept
the fact
... that
again
this
virus is
on the
prowl
and it
is
moving,
and it’s
moving
even
within
our
borders,”
he said.
New
York
Mayor
Bill de
Blasio,
a
Democrat
whose
city was
for
months
at the
center
of the
U.S.
outbreak,
said
Wednesday
he would
postpone
a plan
to allow
indoor
restaurant
dining
beginning
Monday.
“We
see a
lot of
problems
and we
particularly
see
problems
revolving
around
people
going
back to
bars and
restaurants
indoors,
and
indoors
is the
problem
more and
more,”
de
Blasio
told
reporters.A
Reuters/Ipsos
poll
found
Americans
are
increasingly
worried
about
the
spread
of
COVID-19,
the
serious
and
sometimes
fatal
illness
caused
by the
coronavirus.
Roughly
seven in
10
Republicans
said
they
were
personally
concerned
about
the
virus’
spread,
up from
six in
10 in
previous
polls.
About
nine in
10
Democrats
said
they are
similarly
worried,
a level
of
concern
that has
not
changed.
Conservatives
have
generally
been
less
willing
to wear
masks or
follow
other
restrictions
imposed
by local
authorities
to stop
the
spread
of the
virus as
the
issue
has
become
increasingly
politicized.
FILE
PHOTO: A
women
wears a
face
masks as
she
views
her
mobile
phone
during
the
global
outbreak
of the
coronavirus
disease
(COVID-19)
in
Oceanside,
California,
U.S.,
June 22,
2020.
REUTERS/Mike
Blake
President
Donald
Trump,
who has
been
reluctant
to don a
mask
himself,
told the
Fox
Business
Network
on
Wednesday
that he
used
face
coverings
when in
close
quarters
with
other
people
but did
not
think
mask-wearing
needed
to be
mandatory.
(GRAPHIC:
Tracking
the
novel
coronavirus
in the
U.S. -
here)
(GRAPHIC:
The
lifeline
pipeline,
COVID-19
treatments,
vaccines
in
development
- here)
Reporting
by
Brendan
O'Brien,
Lisa
Shumaker,
Emma
Farge,
John
Revill,
Sharon
Bernstein,
Peter
Szekely,
David
Schwartz
and Dan
Whitcomb;
Writing
by Sonya
Hepinstall
and Dan
Whitcomb;
Editing
by Bill
Berkrot,
Bill
Tarrant,
Cynthia
Osterman
and
Leslie
Adler
|
|
|
|
|
|