U.S. Coronavirus Deaths Exceed 65,000
Texas officials reported more than 1,100 new cases on Friday as Gov. Greg Abbott allowed retail stores and restaurants to reopen with capacity limits.
SEVERAL STATES ALLOWED stay-at-home orders to expire on Friday and started reopening their economies, as U.S. coronavirus deaths have now surpassed 65,000.
States such as Alabama, Idaho and Texas did not extend their stay-at-home orders. In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott allowed retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters and malls to resume operations with capacity limits starting on Friday. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma – which never issued an official statewide stay-at-home order – released a plan last week that allowed restaurants, movie theaters, gyms and sporting venues to start reopening on Friday with restrictions.
As Texas begins reopening, state officials reported more than 1,100 new cases and 34 new fatalities on Friday. It was the state's second-highest number of new COVID-19 cases since its first case was confirmed in March, the Austin American-Statesman reported. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said federal social distancing guidelines, which officially expired on Thursday, would be "fading out because now the governors are doing it."
Photos: Countries Ease Lockdowns
With coronavirus cases and deaths continuing to spike, the No. 2 official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday that limited testing and delayed travel alerts outside of China played a role in the U.S.'s jump in cases in February, according to The Associated Press.
"We clearly didn't recognize the full importations that were happening," Dr. Anne Schuchat told the AP.
The U.S. now has more than 1.1 million cases of and 65,000 deaths caused by COVID-19, according to tracking data from Johns Hopkins University. Global cases have exceeded 3.3 million.
The U.S. is not the only country that has started easing social distancing restrictions. Spain began allowing individual exercise and outdoor walks with some limitations on Saturday after weeks of confinement, according to the country's Ministry of Foregin Affairs. The country has reported more than 213,000 COVID-19 cases and 24,500 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.
India, however, is continuing its nationwide lockdown until at least May 17 after the country recorded its biggest single-day increase in coronavirus cases on Friday, The New York Times reported. India health officials on Saturday reported more than 26,500 active cases of COVID-19.
France's health minister announced on Saturday that the government will extend the country's state of emergency over the pandemic for nearly two months, according to CNN.
No comments:
Post a Comment