Tag Archives: United States

U.S. coronavirus cases approach one million, one-third of global infections: Reuters tally

By Lisa Shumaker

(Reuters) – U.S. cases of the novel coronavirus were approaching 1 million on Tuesday, having doubled in 18 days, and made up one-third of all infections in the world, according to a Reuters tally.

More than 56,000 Americans have died of the highly contagious respiratory illness COVID-19 caused by the virus, an average of about 2,000 a day this month, according to the tally.

The actual number of cases is thought to be higher, with state public health officials cautioning that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.

About 30% of the cases have occurred in New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, California and Pennsylvania.

Globally, coronavirus cases top 3 million since the outbreak began in China late last year. The United States, with the world’s third-largest population, has five times as many cases as the next hardest-hit countries of Italy, Spain and France.

Of the top 20 most severely affected countries, the United States ranks fifth based on cases per capita, according to a Reuters tally. The United States has about 30 cases per 10,000 people. Spain ranks first at over 48 cases per 10,000 people, followed by Belgium, Switzerland and Italy.

U.S. coronavirus deaths, the highest in the world, now exceed the total number of Americans killed in the 1950-53 Korean War – 36,516. Coronavirus deaths total just below the 58,220 Americans killed during the Vietnam War that ended in 1975.

The coronavirus has killed more people in the United States than the seasonal flu in recent years, except for the 2017-2018 season, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html.

Flu deaths range from a low of 12,000 in the 2011-2012 season to a high of 61,000 during 2017-2018.

Coronavirus deaths in the United States fall far short of the Spanish flu, which began in 1918 and killed 675,000 Americans, according to the CDC.

Unprecedented stay-at-home orders to try to curb the spread of the virus have hammered the economy, with the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits over the last five weeks soaring to 26.5 million.

About a dozen states are beginning to relax the stay-at-home restrictions despite the warning of health experts that premature actions could cause a surge in new cases.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey this month found that a bipartisan majority of Americans want go on sheltering in place to protect themselves from the coronavirus, despite the impact on the economy.

(GRAPHIC: Reuters online site for coronavirus – https://www.reuters.com/live-events/coronavirus-6-id2921484)

(Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Howard Goller)

Global coronavirus cases pass three million as lockdowns begin to ease

By Cate Cadell

BEIJING (Reuters) – Global confirmed coronavirus cases surpassed 3 million on Monday, as the United States neared 1 million cases, according to a Reuters tally.

It comes as many countries are taking steps to ease lockdown measures that have brought the world to a standstill over the past eight weeks. he first 41 cases were confirmed in Wuhan, China, on Jan. 10. The 3 million confirmed infections in less than four months are comparable in number with the roughly 3-5 million cases of severe illness caused by seasonal influenza around the world each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

An average of 82,000 cases have been reported per day in the past week. Over a quarter of all cases are in the United States, and over 43% have been recorded in Europe.

The death toll from the virus stood at more than 205,000 as of Monday, and almost one in seven reported cases of the disease has been fatal.

The true mortality rate is likely to be substantially lower as the tally of infections does not include many mild or asymptomatic and unconfirmed cases.

Some severely affected countries in Europe, including Italy, France and Spain, have recorded a drop in daily case numbers over recent weeks, but still recorded 2,000-5,000 new infections per day in the past week.

Total cases rose 2.5% on Sunday, the lowest daily rate in almost two months, and down from a peak in late March when the total was rising by more than 10% a day.

The United States has reported an average of more than 30,000 new cases a day in the past week, and now represents around a third of all new cases.

TENTATIVE REOPENING

Italy said it will permit some factories to reopen on May 4 as part of a staggered reopening, while Spain relaxed lockdown rules on Sunday, allowing children outside under supervision.

Several U.S. states have reopened businesses amid predictions that the jobless rate could hit 16% for April.

In Asia, which accounts for just under 7% of all cases, some countries are struggling to keep new infections in check. They include Japan and Singapore, which saw cases rise in April despite earlier successful efforts to slow the spread.

Others in the region have managed to rein in outbreaks, including South Korea, which has reported around 10 cases a day in the past week, down from a peak of over 1,000 in February.

In China, where the virus first emerged, officials reported just three new infections for Sunday and said all patients in Wuhan, the original epicentre, had now been discharged.

Case numbers continue to rise faster than the global average in Latin America and Africa. Total cases in Mexico grew 7-10% a day in the past week, reaching 13,800, while cases in Brazil surpassed 60,000 on Sunday.

Over 40% of Africa’s 32,600 cases are in the north, where Morocco, Egypt and Algeria are reporting serious outbreaks.

(Reporting by Cate Cadell; editing by Nick Macfie and Kevin Liffey)

Tyson warns of U.S. meat shortages as coronavirus shuts livestock plants

By Karl Plume

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Millions of pounds of beef, pork and chicken will vanish from U.S. grocery stores as livestock and poultry processing plants have been shuttered by coronavirus outbreaks among workers, the chairman of Tyson Foods Inc said.

John Tyson warned that the U.S. “food supply chain is breaking” as a growing number of plant closures have left farmers with fewer options to market and process livestock.

Tyson Foods announced last week that it would shutter two pork processing plants, including its largest in the United States, and a beef facility to contain the spread of the virus.

Other major meat processors like JBS USA [JBS.UL] and Smithfield Foods have closed facilities in recent weeks as cases of COVID-19, the potentially lethal respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, have soared among plant workers.

More than 5,000 U.S. meat and food-processing workers have been infected with or exposed to the virus, and 13 have died, the country’s largest meatpacking union said Thursday.

Companies say they are checking workers’ temperatures, working with local health officials and taking other steps to prevent the spread of the virus.

It is unclear how soon meat processing plants may reopen.

“There will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed,” John Tyson said in a release published on Sunday.

“In addition to meat shortages, this is a serious food waste issue. Farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation,” he said.

Tyson shares are down more than 34% since the beginning of the year but have recovered from a more than four-year low hit in March.

(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Explainer: How Trump has sealed off the United States during coronavirus outbreak

By Mica Rosenberg and Ted Hesson

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump has taken drastic steps to curb the entry of foreigners into the United States since his administration declared a public health emergency over the new coronavirus outbreak.

Here are some of the most significant additional immigration changes the U.S. government has made in response to the pandemic.

CLOSING THE BORDERS

The United States, Canada and Mexico closed their shared borders to tourist and recreational travel in late March to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. The closures have since been extended until May 21.

At the same time, the Trump administration implemented new rules that allow U.S. border officials to swiftly deport migrants who attempt to cross into the country illegally, bypassing standard legal processes.

More than 10,000 migrants have been expelled under the new border rules, including more than 500 children, according to preliminary data obtained by Reuters. From April 2 to April 10, 70% of those “expelled” under the new rules were Mexican, a quarter were from Central American and the rest from other countries, the data showed.

Deportation flights of immigrants who have been arrested in the United States are continuing even as some countries are expressing concern that migrants who have been held in U.S. detention centers are being sent back to their home countries infected with the virus. U.S. immigration officials plan to start testing deportees for the virus, a U.S. official told Reuters.

SHUTTERING IMMIGRATION COURTS

The U.S. Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration courts as part of the U.S. Department of Justice, has extended the cancellation of all hearings for migrants not in detention until May 15, 2020.

Another controversial program put in place by the administration last year, known as the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” has sent tens of thousands of asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for court hearings. But those proceedings have been put on hold through at least May 1.

SUSPENDING VISA PROCESSING

The United States suspended all routine visa services in most countries worldwide due to the coronavirus outbreak on March 18, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. The State Department said at the time that embassies would resume the services as soon as possible but gave no end date.

That same day, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it was temporarily halting all routine in-person services through at least May 3, and canceled all asylum interviews and naturalization oath ceremonies for new citizens.

Some experts have said the pause on naturalizations could affect people who had hoped to vote the first time as U.S. citizens in November’s presidential election.

HALTING REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT

The U.N. refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration said in mid-March they would temporarily stop resettling refugees due to travel disruptions caused by the coronavirus. But before the pandemic, the United States had already slashed the number of refugees it would accept in the 2020 fiscal year to 18,000, the lowest level in decades.

(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg in New York and Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Ross Colvin and Jonathan Oatis)

U.S. coronavirus death toll doubles in 10 days to more than 50,000: Reuters tally

By Lisa Shumaker

(Reuters) – The U.S. death toll from the novel coronavirus reached 50,000 on Friday, having doubled in 10 days, according to a Reuters tally.

More than 875,000 Americans have contracted the highly contagious respiratory illness COVID-19 caused by the virus, and on average about 2,000 have died every day this month, according to a Reuters tally.

The true number of cases is thought to be higher, with state public health officials cautioning that shortages of trained workers and materials have limited testing capacity.

Deaths are also likely higher, as most states only count hospital and nursing home victims and not those who died at home. About 40% of the deaths have occurred in New York state, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, followed by New Jersey, Michigan and Massachusetts.

U.S. coronavirus deaths, the highest in the world, now exceed the total number of Americans killed in the 1950-53 Korean War – 36,516. Coronavirus has also killed more people in the United States than the seasonal flu in seven out of nine recent seasons, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/past-seasons.html.

Flu deaths range from a low of 12,000 in 2011-2012 to a high of 61,000 lives lost in the 2017-2018 season.

Coronavirus deaths in the United States fall far short of the Spanish flu, which began in 1918 and killed 675,000 Americans, according to the CDC.

Globally, coronavirus has claimed more than 190,000 lives since the outbreak began in China late last year. The United States, with the world’s third-largest population, has twice as many deaths as the next hardest-hit countries of Italy, Spain and France.

Of the top 20 most severely affected countries, the United States ranks ninth based on deaths per capita, according to a Reuters tally. The United States has 1.5 deaths per 10,000 people. Belgium ranks first at over five deaths per 10,000 people, followed by Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom.

Unprecedented stay-at-home orders issued to try to curb the spread of the virus have hammered the economy, with the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits over the last five weeks soaring to 26.5 million.

While some states have said they plan to begin reopening their economies over the coming weeks, health experts and some governors have warned that a premature easing of restrictions on movement could trigger a surge in new cases.

A Reuters/Ipsos survey this month found that a bipartisan majority of Americans want to continue to shelter in place to protect themselves from the coronavirus, despite the impact on the economy.

(Reporting by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Grant McCool)

As U.S. coronavirus death toll nears 50,000, Georgia forges ahead with reopening

By Rich McKay and Susan Heavey

ATLANTA (Reuters) – With the U.S. coronavirus death toll nearing 50,000, Georgia pushed ahead with its plan to become the first state to allow an array of small businesses to reopen on Friday despite the disapproval of U.S. President Donald Trump and health experts.

Trump late on Thursday sparked fresh confusion over the prospects for treating COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, suggesting that scientists should investigate whether patients might be cured by ingesting disinfectant.

Gyms, hair salons, tattoo parlors and some other businesses were cleared to open their doors by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who disregarded warnings from public health experts that relaxing restrictions could lead to a surge in infections of the novel coronavirus and more deaths.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence more than once told Kemp they approved of his plan to lift restrictions before Trump reversed that stance and told a news conference this week he disapproved, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing two administration officials.

Georgia has become a flashpoint in the debate over how quickly the country should get back to work.

It is the first state to embark on a widespread reopening, although Oklahoma was also opening some retail businesses on Friday, Florida started allowing people to visit some of its beaches last Friday, South Carolina began to ease restrictions on Monday and other states will relax guidelines next week.

The lockdowns have exacted a severe toll on the economy, with U.S. Labor Department data released on Thursday showing 26.5 million Americans had sought jobless benefits over the last five weeks.

Despite the lost revenues, not all businesses are jumping at the chance to reopen. Shay Cannon, owner of Liberty Tattoo in Atlanta, Georgia, said he would reopen in May by appointment only and did not foresee a return to normal until June or later.

“We are not opening today, we feel it is too soon,” Cannon told Reuters. “We’re just watching the numbers and doing what seems right to us.”

‘UNACCEPTABLE,’ MAYOR SAYS

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who has repeatedly criticized Kemp’s push to reopen businesses, told the ABC News “Good Morning America” program that Georgia did not have the hospital capacity to handle the outbreak and warned of a second wave of cases.

“It’s necessary that we continue to distance ourselves,” she told ABC. “There are some who are willing to sacrifice lives for the sake of the economy and that’s unacceptable to me.”

The number of Americans known to be infected surpassed 875,000, with nearly 50,000 deaths from COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, according to a Reuters tally.

According to a model maintained by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, which is used by the White House, hospitalizations in Georgia will peak next week and should not open until June 22.

Oklahoma plans to open hair and nail salons, barber shops and other personal care businesses on Friday, and will expand the easing of restrictions to restaurants, churches and gyms on May 1. Governor Kevin Stitt has said businesses need to maintain space for customers to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

With far fewer cases and deaths than Georgia, the IHME model predicts that Oklahoma already hit its hospitalizations peak on Tuesday and could loosen restrictions on June 17.

At his media briefing on Thursday, Trump said scientists should explore whether inserting light or disinfectant into the bodies of people infected with COVID-19 might serve as a “cleaning” and clear the disease.

The comments prompted doctors and health experts to issue warnings to the public not to drink or inject disinfectant, while Lysol and Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser <RB.L> felt compelled to issue a statement of its own.

“Under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),” the company said.

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta, Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, Susan Heavey in Washington and Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York; Writing by Nathan Layne; Editing by Frank McGurty and Howard Goller)

Severe storms, tornado kill at least six in Oklahoma and Texas

By Kanishka Singh

(Reuters) – Severe storms and a tornado swept through the U.S. states of Oklahoma and Texas, killing at least six people and injuring dozens, officials said on Thursday.

Three people died and at least 20 were injured when a tornado touched down in Onalaska, Texas, on Wednesday, emergency officials said. Onalaska is about 90 miles north of Houston.

Two people were also killed in southern Oklahoma, while local media reported that a woman died in storm in Louisiana.

“On April 22, a tornado struck the city of Onalaska and other portions of Polk and San Jacinto counties, and possibly even far eastern Walker County”, Houston’s National Weather Service (NWS) said in a statement.

The tornado touched down near Oklahoma’s border with Texas around Wednesday evening. NWS said it will be sending crews on Thursday morning to survey the path of the “Onalaska tornado”.

Polk County, where Onalaska is located, issued a declaration of disaster on Wednesday night after the tornado hit.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the state had deployed response teams and medical resources to provide assistance.

“The state will continue to do everything it can to support those affected by this severe weather,” Abbott said in a statement.

Several homes were damaged in the storms and thousands were left without power. More than 7,000 people across Oklahoma and about 9,000 people in Onalaska faced power outages.

Images in local media showed the devastation caused by the storms, including damage to homes, downing of power lines and twisted billboards.

The development comes as most Americans are under “stay-at-home” orders due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month, at least six people were killed as a strong storm system swept across the southern states of Mississippi and Louisiana, spinning off more than a dozen tornadoes and leaving behind a path of destruction.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Chopra and Nick Macfie)

Factbox: Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world-Thursday

Reported cases of the coronavirus have crossed 2.62 million globally and 183,761 people have died, according to a Reuters tally as of 0200 GMT on Thursday.

DEATHS AND INFECTIONS

* For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser.

* For a U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T in an external browser.

AMERICAS

* Hundreds of members of the U.S. House of Representatives will gather in Washington on Thursday to pass a $484 billion relief bill, bringing the unprecedented total of funds approved for the crisis to nearly $3 trillion.

* U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered a temporary suspension of the issuance of green cards and permanent residence permits, in a move he said aimed at protecting American workers and jobs.

* Mexico, whose total cases exceeded 10,000, will increase spending on social programs and infrastructure projects by $25.6 billion.

EUROPE

* The northern Italian region of Lombardy began an antibody testing programme on Thursday as it prepared to start opening up its economy following weeks of lockdown.

* Spain’s daily increase in fatalities further steadied at around 2% on Thursday, as the government apologised for confusion over lockdown rules for children.

* French president told mayors that unwinding the lockdown would not be done region by region, with a plan to be unveiled around Tuesday next week.

* The French government wants all retail outlets other than restaurants, bars and cafes to be able to reopen once a nationwide lockdown is lifted on May 11.

* Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans to show endurance and discipline to get through the pandemic that is “still at the beginning”, and called for a bigger European Union budget to support economic recovery in the bloc.

* The British government came under sustained pressure over its coronavirus response when members of parliament got their first major opportunity in a month to hold it to account.

* Life is unlikely to return to normal even when the tightest restrictions are lifted, and social distancing measures could stay for the rest of this year and beyond, Scottish first minister said.

* Russia showed tentative signs of a flattening infection curve, but the Kremlin said the situation remained tense and officials moved to tighten lockdown measures in 21 regions.

* Hungary will decide next week on the future of lockdown measures as it prepares for a restart of the economy.

* Greece extended its general lockdown by a week to May 4, saying any relaxation would be staggered over May and June.

ASIA-PACIFIC

* Mainland China reported 10 new cases as of the end of April 22, bringing the total to 82,798. The death toll was unchanged at 4,632.

* South Asia’s infections have crossed 37,000, with more than half in India, complicating the task of governments looking to ease lockdowns.

* Indonesia will temporarily ban domestic air and sea travel starting Friday, barring a few exceptions.

* Spooked by a sharp increase in cases in the navy, Taiwan is debating whether to consider a broad lockdown.

* Nearly 50 crew members on an Italian cruise ship docked for repairs in Japan’s Nagasaki have tested positive, raising concern about the strain on the city’s hospitals.

* All member nations of the WHO should support a proposed independent review into the pandemic, Australia’s prime minister said, further threatening strained ties with China.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA

* Iranians have returned to shops, bazaars and parks this week as the country eases restrictions, and the daily increase in the death toll remained below 100 on Thursday.

* African nations that lack ventilators will receive some from a donation of 300 supplied by the Jack Ma Foundation.

* The governors of Nigeria’s 36 states agreed to ban interstate movement for two weeks.

* Botswana’s president and lawmakers were released from two weeks in quarantine after testing negative.

ECONOMIC FALLOUT

* Caution gripped markets on Thursday, with stocks falling before a key Eurogroup meeting to discuss joint stimulus measures, offsetting optimism from a fresh round of U.S. coronavirus aid and a recovery in oil prices.

* European Union leaders will on Thursday take their first step towards joint financing of an economic recovery but will kick any difficult decisions about the details into the long grass.

* A record 26 million Americans likely sought unemployment benefits over the last five weeks, meaning all the jobs created during the longest employment boom in U.S. history were wiped out in about a month.

* Japan offered its bleakest assessment of the economy in over a decade as the pandemic threatens to tip the world’s third-largest economy into a deep recession.

* South Korea’s ruling party and the government agreed to provide cash handouts to every household, not just to families below the top 30 percentile of income as previously announced.

* Britain’s economy is crumbling and government borrowing is soaring to the highest levels in peacetime history, increasing pressure on the government to set out an exit strategy.

* India froze inflation-linked increases in salaries and pensions for more than 11 million federal employees and pensioners to generate nearly $10 billion to help combat the outbreak.

(Compiled by Milla Nissi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)

Guards chief: U.S. warships will be destroyed if they threaten Iran in Gulf

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran will destroy U.S. warships if its security is threatened in the Gulf, the head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards told state TV on Thursday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran over “harassment” of U.S. vessels.

“I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens security of Iran’s military or non-military ships,” Major General Hossein Salami said. “Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran’s strategic priorities.”

Trump said on Wednesday he had instructed the U.S. Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, but said later he was not changing the military’s rules of engagement.

Earlier this month, the U.S. military said 11 Revolutionary Guards naval vessels from the Guards navy came close to U.S. Navy and coast guard ships in the Gulf, calling the moves “dangerous and provocative”.

Tehran blamed its longtime adversary for the incident. On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represents U.S. interests in the country, over the recent tensions between Tehran and Washington.

“I am telling the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious in defending our national security, our water borders, our shipping safety, and our security forces, and we will respond decisively to any sabotage,” Salami said.

“Americans have experienced our power in the past and must learn from it.”

Tensions between Iran and the United States have escalated since 2018, when Trump withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers and reimposed crippling sanctions.

MILITARY SATELLITE

Animosity reached historic heights in early January when top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. Iran retaliated on Jan. 9 by firing missiles at bases in Iraq where U.S. troops were stationed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif suggested that Trump should focus on saving U.S. service members from the new coronavirus outbreak.

“The U.S. military is hit by over 5,000 #covid19 infections.

…Also, U.S. forces have no business 7,000 miles away from home, provoking our sailors off our OWN Persian Gulf shores,” Zarif tweeted.

Iran’s clerical rulers consider the U.S. military presence in the Middle East a threat to the Islamic Republic’s security.

Stoking antagonism over Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs, Iran’s Guards said on Wednesday they had successfully launched the country’s first military satellite into orbit. The announcement drew protests from Washington.

The U.S. military says the same long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could allow Tehran to launch longer-range missiles, perhaps someday with nuclear warheads.

Tehran denies U.S. assertions that such activity is a cover for ballistic missile development and says it has never pursued the development of nuclear weapons.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Mark Heinrich, William Maclean)

With reopenings in U.S. South, some merchants lay out welcome mat, others fearful

By Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir

(Reuters) – Angie Bullman plans to reopen her suburban Atlanta hair salon on Friday after closing a month ago to comply with state orders. She and her co-owner husband, also a stylist, are already fully booked for the weekend.

Salon de la Vie’s five other stylists, massage therapist and esthetician will come back to work on May 1, when the state’s stay-at-home order will lift.

“We got to get back to work,” Bullman said. “I am just not all that freaked out about it.”

Georgia is among a handful of states that will allow more businesses to reopen beginning this week and next. The state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, gave the green light to gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys, tattoo and massage parlors to restart on Friday, followed by movie theaters and restaurants next week. It is not clear how quickly businesses will jump at the chance to reopen.

White House guidelines say states should wait until new cases are on the decline before reopening. The virus has killed more than 45,000 people in the United States, more than any other country.

But Kemp and other governors are keen to get their economies rolling again, which would bring in income and sales taxes, the main revenue sources for most states. The lockdown has decimated state budgets, and the latest federal government coronavirus aid bill, set to be passed this week, does not include new money for state and local governments in part because Trump administration officials and some Republicans were concerned it could deter them from reopening.

Georgia has fewer coronavirus cases and deaths per capita than the national average, but one of the lowest rates of testing. Even so, cases have been on the rise, with 1,242 new infections detected over the prior 24 hours, the highest single-day tally in two weeks.

Bullman is unruffled and said while she will wear a mask, she will not require her customers to do so. She said her salon is housed in a 4,000-square-foot building with tall ceilings and plenty of ventilation, and can easily space customers out.

“I just don’t think our environment is high risk,” she said, of both her salon and community.

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON

Just because governors want their economies to restart does not mean they will switch on like a light. Some business owners are fearful, and customers may be too, about their health or about spending during the steepest economic downturn in 90 years.

Shonda King runs Gifted Creations hair salon in Midway, near Georgia’s Atlantic coast, with her daughter. Before the crisis, they were fully booked with a largely African-American clientele. The salon has been closed since late March and King has been living off savings.

Even so, King will not be reopening on Friday.

“The governor is saying, You can go back to work. But at the risk of losing your life? People are walking around with Covid and they don’t even know it,” she said, referring to the respiratory disease caused by the virus. “Why should we put our lives on the line to go out and style hair?”

King said it would be impossible for her to comply with social distancing requirements. “There is no way you can stay six feet apart – my arms aren’t even six feet long!” King said. She hopes to reopen in May, but only once the number of cases in her area are falling.

Steve Pitts, 53, general manager of Manuel’s Tavern, a popular fixture just east of midtown Atlanta for more than six decades, is in the same camp as King.

“It’s still too dangerous,” Pitts said. “Even with protection, you’d still be breathing the same air for hours. We need to listen to the scientists and epidemiologists and not the politicians.”

Pitts said as soon as Kemp announced plans to reopen restaurants for dine-in service starting Monday, his phone started “blowing up.”

“I started fielding concerns from the staff, some have been here for 25 years, one since ’78. They’re in their 50s and 60s. Our concern is for them and for our customers.”

MIDDLE GROUND

In South Carolina, the state’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster, began to ease restrictions on Monday, just two weeks after imposing a stay-at-home order. Businesses that may reopen are limited mostly to department stores, and furniture, clothing, shoe and jewelry stores. There are strict limits on the number of customers allowed in each store.

Chuck Dawson is relieved to be back in business. In the two weeks his six furniture and mattress stores, J&K Home Furnishings, located along the state’s coastal Grand Strand, were essentially closed, revenue was down 90%.

“I don’t think he’s done it too early. He’s not opened bowling alleys or gyms,” Dawson said of the governor’s actions. “We are definitely seeing customers. It’s a nice start and an appropriate one.”

For now he is limiting how many of his 56 employees are on site. On Tuesday, he had five employees in his largest store, compared with the usual 15 to 18. All those whose jobs may be done from home can do so, he said. He has masks and wipes for customers.

South Carolina has more than 4,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and rising.

Dawson does not think business will be booming any time soon. He hopes to be up to 50% of normal revenue for the month of May, but does not see returning to pre-crisis levels until at least October.

“People are scared and pulling back. They’re scared to come out,” he said.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir and Ann Saphir; Additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Dan Burns and Leslie Adler)