Coronavirus: Handful of US states move towards reopening despite disapproval

ATLANTA • With the United States coronavirus death toll topping 52,000 and nearly one in six people out of work, several states have taken tentative steps at reopening businesses, despite disapproval from President Donald Trump and medical experts.

Fitness clubs, hair salons, tattoo parlours and some other workplaces were allowed to open their doors on Friday by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, disregarding warnings that easing restrictions too soon could lead to more infections and deaths.

Georgia, one of several states in the Deep South that waited until early this month to mandate restrictions imposed weeks before across much of the rest of the country, has become a flashpoint in the debate over how and when the nation should return to work.

Stay-at-home orders and business closures have thrown more than 26 million people out of work, a level of unemployment not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"We've been hurting real bad," said Mr Lester Crowell, co-owner of the Three-13 hair salon in suburban Atlanta, which reopened after 33 days. "I had to dip into my own bank account to keep the lights on here."

A dozen customers lined up outside the salon, each standing almost 2m apart.

The US death toll from the virus is the highest in the world. The number of confirmed cases in the country is now more than 920,000.

Oklahoma also permitted some retailers to resume business on Friday. South Carolina started easing restrictions last Monday and other states will follow suit this week.

Mr Trump, who had staked his November re-election on the booming economy before the pandemic, has given mixed signals about when and how the country should begin to get back to work.

On April 17, a day after the White House issued federal guidelines urging a gradual, cautious approach, he called for several Democratic governors to "liberate" their states from economic restrictions.

But in a reversal this past week, he publicly criticised fellow Republican Mr Kemp's moves to reopen Georgia.

US Representative Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican, said restarting commerce on Friday was sending mixed messages. He cited the guidelines calling for states to register a two-week decline in cases before easing restrictions, and said parts of Georgia were still struggling to treat patients.

According to a University of Washington research model often cited by the White House, coronavirus hospitalisations in Georgia should peak this week.

The model predicts that Oklahoma already hit its hospitalisation peak last Tuesday and could safely loosen restrictions in June.

REUTERS