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LEMON TREE

April 24, 2020

Some Countries, US States Ease Anti-CoronavirusMeasures

Exercise 1- Vocabulary

relaxing –n. toloosen rules or requirements

nonessential –adj. notcompletely necessary

brake –n. adevice that slows or stops a vehicle

Excercise2 - Article

Some Countries, US States Ease Anti-CoronavirusMeasures

With millions of people out of work, severalnations are planning to ease anti-coronavirus restrictions on businesses andother activities.

The push to reopen has brought warnings fromhealth officials. They say relaxing the stay-at-home restrictions tooquickly could bring the virus back.

Returningto work

Nonessential workers, includinghairdressers, dentists and construction laborers, can go to work in Denmark,Austria, Spain and Germany. Australia said doctors can resume non-emergencyoperations next week.

Spain will begin permitting children out oftheir homes for short periods next Monday. Denmark announced plans to reopenTivoli Gardens, the famous amusement park in Copenhagen in May.

In Austria, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said allshops will reopen at the beginning of May and restaurants in mid-May. He saidthe government will study the situation every two weeks and added he will “pullthe emergency brake if that is necessary.”

Meanwhile, some state governors are planningsimilar easing measures in the United States. Georgia, South Carolina,Tennessee, West Virginia and Colorado, announced plans to slowly reopen in thecoming days. Boeing is among the large industrial manufacturers that will startproduction across the country.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned, “Ifsome of these re-openings are done the wrong way, it’s going to affect all ofus.”

The moves to reopen for business come asunemployment has sharply increased. And the International Monetary Fund haswarned the outbreak could lead to the developed world’s worst economicdepression since the 1930s.

On Tuesday, financial markets in Asia andEurope followed American stocks lower after U.S. oil contracts lost all theirvalue. Far too much oil is now on the market because of a lack of demand asfactories, cars and airplanes are not being used.

Call for more testing

Worldwide, COVID-19 has infected more than 2.5million people and caused more than 170,000 deaths. Those numbers come fromJohns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.

The U.S.has recorded more than 42,000 deaths. That is the most in the world. About800,000 U.S. infections have been reported.

However, the true number of infections aroundthe world is believed to be much higher. That is because of limited testing,difficulties in counting the dead and efforts by some governments to hide theextent of their outbreaks.

Officials at the United Nations have called forefforts to ensure that all people can be tested for the new coronavirus. Theyalso are urging that medical supplies, drugs and future vaccines be madeavailable, especially in developing countries.

African officials have strongly noted the needfor medical supplies across the continent. Experts worry that Africa’s healthcare systems are weak and could become overwhelmed.

A report from the U.N. Economic Commission forAfrica said that Africa will need $44 billion for testing, personal protectiveequipment and treatment. But the report estimates that ten times that muchcould be needed in the worst case.

Will life return to normal?

But in a sign that it will be some time beforelife returns to normal, Spain canceled its Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.The more than 400-year-old event was made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926novel “The Sun Also Rises.”

And the U.S. canceled the popular ScrippsNational Spelling Bee. The competition has been held since 1925. It was onlystopped once before — in 1943-1945, because of World War II.

Questions:

1. Have some private business establisgmentsreopened amid covid pandemic?

2. What considerations did they need to take inmaking such desicion?

3. How did covid-19 affect the countriesworldwide?

4. Why is there a need to test all people in thecountry?