on July 15, The counters go crazy in Georgia. On account this day almost 4 000 new cases of Covid, approximately 2,800 people hospitalized, and the number of patients continues to increase. The governor, republican Brian Kemp then decided to strike a blow. It promulgates a decree that prevents municipalities and counties to impose the wearing of mask in public ! He had earlier in the spring forbidden for local officials to take more restrictive measures than those conducted by the State. But the decree of 15 July is much more specific. It supersedes the rules laid down in several major cities such as Atlanta, Savannah, Athens...
The next day, Brian Kemp goes even further. He launches a court action against the mayor, a democrat of Atlanta, accusing it of exceeding its powers, because it continues to impose the mask. In a press conference, he accuses him of conduct " of the disastrous policies which threaten the lives of our citizens ". "We all agree on the fact that wearing a mask is effective, I have confidence in the fact that the Georgians did not need to be given guidelines to behave well ", he says. Its " great concern ", he adds, is that people expect too that the State tells them what to do.
Read also Covid : this second wave that is sweeping over the southern United States
Brian Kemp, trumpiste convinced, usually based its decisions on the positions of the president. In the spring, like Trump, it minimizes the danger and makes the ostrich, despite the increase in the number of patients suffering from Covid. He ends, forced, and forced, by decree, containment at the beginning of April that will last... three weeks ! Georgia is the first State to restart its economy. It is not the only one. The majority of the governors of the States, conservatives have been reluctant to impose restrictive measures. But this approach becomes increasingly untenable. In recent weeks, the pandemic has ravaged the United States, particularly the South and West. Some 4 million Americans have been tested positive since the beginning of the pandemic. Most of the 144,000 are dead and the number of inpatients reached the peak on 15 April, when the crisis was largely concentrated in New York.
America is cut in two
The good news is that the rate of infections appears to be slowing. The number of new cases increased by 20 % per week in the last month. This week, it has increased by only 7 %. The situation does not improve for as much : the country has saved in the day of Wednesday, nearly 70,000 new cases, two times more than a month ago. And for the first time since 29 may, it was exceeded this week, the thousand deaths daily. California is the State most affected, with nearly 13 000 new registered cases, the only 21 July, a new record.
These days, we are left with an America split in two, between the South and the West, the new epicentre of the pandemic, and the North Is more spared. If the case of Covid are lower in Delaware to Maine, is that its States have been devastated in march and April and that the political leaders have taken drastic measures of containment have been widely followed. The residents of the West and the South, however, are much more distrustful of the federal government that they do not trust and seem to be more reluctant to follow the safety instructions, including wearing a mask.
It must be said that the conflicting messages from the administration have not helped. Donald Trump has continued to say that the virus would disappear, that it was a common flu... It has encouraged people to déconfiner as quickly as possible, a monumental mistake, and contradicts constantly his health experts, while praising treatments wacky. It's not surprising therefore that many Americans are convinced that the scale of the pandemic is exaggerated or even suspect of its existence.
More serious, he has left the responsibility of the health crisis to the States. The answer is so fragmented and uneven, a patchwork of measures depends more on political views of the governor and public health.
Situation uncontrolled
a Sign that the situation is getting worse, Donald Trump is shown with a mask, and called on Americans to wear one. He also admitted at a briefing that the pandemic " was probably going to get worse unfortunately before it gets better ". And he just cancel the republican Convention which was to take place in late August in Florida.
Read also Covid-19 : the volte-face of Donald Trump
in the Face of an epidemic of increasingly uncontrolled, governors, even the most trumpistes, therefore, are forced to respond. In Alabama, Arkansas and Indiana, States staunchly conservative, the governors will come to order the wearing of a mask mandatory. In Texas, Greg Abbott, which had prevented municipalities from imposing it, has brought back at the beginning of July. He also closed the bars and limited the occupancy of restaurants to 50 %. But he refuses to announce more restrictive measures, even when the case explode in his State. In the south of Texas, in the Rio Grande valley, judges in counties severely affected by the Covid have decreed the containment, restricting travel and gatherings. But without effect. They can't enforce these rules, because the governor refuses to grant them this power. Restore one containment "would force the Texans to poverty," he said. According to him, local authorities should start enforcing, seriously the mask-wearing and social distancing, before imposing measures that are more draconian. For the single day of 23 July, there were in Texas, more than 9,500 new cases and 173 deaths.
