A look at 21 states that eased lockdown restrictions shows no major increases in coronavirus deaths or hospitalizations.
“JUST IN: @ABC looked at 21 states that eased restrictions May 4 or earlier & found no major increase in hospitalizations, deaths or % of people testing positive in any of them. [SC, MT, GA, MS, SD, AR, CO, ID, IA, ND, OK, TN, TX, UT, WY, KS, FL, IN, MO, NE, OH] via @AMitrops,” ABC News reporter Eric Strauss tweeted Thursday.
JUST IN: @ABC looked at 21 states that eased restrictions May 4 or earlier & found no major increase in hospitalizations, deaths or % of people testing positive in any of them. [SC, MT, GA, MS, SD, AR, CO, ID, IA, ND, OK, TN, TX, UT, WY, KS, FL, IN, MO, NE, OH] via @AMitrops
— Eric M. Strauss (@ericMstrauss) May 28, 2020
Critics have slammed the governors of states such as Florida and Georgia who have reopened their states earlier than others, rejecting the idea that lockdowns need to continue.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, recently pushed back against those who argued that he was putting lives at risk by reopening his state and accused him of skewing coronavirus data.
“Our data is available. Our data is transparent. In fact, Dr. [Deborah] Birx has talked multiple times about how Florida has the absolute best data. So, any insinuation otherwise is just [a] typical, partisan narrative trying to be spun,” DeSantis said earlier this month when questioned by a reporter about his state’s coronavirus data.
“Part of the reason is that because you’ve got a lot of people in your profession who waxed poetically for weeks and weeks about how Florida was going to be just like New York. ‘Wait two weeks. Florida’s going to be next. Just like Italy. Wait two weeks.’ Well, hell. We’re eight weeks away from that, and it hasn’t happened,” he added.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, recently announced that bars and nightclubs could reopen on June 1.
“Now with enhanced testing capacity and encouraging data, we are seeing a slow, careful transition to a new normal,” Kemp said this week, standing alongside Georgia’s public health commissioner, Dr. Kathleen Toomey. “I wouldn’t have made these moves if Dr. Toomey wasn’t comfortable with that.”
A Washington Examiner analysis earlier this month showed there had been no uptick in coronavirus infections in states that had reopened.
