Government officials across U.S. reevaluate COVID-19 guidelines

While officials in California and New York have increased efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, states like Florida and Texas are starting to ease back.
On Friday, Los Angeles County extended its stay-at-home order through May 15th.
According to Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, non-essential businesses, beaches, parks and trails will all remain closed possibly into the summer.
Referring to recent data, Ferrer stated if the order was lifted any sooner, about 96 percent of residents would become infected by August 1st, as opposed to roughly 30 percent if the order remained.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said officials are “cautiously optimistic” that the infection rate is slowing in his state. For the first time since the outbreak began, hospitals reported a decrease in the number of patients in the ICU this week.
“If the hospitalization rate stays the same, we have up to a 90,000 bed capacity in our system, fully taxed up to the brim,” he stated. “But that’s an overflow capacity that I hope we don’t use if we keep this curve down.”
On the other hand, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his intent to reopen schools, starting as early as next month. The governor pointed out that school age kids do not appear to be at higher risk for COVID-19 than adults and said he’ll make a decision based on whether or not there are active virus concerns in each district.
“There’s probably not been one aspect of society that’s had a more broad-based effect on than our education system, because we have millions of people involved in it,” stated DeSantis. “We want kids to be in school, I think most parents want that, so we’re going to continue to look, see how this develops and then make a decision there.”
In Texas, Governor Greg Abott is trying to get residents back to work. According to recent reports, Abbott plans to sign an executive order next week outlining how businesses will reopen in the Lone Star state.
Small business owner Megan Hollek, whose entire staff has filed for unemployment benefits, told local reporters she is scared to know how long social distancing measures will last.
“As soon as it’s safe, let people work,” she said. “Even if it is on a smaller scale, we will abide by any guidelines we need to.”
https://www.oann.com/government-officials-across-u-s-reevaluate-covid-19-guidelines/