A man buys, during the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19), on 5th Avenue in New York, February 17, 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Several states are heading for a significant reopening of their economies and the cessation of the mask mandate, despite calls from top US officials to tread carefully until more Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19.
On Tuesday, Maryland became the latest state to largely revive its economy, when Governor Larry Hogan announced that restaurants, retailers and other companies could be reopened without capacity restrictions starting Friday.
Governors in Texas, Maryland, Mississippi, Connecticut, Arizona, West Virginia and Wyoming have announced similar plans in recent days as the rate of inoculation accelerates and Covid-19 cases and deaths recede.
Some states are adopting relaxation restrictions more gradually. New Jersey and New York announced together on Wednesday that restaurants in New York City will be able to reopen at half capacity, up from just 35%, starting March 19.
California has said it plans to reopen its illustrious theme parks, outdoor stadiums and ball parks starting April 1, albeit with reduced capacity.
Theme parks like Disneyland Walt Disney will only be allowed to admit Golden State residents at first, the state health department said. Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in a statement Tuesday that the company will need time to bring back and train employees who have been played, with a view to reopening in late April.
The decision to go further and relax restrictions defied warnings from public health officials in the Biden administration, who called on states to temporarily halt business reopening after the national decline in Covid-19 infections began to take effect. However, they acknowledged at a White House Covid-19 press conference on Wednesday that daily infections appear to be declining again.
“There are so many critical things in the next two months,” says Dr. Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. said the National League of Cities months. How fast we will be vaccinated against whether we will have a new growth is really based on what happens in March and April.
Maximum capacity
Wednesday marked the end of Texas’ masked tenure, and his business will be allowed to reopen “100%,” Gov. Greg Abbott said last week, citing a decline in daily infections and vaccine availability.
This move has left several retailers and restaurants in Texas, the largest state to date, to relax all restrictions, decide whether to relax restrictions or ask customers to continue wearing masks. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves lifted state capacity restrictions on businesses, giving up the state’s mask mandate last week.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon announced Monday that the state’s bars, restaurants, theaters and state halls will be able to resume “normal operations” beginning March 16, saying the state’s most vulnerable residents now have access to the vaccine, according to a statement. .
Arizona, West Virginia and Connecticut have also moved to reopen restaurants, fitness centers and other companies at full capacity, although states will maintain their mask requirements. In late February, Arkansas removed capacity restrictions for bars, gyms, restaurants and large locations.
These states are following in the footsteps of Florida when it announced in September that it would lift capacity restrictions for all bars and restaurants.
Some Republicans need a nix mask
Other Republican leaders beyond Texas and Mississippi have recently eliminated mask requirements nationwide, including Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota and Montana, while others have announced plans to lift orders in the coming weeks.
Wyoming Gov. Gordon has said the masked state’s mandate will end when his business reopens on March 16, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said last week that he will lift his state’s mask requirement starting April 9th.
“While I am convinced that a masked warrant was the best thing to do, I also respect those who object, and I believe this was a step too far into government excess,” Ivey told a news briefing on Thursday. .
However, even people who are vaccinated against the disease should continue to wear face-to-face clothing in public and when they meet people who may be vulnerable to the disease, according to new CDC recommendations for inoculated Americans, released Monday.
While the new guidance is a positive step, many more people need to be fully vaccinated before everyone stops taking most of the COVID-19 precautions, the CDC said.
US not “out of the woods”
The U.S. recorded a daily average of about 57,436 new cases in the past week, a sharp drop from the peak of nearly 250,000 daily cases in the U.S. in early January, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
While the decline in daily cases “is good news,” the United States continues to fight a large number of infections every day, and infections “could reach an unacceptably high level again,” the chief adviser said on Tuesday. White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
“The history of this virus has told us when you start reaching the plateau at a level as high as this, which is about 60,000 to 70,000 cases a day, then you are by no means out of the woods,” Fauci said. with Walensky earlier this week. .
In addition, new and highly transmissible variants of the virus, in particular strain B.1.1.7 first found in the UK, will become the predominant variant in the US by the end of March.
A faster-spreading virus could lead to more cases, hospitalizations and deaths, warn public health experts, and some early data indicate that variant B.1.1.7 could be more deadly. Fauci said the United States is now assessing the impact of “homemade” variants, including the one believed to have originated in New York.
– The Associated Press and Berkeley Lovelace Jr. of CNBC contributed to this report.