Coronavirus: early actions pay off in US west coast fight against the outbreak
- California, Oregon and Washington made hard choices early, but seem to have minimised confirmed cases and deaths
- The states said on Monday they are discussing a framework for jointly reopening their economies once the virus is under control
Early and widespread actions on the American west coast, especially in Washington and California, have so far allowed those states to escape the chaos and dizzying death tolls of cities and states in the nation’s east coast and southern region.
Over the weekend, New York’s death toll from coronavirus topped 10,000. Two thousand new patients arrive at New York state hospitals every day, where Governor Andrew Cuomo described a “horrific level of pain and grief and sorrow”.
On Sunday alone, New York counted 671 new deaths – the first time in a week that its daily toll dipped below 700.
As of Monday, California, the country’s most populous state, with nearly 40 million residents, had just 692 fatalities in total, with 23,679 total confirmed coronavirus cases, according to the Los Angeles Times.
And while hospitals across the country scramble to secure enough basic life-saving equipment, California, Oregon and Washington – the three west coast states – are in a position to share, recently shipping 1,000 ventilators to overwhelmed hospitals in New York City and along the eastern seaboard.
The situation in the region improved to the point that on Monday governors of all three states announced a joint framework to reopen their economies together, once the virus is under control.
