Coronavirus: New York to reopen in phases; health officials warn of new surge

NEW YORK • New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has sketched out a phased-in reopening that begins with construction and manufacturing, as the US city's coronavirus deaths dropped to 367 on Sunday, the lowest in almost a month.

The reopening could start as soon as May 15, he said, probably upstate before the New York City area.

The governor's briefing - filled with technicalities and conditions for restarting the state - was a sharp contrast to the depths of the virus outbreak in New York.

On April 9, a record 799 people died. Total fatalities are now 17,280, even as new hospitalisations and intensive care cases continue to fall. "There is no doubt that, at this point, we've gone through the worst," Mr Cuomo told reporters in Albany. "And as long as we act prudently going forward, the worst should be over."

It was the first time Mr Cuomo spoke in detail about reopening - a massive and complicated undertaking - after the governor on March 20 shut down most businesses, schools and locked down a state of 18 million people.

After construction and manufacturing, Mr Cuomo said, businesses would reopen based on how essential they are. He did not give any firm dates, but set two markers: He has officially declared the state closed until May 15, and new hospitalisations would need to have dropped for two weeks.

Hospitalisations on Sunday fell to 1,087, the ninth consecutive drop. The state also reported 5,902 new cases on Sunday, down from 10,553, for a total of 288,045.

Mr Cuomo said there would be a two-week pause after the first reopenings to assess progress, which would be monitored by new hospitalisations, new cases and testing for antibodies that show whether a person had contracted the virus.

He added that the measure would be that one person infects no more than one other.

Meanwhile, another wave of states prepared to ease coronavirus restrictions on US commerce this week, despite health experts warning that there is still too little diagnostic testing, while the White House forecast a staggering jump in the nation's monthly jobless rate.

Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana and Tennessee were set to join several other states in reopening businesses without the means to screen systematically for infected people who may be contagious but asymptomatic.

"I would stay home if the government encouraged that, but they're not. They're saying, 'Hey, the best thing to do is go back to work, even though it might be risky'," Ms Royal Rose, 39, who owns a tattoo studio in Greeley, Colorado, told Reuters. Ms Rose said she was reopening her shop after closing a month ago, not because she wants to but because the bills are piling up.

Georgia, Oklahoma, Alaska and South Carolina have already forged ahead to restart their economies following weeks of lockdowns that have thrown nearly one in six American workers out of their jobs.

Public health authorities say increasing human interactions and economic activity now will only backfire, sparking a new surge of infections just as social distancing measures appear to be bringing outbreaks under control.

Still, the number of known US infections climbed higher on Sunday, topping 960,000 as the number of lives lost to Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus, surpassed 54,700.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has insisted the US economy will come roaring back even amid warnings of longer-term impacts of the pandemic's unprecedented shock to the economy.

"I think as we begin to reopen the economy in May and June you're going to see the economy really bounce back in July, August, September," he said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

BLOOMBERG, REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE