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US Coronavirus Infections Soar as Officials Adopt Mixed Messages

VOA News

   The number of new U.S. coronavirus cases is soaring, but state
   governors are offering mixed messages on how to deal with the pandemic.

   More than 60,000 new cases are being recorded each day, pushing the
   country's largest retailer, Walmart, to require customers to wear masks
   at its 5,000 outlets.

   Governor Kay Ivey of the southern state of Alabama ordered all
   residents to begin wearing masks effective Thursday, as the state
   reported nearly 50 new deaths on Wednesday. Montana Governor Steve
   Bullock in the western U.S. imposed a mandatory mask rule at all indoor
   public settings in counties where four or more people have tested
   positive for COVID-19.

   Georgia bans mask mandates
   But in the southern state of Georgia, which logged nearly 3,900 new
   cases, its second highest total since the start of the pandemic,
   Republican Governor Brian Kemp issued a new order explicitly banning
   cities from enacting their own mask mandates, even as he "strongly
   encourages" their use. He extended other statewide social-distancing
   restrictions.

   Some city officials in the state, including the biggest city of
   Atlanta, had previously defied Kemp and mandated the use of masks. They
   voiced their anger at his new edict.

   "It is officially official. Governor Kemp does not give a damn about
   us," Savannah's Democratic Mayor Van Johnson, who was the first local
   official to issue a mask mandate, wrote on Twitter. "Every man and
   woman for himself/herself. Ignore the science and survive the best you
   can."

   Ali Khan, a former official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
   Prevention, told CNN that the upswing in the number of coronavirus
   cases in the U.S. is likely to continue unless mask wearing becomes
   commonplace.

   "We should expect this disease to continue to hopscotch across the
   United States, because over 90 percent of people are still
   susceptible," Khan said. "'¦ Even places that think they're doing quite
   well right now -- they're not. Until you get this contained within your
   community, you are at risk of it coming back again and increasing."

   Maryland governor blames Trump for chaotic response
   Looking back to the early days of the pandemic in the U.S., Maryland
   Republican Governor Larry Hogan, who chairs the National Governors
   Association, faulted President Donald Trump for a chaotic response.

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