-Experts call for total shutdown countrywide
to curb surging pandemic
Foreign Desk Report
WASHINGTON: The death toll from COVID-19 in the United States has neared 150,000 with daily deaths continuously passing 1,000, while some health experts are calling for a shutdown to contain the surging pandemic. The best thing for the nation is not to reopen as quickly as possible, it is to save as many lives as possible, over 150 prominent U.S. medical experts and health professionals have said in an open letter addressed to the Trump administration, members of Congress and state governors.
Reopening before suppressing the virus is not going to help the economy, they added. The United States has reported more than 4.1 million COVID-19 cases with over 146,000 deaths, which are far higher than those in any other country or region, according to the latest tally by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.
According to the CSSE, New York state has reported the highest death toll of 32,608 in the country. California, Florida and Texas emerged as new epicenters of coronavirus infection in the country, as the death toll rose to 8,408, 5,777 and 4,990, respectively.
Other states with more than 5,000 fatalities include New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, the CSSE data showed. “Hospitalization data was highly erratic this week, but what we did see is alarming,” according to a new report of The COVID Tracking Project.
Deaths are rising three weeks behind cases, which suggests a very difficult few weeks ahead for the United States, said the report. “Of all the nations in the world, we’ve had the most deaths from COVID-19. At the same time, we’re in the midst of ‘reopening our economy,’ exposing more and more people to coronavirus and watching numbers of cases and deaths skyrocket,” the experts said in the letter.
“Right now we are on a path to lose more than 200,000 American lives by November 1st. Yet, in many states people can drink in bars, get a haircut, eat inside a restaurant, get a tattoo, get a massage, and do myriad other normal, pleasant, but non-essential activities,” said the letter.
On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump urged schools across the country to reopen as long as they can practice good hygiene and social distancing. The White House is asking Congress to pledge 105 billion U.S. dollars to schools as part of the next coronavirus stimulus bill, he said.
Trump and his administration are pressuring schools to reopen in the fall, threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that do not comply.
