Amid COVID-19 surge, three states won’t impose lockdown [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The states of Florida, South Dakota, and Texas would not be imposing lockdown despite the continuous surge of coronavirus across the country.
• All three governors had their reasons for opposing a restriction.
• In recent weeks, all three states recorded a significant rise in new cases.

Even with the resurgence of the coronavirus in the US, states such as Florida, South Dakota, and Texas said that they would not impose any lockdown measures.

The Texas Tribune reported that during an interview, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that there will be no more lockdowns and instead, they would be focusing on “working to heal those who have COVID,” to help them return to their normal lives.

On Wednesday, Abbott’s spokesman told NBC News that the governor’s strategy would depend on the “data-driven hospitalization metrics” used by medical professionals to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Over the past two weeks, the state witnessed a 47 percent increase in new infections. Based on the monitoring by NBC News, Texas recorded over 1.1 million cases with a death toll of 20,274.

Abbott would also proceed with a plan that suggests that a state would halt reopening of the economy if and when the surge of COVID-19 infections tops 15 percent of hospitalization capacity daily for one week. 

In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he declined to undergo a lockdown since he did not want “families who can’t afford to shelter in place for six weeks” to be hurt, based on his official statement sent to WPEC.

“Especially not for a virus that has a 99.8 percent survival rate,” the statement added.

According to NBC Miami, Florida has recorded over 885,201 COVID-19 cases with over 17,800 deaths. On Sunday alone, the state got 10,105 new infections, another daily record high since July.

DeSantis’ office, though, said in their statement that the new cases came likely “due to a large submission file and skewed the numbers for that day,” the WPEC reported.

DeSantis has faced criticisms over his COVID-19 handling. He drew flack in March over his refusal to issue a statewide ban on going to beaches even as people come to spend the spring.

In South Dakota, Gov. Kristi Noem repeated her stand against having a lockdown.

“We already know that lockdowns DON’T stop the spread of the virus. However, they destroy small businesses and jobs, and they make it difficult for families to put food on the table,” she tweeted last week.

Noem refuted claims that new infections are surging because she refused to impose a lockdown and wearing of face masks during Wednesday’s press conference.

“That is not true,” she argued. “There are 41 states that have some kind of a mask mandate. Cases are on the rise in 39 of those 41 states.”

South Dakota recorded more than 68,671 COVID-19 cases and 671 fatalities as of Wednesday. Over the last two weeks, the state reported an increase in new cases with 28 percent.

Source: NBC News