Home ›› 12 May 2020 ›› World Biz
The death toll in the US from novel coronavirus crossed 80,000 on Monday, a figure that is far and away the most reported deaths of any country in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
America marked that grim death toll Monday as almost every state has made plans to partially reopen some businesses, something critics fear might contribute to an increase in the daily reports of fatalities.
In New York, where there have been more than 26,000 deaths, coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates are down to where they were nearly two months ago, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. In the past day, 488 coronavirus patients were admitted to hospitals, similar to the state total from March 19, and 161 people died over the past day, near the same level of deaths as on March 26.
"In many ways, we're on the other side of the mountain," he said on Monday.
As such, Cuomo said parts of upstate New York will be able to begin a phased reopening on Friday when the state's shutdown order expires. He has said that regions can reopen in phases if they hit seven specific criteria, including 14-day declines in hospitalizations and deaths, hospital bed availability, testing capacity and contact tracing. New York City has hit just four of the seven metrics to reopen.
New York has been the epicenter of America's coronavirus outbreak and has had more confirmed coronavirus deaths than all but a few countries. At the peak of the state's outbreak, more than 750 people died every day from April 7 to April 11, and the decline since then has been "painfully slow," Cuomo said last week.
States began setting reopening plans in late April -- with governors in South Carolina and Georgia leading the way with some of the most aggressive plans -- and by this week, nearly every state has begun relaxing restrictions.
(Source: CNN)
