In a grim landmark, the United States records the highest death toll on COVID-19 in the world

NEW YORK: The United States overtook Italy on Saturday (April 11) as the country with the highest number of deaths from coronavirus, registering more than 20,000 deaths since the outbreak began, according to a Reuters count.

The bleak milestone was reached when President Donald Trump reflected when the country, which has registered more than half a million infections, could begin to see a return to normalcy.

The United States has seen its highest number of deaths to date in the epidemic with approximately 2,000 deaths per day reported for the past four days in a row, a plurality of them in and around New York City. Even that looks like an understatement, as New York is still figuring out the best way to include an increase in home deaths in its official statistics.

Public health experts have warned that the death toll in the United States could reach 200,000 during the summer if unprecedented stay-at-home orders are lifted that have closed businesses and kept most Americans indoors after 30 days.

However, most of the current restrictions on public life, including the closing of schools and emergency orders that keep nonessential workers largely confined to their homes, come from the powers vested in state governors, not to the president.

Nonetheless, Trump has said he wants life to return to normal as soon as possible and that measures designed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus carry its own economic and public health costs.

In New York on Saturday, the state governor and the mayor of New York City got involved in a new dispute over their efforts to combat the virus in what is now the global epicenter, in this case about how long schools can remain closed.

The state was sometimes slower to impose social distancing restrictions than other jurisdictions, especially in California, while New York’s two most powerful officials, both Democrats, sometimes disagreed with each other on matters of jurisdiction and the best terminology to use for certain measurements.

They have not appeared together in public since March 2.

On Saturday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio stated that New York City public schools would no longer reopen on April 20, but would remain closed for the remainder of the academic year, saying it was “the right thing to do.” .

However, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo then used his extensive daily press conference to dismiss the mayor’s edict as mere “opinion” and said he would make his own decision about closing schools.

The current federal guidelines that advocate widespread social distancing measures will run through April 30. Trump, who is seeking reelection in November, will have to decide whether to extend them or start encouraging people to return to work in a more normal way. of life.

Trump said he will present a new advisory council, possibly on Tuesday, which will include some state governors and focus on the process of reopening the economy.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits in the past three weeks exceeded 16 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.

EMPTY CHURCHES

With more than 90 percent of the country under orders to stay home, the holiest weekend in the Christian calendar has featured primarily live or broadcast services to the faithful who watch from home.

With many churches running out of funds, collection plates intact in what is generally a busy time of year are increasing pressure on their finances.

A handful of American churches expected to continue the services in person on Easter Sunday, saying that their worship rights exceeded public health warnings.

But there were flashes of hope this week.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s lead infectious disease expert, and other health officials noted declining rates of coronavirus hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care units, particularly in New York State, as signs that social distancing measures are working.

Orders to stay at home imposed in recent weeks in 42 states have greatly affected US trade and raised questions about how long business closings and travel restrictions can be sustained.

The Trump administration resumed talks about 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 continue.

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 facility in Greeley, Colorado, according to meat packaging company JBS USA. Two employees died, the union representing the plant workers said.

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