State officials, reluctant to damage reopening economies, contend they are better equipped for a new wave of cases.
The coronavirus is spiking in more than a dozen states and intensive care beds are filling again, but several governors have no plans to reimpose shutdown measures or pause reopenings, a sign that the political will to take drastic measures has dissipated even as the virus is still raging.
In Texas, where total cases have shot up by one-third in the last two weeks, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is moving ahead with plans to let virtually all businesses keep expanding capacity by the end of this week.
Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who insists recent surges in infections and hospitalizations aren’t tied to his lifting restrictions, on Wednesday announced the state’s reopening will move forward as planned next week. In North Carolina, which is reporting its highest-ever levels of new infections and hospitalizations, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper said reimposing restrictions would be a last resort. Just one state, Utah, has paused the next phase in its reopening plan amid a two-week spike in new cases.
“We want to avoid going backwards if we possibly can,” said Cooper, who resisted President Donald Trump’s demands to guarantee a packed GOP convention in Charlotte in August.
The governors’ attitudes mark a shift in the national view of the best way to respond to the virus that is still infecting more than 20,000 people in the U.S every day. State officials hesitant to pause gradually reawakening economies contend they are better equipped to identify and stamp out outbreaks than when Covid-19 emerged just a few months ago. They point out they’ve been stocking up on protective gear for health care workers, expanding the capacity to test for and track the virus, and monitoring outbreaks in meatpacking plans, nursing homes, prisons and other facilities that have been hot spots. They also bluntly acknowledge that the public has quarantine fatigue.
“I don’t know that anyone has the appetite for massive shutdowns again,” said Lisa Piercey, health secretary of Tennessee, which is among the states seeing reported cases and hospitalizations spike in the past two weeks. Should the state ultimately decide to reimpose restrictions, they would likely have “a more laser focus,” she said.
Without the political desire or public pressure to reimpose shutdown measures, public health experts worry these recent spikes could signal a steady burn of coronavirus infections through the summer, even as previously hard-hit areas like New York and New Jersey have gotten their outbreaks under control. They warn states could ultimately be forced to impose even harsher mitigation measures — like delaying school reopenings or implementing broader shutdowns — should infections spiral out of control.
“We always knew that once we returned back to the community, we had to do it carefully and that there would have to be a pause when we saw increases,” said Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association. “That should always have been understood.”
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It’s too soon to know if nationwide protests over police brutality in recent weeks will send case counts even higher, as public health officials fear. Though there already have been some reported cases among protesters, officials expect any increases from these demonstrations would begin appearing in the next week or two, since it can take up to two weeks before virus symptoms appear.
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In Texas, which is reporting record coronavirus hospitalizations this week, Abbott said the spike in cases is expected and “largely the result of isolated hot spots in nursing homes, jails, and meat packing plants.” But local health officials disagree and said there’s a clear link between the state’s early reopening and the surge in cases, even if there are other contributing factors.
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Gary Herbert of Utah, the lone governor to slow down his state’s reopening amid surging infections, went against the advice of a state commission by extending current restrictions for at least another week.
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The coronavirus is spiking in more than a dozen states and intensive care beds are filling again, but several governors have no plans to reimpose shutdown measures or pause reopeningshttps://t.co/PwV2lMN5pU
— POLITICO (@politico) June 11, 2020Well, I think after people get a taste of freedom, they are not going to want to go back into isolation. If these governors tried to lock everyone down again, they would have a major fight on their hands.
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