As the numbers of new coronavirus cases continue to rise, several states are re-imposing restrictions to help slow the spread of the virus.
Over 3.3 million people have now tested positive for coronavirus nationwide – the past seven days has seen more than 60,000 new coronavirus cases per day on average. New cases, hospitalizations and deaths are reaching record highs, even beyond hot spot states like Florida and Texas. Hospitals have reported a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 patients being admitted – 48 Florida hospitals have already reached their ICU capacity.
Miami, Florida has been declared the latest “epicenter of the pandemic,” by infectious disease expert Lilian Abbo from the University of Miami Health System on Monday (July 13).
“What we were seeing in Wuhan — six months ago, five months ago — now we are there,” she said, referring to the Wuhan City in China, which was the original epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, during a news conference hosted by the Miami-Dade County mayor.
California, which has the highest number of new cases after Florida and Texas, has issued the one of the most extensive rollbacks with regards to any state’s reopening plans.
Businesses have slowly begun to reopen in May. However, on Monday (July 13), Governor Gavin Newsom called for businesses in several sectors to roll back on reopening – including indoor restaurants, bars, wineries, tasting rooms, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, zoos, and museums – across the state.
30 counties on the state’s watchlist also need to close down indoor operations for establishments like gyms, houses of worship, hair and nail salons, offices for noncritical work sectors, shopping malls and barbershops.
“It’s incumbent on all of us to recognize, soberly, that Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon,” Gov. Newsom said.
“Please, please take seriously the fact that positivity rates are growing in the state and across many parts of the country,” he said. “Continue to be vigilant.”
School re-openings in California have been left up to the districts, and San Diego and Los Angeles – California’s two largest school districts – have also announced that students will continue to learn remotely when classes start again at the end of summer.
“The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control,” said a joint statement from Los Angeles Unified and San Diego Unified school districts.
In New Mexico, restrictions on indoor seating at restaurants and breweries have been placed again, as ordered by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Tighter restrictions on gyms and other businesses including tattoo parlors and salons have been imposed.
“Unfortunately, our state’s dramatically rising case numbers reflect that those behavior modifications and precautions have either not been taken seriously or taken up by enough people,” Gov. Grisham said in a statement.
Gov. Kate Brown also took new measures in Oregon, including prohibiting indoor gatherings of more than 10 and expanding face covering requirements.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis already ordered bars closed late last month.
More than half of U.S. States have halted or rolled back aspects of their plans to reopen in an effort to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. But although it’s uncertain when the pandemic will end, the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says it doesn’t necessarily have to mean a new wave of shut down.
During a webinar with the Stanford School of Medicine, Dr. Fauci said, “You don’t necessarily need to shut down again, but pull back a bit.”
The Director for Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, has also said that wearing a mask would help bring the coronavirus under control.
“The time is now,” Dr. Redfield said during an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association. “I think if we could get everybody to wear a mask right now I think in four, six, eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control.”
