NEW YORK - New Jersey adopted a stringent
coronavirus face-mask order on Wednesday, and New York City
unveiled a plan to allow public school students back into
classrooms for just two or three days a week, as Covid-19 cases
soared elsewhere in the US.
Officials in New Jersey and New York, the hardest-hit states
at the outset of the US outbreak, are trying to preserve
progress against the virus as it resurges in other parts of the
country, especially the South and West.
More than 47 000 people have perished from Covid-19 in the
two northeastern states, representing more than a third of the
132 000 US deaths, according to a Reuters tally.
Nearly 59 000 new Covid-19 infections were reported across
the US on Wednesday, the greatest single-day national
tally of cases yet since the virus emerged late last year in
China.
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy ordered people to wear face
coverings outdoors when social distancing was not possible,
citing a rise in the state's coronavirus transmission rate.
"It's about life and death," Murphy, a Democrat, said at a
briefing.
Many states require masks in public indoor settings and
recommend them outside, but have stopped short of mandating
their use outdoors.
"I think that's the right thing to do," said Jordan Grant,
23, a real estate accountant who expressed dismay at groups
congregating without masks. "It's what we should have been doing
months ago."
Republican state Senator Michael Doherty, however, accused
the New Jersey governor of "exploiting a public health crisis
for power", calling the new mask directive "oppressive."
In New York City, mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan for
1.1 million students in the nation's largest public school
district to return to classes in September. Pupils would
alternate attending school two or three days weekly and spend
the remaining time at home.
'BACK TO SCHOOL'
Republican President Donald Trump, who has exhorted
Americans to return to their daily routines, threatened to cut
off federal funding to schools that fail to reopen on their
normal schedule due to the coronavirus outbreak.
States are chiefly responsible for primary and secondary
education, but the federal government provides some
supplementary funding.
Vice president Mike Pence said the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention would soon issue new back-to-school
protocols after Trump criticized current recommendations as too
strict and costly. But Pence stressed that CDC guidelines are
advisory.
Coronavirus cases have been on the rise in 42 of the 50
states over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis.
Meanwhile, the percentage of people testing positive among those
who are screened has climbed above 5% – to levels health experts
deem concerning – in some two dozen states.
On Tuesday, the number of confirmed US cases crossed the 3
million mark, roughly equivalent to 1% of the population and
about 25% of all known infections worldwide.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, who faces Trump
in a November 3 election, described the grim milestone as "awful"
and "avoidable". He accused Trump of putting the nation in a
precarious spot by not ramping up testing and deliveries of
protective equipment.
The virus is sweeping through a number of heavily populated
states, including California and Texas. Twenty states have
reported record increases in cases this month.
PANDEMIC AND POLITICS
Houston, the largest city in Texas and the US oil
industry's hub, registered more than 1 000 new cases on Tuesday,
a single-day record, mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted on
Wednesday, calling the spread "severe and uncontrolled".
Turner, a Democrat, ordered the cancellation of a Texas
Republican Party convention scheduled for July 16-18 in Houston,
citing public health concerns.
In neighbouring Oklahoma, Dr Bruce Dart, the top health
official in Tulsa, said Trump's campaign rally at an indoor
arena in the city last month likely contributed to hundreds of
new coronavirus cases over the past few days.
White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said she had seen
no data to support Dart's conclusions.
An outbreak at the Mississippi state Capitol in Jackson
left 26 lawmakers and 10 others infected, prompting the governor
to urge anyone who had contact with a legislator to get tested,
the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reported.
The surge has forced authorities to backpedal on moves to
reopen businesses, such as restaurants and bars, after mandatory
closures reduced economic activity to a virtual standstill in
March and April and put millions of Americans out of work.