Some countries — and U.S. states — are shifting their focus away from stay-at-home measures and toward fixing ravaged economies. But some worry that prematurely lifting restrictions could spark a resurgence in coronavirus infections. For many it’s the most agonizing of delicate balancing acts imaginable.
Perhaps less so in Georgia, where reopening is set to continue apace with restaurants and movie theaters, as more restrictions against the coronavirus are loosened in the big U.S. southern state. An earlier easing saw many establishments gratefully opened their doors after a monthlong closure, but others didn’t feel ready yet and remained shuttered. A similar mixed response is expected from the businesses allowed to reopen today.
Here are some of AP’s top stories Monday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
— The Trump administration is reviewing new federal plans designed to guide restaurants, schools, churches and others as states look to gradually lift their coronavirus restrictions.
— Stocks around the world rose as governments prepare to gradually lift restrictions they imposed on businesses to slow the sweep of the coronavirus pandemic.
— Americans’ support for mail-in voting has jumped amid concerns about the safety of polling places during the coronavirus pandemic, but a wide partisan divide suggests President Donald Trump’s public campaign against vote by mail may be resonating with his Republican backers.
— Scattered anti-government protests broke out in several parts of Lebanon amid a crash in the local currency and a surge in food prices, leading to road closures that prevented medical teams from setting out from Beirut to conduct coronavirus tests across the country.
— The historic crash in oil prices in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic is reverberating across the Middle East as crude-dependent countries scramble to offset losses from a key source of state revenue. The economies of all the Arab Gulf oil exporters are expected to contract this year.
— The spreading specter of the new coronavirus is shaking Latin America’s notoriously overcrowded, unruly prisons, threatening to turn them into an inferno.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. The vast majority of people recover.
Here are the symptoms of the virus compared with the common flu.
One of the best ways to prevent spread of the virus is washing your hands with soap and water. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends first washing with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under fingernails before rinsing off.
You should wash your phone, too. Here’s how.
TRACKING THE VIRUS: Drill down and zoom in at the individual county level, and you can access numbers that will show you the situation where you are, and where loved ones or people you’re worried about live.
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ONE NUMBER:
— 0: The number of hospitalized patients in Wuhan, the city at the center of China’s coronavirus outbreak, after the last 12 were discharged Sunday.
IN OTHER NEWS:
— BIRTHDAY PARADE — A fire truck blared its sirens, police cruisers flashed lights and dozens of families in cars decorated with balloons honked horns, raised signs and yelled: “Happy Birthday, Jessiah!” None of them knew him but they were all there for him on his special day.
— VIRTUAL PROMS — High schoolers undefeated by the coronavirus lockdowns are heading online for isolation proms.
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