|
 Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ordered a ban on in-person high
school and college classes as well as indoor dining service for
three weeks starting on Wednesday as increasingly cold weather
drives people indoors where the virus can spread more easily.
She banned public events at concert halls, casinos, movie theaters,
skating rinks and other venues, while in-home gatherings will be
limited to 10 people from no more than two households.
Whitmer, a Democrat, warned that without aggressive action, Michigan
could soon suffer 1,000 COVID-19 deaths per week.
"We are in the worst moment of this pandemic to date," she told a
news conference. "The situation has never been more dire. We are at
the precipice and we need to take some action."
White House coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas reacted to the Michigan
orders by urging state residents on Twitter
https://twitter.com/
SWAtlasHoover/status/
1328171502211043328 to "rise up" against them. After this drew
criticism from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Atlas said he
"NEVER was talking at all about violence."
Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, announced a
one-month ban on indoor services at restaurants and gyms, and a
reduction of in-store retail capacity to 25%.
Indoor gatherings would be prohibited outside of one's household and
outdoor gatherings would be limited to five people in Washington
state under Inslee's order.
The new restrictions come as daily new infections in recent days
have more than doubled from single-day highs reported during the
previous U.S. peak in mid-July. The number of COVID-19 patients in
U.S. hospitals also has reached an all-time high.
'DANGEROUS PERIOD'
Earlier on Sunday, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's top advisers
called for urgent action to address COVID-19, warning that
Republican President Donald Trump's refusal to begin a transition of
power could further jeopardize the battle against the rampaging
virus. Biden's advisers also said it would inhibit vaccine
distribution planning and could jeopardize additional government
financial aid before Biden, a Democrat, takes office in January.
"We are in a very dangerous period," Dr Michael Osterholm, a member
of Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board and director of the University of
Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, told
NBC News' "Meet the Press."
Unless action is taken now, "we're going to see these numbers grow
substantially", Osterholm warned. "Our future's in our hands."
Basic public health measures such as face covering to curb the
spread have become politicized under Trump, who has eschewed mask
mandates even after contracting COVID-19 last month, while Biden has
backed their widespread use.
[to top of second column] |
Still, some Republican governors in recent days have been forced to act, with
North Dakota joining 35 other states over the weekend in mandating masks and
Iowa this week requiring them in certain circumstances.
Forty U.S. states have reported record increases in COVID-19 cases in November,
while 20 saw a record rise in deaths and 26 reported record hospitalizations,
according to a Reuters tally.
The latest 7-day average, shows the United States is reporting more than 144,000
daily cases and 1,120 daily deaths, the highest for any country in the world.
Ron Klain, Biden's incoming White House chief of staff, on Sunday urged Congress
to immediately pass COVID-19 relief legislation with new restrictions certain to
take a toll.
"This could be a first example of bipartisan action post-election," Klain told
NBC. He said Biden has spoken to congressional Democratic leaders, but not to
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who has refused to publicly
acknowledge Biden as president-elect.
'PASSING A BATON'
Klain said there had been no formal contact between Biden's advisory panel and
the White House Coronavirus Task Force, which requires transition authorization
from the General Services Administration.
"It's really important in the smooth handing over of the information," top U.S.
infectious disease expert and White House task force member Dr Anthony Fauci
told CNN's "State of the Union" program. "It's almost like passing a baton in a
race, you don't want to stop and give it to somebody, you just want to
essentially keep going."
Biden's team this week planned to meet with Pfizer Inc <PFE.N>, which last week
released positive initial data on its experimental novel coronavirus vaccine,
and other drugmakers, Klain said.
Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy, head of Biden's COVID team, told
Fox News the coronavirus surge was "deeply alarming" but that a national
lockdown was "a measure of last resort."
"The better way to think about these safety restrictions is more a dial that we
turn up and down depending on severity" in a given area, he said.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and David Shepardson; additional reporting by
Michelle Price, Nathan Layne, Sarah N. Lynch, Linda So and Anurag Maan; Writing
by David Lawder; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Diane Craft, Robert Birsel)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
