Tensions and backlash over US coronavirus crisis as states reopen
With nearly all US states partially reopened this week, backlash and frustrations are growing as Americans struggle with ways to combat the deadly coronavirus.
More than 40 states are opening some businesses and restarting economies crushed by a pandemic that has killed nearly 76,000 Americans and infected over 1.2 million.
Vulnerable communities such as nursing homes and prisons are getting hit the hardest, and experts say the tolls will grow. Researchers predicted the relaxed social distancing due to reopenings will lead to 134,000 coronavirus deaths nationwide by August, nearly double their previous forecast.
After weeks of stay-at-home orders to maintain social distancing, protesters have taken to the streets for days demanding states reopen businesses.
Even mandates to wear masks to stop the spread of the virus have become a flashpoint, leading to one alleged killing and accusations of government overreach.
Several weeks of widespread business shutdowns meant to curb the contagion have dealt a staggering blow to the US economy, casting Americans out of work in numbers unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s and stoking pressure on politicians to lift restrictions.
The US Labor Department reported on Thursday 33.5 million workers have filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits the past six weeks.
“I feel like the government is failing us,” said Claudia Alejandra, who lost her job at a department store makeup counter in Orlando, Florida, on March 28 and now spends her days trying to secure unemployment benefits that should have arrived weeks ago.
The bleak jobs figures add to a litany of gloomy reports on consumer spending, business investments, trade, housing and productivity.
The US has the world’s highest coronavirus death toll and infections, with more than 76,000 deaths and over 1.26 million confirmed cases.
(Source: Agencies)
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