A man shops during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on 5th Avenue in New York, Feb. 17, 2021.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
More states are in the process of significantly reopening their economies and ending their mask mandates, despite pleas from top US officials to proceed with caution until more Americans are vaccinated against Covid-19.
On Tuesday, Maryland became the last state to largely reboot its economy when Governor Larry Hogan announced that restaurants, retailers and other businesses will be allowed to reopen from Friday without capacity constraints.
Governors in Texas, Maryland, Mississippi, Connecticut, Arizona, West Virginia and Wyoming have announced similar plans in recent days as the pace of vaccinations accelerates and Covid-19 cases and deaths decline.
Some states are loosening restrictions more gradually. New Jersey and New York jointly announced on Wednesday that restaurants in New York City will be allowed to reopen at half capacity starting March 19, at just 35%.
California said it plans to reopen its illustrious theme parks, outdoor stadiums and ball parks starting April 1, albeit with reduced capacity.
Theme parks like Walt Disney’s Disneyland may initially only allow residents of Golden State, the state’s Department of Health said. Bob Chapek, CEO of Disney, said in a statement on Tuesday that the company needs time to reclaim and train staff leave, with the goal of reopening in late April.
The decision to move forward and relax restrictions contradicts warnings from top public health officials in the Biden government who asked states to temporarily halt business reopening after the Covid-19 relapse. infections in the country began to level off. However, they acknowledged at a Covid-19 White House press conference on Wednesday that daily infections seem to be on the decline.
“There is so much that is critical for the next two months,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the National League of Cities on Monday. “How soon we’ll get vaccinated and whether we’ll get another wave really depends on what happens in March and April.”
Full capacity
Wednesday marked the end of Texas statewide mask mandate, and the companies are allowed to “100%” reopen, Governor Greg Abbott announced last week, citing a decline in daily infections and the availability of vaccines.
The move allowed several retailers and restaurants in Texas, the largest state to date, to relax all restrictions, to decide whether to ease their restrictions or ask customers to keep wearing masks. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves has lifted the state’s capacity restrictions on businesses and also lifted the state’s mask mandate last week.
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon announced on Monday that the state’s bars, restaurants, theaters and gyms will be allowed to resume “normal operations” starting March 16. According to a statement, the state’s most vulnerable residents now have access to the vaccine.
Arizona, West Virginia and Connecticut have also moved to reopen restaurants, fitness centers and other businesses at full capacity, although the states will maintain their mask requirements. In late February, Arkansas lifted capacity restrictions on bars, gyms, restaurants, and major venues.
Those states are following in Florida’s footsteps when it announced back in September that it would lift capacity restrictions on all bars and restaurants.
Some Republicans ignore the mask requirements
Other Republican state leaders outside of Texas and Mississippi have recently dropped extensive statewide mask requirements, including Iowa, Mississippi, North Dakota and Montana, while others have announced plans to lift their orders in the coming weeks.
Wyoming Governor Gordon said the state’s mask mandate will end when the companies reopen on March 16. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said last week that she would be lifting required masks from her state starting April 9.
“While I am convinced that a mask mandate is the right thing to do, I also respect those who object and believe it was a step too far in the reach of the government,” Ivey said at a press conference on Thursday.
But even people vaccinated against the disease should still wear face covers in public and when meeting people who may be vulnerable to the disease, according to new CDC guidelines for inoculated Americans released Monday.
“While the new guideline is a positive move, many more people will need to be fully vaccinated before everyone can stop taking most of the COVID-19 precautions,” the CDC said.
US not ‘out of the woods’
The US recorded a daily average of about 57,436 new cases over the past week, a sharp drop from the US peak of nearly 250,000 daily cases in according to a CNBC analysis of data collected by Johns Hopkins University in early January.
While the decline in the number of daily cases is “good news,” the US still faces a sobering high rate of infections every day and infections may “flatten back to unacceptably high levels,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor, Tuesday. .
“History with this virus has taught us that when you start to plateau at a level as high as this, which equates to about 60,000 to 70,000 cases per day, then you are definitely not out of the woods,” Fauci said. earlier this week alongside Walensky. .
In addition, new and highly transmissible variants of the virus, in particular the B.1.1.7 strain first found in the UK, will become the predominant variant in the US by the end of March.
A faster-spreading virus could lead to more cases, hospitalizations and deaths, public health experts warn, and some early data suggests that the B.1.1.7 variant may be more deadly. Fauci said the US is now assessing the impact of “homegrown” variants, including those believed to be from New York.
– The Associated Press and CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.