Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'We Really Are Playing With Fire Here': States Carry On With Reopening Plans Despite Grim Warnings
The New York Times: All 50 States Are Now Reopening. But At What Cost?
In Connecticut, flags that had been lowered during the somber peak of the coronavirus pandemic were raised to full-staff on Wednesday to signal a return to business. In Kentucky, gift shops creaked open their doors. And across Alaska, restaurants, bars and gyms, which have been open to small numbers of customers for weeks, were getting ready to rev back up to full capacity. “It will all be open,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced, “just like it was prior to the virus.” (Mervosh and Harmon, 5/20)
The Wall Street Journal: All 50 States Have Now Taken Steps To Reopen
The U.S. hit a milestone in the coronavirus pandemic as all 50 states have now begun reopening, working to revive their economies after months of shutdowns designed to curb the contagion. Slight declines in new confirmed cases in some states have prompted governors from New York to Ohio to restart some services, with rules varying from place to place, including restaurants, churches and schools. On Wednesday, Connecticut became one of the last states to loosen restrictions. (Ansari, McKay and Calfas, 5/20)
ProPublica: States Are Reopening: See How Coronavirus Cases Rise Or Fall
Many states are lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions on social and business activity that were put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. Questions linger, however, about whether some states meet criteria set by public health experts and the federal government for doing so. Experts are keeping a close eye on whether states that have reopened are seeing an uptick in cases or a worsening in other key metrics. To give people context on state reopenings, and what happens afterward, we are tracking metrics derived from a set of guidelines published by the White House for states to achieve before loosening restrictions. Even if these criteria are met, without a vaccine, reopening may cause an increase in cases. What’s more, some states may meet all of the criteria and still have a high infection rate. (Groeger and Ngu, 5/20)
NPR: All 50 U.S. States Have Now Started To Reopen, Easing COVID-19 Shutdown
Even as thousands of businesses are now allowed to reopen, more than a dozen states remain under stay-at-home orders. And in many areas, arguments are playing out over when it's safe to reopen gyms, movie theaters and hair salons. In the weeks since Georgia became the first U.S. state to reopen a wide swath of its economy on April 24, public health experts have warned that in many cases, states are easing restrictions despite not meeting all of the criteria to do so. (Chappell, 5/20)
The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Case Count Tops Five Million World-Wide
In the U.S., there are nearly 1.55 million confirmed infections and the death toll has passed 93,400, according to Johns Hopkins. Globally, more than five million people across 188 countries and regions have been infected by the novel coronavirus and more than 328,000 people have died. (Ping, 5/21)
The Washington Post: Coronavirus Second Wave: Parts Of Texas, Florida, Iowa And Nebraska Risk Case Spikes
Dallas, Houston, Southeast Florida’s Gold Coast, the entire state of Alabama and several other places in the South that have been rapidly reopening their economies are in danger of a second wave of coronavirus infections over the next four weeks, according to a research team that uses cellphone data to track social mobility and forecast the trajectory of the pandemic. The model, developed by PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and updated Wednesday with new data, suggests that most communities in the United States should be able to avoid a second spike in the near term if residents are careful to maintain social distancing even as businesses open up and restrictions are eased. (Achenbach, Weiner, Brulliard and Stanley-Becker, 5/20)
The Associated Press: Back To Business, But Not Business As Usual As Nations Open
This is what “normal” will look like for the foreseeable future. In Connecticut, restaurants are reopening with outdoor-only dining and tables 6 feet (2 meters) apart. In Beverly Hills, California, the rich and glamorous are doing their shopping from the curb along Rodeo Drive. And preschools around the U.S. plan to turn social distancing into an arts-and-crafts project by teaching kids how to “create their own space” with things like yarn and masking tape. (Crary, Collins and Winfield, 5/21)
Reuters: Michigan Governor Whitmer Faces Mainstream Backlash Against Shutdown
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is facing an increasingly mainstream backlash against her stay-at-home orders, with a growing number of local officials and business leaders arguing the restrictions have outlived their usefulness. (Martina and Klayman, 5/20)
The Associated Press: Lessons From '18: Old Pandemic Is A Murky Guide For Sports
The image is striking: Fans watching a college football game in the midst of a pandemic, wearing masks with a smidge of social distance between them on row after row of bleacher seats. The photo is 102 years old. The Georgia Tech alumni Twitter feed posted a black-and-white photo of the scene at Grant Field in 1918. (Gelston, 5/21)
The Hill: Support Slips For Stay-At-Home Restrictions In New Poll
A majority of Americans continue to support lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but support has slipped from April, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll. Sixty percent of Americans are in favor of requiring Americans to remain home except for essential errands, including about a third of Americans who strongly favor it. This is down from 80 percent in favor of stay-at-home orders in April. (Budryk, 5/20)
NPR: Coronavirus Poll: Two-Thirds Say No Normal Life For 6 Months
Two-thirds of Americans do not expect their daily lives to return to normal for at least six months, and as states reopen, three-quarters are concerned that a second wave of coronavirus cases will emerge, a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll finds."There's a great sense that normalcy is not around the corner," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the poll. (Montanaro, 5/20)
The New York Times: Yes, Jersey Shore Beaches Are Reopening. Here’s How They’re Doing It.
One lifeguard will sit perched on a tall wooden chair. Two others, maintaining distance, will stand sentinel on the beach below. All three will wear scarflike masks and carry face shields and respirators equipped with new HEPA filters. They will patrol a beach that a town engineer determined can hold precisely 197 groups in zones roughly 18-feet square, allowing six feet of space in between. (Tully, 5/21)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: MGM, Caesars, Boyd To Begin Testing Employees For COVID-19 Thursday
Three major casino companies will begin testing their Las Vegas employees Thursday for COVID-19 before they return to work. MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Boyd Gaming are the latest casino companies to announce an employee testing program as resorts prepare to reopen, according to a joint statement Tuesday. The three are partnering with University Medical Center to administer tests at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Shoro, 5/19)
The Wall Street Journal: When Will Big Concerts Finally Return After Covid? (Think 2021)
Crowd-craving music fans starved for stadium and arena-size live music may need to wait until 2021 before such events return, music executives say. In the short term, concertgoers will encounter smaller theater shows, with reduced audiences to enable social distancing while artists experiment with stopgap measures like drive-in concerts, paid livestreams and virtual tours. (Shah, 5/20)
The Washington Post: Thousands From Coronavirus Hot Spots Flocked To Maryland And Virginia As Parts Of The States Reopened
Nearly 860,000 additional travelers flocked to parts of Maryland and Virginia over the weekend as the states began to reopen Friday, according to researchers tracking smartphone data. Many were from the Washington suburbs, which remained shut down because of their significantly higher coronavirus caseloads, the data shows. The 18 percent jump in travel from previous weekends brought a total 5.83 million trips to those areas between Friday and Sunday, according to an analysis by University of Maryland researchers. (Shaver, 5/20)
The Hill: Pence To Visit Georgia To Discuss State's Reopening Amid COVID-19
Vice President Pence will visit Atlanta on Friday to discuss Georgia’s aggressive plan to reopen its economy during the coronavirus pandemic. Pence will meet with Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and restaurant executives to dig into the state’s efforts and restaurants’ plans to begin offering dine-in options again. A White House official told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which first reported Pence’s visit, that the trip is part of a series of visits to states across the country to explore how different areas are responding to the pandemic. (Axelrod, 5/20)
Los Angeles Times: California Pushes To Reopen Restaurants, Gyms And Salons
Faced with unemployment rates that in many places top 20%, California counties are eager to reopen their economies as quickly as they can. With Gov. Gavin Newsom loosening requirements for reopening, local officials are racing to submit plans and get approval to allow shuttered businesses to open — all with social distancing restrictions. (Money, Brown, Parvini and Carter, 5/20)
Kaiser Health News: Reopening Dental Offices For Routine Care Amid Pandemic Touches A Nerve
Tom Peeling wanted his teeth cleaned and wasn’t going to let the coronavirus pandemic get in the way. Luckily, his six-month regular appointment was scheduled for earlier this month, just days after dental offices were allowed to reopen in Florida for routine services. In late March the state ordered dentists to treat only emergency cases as part of its efforts to keep residents at home and to preserve limited medical supplies, such as N95 masks, that might be needed to treat COVID-19 patients. (Galewitz, 5/21)
