Coronavirus Cases Increase in Texas and other States that Reopened

In April, some US governors declared their plans to reopen their states amid the coronavirus pandemic. These states include Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Texas and a few other states joined the queue of reopening afterward.

So far, Texas, Alabama, and South Dakota have begun to see an increase [uptick] in the coronavirus cases since they eased coronavirus restrictions. It has only been about a week in some states and the numbers are on the increase.

Despite rising concerns about the decision to reopen when no specific cure had been found for the virus, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo implied reopening was in the best interest of the state. Despite New York holding the highest number of coronavirus cases in the US. “I believe we can continue to be smart … I believe we can start on the path to normalcy,” he said.

He also got the support of six other governors and formed a coalition to put together a plan for safely reopening their states.

Their expectations seem to be unmet as some states that decided to ease the ‘stay home’ order and restrictions, and reopen nonessential businesses have begun to record increased coronavirus cases. This was confirmed by the former FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb, on Tuesday.

These states that reopened went ahead to do so without meeting the criteria published by the White House which included a two weeks sustained drop in new infections. And states that are yet to report an uptick would most likely do so in a short while, Gottlieb said. “The bottom line is a lot of states are now reopening activity against a backdrop that doesn’t meet the criteria that the White House set out in terms of when it would be safe to reopen,” He said.

Gottlieb also believes that there would be an increase in the coronavirus cases as more states reopen. “We’re going to see cases go up now that we’re reopening,” he said.

The former FDA Commissioner had hoped that by now there should have been a “sustained decline of new cases,” if the stay-home-order wasn’t eased in many states. Despite the substantial fall in new cases and daily death rate, especially in hot spots like New York and New Jersey, the total number of new cases and deaths in the US still remains high at 2,000 deaths and 30,000 new cases daily.

“We didn’t think that going into May after a month of mitigation we’d be at a sort of plateau where we wouldn’t be seeing steady declines of new cases, so we’re in a tough spot right now,” Gottlieb told CNBC.

So far, Texas has reported 39,869 confirmed cases and 1,100 deaths, out of the 525,697 people that were tested. Alabama has reported 10,164 confirmed cases and 403 deaths, out of the 129,444 people that were tested. While South Dakota has 1,393 confirmed cases and 34 deaths.

Some other states like Georgia that recently reopened are yet to report an uptick in the coronavirus cases. However, there are uncertainties surrounding this fact as epidemiologists warn that there are tendencies of new cases since the virus takes a while before its symptoms begin to develop in a person.