Tag Archives: Pandemic

Explainer: Are asymptomatic COVID-19 patients safe or silent carriers?

By Cate Cadell and Roxanne Liu

BEIJING (Reuters) – China said 300 symptomless carriers of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, had not been found to be infectious, in a bid to reassure people as countries ease restrictions. But some experts say asymptomatic infections are common, presenting a huge challenge in the control of the disease.

WHAT IS ASYMPTOMATIC AND PRE-SYMPTOMATIC?

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200402-sitrep-73-covid-19.pdf asymptomatic cases as those who don’t show symptoms but have been confirmed infected through a lab test. WHO notes there are few reports of truly asymptomatic cases.

The incubation period, or the time a person takes to show symptoms after getting infected, is the pre-symptomatic phase, the WHO says. Carriers can infect others during this period.

Health experts are not yet sure whether asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic cases are infectious. Some say data so far suggests those cases are probably equally likely to be able to spread infection.

The WHO agrees that pre-symptomatic carriers are infectious, and adds that there is also a possibility – although little evidence so far – that people who are asymptomatic may also transmit the virus. The WHO had said in early April that there had been no documented asymptomatic transmissions.

WHAT ELSE DOES CHINA SAY?

China has reported around 83,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. It does not include asymptomatic cases in that total official count, but began reporting them separately on a daily basis on March 31.

That has raised concerns about Beijing’s commitment to transparency, and some experts say it could also paint a misleading picture of how the virus spreads.

“If you watch (such asymptomatic cases) really closely, you would see something … that probably fits with a more realistic mild disease than a complete asymptomatic,” Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland said.

“But the term is around now and it’s going to stick. It’s a nice piece of theatre, but I don’t think it’s going to give useful information.”

Asymptomatic cases under medical observation in China dropped to 357 as of Tuesday from 1,541 as of March 30.

Wuhan has tested almost its entire population of 11 million and found no new COVID-19 cases.

Wuhan’s low rate of symptomless carriers is in line with China’s previous reporting, said Zhong Nanshan, the government’s senior medical adviser, adding that the result showed that the country didn’t cover up the epidemic as some U.S. politicians claimed.

HOW ABOUT REST OF ASIA?

Some countries in Asia include asymptomatic carriers in their total confirmed cases.

In Vietnam, which has just over 300 COVID-19 cases, almost 37% were symptomless, according to health ministry data.

Researchers concluded that asymptomatic infection was common and found two asymptomatic patients had infected at least four other people.

South Korea, which had early success in taming the outbreak through aggressive testing, said 20%-30% were asymptomatic. A senior health official said the virus could be widely transmitted during the incubation period, but asymptomatic patients were less likely to transmit it.

Singapore, which has the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia, does not give data on asymptomatic cases but has said an overwhelming majority of positive cases in its crowded migrant workers’ dormitories show mild or no symptoms.

The Philippines said about 13% of its nearly 19,000 cases were asymptomatic. In India, some 28% of 40,184 people who tested positive between Jan. 22 and April 30 were asymptomatic, according to a study.

(Reporting by Cate Cadell and Roxanne Liu in Beijing; Additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London, John Mair in Sydney, James Pearson in Hanoi, John Geddie in Singapore, Neil Jerome Morales in Manila, Sangmi Cha in Seoul, Rocky Swift in Tokyo and Miyoung Kim in Singapore; Writing by Sayantani Ghosh in Singapore; Editing by Kim Coghill)

Confusion, missing ballots as eight U.S. states vote during coronavirus pandemic

By John Whitesides and Jarrett Renshaw

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Confusion, missing mail-in ballots and long lines at some polling centers marred primary elections on Tuesday in eight states and the District of Columbia, the biggest test yet of voting during the coronavirus outbreak.

The most extensive balloting since the pandemic sparked lockdowns in mid-March served as a dry run for the Nov. 3 general election. It offered a glimpse of the challenges ahead on a national scale if that vote is conducted under a lingering threat from COVID-19.

All of the states voting on Tuesday encouraged or expanded mail-in balloting as a safe alternative during the outbreak, and most sharply reduced the number of in-person polling places as officials struggled to recruit workers to run them.

That led to record numbers of mail-in ballots requested and cast in many states, along with an explosion of complaints about delayed ballots and questions about where to vote after polling places were consolidated.

“The big story out of Pennsylvania is really voter confusion,” said Suzanne Almeida, interim director of government watchdog Common Cause Pennsylvania.

Polling places in at least four Pennsylvania counties opened late, and voting machines failed in at least three of the state’s counties, including Philadelphia, according to the Pennsylvania Election Protection Coalition voting rights group.

While most in-person voting locations featured extensive safety protocols – including masks, sanitizer and social distancing for lines – there were lapses.

“It is a mess in there. People confused. No social distancing, it is packed with machines, tables and people,” Rich Garella, of the voting rights group Protect Our Vote Philly, said of one south Philadelphia location.

The voting in some areas also was complicated by massive protests after an African-American man died in police custody in Minnesota last week. Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said a city curfew would not be enforced until 30 minutes after polls close. In Washington, voters and poll workers will be exempt from that city’s curfew, Mayor Muriel Bowser said.

Robert Wood, 54, said he considered not going to the polls given the dual threat of the coronavirus and riots. But the South Philadelphia resident said he thought last week’s events made it even more important.

“As a black man, I know a lot of people lost their lives so that I can vote. I take that seriously,” Wood said.

Counting the flood of mail-in ballots could delay the results, officials said. In Pennsylvania, Governor Tom Wolf extended the deadline for receiving mailed ballots postmarked by June 2 to June 9 in six counties, including Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania and three of the other states voting – Indiana, Maryland and Rhode Island – had delayed their nominating contests from earlier in the year to avoid the worst of the coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 105,000 people in the United States. Iowa, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota and the District of Columbia also were voting on Tuesday.

The primaries come amid a partisan brawl over voting by mail, which Democrats support as a safe way to cast a ballot and Republican President Donald Trump condemns as ripe for fraud. Numerous studies have found little evidence of voting fraud tied to mail-in ballots.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has essentially wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination to face Trump in November, but seven of the states also will have primaries for state and congressional offices.

Among the top races contested on Tuesday is a Republican congressional primary in Iowa. U.S. Representative Steve King, who has a long history of making racially charged remarks, faces a stiff re-election challenge after being largely abandoned by party leadership.

(Reporting by John Whitesides and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Soyoung Kim, Peter Cooney and Jonathan Oatis)

Special Report: U.S. school closures dramatically shrinking public education, Reuters finds

By M.B. Pell, Kristina Cooke and Benjamin Lesser

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Jennifer Panditaratne’s third-grade daughter had been seeing a reading specialist once a week before her Florida school closed abruptly in March due to the novel coronavirus.

Since then, her child has had no contact with the specialist. Panditaratne is left to download her daughter’s special education material and sit with her as she does her school work—in between her own calls as a maritime lawyer in South Florida.

“Is it the same material? Sure,” she said. “But is it being administered by a professional who knows what they are doing? No.”

More than two months after schools across the United States began closing in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the shutdown is taking a profound toll on the nation’s system of education, Reuters found by surveying nearly 60 school districts serving some 2.8 million students.

Almost overnight, public education in the United States has shrunk to a shell of its former self, the review found, with teacher instruction, grading, attendance, special education and meal services for hungry children slashed back or gutted altogether.

The survey encompassed school districts from large urban communities, such as Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the Houston Independent School District, to the smallest rural settings, including San Jon Municipal Schools in eastern New Mexico and Park County School District 6 in Cody, Wyoming. The survey reflects what is happening only in those districts that responded.

Reuters found:

– A large majority of responding districts, 47 of 57, reported they are providing elementary and middle school students with half or less the usual face time with teachers. Eight of those districts said students receive little to no direct instruction. In Philadelphia, tens of thousands of elementary and middle school pupils receive little to no live instruction—and high schoolers receive none at all.

– Fewer than half of districts even take attendance and many of those that do say fewer kids are showing up for class. Riverbank Unified School District in Stanislaus County, California, no longer takes attendance. But educators there learned through Google Classroom and phone calls that only about half of their 3,000 students are participating in virtual school and completing assignments.

– Public schools play a crucial role in feeding America’s poor children—but the lockdown is gutting that role. About three-quarters of districts reported they served a cumulative 4.5 million fewer meals a week. In Washoe County, Nevada, the school district provided 251,000 meals a week before the shutdown. Since then: Just over 39,000 a week.

– About a third of districts aren’t providing federally required services to their special needs students, such as physical and occupational therapy like they did before schools were closed. “One of the many things keeping me up at night is, how are we providing education to those who most need it?” asked Michael Lubelfeld, superintendent of the North Shore School District 112 outside Chicago.

In the School District of Philadelphia, superintendent William Hite already sees young children falling behind, including those missing critical face-to-face teacher time through the district’s early literacy program. For older students, he worries that the loss of the school structure’s safety net could lead to delinquency and crime.

“This is in no way a sufficient replacement of teacher instruction of students in classrooms,” Hite said. “I think the impact has already been felt here.”

Several education researchers who reviewed the survey results said that, if anything, the responses likely represent a rosy picture of what is actually happening in the nation’s schools.

Betheny Gross, associate director at the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, believes the results reflected more “optimism” than may be warranted. “This is reflective of what superintendents think is happening,” Gross said, while the reality may actually be worse.

Gross cited the high percentage, 84%, of districts reporting that at least some students are still receiving at least some live instruction. She said her own review of material posted online detailing what administrators across the country expected instruction to look like during the closure revealed that only a “small share” of districts were setting a standard that included live instruction.

While few children have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and serious complications for them have been rare, public officials shut down schools to prevent the disease from spreading. Nineteen children under the age of 14 died from COVID-19 from February 1 through May 23, estimates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a figure hovering just above 0% of all U.S. virus deaths.

Data on how school closures affect the disease’s spread in the community is limited because the pandemic is still under way. But researchers at University College London found evidence from past epidemics, previous research and modeling of coronavirus transmission in other countries that closing schools has only a slight impact on preventing contagion.

To be sure, public schools, like businesses and governments, were forced into a sudden new world with the pandemic’s spread.

Teachers, parents, researchers and district administrators told Reuters that while distance learning can improve, for the vast majority of students it will fall far short of in-person instruction. If students are not in front of teachers next school year, the public should expect only a fraction of the live instruction, special needs services going unfulfilled and far fewer meals served.

“I just don’t know how we call off school next year,” said Gregory Cizek, who studies education at the University of North Carolina.

For students, parents and educators, the Reuters survey shows, the loss of live instruction has been significant.

LIMITED HOME RESOURCES

Eliza McCord, 16, wasn’t able to participate in her math class for the first six weeks after her Fort Wayne, Indiana, high school went virtual, because her sister had a college class at the same time. Inside their home, there weren’t enough devices to go around.

Even now, her family writes a class schedule on a white board. Also in the rotation for devices and WiFi: Her mother, an elementary school special education teacher; her father, a librarian; and her younger brother, in sixth grade.

Many of Eliza’s classmates have told her they don’t have regular access to a computer to download files, or reliable access to the Internet to join Zoom calls. That said, Eliza thinks some students are not participating because their grades for the final quarter of the year don’t count.

“There are students who just have essentially given up on the rest of the school year,” she said.

Charles Cammack, chief operations officer for Fort Wayne Community Schools, said the majority of students remained engaged after schools were closed. Still, he acknowledged that after the system announced grades would not count for the fourth marking period, some students checked out.

“It would be naïve to say we didn’t know there was a risk some kids would take that position, but given the circumstances I don’t know how we could avoid that happening,” he said.

Special education services such as occupational and physical therapy are challenging to provide remotely, and some services can only be provided face-to-face, survey respondents said.

Schools also rely heavily on parental support. “For any therapy, the parents will need to follow the instructions of the teacher to complete the exercises with the students,” said Dr. Jason Lind, superintendent at Millburn School District 24 in Illinois. “This works well if parents have time to spend helping their children. If parents are also working full-time, this does not work.”

When Fort Wayne’s public school district shut down, Eliza’s mother, special-ed teacher Dawn Cortner-McCord, called the parents of her students. She gave them her personal cell number, and talks with about a third of her students daily, dropping off books and other learning materials at their homes.

But talking on the cell phone is no match for in-class teaching, Dawn said. She cited the example of twin third-grade girls who do math at a first-grade level and had been making progress with hands-on learning. Now she worries they, and other students, are falling back.

“We are just trying to maintain the skills that they have,” she said. “A lot of my students still need that sensory input.”

In Broward County Public Schools in Florida, where Jennifer Panditaratne’s daughter has not seen a reading specialist since schools closed, the district found not all teacher engagement is equal. Panditaratne said her third-grade daughter has a daily 15 minute group Zoom call with her class teacher, going over assignments for the day. Her daughter in fifth grade is getting more live video instruction, but it varies by teacher.

In March, the teacher’s union and district agreed teachers would provide at least three hours a day of deep engagement with students. Many teachers conducted live video instruction, while others used email, phone calls or discussion boards, said Daniel Gohl, the district’s chief academic officer. That left a sense of inequity. So starting this summer, all teachers will provide at least three hours of live-video instruction daily.

“We now know students and teachers need to see and talk to each other,” Gohl said. “We acknowledge we did not get everything right and we are committed to improving.”

MISSING MEALS

By law, U.S. public school districts are required to provide free or reduced-cost meals to children in need. With schools shut, getting those vital meals to the qualifying students has been hindered, in several instances, by significant hurdles.

Despite school districts’ efforts, Reuters found children are missing school meals they should have received. Thirty-four districts, or about three-quarters of those that responded, said they were providing fewer meals a week than before the closure, the Reuters survey found.

Miami-Dade County Public schools provided 1.33 million free breakfasts, lunches and after-school meals a week to its students prior to the March 16 closure. As of May 1, the district said it was serving less than one-third of that number, about 420,000 meals a week.

One reason, according to four parents in the county, was that the district made meals available, but limited pickup to twice a week, leading to long lines. Another roadblock: Lack of transportation to reach the pickup locations. Three of the parents said they were forced to find other sources of food, such as a food bank or a state-funded lunch program.

Victoria Lynn Dennis, a 29-year-old customer service agent in Miami, said she hasn’t been able to access school meals for her 5-year-old pre-kindergartner and 6-year-old kindergartner because she doesn’t have a car. A week after the schools closed, someone from a nonprofit program that partners with the district came to her door with macaroni and cheese. There have been no visits since.

“Telling my kids they can’t eat as much, because we have to save it, it kills me,” she said.

Penny Parham, the food and nutrition officer for Miami-Dade schools, said her heart goes out to the students they aren’t serving. But while they are serving many students, the system can feed more young people in school cafeterias than in the district’s 50 remote distribution sites. As unemployment rises in Florida, she’s seen the lines at these sites grow longer.

“How long can it keep up and are you missing the most critical person?” she asked.

BUDGET DEFICITS, QUESTIONS LOOM

As they look ahead, nearly 70% of districts told Reuters they face a budget deficit. The total shortfall of these districts alone exceeds $450 million.

Philadelphia already faces a $38 million deficit, even after receiving federal assistance. With local revenue plummeting, that number could expand in the weeks to come.

Many school districts are now confronting a question most on the minds of parents: Will they reopen schools in the fall, or continue the distance learning?

Dan Domenech, executive director of AASA The School Superintendents Association, a group representing school district chiefs, meets every week with a task force on reopening consisting of 30 superintendents from across the country.

Three options are being considered for the fall, he said: fully reopening schools as they were prior to the pandemic; a hybrid model in which some students attend school in-person and some continue with remote learning; and continuing with complete remote learning.

The hybrid option, Domenech said, appears to have the most support. But staying entirely remote, he added, is “beginning to get some traction because the cost of opening schools and following the guidance the CDC has offered is going to be cost prohibitive.” The added costs include more buses to maintain social distancing, protective equipment for students and staff and the daily cleaning of each school.

As districts weigh that question, some parents and teachers worry what comes next.

Portia Hudson, a math teacher at Edwin Fitler Academics Plus School in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, recalls teaching virtually this spring and watching one student, already battling anxiety problems, fall five weeks behind. During another session, a second student played on a swing during class time.

“If we have virtual learning in September, that’s when I’m really going to be concerned, because virtual learning will look like it does now,” Hudson said. “Kids not logging on. Kids on swings.”

(Reporting by M.B. Pell and Benjamin Lesser in New York, and Kristina Cooke in Los Angeles. Editing by Ronnie Greene)

Eight U.S. states cast ballots on biggest voting day since coronavirus pandemic

By John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Eight states and the District of Columbia hold primary elections on Tuesday, the biggest test yet of officials’ readiness to manage a surge of mail ballots and the safety risks of in-person voting during the coronavirus outbreak.

The largest day of balloting since the pandemic began will serve as a dry run for the Nov. 3 general election, offering a glimpse of the challenges ahead on a national scale if that vote is conducted under a lingering threat from COVID-19.

Four of the states voting on Tuesday – Pennsylvania, Indiana, Maryland and Rhode Island – delayed their nominating contests from earlier in the year to avoid the worst of the outbreak that has killed more than 104,000 people in the United States.

All of the states, which also include Iowa, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota, have encouraged or expanded mail-in balloting as a safe voting alternative.

That has led to record numbers of mail-in ballots requested or cast in many states, along with an explosion of questions, confusion and reports of ballot applications delayed or lost.

Most states also will sharply reduce the number of in-person polling places as officials struggle to recruit enough workers to run them.

“We will have a lot of clarity after June 2 about what needs to be fixed for November, and we’re hoping we can come up with some clear practical solutions,” said Suzanne Almeida, acting director of government watchdog Common Cause Pennsylvania.

The primaries come amid a partisan brawl over voting by mail, which Democrats support as a safe way to cast a ballot and Republican President Donald Trump condemns as ripe for fraud. Numerous studies have found little evidence of voting fraud tied to mail-in ballots.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has essentially wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination to face Trump in November, but seven of the states also will have primaries for state and congressional offices.

Among the top races to be decided on Tuesday will be a Republican congressional primary in Iowa. U.S. Representative Steve King, who has a long history of making racially charged remarks, faces a stiff re-election challenge after being largely abandoned by party leadership.

(Reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Peter Cooney)

No let-up in global rainforest loss as coronavirus brings new danger

By Michael Taylor

KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Tropical rainforests disappeared at a rate of one football pitch every six seconds last year, researchers said on Tuesday, urging countries to include forest protection in post-pandemic plans.

The loss in 2019 of 3.8 million hectares (9.3 million acres) of tropical primary forest – which means intact areas of old-growth trees – was the third biggest decline since the turn of the century, according to data from Global Forest Watch (GFW).

“Primary forests are the areas we are the most concerned about – they have the biggest implications for carbon and biodiversity,” said Mikaela Weisse, a project manager at the GFW forest monitoring service, run by the World Resources Institute.

“The fact that we are losing them so rapidly is really concerning,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Loss of primary forest, which hit a record high in 2016 and 2017, was 2.8% higher in 2019 than the year before.

Agricultural expansion, wildfires, logging, mining and population growth all contribute to deforestation, according to GFW researchers.

Cutting down forests has major implications for global goals to curb climate change, as trees absorb about a third of the planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions produced worldwide.

Forests also provide food and livelihoods for people who live in or near them, are an essential habitat for wildlife, and aid tropical rainfall.

Governments preparing post-coronavirus economic stimulus plans should include measures to protect forests, said Weisse.

In the short-term, the virus may weaken enforcement of forest laws, with people taking advantage of that to commit environmental crimes, she warned.

In the medium-term, economic stress could hike pressure for more extractive industries in forests or larger-scale agriculture, she added.

Workers coming home from cities after losing jobs could also turn to forests to help feed their families, increasing the risk of deforestation, she said.

“The situation has changed,” Weisse said of the COVID-19 pandemic. “What we need to do has also changed.”

WILDFIRES

The top three countries for primary forest loss last year – Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Indonesia – have remained largely the same this century, GFW researchers said.

Brazil accounted for more than a third of all primary forest loss in 2019 at 1.36 million hectares.

Many of the Brazilian forest fires that made international headlines last year did not occur inside primary forest, but in already deforested areas as farmers cleared logged land for agriculture and cattle, according to the data.

Neighbouring Bolivia, however, experienced record-breaking primary forest loss at 290,000 hectares, due to fires in both forests and surrounding woodlands, GFW said.

And Australia experienced a 560% jump in tree cover loss from 2018, driven by unprecedented bushfires, making it easily the country’s worst year on record.

The DRC saw its losses fall slightly to 475,000 hectares, still the third-highest year on record for the African nation, the data showed.

Malaysia lost 120,000 hectares of primary forest last year, ranking 6th behind Peru at 162,000 hectares, it added.

The figure for Indonesia remained at historically low levels for the third year in a row at 324,000 hectares, a 5% reduction in losses from 2018, according to GFW.

Tougher law enforcement to prevent forest fires and land clearing, and bans on forest-clearing and new oil-palm concessions all helped, said Arief Wijaya, forests and climate manager at think-tank World Resources Institute Indonesia.

“I would (now) like to see the government not only trying to reduce deforestation but reverse deforestation,” Wijaya said.

As the Southeast Asian nation battles the coronavirus pandemic, it is important that funds set aside for forest protection and restoration are not reallocated to help the wider economy and healthcare system, he added.

In total, the tropics lost 11.9 million hectares of tree cover – which includes all natural forests and tree plantations – in 2019, according to the GFW data.

“There has been so much international effort to try and slow or stop tropical deforestation, and the fact that we’re not seeing the numbers budge at a global level is something we are quite concerned about,” said Weisse.

(Reporting by Michael Taylor @MickSTaylor; Editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

George Floyd protests recall earlier tensions, promises of economic change

By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In November 2015, the shooting death of Jamar Clark by Minneapolis police touched off a debate on race and economic inequality that challenged the city’s progressive image and led local corporate leaders to back efforts at better sharing the spoils of a booming Midwestern state.

Five years later, the killing of George Floyd has reopened those wounds and highlighted a growing concern nationally: The last few years of economic growth saw gains for lower-income families, but any hope for a durable narrowing of economic gaps may have been short-circuited by the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent economic crash falling heavily on minorities.

Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis last week may have been a catalyst for an anger that has spawned protests nationwide, but it was in effect the third major shock to hit in as many months, said Tawanna Black, chief executive of Minnesota’s Center for Economic Inclusion (CEI), a group that grew out of those corporate promises of five years ago.

Before the recent surge in joblessness, “we saw the employment gap closing rapidly,” Black said. But “you were connecting people to low-wage jobs, and now you have displaced them. … What I am hopeful of is that we not just solve for criminal justice, but what’s required to get economic and social justice.”

It is complex, to be sure. Tension over police treatment of blacks has simmered through good economic times and bad. But for the economy, the course of the pandemic and the financial fallout highlights how little has changed over a decade of growth that seemed to hold out at least the possibility of progress on narrowing racial economic divides.

Median family income growth finally started rising in 2015, but median family income for blacks remains about 61% that of whites. In Minneapolis, it is even lower at about 44%.

A 2009-2020 bull market for stocks and rising home values have done little to improve overall wealth among African Americans, who comprise around 13% of the U.S. population but account for 4.2% of household net worth, according to Federal Reserve data. The figure in 1989 was 3.8%.

For Hispanics, it is even worse, with more than 18% of the U.S. population holding just 3.1% of household wealth.

(Graphic: Race gaps persist – )

‘NO PROGRESS’

Both groups have suffered an outsized blow from layoffs triggered by business closures meant to control the spread of the coronavirus and the crash in demand among consumers holed up

at home.

According to federal data from February to April, Hispanic employment fell by more than 25%. For blacks, the figure was 17.6%, more modest but still above the 15.5% for whites.

It is part of a “last-hired, first-fired” dynamic familiar to labor economists and considered one of the reasons behind the lack of progress in narrowing wealth and income gaps. In this case, it is also driven by the skewed nature of the coronavirus economic shock, which hit hardest among lower-paid service jobs in the restaurant and hospitality industry where minorities form a larger share of the workforce.

The shock has been no different in Minnesota from in parts of the Deep South, according to a Reuters comparison of federal employment data by race alongside demographic information on unemployment claimants submitted by the state in April.

African Americans made up about 5.7% of Minnesota’s employed workforce in 2019 but more than 8% of those who filed for unemployment in April.

Still predominantly white, with a self-effacing culture captured by writer Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” former radio show, the demographics around Minneapolis, the state’s largest city, have shifted quickly in recent decades. It

has for example opened itself to refugees from Somalia. The city is now about 20% black and 10% Hispanic.

Minnesota’s rural areas voted heavily in 2016 for Republican Donald Trump, while the state as a whole went for Democrat Hillary Clinton owing to strong support in the Minneapolis area.

That city is also home to a healthy list of large U.S. companies, many of them homegrown national brands like Target Corp, that are known for their civic boosterism and support for efforts like the one spearheaded by CEI’s Black.

The question now is whether the dislocation caused by the coronavirus, rising joblessness and the death of Floyd prompts lasting change.

Those firms will be central to deciding the pace of the economic recovery, and the nature of the jobs available in the economy that emerges.

After the last recovery did so little to change wealth and income dynamics, and the coronavirus showed the gulf between workers who were buffered from the crisis and those who were not, Black said it was time to think about the nature of the labor market that will emerge from here.

Many of the jobs “will not come back. Do we train people for tech jobs? Automation-resilient jobs?” she said. Over the last decade, “we made no progress.”

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Dan Burns and Peter Cooney)

What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

(Reuters) – Here’s what you need to know about the coronavirus right now:

Scientists hunt pandemic hotspots

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic may be waning. For vaccine developers, that could be a problem.

Scientists in Europe and the United States say the relative success of draconian lockdown and social distancing policies means virus transmission rates may be at such low levels in some places that there is not enough disease circulating to truly test potential vaccines.

They may need to look further afield, to pandemic hotspots in Africa and Latin America, to get convincing results.

Rich world lockdowns hit remittances

Carlos Sosa, a Salvadoran waiter in New York, used to send up to $500 a month back home to his mother to help pay for her medical bills and food. After the coronavirus hit and he lost his job in early March, Sosa has burnt through his savings and the wire transfers have stopped.

Lockdowns imposed by wealthy nations and the jolt those restrictions have delivered to their economies are severing a vital lifeline for many often vulnerable people around the world: the billions of dollars in remittances sent home by relatives working abroad.

Emirates sees four years to full resumption

Emirates’ outgoing president, Tim Clark, said it could take the Dubai-based airline up to four years to resume flying to its entire network. Emirates, which flew to 157 destinations in 83 countries before the pandemic, grounded passenger flights in March and has since operated few, limited services.

“I think probably by the year 2022/23, 2023/24 we will see things coming back to some degree of normality,” Clark said in a webcast interview with aviation consultant John Strickland.

Future of tourism

Sri Lanka plans a limited reopening of its tourism sector on Aug. 1, according to the head of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. Small groups of tourists will be allowed to enter with a certificate from their governments or a reputable agency stating they were free of COVID-19.

They would be tested on arrival in Sri Lanka, would have to stay in approved five-star hotels with strict safety measures, and would be allowed to visit sites including national parks and beaches.

(Compiled by Karishma Singh and Nick Tattersall; Edited by Nick Macfie)

Between two storms: Caribbean braces for hurricanes in coronavirus era

By Sarah Marsh and Rodrigo Campos

HAVANA/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ken Hutton is worried Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas where he lives is far from rebuilt after being devastated by Hurricane Dorian last year yet he is bracing for another hurricane season in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The business consultant feels lucky to have survived Dorian, which tore the hurricane shutters off his house and sucked out the windows.

Yet there is still no running water or power in his area – he relies on a generator and a well – and many of the organizations that had been helping to rebuild suspended work because of the pandemic.

“We are still in no position to be ready for another hurricane,” he told Reuters Tuesday. Already, the Caribbean has been hit by two tropical storms before the official start of the hurricane season on June 1, one of which started right over the Bahamas, Hutton added.

“There are lots of people walking around here now with post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said.

Hurricane Dorian caused $3.4 billion in damages – more than a quarter of the annual output of the Bahamas or the equivalent of the United States losing the combined outputs of California, Texas and Florida, according to the Inter-American Development Bank.

Across the Caribbean, island nations are now facing the double whammy of a hurricane season forecast to be more active than usual combined with a pandemic that has already drained public coffers and leveled tourism, one of its top earners.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week forecast 13-19 named storms this year, following 18 named storms last year and 15 in 2018, both above the average of 12.

But the Caribbean has used up much of the fiscal buffers it would usually have readied to respond to hurricane season, Caribbean Development Bank President Warren Smith said.

Countries have tapped typical sources of external emergency financing, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to respond to the coronavirus crisis, further limiting their funding options.

Meanwhile, new health protocols for hurricane season prep comes at an added cost. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has revised guidelines to prevent the virus’ spread, including social distancing, personal protective equipment and hand cleaning facilities in shelters, said CDEMA head Elizabeth Riley.

“We can’t put as many people into a shelter (with social distancing), which means we must have many more shelters available,” St Lucia Prime Minister Allen Chastanet told Reuters.

ECONOMIC STORM

Caribbean nations have had to absorb the high costs of managing virus outbreaks even as they have lost revenue from the stop in tourism caused by border closures and lockdowns, while also being forced to provide a welfare safety net to more people.

The economic outlook does not look set to improve any time soon, with the Caribbean facing a regional contraction of 6.2 % according to the IMF.

“Small island states rely heavily on tourism and remittances. Both are now at a standstill,” United Nations head Antonio Guterres said on Thursday. “Households that had a secure income are at imminent risk of poverty and hunger.”

He added that alleviating “crushing” debt “must be extended to all developing and middle-income countries” that request forbearance as they lose access to their main financial markets.

But it is not all doom and gloom. In Cuba, a meme went viral on social media in recent weeks appearing to present a duel for television airtime between the country’s chief epidemiologist and its most renowned weatherman as they cover the two crises.

The weatherman, Jose Rubiera, told Reuters much of what happens will depend on each storm’s route.

“One single hurricane can be devastating whereas you can have many that don’t hit,” he said. “It’s all very relative, but the one rule of thumb is to always be well prepared.”

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh in Havana and Rodrigo Campos in New York; Additional Reporting by Sarah Peter in Castries, St Lucia, Nelson Acosta in Havana and Karin Strohecker in London; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Aurora Ellis)

Tyson Foods will shut U.S. pork plant as more workers catch COVID-19

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Tyson Foods Inc said on Thursday it will temporarily close an Iowa pork plant due to the coronavirus pandemic, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered slaughterhouses to stay open to protect the country’s food supply.

Meat processors like Tyson Foods, WH Group’s Smithfield Foods and JBS USA temporarily closed about 20 slaughterhouses last month as workers fell ill with the new coronavirus, leading to shortages of certain products in grocery stores. Production remains lower than normal because of increased absenteeism and social distancing among employees.

An Iowa state official said 555 employees at Tyson’s Storm Lake plant tested positive for the virus, about 22% of the workforce.

Tyson will stop slaughtering hogs at the facility and finish processing the animals over the next two days, according to a statement.

It will resume operations next week following “additional deep cleaning and sanitizing of the entire facility,” the statement said. The closure is due partly to a delay in COVID-19 testing results and employee absences, according to Tyson.

Tyson said it conducted large-scale COVID-19 testing at the plant in northwestern Iowa and implemented safety measures to protect employees like requiring them to wear masks.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union called on the Trump administration and meat companies to do more to protect workers. The union reported more than 3,000 infections and 44 deaths among U.S. meatpacking workers, up from 35 deaths as of May 12.

“Too many workers are being sent back into meatpacking plants without adequate protections in place, reigniting more outbreaks in the plants and our communities,” said Nick Nemec, a South Dakota farmer who is part of an advocacy group working with the union.

The Storm Lake plant slaughters about 17,250 pigs a day when it is running at full capacity, according to industry data. That accounted for about 3.5% of U.S. production before the pandemic.

(Reporting by Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Stephen Coates)

Factbox: Where states stand as U.S. reaches 100,000 coronavirus deaths

By Peter Szekely

(Reuters) – Less than four months after a 57-year-old California woman died and was later found to be the country’s first COVID-19 fatality, the coronavirus U.S. death toll topped 100,000 people on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally.

The grim milestone is by far the largest of any country, although by population, several Western European countries, led by Belgium, have much higher death rates.

The outbreak set off a patchwork of responses by the 50 states and the District of Columbia, some of which were hammered by the global pandemic while others were barely touched.

Initial actions ranged from sweeping business shutdowns and orders to shelter in place to less drastic guidance and regional closings. All states have loosened at least some restrictions in recent weeks, but still require or recommend precautions, such as social distancing or masks. Almost all states have ended in-class instruction at public schools for the academic year.

Below are summaries of how the states and the District of Columbia are coming back from the economic slowdown they orchestrated to combat the pandemic, based on Reuters reporting, a Reuters tally of infections and deaths as of Wednesday, and data compiled by the National Governors Association:

ALABAMA: 12 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 581. Total cases: 15,775. After its stay-at-home order expired at the end of April, the state moved to a “Safer at Home” order that urged residents to minimize travel and banned public gatherings unless social distancing can be maintained. The order was amended to continue until July 3. The state has allowed retail stores to operate at 50% of capacity, while restaurants, bars, gyms and some personal care services were allowed to reopen with restrictions. State beaches also were reopened.

ALASKA: 1 death per 100,000. Total deaths: 10. Total cases: 411. On May 8, the state entered the second phase of a five-step reopening process that allows offices, restaurants, swimming pools, personal care and other retail businesses to operate at 50% of capacity, and bars, gyms and theaters to operate at 25% of capacity. Social and religious gatherings are limited to 50 people with social distancing.

ARIZONA: 11 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 831. Total cases: 17,262. After the state’s stay-at-home order expired on May 15, bars, pools, gyms and ballparks without fans were allowed to reopen, though social distancing policies remain in place. Non-essential retailers, including barbershops, reopened on May 8 and dine-in service at restaurants reopened on May 11.

ARKANSAS: 4 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 119. Total cases: 6,180. The state responded to the outbreak in March with piecemeal measures, not a sweeping shutdown, and is now relaxing them. Restaurants were allowed to resume dine-in service at 33% capacity on May 11, personal service businesses, such as barbershops, were allowed to reopen on May 6, gyms were allowed to reopen on May 4. Large venues, such as movie theaters and sports arenas, were allowed to reopen on May 18, and restaurant bars could reopen on May 19, all with capacity limits. Since May 14, travelers from any international location, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey or New Orleans have been required to self-quarantine for 14 days.

CALIFORNIA: 10 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 3,824. Total cases: 99,769. The most populous U.S. state is in the second step of a four-stage reopening process after leading the country to close businesses and lockdown residents in March. The reopening is being phased in by county and business sector. Some statewide commerce is allowed, including curb-side retail sales and limited in-store shopping, manufacturing and office work. Some counties were permitted to open limited dine-in restaurant service, barbershops and hair salons. State beaches, bars, gyms and large venues, such as theaters, remain closed. On May 18, Governor Gavin Newsom said professional sports could return by early June under strict guidelines that include no fans.

COLORADO: 23 deaths per 100,000: Total deaths: 1,352. Total cases: 24,565. After a month-long “stay-at-home” order, the state moved to a looser “safer-at-home” order on April 27 that phases in activities, while still barring gatherings of 10 or more and requiring residents to stay within 10 miles (16 km) of home. On May 1, personal services, such as hair salons, and in-person shopping at non-critical stores resumed with restrictions. On May 4, commercial employers could have up to 50% of their employees on-site but were encouraged to have them work from home. Bars remain closed, but on Wednesday restaurants were allowed to resume seating customers, either outdoors or inside at 50% of capacity.

CONNECTICUT: 106 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 3,769. Total cases: 41,303. Two months after issuing a stay-home order, the state, among the country’s hardest hit, began loosening commercial restrictions on May 20. With restrictions, the new order allows offices to reopen, stores to allow onsite shopping and restaurants to offer outdoor table service. Unlike some neighboring states, Connecticut never closed manufacturing, construction or curbside retail service. Bars, gyms and personal service businesses remain closed. DELAWARE: 34 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 344. Total cases: 9,096. The state is gradually reopening the activities and businesses it shuttered on March 23 when residents were told to shelter in place, an order that has been extended to May 31. On May 8, most non-essential retailers were allowed to do curbside pickup sales, while several others, including hair care shops, were allowed to open for business with restrictions. Wider limited reopenings, including beaches, malls and restaurants and bars at 30% of capacity are set for June 1, although meeting facilities, sports venues and nail salons will remain closed.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: 62 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 445 Total cases: 8,406. Unlike most states that have moved to expand economic activity, the U.S. capital extended its stay-at-home order to June 8 because its efforts to curb the spread of the disease, had not met federal reopening guidelines. All but essential businesses, including grocery stores and restaurant take-out sales, remain closed. The district, among the country’s hardest-hit areas, was considering reopening parks.

FLORIDA: 11 deaths per 100,000: Total deaths: 2,319. Total cases: 52,634. The expiration of the state’s stay-at-home order on May 4 enabled most counties to reopen businesses, including retailers, dine-in restaurants, personal care services and gyms. Three heavily populated South Florida counties were slower to accept the reopenings, with Palm Beach, the home of U.S. President Donald Trump’s resort, joining a week later and Miami-Dade and Broward announcing some incremental reopenings afterward. The city of Miami Beach, which was hit hard by the virus, set its reopening of restaurant dining for May 25.

GEORGIA: 18 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 1,907. Total cases: 44,421. Georgia was the first state to emerge from lockdown as Governor Brian Kemp relaxed restrictions on April 24 over the objections of some local officials. The move allowed retail stores, dine-in restaurants, gyms and personal care businesses to open their doors, along with places of worship.

HAWAII: 1 death per 100,000. Total deaths: 17. Total cases: 643. The state, which relies heavily on tourism, requires all visitors arriving on the islands through June 30 to self-quarantine for 14 days. While the reopening of some businesses began on May 7, a stay-at-home order remains in effect through May 31. Retailers have been allowed to operate, except in Honolulu and Maui, and outdoor recreational facilities, including beaches, are open. More reopenings are expected on June 1.

IDAHO: 4 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 79. Total cases: 2,699. The state began its incremental reopening on May 1, the day after its stay-at-home order expired, by allowing places of worship to operate. Dine-in restaurants, gyms and personal care service businesses were allowed to open on May 16. More openings are expected on May 30.

ILLINOIS: 39 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 4,923. Total cases: 113,195. Illinois has taken only tentative steps away from the stay-at-home order Governor J.B. Pritzker issued in March. Since April, retail curbside sales and some manufacturing have been permitted, and state parks were opened. The stay-at-home order in place through May 29 bars non-essential travel, encourages work-from-home and restricts religious activities to gatherings of up to 10 people or drive-in services.

INDIANA: 30 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 2,030. Total cases: 32,437. Since May 4, the state has been phasing in the reopening of its economy in most regions, following the expiration of its March 23 stay-at-home order. The steps toward relaxation have allowed retailers and personal care services to do business, while restaurants and bars that serve food to could reopen their dining areas. Manufacturers, offices and places of worship also were free to operate.

IOWA: 15 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 490. Total cases: 18,360. One of a handful of states that did not issue a shutdown order, Iowa has been gradually unwinding the piecemeal restrictions it implemented in March but is keeping social distancing requirements. By May 15, all dine-in restaurants, gyms, hair salons and other personal service businesses were allowed to reopen. Large venue businesses, including theaters and zoos, were allowed to open on May 20, and bars were set to resume business on May 28. Gatherings of more than 10 people remain banned through May 27.

KANSAS: 6 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 205. Total cases: 9,337. The state has been in a phased reopening since May 4 when Governor Laura Kelly’s earlier stay-at-home order expired. Under the May order, retailers, offices, hair salons, gyms and restaurant dining areas were permitted to reopen, while bars and theaters remained closed. Further reopening steps are expected.

KENTUCKY: 9 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 394. Total cases: 8,951. The state is in the process of a phased-in reopening following a March 22 shutdown order. On May 11, manufacturing, construction and office workers were allowed to go back to their workplaces with restrictions. The reopenings also extended to horse racing tracks, including the state’s internationally known Churchill Downs, but without spectators. Limited reopenings at 33% of capacity were applied to retailers on May 20 and restaurants on May 22. Other targeted reopenings include personal care services on May 25 and gyms and movie theaters on June 1. Bars remain closed.

LOUISIANA: 58 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 2,722. Total cases: 38,497. With New Orleans among the areas hit hardest by the outbreak, Governor John Bel Edwards issued a stay-at-home order on March 22, but began a gradual unwinding of it on May 15. The new order permits several businesses, including restaurant dining areas, shopping malls, salons and barber shops, places of worship, casinos, racetrack, gyms and most other businesses to operate at 25% of their customer capacity. Parks are also open.

MAINE: 6 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 81. Total cases: 2,137. Maine, which has had a stay-at-home order in effect since April 2, began a regionally phased-in reopening approach on May 1. Car washes and auto dealerships were allowed to operate statewide, but the reopening of other retailers and restaurant dining areas was limited to some rural counties. On May 19, Governor Janet Mills delayed the reopening of salons and gyms, but opened the state’s campgrounds in time for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

MARYLAND: 39 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 2,392. Total cases: 48,423. After shutting down the state on March 30 with a stay-at-home order that also banned gatherings of more than 10 people, Governor Larry Hogan began reopening commerce on May 15. The new order allowed a broad range of retail stores, drive-in movie theaters, personal care services, manufacturers and places of worship to reopen in much of the state. The initial reopening phase also covered beaches and campgrounds, but not dine-in restaurants and gyms. Some localities chose to remain closed.

MASSACHUSETTS: 94 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 6,473. Total cases: 93,693. Massachusetts, among the states hardest hit by pandemic, began to emerge from a March 23 stay-at-home order with a phased-in reopening on May 18. The new order by Governor Charlie Baker, the first in a series, allowed the resumption of manufacturing, construction and worship services. It also sets May 25 for the reopening of curbside retail sales, office buildings, salons, car washes and drive-in movie theaters. Bars, dine-in restaurants, gyms and personal care services remain closed.

MICHIGAN: 53 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 5,334. Total cases: 55,608. Michigan, scene of protests by groups of armed demonstrators calling for a resumption of commerce, has been one of the most locked-down states since March 24. It began relaxing restrictions by region on May 11 by allowing some retailers to do curbside sales. Another order allowed retailers and car dealerships to do business by appointment starting May 22. Some manufacturing, construction and restaurants also were allowed to resume operation in certain areas. The current stay-at-home order is set to expire after Thursday.

MINNESOTA: 16 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 942 Total cases: 22,464. The state has loosened its March shutdown order over the past few weeks, allowing manufacturing and office employees back to work, but requiring that workers who can work from home do so. Gatherings of more than 10 people are still prohibited, although drive-in gatherings are permitted. On May 17, Governor Tim Walz reopened parks and many recreation areas and allowed retailers and malls to open their doors while limiting customers to 50% of capacity. A planned reopening of bars and dine-in restaurants is set for June 1. Gyms and personal care services remain closed.

MISSISSIPPI: 22 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 670. Total cases: 14,044. A shelter-in-place order issued on April 3 lasted only a matter of weeks, before being loosened for a phased-in resumption of commerce, starting with retailers operating their stores at 50% of capacity. Since then, the reopening has extended to dine-in restaurants and bars, gyms, casinos, salons, barbershops and state parks.

MISSOURI: 11 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 696. Total cases: 12,492. After the expiration of a shelter-at-home order, restaurants were allowed to seat customers in their dining areas on May 4, and retailers were allowed to open their doors, but with limits ranging from 10% to 25% of customer capacity, depending on the size of the store. Also reopened were gyms, entertainment venues, personal care services and campgrounds. Manufacturing, construction and office employees were allowed to return to their workplaces.

MONTANA: 2 death per 100,000. Total deaths: 17. Total cases: 481. A phased-in business restart began on April 27, following the expiration of a March stay-at-home order. Allowed to reopen were retail stores, restaurants and bars, salons and barber shops, gyms and entertainment venues. Places of worship were also reopened. In early May, some public schools reopened their classrooms in Montana, one of the very few states to allow it.

NEBRASKA: 9 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 167. Total cases: 12,619. One of the few states not to issue a blanket stay-at-home order, Nebraska began to relax its limited, regionally varied “directed health measures” on May 4 with the resumption of elective surgeries. While Governor Pete Ricketts limited public gatherings and urged Nebraskans to stay home, construction, manufacturing and office work continued. Restaurants, which were restricted to takeout in some regions, were allowed to serve a limited number of dining patrons by May 11. Bars and large venue businesses were either operating with limited capacity or ordered to stay closed through May 31.

NEVADA: 13 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 396. Total cases: 8,114 While Las Vegas casinos remain closed, Nevada has been phasing in an economic restart after ordering a statewide shutdown in March. Starting on May 9, restaurants were allowed to seat guests, retailers could operate at 50% of capacity, barbershops and salons could serve customers and drive-in theaters could roll movies. The state’s legal brothels, gyms, and indoor malls are among the businesses still closed.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: 16 deaths per 100,000 Total deaths: 214. Total cases: 4,231. While the state’s March 27 stay-at-home order remains in effect at least through the end of May, some pockets of the economy have been allowed to restart. Starting in May, retailers were allowed to open their doors to customers at up to 50% of capacity. Gyms, barbershops and hair salons also could reopen, while restaurants could seat customers outside and drive-in movie theaters could operate. Construction workers were allowed to return to their jobs.

NEW JERSEY: 126 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 11,339. Total cases: 156,628. The country’s most dense state and one of the hardest hit by the outbreak is emerging from a sweeping March shutdown order incrementally. While bars and dine-in restaurant service remain closed, non-essential construction, curbside pickup for non-essential retailers and drive-in businesses resumed on May 18. Parks reopened in early May, and beaches were set to reopen on May 22. On Tuesday, Governor Phil Murphy opened the way for the state’s professional sports teams to come back to train and compete.

NEW MEXICO: 15 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 325. Total cases: 7,130. With a March 24 stay-at-home order in effect until at least the end of May, New Mexico has taken limited steps to reopen its economy, though not in all regions. Retail stores were allowed to open at 25% of their customer capacities, places of worship, parks and golf courses have opened and offices were allowed to operate at 25% of capacity. Bars, restaurant dining areas, gyms and personal care services remain closed.

NEW YORK: 150 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 29,339. Total cases: 369,883. A strict March shutdown and stay-at-home order in the most severely affected U.S. state was slowly being lifted by region. Its reopening moves began in mid-May in several upstate areas that were largely unaffected by the surge of cases in the New York City area, and extended to areas along the Hudson River and Long Island on Tuesday and Wednesday, all with social distancing and other restrictions. Construction can resume and retailers may offer curbside pickup or open their doors with capacity limits in those areas. Drive-in movie theaters were among a handful of outdoor, low-risk businesses allowed to reopen statewide on May 15, and state beaches reopened for Memorial Day weekend. Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday invited the state’s sports teams to come back to train and compete in empty arenas. Dine-in restaurants, bars and personal care services remain closed.

NORTH CAROLINA: 7 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 794. Total cases: 24,628. The state has moved incrementally to reopen its economy even as a March 30 stay-at-home order remained in effect through most of May. Starting on May 22, retail stores, restaurant dining areas and personal care services were allowed to operate at 50% of their customer capacity. Places of worship and some outdoor recreational areas were also reopened. Earlier in May, the beaches of the state’s Outer Banks were reopened to non-residents.

NORTH DAKOTA: 7 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 56. Total cases: 2,439. The state responded to the outbreak with “a low-mandate, high-compliance approach” that left the “vast majority” of its economy open, according to Governor Doug Burgum. March shutdowns of bars, dine-in restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and personal care services, were lifted on May 1 with distancing constraints. Banquet hall gatherings of up to 250 people were permitted on May 15, but sports arenas and entertainment venues remain closed. Most travelers from other countries must quarantine for 14 days.

OHIO: 17 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 2,044. Total cases: 33,439. The state is slowly unwinding a number shutdown orders it issued in March, including a March 22 stay-at-home order. Manufacturing, construction and office workers were allowed to return to their workplaces on May 4. Retailers could reopen in early May, but only for curbside pickup or by appointment, a limited number of customers at a time. Personal care services, including salons and barber shops, could reopen on May 15, and restaurants can serve customers in outdoor seating areas. On Tuesday, the state reopened fitness centers and a variety of sports and recreational facilities, ranging from batting cages to bowling alleys.

OKLAHOMA: 8 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 322. Total cases: 6,229. The state, among the few not to issue a sweeping statewide shutdown order, has undone the selective closings it ordered in March, which mostly affected businesses in counties where there was community spread of the disease. By May 15, dine-in restaurants, bars, personal care services, gyms, theaters, houses of worship and sports venues were allowed to reopen with social distancing and other restrictions. A “Safer at Home” order directs older residents and those with pre-existing conditions to limit travel. Travelers coming to Oklahoma from six severely infected states are required to quarantine for 14 days.

OREGON: 4 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 148. Total cases: 3,967. Oregon has taken a regional approach to reopen its economy after a number of shutdown orders, including one to “Stay Home, Save Lives,” were issued in March. Retail stores were allowed to reopen with restrictions earlier in May, while restaurant dining areas, gyms and personal care services in many parts of the state were also allowed to operate.

PENNSYLVANIA: 41 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 5,273. Total cases: 73,553. With an April 1 stay-at-home order in effect until at least June 4, the state has taken tentative steps to restart its economy in phases and by region. So far, construction workers have been allowed to return to their job sites, and retail stores have been allowed to reopen with restrictions in some counties. Bars, dine-in restaurants, gyms and personal care services remain closed.

RHODE ISLAND: 60 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 655. Total cases: 14,353. Since a stay-at-home order expired on May 8, Rhode Island has gradually reopened businesses sector by sector. Manufacturing, construction and office employees have been allowed to return to their workplaces. Retail stores were allowed to operate with restrictions, restaurants may seat customers in outdoor areas, and parks and golf courses are open. Bars and gyms remain closed, but plans are in place to allow fitness classes, salons and barbershops and indoor restaurant dining at 50% of capacity to resume on June 1. At least some beaches reopened on the May 25.

SOUTH CAROLINA: 9 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 446. Total cases: 10,416. After shutting down most businesses for a matter of weeks in late March and early April, the state has been allowing them to reopen, starting in late April. Retail stores, gyms, restaurant dining areas and salons and barbershops have been allowed to operate with restrictions. Zoos, amusement parks, museums and other attractions were set to reopen on May 22.

SOUTH DAKOTA: 6 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 54. Total cases: 4,710. The state did not shut down businesses or issue a stay-at-home order, but many businesses throughout the state, including meat packers, closed temporarily because of the outbreak. Governor Kristi Noem issued a “Back to Normal” plan on April 28 that offers guidance for business reopenings and encourages social distancing and other precautions.

TENNESSEE: 5 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 353. Total cases: 21,306. After closing businesses and ordering residents to stay home in late March and early April, Tennessee has started to reopen its economy, except in some regions. Dine-in restaurants, retail stores, gyms, personal care services and places of worship have been allowed to operate with restrictions. Bowling alleys and arcades also were allowed to reopen, but bars, theaters and sporting and entertainment venues remain closed. Office employees were allowed to return to their workplaces with restrictions.

TEXAS: 5 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 1,551. Total cases: 57,475. Since its stay-at-home order expired on April 30, Texas has reopened much of its economy by region. In most areas, retail stores, restaurant dining areas, shopping malls, movie theaters and personal care services were allowed to operate at 25% of capacity. Places of worship also have been allowed to operate with restrictions. Manufacturing and office workers were allowed to return to their workplaces. Starting on May 31, the state will allow professional sports to be played without spectators.

UTAH: 3 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 105. Total cases: 8,706. While the state did not issue a blanket shut-down order, some selected businesses were ordered closed locally in March, including personal care and dine-in restaurant services and movie theaters. A March 27 “Stay Safe, Stay Home” directive from Governor Gary Herbert asks residents to stay home where possible and reminds businesses to comply with hygiene and distancing measures. Herbert has gradually lowered the state’s color-coded alert status from high-risk red, and declared most counties to be at low-risk yellow on May 16. The status permits the opening of all businesses, bars and dine-in restaurants with precautions.

VERMONT: 9 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 54. Total cases: 971. After the state’s stay-at-home order expired in mid-May, retail stores were allowed to operate with restrictions and state parks and golf courses could open. Public worshipping was limited to drive-in services and fitness center activity was restricted to outdoor classes. Manufacturing, construction and office employees were allowed to return to their workplaces. Bars, restaurant dining areas and personal care services remain closed.

VIRGINIA: 14 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 1,281. Total cases: 40,249. Although a March 30 stay-at-home order remains in effect, the state has phased in much of its economic reopening, except in the suburban areas surrounding Washington, D.C. Retailers and personal care services can operate with restrictions, restaurants and bars were allowed to offer outdoor seating and fitness centers were permitted to offer outdoor classes. Places of worship were allowed to operate, and campgrounds were reopened.

WASHINGTON: 14 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 1,078. Total cases: 20,181. In Washington, the first state to have a COVID-19 casualty, some counties have been allowed to reopen businesses even as a March 25 shutdown order remains in effect. The reopenings include retail sales, restaurant dining, personal care services and some fitness center activities, all with restrictions. In select counties, manufacturing, construction and office employees were allowed to return to their workplaces with restrictions. Parks and golf courses were reopened, and public worshipping is limited to drive-in services.

WEST VIRGINIA: 4 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 74. Total cases: 1,867. In West Virginia, among the last states to be hit by a coronavirus infection, businesses have been reopening since a stay-at-home order expired on May 3. The reopenings include restaurant dining areas at 50% of capacity, retail stores, personal care services and gyms, all with restrictions. State parks, campgrounds and drive-in movie theaters are also open. Bars, movie indoor movie theaters, playgrounds, zoos and bowling alleys are among the businesses that were still closed.

WISCONSIN: 9 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 539. Total cases: 16,462. After the state Supreme Court struck down Governor Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order on May 13, the pace of the state’s economic reopening was left to each locality. In what one restaurant trade group official called “a little bit of the Wild, Wild West,” some allowed bar and restaurant owners to open, while others kept their lockdowns in place.

WYOMING: 2 deaths per 100,000. Total deaths: 13. Total cases: 850. Although Wyoming was among a handful of states that did not issue sweeping shutdown orders, it closed select businesses on March 20, including bars, dine-in restaurants, theaters, personal care services and gyms. On March 25, Governor Mark Gordon urged residents to stay home whenever possible. The targeted shutdowns were rescinded on May 15 and the limit on public gatherings was expanded to 25 from 10.

(Reporting by Peter Szekely; Additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)