20,000: the number of dead in EE. USA Outperform Italy while leaning on the Midwest

Four Chicago Transit Authority Orange Line Kedzie Station customers space out while waiting for an incoming train to the famous Chicago Loop from Midway International Airport on Friday, April 10, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild symptoms o Moderate for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, they can cause more serious illness or death. (AP Photo / Charles Rex Arbogast)

CHICAGO – The death toll in the United States from the coronavirus eclipsed Italians as being the highest in the world on Saturday, exceeding 20,000, as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest prepared for a potential increase in casualties and they moved to shut down the contagion hot spots before they exploded. .

With the New York area still mired in crisis, fear grew over the spread of the scourge to the heart of the nation.

Twenty-four residents of an Indiana nursing home affected by COVID-19 have died, while an Iowa nursing home saw 14 deaths. Chicago’s Cook County has established a temporary morgue that can carry more than 2,000 bodies. And Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has been hanging around telling groups of people to “break the issue.”

In Europe, countries used barricades, drones, helicopters, mounted patrols, and the threat of fines to prevent people from traveling over the Easter weekend. And with the slowdown in infections and deaths in Italy, Spain and other parts of the continent, governments took tentative steps to loosen the closings for weeks.

The glorious climate across Europe raised further evidence of people’s discipline.

“Don’t be silly,” said Domenico Arcuri, Italy’s special commissioner for the virus emergency. “Don’t go out, continue to behave responsibly as you have until today, use your head and your sense of responsibility.”

The center of gravity of the outbreak has shifted from China to Europe and the United States, which now has the highest number of confirmed cases, more than half a million, and a number of deaths higher than Italy’s count of nearly 19,500, according to the count. maintained by Johns Hopkins University.

The death rate, that is, the number of deaths in relation to the population, remains much higher in Italy than in the United States, which has more than five times as many people. And worldwide, the actual number of dead and infected is believed to be much higher due to a paucity of evidence, different counting practices, and concealment by some governments.

About half of all deaths in the US USA They occur in the New York metropolitan area, where hospitalizations are declining and other indicators suggest that blockages and social distancing are “smoothing the curve” for infections and avoiding the end-of-world scenarios of just a week or two ago.

New York state reported 783 more deaths Saturday, totaling more than 8,600. Governor Andrew Cuomo said the daily death toll stabilizes “but stabilizes at a horrible rate.”

“What do we do now? We stay the course,” said Cuomo, who like other leaders warned that relaxed restrictions too soon could allow the virus to return with a vengeance.

With authorities warning that the crisis in New York is far from over, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city’s 1.1 million student school system will be closed for the remainder of the academic year. But Cuomo said the decision is up to him, and no such determination has been made.

In the Midwest, outbreaks of contagion have alarmed state and municipal leaders and led to stricter enforcement.

Almost 300 inmates at the Cook County Jail have tested positive for the virus, and two have died. In Wisconsin, health officials hope to see an increase in coronavirus cases after thousands of people went to the polls during the Wisconsin presidential primaries on Tuesday.

The Michigan governor has extended the order to stay at his state’s house with new provisions: People with multiple households can no longer travel between them.

And in Kansas, the state Supreme Court heard arguments in a dispute Saturday between Democratic Governor Laura Kelly and Republican lawmakers who reversed her executive order prohibiting religious services and funerals with more than 10 people.

Elsewhere in the world, Italian authorities set up roadblocks around Milan to discourage people from taking Easter weekend trips. British police closely monitored gatherings in parks and on the coast on one of the hottest days of the year. And France deployed some 160,000 police, including horse officers who patrolled beaches and parks.

“It is useless to pack for a vacation,” the Paris police tweeted.

With religious leaders from around the world urging people to safely observe Easter at home, the

the archbishop of Turin, Italy, allowed a video display of the Shroud of Turin, which the faithful believe is the burial of Jesus so that they can pray in front of him during the epidemic.

Pope Francis celebrated an Easter vigil mass in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, where the footsteps of the pontiff and his little retinue could be clearly heard on the marble floor as they walked in slow procession to the altar. Francis compared the fears of the coronavirus with the anxiety felt by the followers of Jesus after his crucifixion.

“For them, as for us, it was the darkest hour,” he said, encouraging people to “sow seeds of hope, with small gestures of care.”

Meanwhile, Austria plans to reopen small stores on Tuesday. Spain, with more than 16,300 deaths, plans to allow workers from some nonessential industries to return to factories and construction sites on Monday. Spanish authorities said they will distribute 10 million face masks at the main train and metro stations.

“We believe that with these measures we will avoid a jump in infections,” said Health Minister Salvador Illa.

Italy continued to include all non-essential manufacturing in an extension of its national closure until May 3. But Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte held out hope that some industry could reopen sooner if conditions allow.

Arcuri said the exit from the blockade will include further virus testing, the deployment of a voluntary contact tracking application and mandatory blood tests as Italy seeks to establish a system of “immunity passports.”

India extended its blockade of the nation of 1.3 billion people in two more weeks. But Iran, the site of the worst outbreak in the Middle East, reopened government offices and businesses outside Tehran.

In Indonesia, inmates set fire to a prison on Sulawesi Island during a riot, apparently angered by restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus. There were no reports of riot-related deaths.

Britain reported 917 more deaths from the coronavirus on Saturday, down from the 980 peak a day earlier. The total death toll in the country approached 10,000. At the same time, the data suggests that the number of hospital admissions in Britain is stabilizing.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first major world leader to confirm that he had COVID-19, continued to recover in a London hospital, where he was able to take short walks, according to his office.

Worldwide, confirmed infections rose to more than 1.7 million, with more than 108,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins. More than 400,000 people have recovered.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older people and people with health problems, it can cause serious symptoms like pneumonia.

/ MUF

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