After New York and Chicago, it is the turn of the states of Michigan and Washington to take new restrictions, and try to slow down the second wave of coronavirus.
In eight days, the number of infections in the United States rose from 10 to 11 million. Johns Hopkins University, which refers to, has identified, since the appearance of Covid-19 on American soil, 11,038,312 infected people, of which 246,224 have died.
Private sphere limited to 10
Michigan governor (10 million people), Gretchen Whitmer, ordered a ban on in-person classes at high schools and colleges on Sunday evening. From Wednesday, dining in the dining room will be prohibited. Likewise, public events in concert halls, casinos, cinemas, bowling alleys, ice rinks and other leisure places open to the public. As for the private sphere, residents will be able to meet at home on condition that they respect the limit of ten people from two homes: we can therefore only receive one family at a time, and not a large one.
Without these radical decisions, which apply for three weeks, and which particularly concern the large city of Detroit, 1,000 deaths per week for Michigan alone are likely to occur, said Gretchen Whitmer. “We are in the worst moment of this pandemic to date”, “the situation has never been so serious”, she asserted during a press conference. “We are on the precipice and we must take action.”
For his part, the governor of Washington State (7.6 million inhabitants), Democrat Jay Inslee, announced the closure for one month of dining rooms and sports halls. Retail stores will have to reduce the number of people they serve simultaneously by 25%. As of Monday at 11:59 p.m., outdoor gatherings are reduced to a maximum of five people. For indoor gatherings, they are possible but… on condition that the participants present a negative test after having observed a 7 day isolation.
“These are tough decisions”
“This peak puts us in a more dangerous position than we were in March,” the governor warned. “This unfortunately means that the time has come to reinstate restrictions on activities statewide in order to save lives. These are very difficult decisions that have very real consequences on people’s livelihoods. I recognize this and do not take these impacts lightly, but we must act now and act quickly to slow the spread of this disease ”.
Saturday and Sunday, 4,000 new contaminations were added to the state census. Positive cases have doubled in the past two weeks.
“We will bounce back”
“We will bounce back after going through this wave of infection,” he said, announcing that the state would commit an additional $ 50 million to help businesses and workers in the form of grants or loans.
Scott Atlas, the White House coronavirus adviser, responded to Michigan’s orders by urging residents of the state on Twitter to “stand up” against them. This drew criticism from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Atlas then assured that he had “never spoken of violence”, but rather of demonstrations. It is not known if Scott Atlas is one of the many advisers to President Trump who have caught the coronavirus.
Original article by : www.leparisien.fr
