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Next wave of U.S. states prepare to reopen as coronavirus could push jobless rate to 16%


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Next wave of U.S. states prepare to reopen as coronavirus could push jobless rate to 16%

By Nick Brown and Brendan O'Brien

 

2020-04-26T154737Z_1_LYNXNPEG3P0CJ_RTROPTP_4_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA.JPG

The U.S. Capitol is seen from the Washington Monument, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Washington, U.S., April 25, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott

 

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Another wave of U.S. states are preparing to lift coronavirus restrictions this week against the warnings of many public health experts as the White House sees this month's jobless rate hitting 16% or higher.

 

Health experts say increased human interaction could spark a new wave of cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the highly contagious virus that has already killed more than 54,300 Americans.

 

Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana and Tennessee will join other states beginning an experiment to reopen economies without the testing and contact-tracing infrastructure health experts say is needed to prevent a resurgence of infections, with lives in the balance.

 

Georgia, Oklahoma, Alaska and South Carolina have already taken steps to restart their economies following a month of government-ordered lockdowns.

 

Those unprecedented restrictions resulted in a record 26.5 million Americans filing for unemployment benefits since mid-March. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted on Friday that the economy would contract at nearly a 40% annual rate in the second quarter. Even next year, the CBO forecast the unemployment rate averaging above 10%.

 

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told reporters the U.S. jobless rate would likely hit 16% or more in April.

 

"I think the next couple of months are going to look terrible," Hassett said on Sunday. "You're going to see numbers as bad as anything we've ever seen before."

 

Against a backdrop of scattered protests across the country calling for stay-at-home orders to be lifted, U.S. cases topped 940,000 on Sunday after posting a record one-day increase on Friday.

 

New York and other states have extended restrictions to mid-May. New York reported 367 new deaths on Sunday, its lowest increase since March 30. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo said construction and manufacturing would be the first businesses to reopen and could restart after May 15 in the upstate region with certain precautions and if cases continue to decline.

 

Other states, mainly those with Republican governors, have taken a more aggressive approach.

 

Tennessee said it will allow restaurants to reopen on Monday. Mississippi's stay-at-home order expires the same day.

 

Montana, which reported three new cases on Sunday, is allowing businesses to reopen Monday if they limit capacity and practice social distancing, while Minnesota will let some businesses restart on Monday, allowing 80,000 to 100,000 people in the industrial, manufacturing and office jobs to go back to work.

 

In Colorado, Democratic Governor Jared Polis has given the green light for retail curbside pickup to begin on Monday. Hair salons, barbershop and tattoo parlours can open on Friday, with retail stores, restaurants and movie theatres to follow.

 

Royal Rose is reopening her tattoo studio in Greeley, Colorado this week after closing a month ago, not because she wants to but because the bills are piling up and she says she has no choice.

 

"I would stay home if the government encouraged that, but they're not, they're saying 'Hey, the best thing to do is go back to work, even though it might be risky,'" said Rose, 39, sitting inside her salon in a wood-sided building on a leafy street in the farming and oil town.

 

But the lifting of restrictions is not uniform across most states. For example, Denver extended stay-at-home orders to May 8 but city dwellers can drive to a nearby county for a haircut. Georgia prohibited any local laws stricter than the state law.

 

Eight states never ordered residents to stay at home -- Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Several opinion polls have shown a bipartisan majority of Americans want to remain at home to protect themselves from the coronavirus, despite the impact to the economy.

 

(This story corrects typo in "Greeley" in paragraph 14.)

 

(Reporting by Nick Brown in New York and Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Tim Ahmann in Washington and Maria Caspani in New York; Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

 

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-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-27
 
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It’s a real catch 22 dammed if you do dammed if you don’t I just wish we had proper testing and tracing and tracking to manage this approaching 55,000 known dead and approaching 1,000,000 known cases is very serious indeed imo this has to be done very carefully or it’s gonna get much much worse stay safe stay healthy 

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34 minutes ago, Tug said:

It’s a real catch 22 dammed if you do dammed if you don’t I just wish we had proper testing and tracing and tracking to manage this approaching 55,000 known dead and approaching 1,000,000 known cases is very serious indeed imo this has to be done very carefully or it’s gonna get much much worse stay safe stay healthy 

have i misunderstood the trump administration support for employers and employees in the US? Hasn't trump administration implemented a number of financial initiatives to keep employers / employees afloat during the Covid crisis until mitigation efforts are relaxed and can return to work. is this incorrect?

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I just seen on the news where the US people still are told they do not have to

wear masks unless they are sick. Just wash hands stay 6 feet or 2 meters apart

and I seen many workers wearing rubber gloves. I will try to remember this 2 weeks to a month 

from now and see how the US is doing with their record breaking Covid numbers.

  I sure am not in a hurry to go near the states or see any Americans come across

the border anytime soon.  I would rather go back to visit in Thailand.

Geezer in Canada

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This is messy capitalism at its best. All these states and regions experimenting in their own way to find what works best, all things considered. Yes, some of the herd will be lost in the stampede to market, but that's how it's done - if you're a capitalist.

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1 hour ago, stevenl said:

So you're saying common good is to open up again. I disagree without testing and tracing and with a rising number of infections.

 

Now I disagree, I don't call your opinion ridiculous.

 

Btw, I worked on my business for 20 years, but have no idea about the future.

 

You keep saying this but refuse to state what you would do if faced with dire circumstances. 

 

And that's weak. 

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"Health experts say increased human interaction could spark a new wave of cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the highly contagious virus that has already killed more than 54,300 Americans."

 

Applying the term 'expert' always infers that the person is so knowledgeable as to be consistently correct.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In my opinion more damage has been caused by the incessant fear mongering than the disease itself.  My suggestion?  Get a grip.

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3 hours ago, stevenl said:

Just common sense, haven't watched CNN in a long time.

 

With thousands of infections in an area I agree tracing doesn't help, unfortunately you're omitting part of what I said, declining number of new infections is required.

 

Why the nastiness btw, no need at all for that.

What is your definition of nastiness? That I did not put smiling emojis after all my statements? 

 

If you watch that entire video that showed up in the "follow the science" thread, the doctors noted that sitting inside actually weakens your immune system. So does dousing your hands with alcohol and getting no sun. As I mentioned, it is turning out that the worst place to be is inside your own home. It is also probably true that the longer we sit in our homes, the more vulnerable we are when we reemerge. 

 

Knowing that, we may see numbers on the incline because we are staying home. I say it is better to slowly open up now. I would go even further than that and say shutdowns were a poor choice in the first place, but if we only consider the current situation, I would say it is time to start easing lockdowns.... now, even if numbers are not going down for two weeks. 

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4 minutes ago, sucit said:

What is your definition of nastiness? That I did not put smiling emojis after all my statements? 

 

If you watch that entire video that showed up in the "follow the science" thread, the doctors noted that sitting inside actually weakens your immune system. So does dousing your hands with alcohol and getting no sun. As I mentioned, it is turning out that the worst place to be is inside your own home. It is also probably true that the longer we sit in our homes, the more vulnerable we are when we reemerge. 

 

Knowing that, we may see numbers on the incline because we are staying home. I say it is better to slowly open up now. I would go even further than that and say shutdowns were a poor choice in the first place, but if we only consider the current situation, I would say it is time to start easing lockdowns.... now, even if numbers are not going down for two weeks. 

Let's just say I disagree with you and leave it at that.

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37 minutes ago, stevenl said:

Let's just say I disagree with you and leave it at that.

You and the policy makers can disagree all you want. But the important thing is, I am speaking about the US by the way, if they want us to stay home, how on earth can they not send monthly checks?

 

In other words, get on that <deleted>, or start easing restrictions. They can't have this both ways. There are people sitting home, rent is coming, food and money are getting difficult to come by... yet the orders stay the same? Put up or shut up. They do not have the right to disagree until those checks come. 

Edited by sucit
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