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The death toll in the United States from coronavirus briefly surpassed Italy by the highest in the world on Saturday, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.
The United States overshadowed Italy by reporting more than 18,850 dead around noon on Saturday, but shortly thereafter Italy reported a total of nearly 19,500.
However, deaths have decreased in recent days in Italy, while they have increased rapidly in the US. USA, as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest prepared for a possible increase in casualties.
About half of all deaths in the US USA They occurred in the New York metropolitan area, where hospital admissions slowed and other indicators suggested that social distancing was “flattening the curve” for infections.
But with authorities warning that the crisis in New York is far from over, the city announced that its school system of 1.1 million students will remain closed for the rest of the academic year.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump: “I am going to have to make a decision, and I … I hope by God that it is the correct decision.” Photography: Alex Wong / Getty
Return to normal
Earlier on Saturday, United States President Donald Trump said the decision on when it was safe to reopen the country would be the largest he has ever had to make.
Public health experts have warned that the death toll in the US USA It could jump to 200,000 over the summer if unprecedented stay-at-home orders are lifted that have closed businesses and kept most Americans indoors after 30 days.
Trump, who is seeking reelection in November, has said he wants life to return to normal as soon as possible and that radical restrictions on the movement aimed at slowing the spread of Covid-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus have their own economic impact. and cost of public health.
“I’m going to have to make a decision, and I … I hope God is the right decision,” he told reporters on Friday. “It is the biggest decision I have ever had to make.”
Trump said the facts would determine the next move. When asked what metrics he would use to pass judgment, he pointed to his forehead: “The metrics here, those are my metrics.”
Current federal guidelines run through April 30. The president will have to decide whether to extend them or start encouraging people to return to work and a more normal way of life. Trump said he will present a new advisory council, possibly on Tuesday, that will include some state governors and focus on the process of reopening the U.S. economy.
Unemployment
The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits in the past three weeks exceeded 15 million, as new weekly claims topped 6 million for the second consecutive time last week.
The government has said that the economy cut 701,000 jobs in March. That was the biggest job loss since the Great Recession and ended the biggest job boom in United States history that began in late 2010.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, president of the National Association of Governors, and New York Vice President Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday urged the federal government to provide immediate tax relief to states fighting the outbreak.
While emergency measures, such as orders to stay home, were working, “it results in catastrophic damage to state economies,” the governors said in a statement.
They also asked the United States Congress to allocate $ 500 billion to cover the state budget deficits that resulted from the “unprecedented” crisis.
The top two Republicans in Congress said Saturday they would continue to oppose Democrats’ demands to include funding for other items in addition to small business relief in a coronavirus aid bill.
Orders to stay home
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s lead infectious disease expert, and other health officials noted declining rates of hospitalizations and admissions for coronavirus to intensive care units, particularly in New York State, as signs of that social distancing measures are paying off.
New York City public schools, which were to reopen on April 20 at best, will remain closed for the remainder of the school year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a briefing on Saturday, adding that it was “It is the right thing.”
Orders to stay at home imposed in recent weeks in 42 states have greatly affected US trade, and some economists forecast job losses of up to 20 million by the end of the month, raising questions about how long business closings may be. and travel restrictions. sustained.
The Trump administration renewed talks on the rapid reopening of the economy after an influential university research model this week lowered its US mortality forecasts. USA At 60,000 deaths by August 4, below at least 100,000, assuming social distancing measures remain in effect.
However, new data from the US government. USA They show that infections will increase during the summer if orders to stay home after 30 days are lifted, according to projections first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by a Department of Homeland Security official.
A new outbreak was reported Friday in San Francisco, where 68 residents and two staff members at a homeless shelter tested positive, marking one of the largest groups of infections known so far at such a facility in anywhere in the country.
And 36 employees were infected with Covid-19 at a meat production plant in Greeley, Colorado, according to meat packaging company JBS USA. Two employees died, the union representing the plant workers said.
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