US nears COVID-19 peak, Donald Trump feuds with governors on reopening
New York state had 196,146 confirmed cases Tuesday, which was way more than Spain or Italy or France, the three European nations hit the hardest until they were overtaken by the United States and now by one of its states.
A top government health official has sad the United States could be “nearing” the peak of its coronavirus outbreak this week and an acrimonious debate has broken out between President Donald Trump and some state governors on who will determine when to reopen the country, and by how much.
“We are nearing the peak right now,” Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told NBC news Monday, echoing growing consensus among officials and public health experts. “You’ll know when you’re at the peak when the next day is actually less than the day before.
The number of fatalities in the United States went up by 1,509 Monday over Sunday, which was marginally less the 1,514 the day before, but a lot less than 1,920 in the 24 hours ending Saturday. The death toll stood at 23,649 Monday, and confirmed cases at 582,634, up by 25,306.
The University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, which has been widely cited by the White House, has projected April 16 as the peak day for the US outbreak.
Experts of the White House coronavirus task force and other public officials have for some days expressing “cautious optimism” on the basis of signs that they interpret to indicate a peak was at head — such as the “flattening” in the number of new cases in hotspots metros .
Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, has cited dropping hospitalization numbers to express optimism the state, which has has more cases than all of China and many other countries, may have turned around, or is close to it. “The worst is over” he told reporters Monday, adding for emphasis the need to not ease up.”, “if we continue to be smart going forward.”
New York state had 196,146 confirmed cases Tuesday, which was way more than Spain or Italy or France, the three European nations hit the hardest until they were overtaken by the United States and now by one of its states. The state accounted for a little less than half of all US fatalities, at 10,058.
New York City, the epicenter of the American epidemic, had 106,763 cases (alone more than China or the United Kingdom) and 7,249 deaths.
The situation is improving as public health official and experts have stated giving rise to talk of reopening the country and removing social-distancing guidelines enforce since mid-March that had shut down businesses, forced wide-scale layoffs and inflicted grave economic hardship on millions of families.
But the way forward has become mired in a bitter debate between the American president and state governors over, essentially, who will lead the reopening.
Trump insists on leading it claiming complete powers on this issue of public health matters and police powers inside states. “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total,” he said at the daily briefing of the White House coronavirus task force.
Constitutional experts and critics, joined even by some of the president’s Republican allies, have dispute that, citing the constitution.
“If he ordered me to reopen in a way that would endanger the public health of the people of my state, I wouldn’t do it,” Governor Cuomo said of the president’s plans. Other governors, including some belonging to the Republican party, have disagreed with the president.
Trump hit back singling the New York governor. “Cuomo’s been calling daily, even hourly, begging for everything, most of which should have been the state’s responsibility, such as new hospitals, beds, ventilators, etc. I got it all done for him, and everyone else, and now he seems to want Independence! That won’t happen!”
