Next wave of U.S. states prepare to reopen

Next wave of U.S. states prepare to reopen

An increasing number of U.S. states are preparing to lift coronavirus restrictions this week against the warnings of many public health experts.

This report produced by Yahaira Jacquez.

As another wave of states in the U.S. prepare to lift coronavirus restrictions, health experts, such as Dr. Scott Gottlieb are sounding the alarm.

The former FDA Commissioner said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday that Georgia, which has already taken steps to restart its economy, is acting prematurely.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB SAYING: So it's going to take some time until we see sustained declines in new cases and get to the point where there's a low enough- low enough level of spread in the country that we could feel comfortable about opening up parts of the country.

It's going to be probably mid-May, maybe late May in parts of- parts of this nation.

Georgia’s certainly jumping the gun I think here getting- getting started too early, relative to where they are in their epidemic." Now - Colorado, Mississippi, Minnesota, Montana and Tennessee this week will join Georgia and other states beginning an experiment to reopen, despite not having the testing and contact-tracing infrastructure health experts say is needed to prevent a resurgence of infections of a virus that has already killed more than 54,300 Americans.

Beginning Monday, Tennessee will allow restaurants to reopen and Montana will let businesses reopen if they limit capacity and practice social distancing.

While in Minnesota - 80,000 to 100,000 people working industrial, manufacturing and office jobs will also be back at work this week.

Meanwhile states like New York - the epicenter of the outbreak - have extended restrictions to mid-May.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said that some businesses - such as construction and manufacturing - in less hard hit regions of the state may start to reopen next month.

(SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO SAYING: "The pause is statewide until May 15, then you have the CDC guidance that says total hospitalizations need to be declining for 14 days so we get to May 15.

What regions of the state have seen a decline for 14 days...That's where you will start the conversation to get to phase 1 in that region." He said that in the past 24 hours, 367 people had died in New York, the lowest daily death toll since March 30.