If you’ve just been following the COVID-19 news in Singapore, you’re missing out on a lot of interesting news elsewhere.
While India had a cop wearing a coronavirus helmet and Sweden looks like a country in a parallel universe, the most exciting ones would come from the US.
Other than Trump suggesting that disinfectants could be used to kill the virus in people’s lungs and then claiming that he was being sarcastic, he has also since stopped giving his daily briefings after accusing the “lamestream” media of peddling fake news.
There had been more happenings in the US: people protesting against the lockdowns lah, states bidding against each other for ventilators lah and whatnot.
In recent days, Trump decided to let individual states open up the economy and issued a guideline.
With that, states started to gradually open—and let’s just say that Americans’ cabin fever is so serious, people flooded the breaches, as if Snorlax has been spotted there.
Spring Time
Unlike Singapore whereby it’s summer every day, the US has just moved from winter to spring.
While it’s not summer yet, spring is still a good time to visit the breaches, especially when a heat wave just landed in the state of California, the region that used to be ruled by the Terminator.
The state, with a population of about 39.5 million, is one of the first states to lockdown. It currently has 42,164 cases and 1,710 deaths.
The Governor is reopening some beaches in the region, though people are still required to follow safe-distancing measures.
He said, “Look, we’re walking into a very warm weekend…That means people are prone to want to go to the beaches, parks, playgrounds and go on a hike.”
It turns out that instead of exercising elsewhere, people flocked to the beaches instead, and if you’re there, you might not even know that we’re in the middle of a global pandemic.
Despite that, people claimed to follow safe-distancing measures, allegedly keeping themselves to their own households. Car park lots were closed to discourage visits and I wonder how these people made their way there.
Temperature is about 33 °C—not something we Singaporeans like to hear but a temperature that ang mos love since it’s so rare.
Time will tell if this soft opening would lead to any second wave or not.
But of course, beaches are the only places that are now open.
Some Other States Are Doing More
While most states are still deciding when (or what) to reopen, some have lifted several restrictions like California.
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For example, in Georgia, gyms, fitness centres, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, hair and nail salons, estheticians and massage therapists have been reopened since 24 April, and theatres and restaurants will reopen today. The state with about 10 million people currently has 23,481 cases and 916 deaths, though the number of new cases has decreased.
But of course you might be wondering: with the US still reporting five-digit new cases every day, why are states reopening?
Simple: the economy is taking a big hit.
A record 26.5 million people have filed for unemployment benefits, which means at least 26.5 million have lost their jobs (there might be more as people might not have applied for the benefits).
Trump has publicly support opening the economy as well, as his economic advisor said that the unemployment rate might be at more than 16% now.
The latest data shows that it’s at 4.4%
Suffice to say, Trump won’t be happy since he’s managed to bring down the unemployment rate since he took office (though it was already on a downward trend).
It’s certainly not goody to be a world leader now.