Story at a glance
- The WHO is advising countries easing coronavirus lockdowns to be cautious.
- Health officials said lockdowns can help take the heat out of a country’s epidemic, but cannot end it alone.
- Protestors have rallied against such orders around the world and in the United States.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging countries beginning to loosen coronavirus restrictions to be cautious as cases of COVID-19 could sharply increase if measures are rolled back too quickly.
“We want to re-emphasize that easing restrictions is not the end of the epidemic in any country. Ending the epidemic will require a sustained effort on the part of individuals, communities and governments to continue suppressing and controlling the virus,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Monday during a news conference.
“So-called lockdowns can help to take the heat out of a country’s epidemic, but they cannot end it alone. Countries must now ensure they can detect, test, isolate and acre for every case, and trace very contact,” Tedros added.
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Several European countries and others around the world have announced plans to start slowly reopening some businesses and schools over the coming weeks as the outbreak has shown some signs of slowing down. But even as some countries tentatively lift coronavirus restrictions, more than half of the world’s population is still under some form of confinement. Protests demanding stay-at-home orders be lifted have occurred in countries all over the world, including in the United States.
In the U.S., protests calling for an end to the lockdowns began last week, as thousands of protestors demonstrated outside Michigan’s state capitol demanding the state’s governor nix such orders. Several similar protests took place in other states and more are expected in the days to come.
President Trump has sent conflicting signals on the social distancing measures, backing federal guidelines that leave the decision to reopen to governors, while simultaneously voicing public support for protests of Democratic governors. Trump’s tweets and words of support have contradicted the administration’s own health experts and Vice President Pence, who has urged Americans to listen to the advice of local officials.
Anthony Fauci, the top government official on infectious diseases and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, warned Monday that such protests will “backfire” and further delay the reopening of the economy as there could be another spike in cases if lockdown measures are lifted too quickly.
Many states are easing stay-at-home orders beginning May 1, while several states have not yet announced an end to restrictions.
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