New York State, the epicenter of COVID-19 infections in the US, on Sunday appeared to have passed the peak of the outbreak.
The US has so far recorded more than 758,000 cases of the novel coronavirus and nearly 41,000 deaths.
While some governors warned that the administration of US President Donald Trump has failed to adequately boost testing, thousands of Americans were flouting stay-at-home orders to protest their states’ prolonged closures.
In Washington state, an early US virus hotspot, more than 2,000 people — many of them ignoring social distancing guidelines — congregated at the capitol to demand that the governor reopen the state’s shuttered economy.
Sunday’s anti-lockdown protests there and in Denver, Colorado, highlighted the growing frustration some Americans have over how state governments are responding to the crisis.
“This ‘cure’ is deadlier than COVID!” read one sign carried by a maskless protester in Denver, referring to policies that have shuttered the US economy and led to 22 million Americans losing their jobs.
New York has borne the brunt of the virus, which has killed more than 18,000 people in the state, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
“We are past the high point and all indications at this point is that we are on the descent,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told a news conference. “Whether or not the descent continues depends on what we do, but right now we’re on the descent.”
New York’s improving data came as the political battle between Trump and other state governors dragged on, with virus testing rates emerging as the focus.
Trump said that there was a continued “improvement with declining trajectory of cases” in cities like Detroit, New Orleans and Houston.
“We are going to start to open our country,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll do it very, very carefully, and I think it’s going to be very successful.”
Experts say extensive virus testing is crucial to a safe reopening of the economy, but some governors said testing capacity fell far below the levels needed to avoid sparking new outbreaks.
US Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News on Sunday that every state had the ability to do enough testing “to move into phase 1.”
Trump’s re-opening plan begins with a “phase 1” that ends stay-at-home restrictions for healthy people and allows some businesses such as restaurants and gyms to re-open with physical distancing.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam pushed back at the administration’s claims that there was enough testing, saying: “That’s just delusional.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said: “We could double or even triple the number of tests that we’re executing daily if we had the swabs and reagents.”
However, as she and others called for more federal government help, Trump put his foot down.
“I am right on testing. Governors must be able to step up and get the job done,” Trump tweeted.
The weekend anti-lockdown protests in several US cities attracted support from Trump, who in tweets called to “LIBERATE” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia from stay-at-home orders.
“Some governors have gone too far” in their restrictions on business, he said.
The protesters “love our country,” he said. “They want to get back to work.”
“To have an American president to encourage people to violate the law ... it is dangerous,” Washington Governor Jay Inslee said.
Cuomo announced this week that New York’s shutdown has been extended until May 15.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis allowed the reopening of some beaches.
Although fog shrouded the area around Jacksonville Beach, those who turned out were “keeping their distance” from one another, Captain Rich Banks of Neptune Beach Ocean Rescue said.
“We’ll see what happens when it really gets sunny and hot,” he said.
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