FROM THE CORRESPONDENT Washington The terrible days announced by Donald Trump have arrived. Yesterday in the United States more than two thousand people died for Covid-19. And now the first country in the world not only for the number of infections, over half a million, but also for that relating to the deceased: 20,110 half a day, more than Italy which has had about 19,468 so far.
The situation in New York
Disturbing news and images arrive from the territory. Especially from New York, where Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the end of the school year: a painful decision, but also the right thing to do. Mayor and Governor Andrew Cuomo are struggling with the outbreak of the infection in New York State: around 170,000 cases, over 7,800 deaths; for three days, 800 every 24 hours. an emergency that goes from hospitals to nursing homes.
The reopening of the country
But in Washington, the president announces that he is thinking of reopening the country in early May. Trump has set up another task force that will be composed of scientists, managers and entrepreneurs. The first meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 14 April. The contagion curve crosses that of the unemployed. In the past three weeks, 16.8 million jobless have applied for individual state or federal subsidies. The American leader says it will probably be the most difficult choice of my life and he is probably right. On the one hand, Dr. Fauci, the virologist of the White House, insists: there are weak signs, but the Coronavirus is still fearful and, in any case, it will not be possible to return to normal before November. On the other hand, pressure from the business world is growing, to which Trump cabinet ministers are very sensitive, from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to Attorney General William Barr.
Congress maneuvers
Also pay attention to the maneuvers in Congress.
Andy Biggs, an Arizona MP and president of the House Freedom Caucus, the hyper-conservative Republican group that is very influential on Trump, attacks Fauci hard. The thesis: we cannot deliver the country’s government to its mathematical models which have proved exaggerated. The argument, however, risks short circuits. It is true that scientists have revised downward the forecasts for the dead: Between 100,000 and 240,000, Deborah Birx, the team coordinator, said on April 1st. The estimate assumed that only 50% of Americans would apply the rules of social distance and isolation. On average, however, people have been more disciplined and that’s why the latest projection now stops at 60-80 thousand.
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