Cuomo warns against 'blindly' reopening states
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday pushed back against what he called premature demands that he reopen the state, saying he knew persons were struggling without jobs but that more knowledge of the brand new coronavirus was needed.
As governors in about 50 % of america partially reopen their economies over this weekend, Cuomo said he needed a lot more information on what the pandemic was doing in his state, the hardest hit by the disease, before he loosens restrictions targeted at curbing its spread.
"Even though you are in uncharted waters, it generally does not mean you proceed blindly," he said. "Use information to determine action - not emotions, not politics, not what people think or feel, but what we realize regarding facts."
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy echoed Cuomo's slow-go restart approach, even as he reported "positive trends," including a decline in the amount of hospital patients with COVID-19, the condition due to the novel coronavirus.
As the number of deaths has trended low in recent days, New Jersey's toll, second and then New York's, stood at 7,742, which Murphy cited as a key reason behind maintaining his stay-at-home order. "The family, others who live nearby who we've lost are the reason we can not rush our restart," he said at a news briefing.
"We must keep seeing these lines moving in these directions before we are able to put New Jersey on the highway back, and before we're in a position to responsibly restart our economy."
An many US eastern seaboard residents enjoyed an ideal spring day on Saturday, those in NJ had access to more outdoor space as Murphy allowed the state's parks and golf courses to reopen for the very first time in per month, warning they might be shut again if social distancing requirements were violated.
"Anecdotal and preliminary" reports advise that the guidelines were being observed, he said.
Georgia and Texas are at the forefront in the partial reopening of businesses that were shuttered by the pandemic.
Leaders in those and many other states where the coronavirus has already established less of a direct effect are under pressure to permit people to come back to work, as government data released this week showed 30 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits since March 21.
Cuomo pointed to the roughly 900 new coronavirus cases that hospitals in New York remain reporting daily and the actual fact that officials have no idea where those infections are coming from, as reason enough to continue keeping the Empire State shut down.
The governor also released the preliminary results of a statewide antibody survey around 15,000 people showing that 12.3% had been previously infected with the virus.
It confirmed the results of another test with a smaller sample size released about 10 days ago showing that one in five NEW YORK residents has already established the virus, with the Bronx borough seeing the best number positive for antibodies at 27.6%.
As of Saturday, the quantity of known infections nationwide had climbed to a lot more than 1.1 million, including about 65,000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
As testing increases in the united states, so does the number of cases. NEW YORK on Saturday posted an archive number of new cases with 551 infections, as did Puerto Rico, with 182. Iowa hit an archive for the second straight day. Overall in the usa, there have been 34,000 new cases on Friday, the highest daily total since April 24.
On the National Mall in Washington, thousands of folks gathered to see a flyover by the united states Air Force Thunderbirds and DARK BLUE Angels jets in honor of healthcare staff and others battling the pandemic, applauding following the aircraft soared over the Lincoln Memorial and at night White House.
Despite the size of the crowd, most maintained social distancing, with some wearing face masks and others not.
