Science

Trump pushes to reopen coronavirus-hit US economy as approval ratings fall


Donald Trump has begun agitating once again for the reopening of the coronavirus-battered US economy, concerned by his deflating approval ratings and exploding unemployment figures, which this week showed one in 10 American workers claiming jobless benefits.

As the number of deaths globally from Covid-19 approached 100,000, the president was reported to be pushing to ease restrictions at the beginning of May, having previously backed down on plans to start the US returning to normal by Easter.

Despite continuing infections across the US, the country worst affected by coronavirus, Trump told reporters at his daily briefing on Thursday that the United States was at the “top of the hill” and that he hoped to open up the economy “very, very, very, very soon”.

Trump’s remarks put him at odds, not for the first time, with the top US infectious disease expert, who warned that although early hotspots for the epidemic, like New York, were showing positive results, it was too early to relax restrictions.

“What we’re seeing right now is favourable signs,” Anthony Fauci said in an interview on CNN on Friday. “We would want to see a clear indication that you were very, very clearly and strongly going in the right direction, because the one thing you don’t want to do is you don’t want to get out there prematurely and then wind up back in the same situation. Now is no time to back off.”

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, also warned Trump against trying to get back to normal prematurely. “I would hope that the scientific community would weigh in and say, ‘You can’t do this, it is only going to make matters worse if you go out too soon,’” Pelosi said in an interview with Politico.

In the latest sign of tensions with the US, Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas criticised the Trump administration’s handling of the outbreak as too slow.

In a preview of an interview for Der Spiegel, Maas took aim at the two extremes of national coronavirus responses, contrasting China’s “very authoritarian measures” with America’s decision to play down the threat “for a very long time”.

“These are two extremes, neither of which can be a model for Europe,” Maas said.

A German official last week accused the US of “wild west” tactics in outbidding for or blocking shipments of vital medical supplies, and Maas said he hoped the US would rethink its international relationships in light of the crisis.

“Let’s see to what extent the actions of the American government will lead to discussions in the US about whether the ‘America first’ model really works,” he said, adding that aggressive trade policies may have hurt the country’s ability to procure protective equipment.

Although Trump enjoyed a small bump in support at the beginning of America’s outbreak, it fell far short of the increase enjoyed by George W Bush after 9/11, and recent polls have seen his ratings fall back to pre-coronavirus levels.

Taiwanese Archbishop John Hung Shan-chuan and priests after celebrating the Chrism Mass behind closed doors at the Holy Family Church in Taipei.
Taiwanese Archbishop John Hung Shan-chuan and priests after celebrating the Chrism Mass behind closed doors at the Holy Family Church in Taipei. Photograph: David Chang/EPA

In Asia, China weighed in on a growing row between the World Health Organization and Taiwan, accusing Taiwan’s government of “unscrupulously using the virus to seek independence”.

The WHO and Taiwan have been trading accusations in recent days, largely stemming from Taiwan’s continued exclusion from WHO membership and activities because of lobbying by China’s Communist party government, which claims Taiwan as Chinese territory.

The WHO has been accused of being too deferential to China and praising its virus response despite the government initially suppressing information about the outbreak. It denies the charge and earlier this week its director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he had been subjected to months of racist attacks which he said were condoned by Taiwan. Taiwan says the accusations are groundless and has demanded an apology.

In Europe, Italian newspapers reported that the government was poised to extend confinement measures due to expire on 13 April to 3 May.

Spain’s lockdown, which came into force on 14 March, will also remain in place, its health minister said on Friday. But some non-essential workers will begin returning to their jobs on Monday at the end of a two-week freeze on all non-vital economic activity, despite warnings that the relaxation of the strict confinement policy could drive a rise in contagion.

In other developments:

  • The first confirmed case was announced in war-torn Yemen, stoking fears of an outbreak that could devastate its already crippled health care system.

  • Spain recorded a daily death toll of 605, the lowest figure since 24 March. Spaniards have been off the streets since mid-March, but a slowdown of the disease’s spread and its death toll has enabled officials to start discussing a gradual easing.

Fifty crew were confirmed to have the virus on France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier.
Fifty crew were confirmed to have the virus on France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. Photograph: French Navy/EPA

  • Fifty crew aboard France’s only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, tested positive and parts of the ship have been put in lockdown. An armed forces’ ministry statement said that three sailors had been evacuated by air to a military hospital in Toulon on the south coast, the home port of the carrier. The aircraft carrier, which is equipped with its own intensive care facilities, has 1,760 personnel on board.

  • A Yanomami teenager became the first indigenous person to die from the virus in Brazil. Meanwhile the country’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, one of only a handful of global leaders still denying the virus threat, was booed and jeered in the capital, Brasília, after he went to a bakery for a doughnut.



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