Coronavirus Live Updates: Risks of Reopening Economy Weighed

President Trump has been open about his eagerness to see stay-at-home orders lifted as soon as May. But officials who see the death tolls still rising in their cities and states urged caution, fearing that relaxing restrictions prematurely could allow the virus to surge once again.

“We could be pouring gas on the fire, even inadvertently,” Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey, a Democrat, said in an interview on CNN, explaining that while returning to a semblance of life before the outbreak was the goal, “it’s not Job No. 1., because right now, the house is on fire and Job No. 1 is to put the fire out.”

As the debate played out on the Sunday talk shows, millions of Christians in the United States celebrated Easter separated from their extended families and fellow believers, watching religious services broadcast on television or streamed online.

Presiding over Mass in a largely empty St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, Pope Francis described “the contagion of hope” as he acknowledged that for many, “this is an Easter of solitude, lived amid the sorrow and hardship that the pandemic is causing, from physical suffering to economic difficulties.”

Indeed, the impact of the pandemic has intensified around the world. In Britain, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson has recovered from Covid-19 enough to be released from the hospital on Sunday, the total number of reported coronavirus deaths has surpassed 10,000. And officials in Russia reported more than 2,100 new cases on Sunday, the largest daily increase there since the start of the outbreak.

The United States also recently marked a grim milestone, surpassing Italy in the total number of confirmed coronavirus deaths, reaching its deadliest day on Friday with 2,057 deaths. As of Saturday night, the total stood at more than 20,500. On Sunday, New York, the epicenter of the virus, reported that another 758 more people had died, bringing total in the state to 9,385.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/12/us/coronavirus-updates.html