Widening US Outbreak Stirs Fear of Resurgence in Early Hard-Hit States
New Jersey on Wednesday adopted one of the toughest coronavirus face mask orders in the United States and New York City unveiled a plan to have students return to classrooms for two or three days a week, as cases…
New Jersey on Wednesday adopted one of the toughest coronavirus face mask orders in the United States and New York City unveiled a plan to have students return to classrooms for two or three days a week, as cases skyrocketed in other parts of the country.
New Jersey and New York, the hardest-hit states at the outset of the U.S. outbreak, are desperate to preserve the progress they have made in containing the virus in the face of its resurgence elsewhere, primarily the U.S. South and West.
More than 47,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the two northeastern states, which account for more than a third of the U.S. death toll of 131,336, according to a Reuters tally.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy unveiled an executive order requiring face coverings outdoors where social distancing was not possible, saying the measure was necessary because of a recent rise in the coronavirus transmission rate in the state.
“Wearing a face covering, I remind you, is not about politics. It’s about quite simply being sick or healthy. It’s about life and death,” Murphy, a Democrat, said at a briefing.
Many states require use of masks in public indoor areas and recommend they be used outside, but have stopped short of mandating them for use outdoors.
“I think that’s the right thing to do,” said Jordan Grant, 23, a real estate accountant who expressed dismay that some people in the state were still gathering outside restaurants or at backyard barbecues without masks. “It’s safe. It’s responsible. It’s what we should have been doing months ago.”
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan in which the city’s 1.1 million public school students would resume classes in September, alternating weeks in which either two or three days would be spent in school and the other days at home.
“Blended learning simply means at some points in the week you’re learning in the classroom, at other points in the week you’re learning remotely,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said at a briefing.
The plan, which requires state approval, also calls for school buildings to be regularly sanitized and for students to wear face coverings and maintain social distancing while in the buildings.