Why are coronavirus cases increasing?

By Ralph Dickerson
When governors in the United States began to shut down the economy as a means to combat COVID-19, President Trump urged governors to reopen their states’ economies as quickly as possible. Florida started to reopen its economy the first of May, and other states quickly followed suit. Two months after states started to reopen their economies, the number of virus cases continue to rise dramatically. Critics of President Trump quickly blame him for the increase, saying his push to reopen the economy is the cause. Do the facts support the accusation that the sole cause of the recent spike in coronavirus cases rests with reopening the economy?
To answer this question, we first need to know about the coronavirus. According to the site WebMD, a person exposed to the coronavirus typically shows symptoms in five to 14 days, with a very small percentage showing symptoms more than 14 days after exposure, and some as soon as two days after exposure. So, basically two weeks after exposure the number of cases should start to rise.
Florida started to reopen its economy on April 30, so if reopening the economy is to blame for the spike in coronavirus cases, by mid-May the number of cases should start to show a dramatic increase. For the entire month of May, Florida averaged 744 new coronavirus cases per day. To see the impact of reopening the economy on Coronavirus cases we need to divide the month in half and compare the first two weeks of the month against the last two weeks.
The first two weeks of May, Florida averaged 664 new coronavirus cases per day. It did increase slightly the last two weeks of the month to 749 new cases per day, but did not increase dramatically, which hints that reopening the economy had a negligible impact on the number of new cases.
The big surge in coronavirus cases in Florida started after June 15. What happened during this time frame to cause cases to spike so much? Over Memorial Day weekend people flocked to the beach, and protest over George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police roiled the nation.
Over Memorial Day weekend, thousands of young people flocked to Florida’s beaches, and they did not wear masks or practice social distancing. For some reason, young people believe they are immune to the coronavirus, and therefore do not need to observe the safety precautions associated with the virus; they do not think they need to wear masks or observe social distancing. As a result, the average age of people contracting the virus now is below age 40.
By early June, the number of coronavirus cases began to increase in Florida, and kept increasing. While definitely a major factor, people flocking to the beach over Memorial Day are not the only reasons for the increase.
The protests over George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police also factor into the rise in cases. When the protest broke out many people took to the streets to rightly voice their frustration over the treatment of Floyd, and the callous disregard for his life shown by Minneapolis law enforcement. Unfortunately, many of these protestors did not wear masks, nor was social distancing practiced, and the result shows in the number of coronavirus cases.
The protests roiled the nation for approximately one month, with some protests ongoing. Thousands of people gathered daily in close proximity, which is the perfect breeding ground for coronavirus’ spread.
Examining the first two weeks of June compared to the last two weeks dramatically shows the impact. In the first two weeks of June the number of virus cases averaged 1,547 per day, which is a significant increase over May. Remember though, people can show symptoms of coronavirus in as little as two days. While the number of cases did increase significantly, showing the impact of people going to the beach, the highest number of cases in the first half of June occurred on June 13 when Florida reported 2,581 cases of the virus.
The last two weeks of June show a dramatic increase in coronavirus cases, which is to be expected when thousands of people gather together in close quarters to protest. From June 16 on, Florida averaged 4,999 cases of virus per day, with 18,000 cases reported over June 27 and 28. The number of new cases in Florida continues to remain high, with over 10,000 cases reported on Monday, July 20.
So, did reopening the economy lead to the current surge in coronavirus cases? No, it did not. When the coronavirus hit Japan, the country did not implement lockdowns, nor did it shut down the economy. Yet, though a country with heavy population density, there are only about 10,000 cases of the virus. The Japanese people wore masks during the pandemic, practiced social distancing and limited physical contact. These steps flattened the virus curve. Japan’s economy remained open, but it suffered few cases.
Two weeks after Florida opened its economy, cases stayed basically the same. If reopening the economy caused the surge, the effects should have shown in mid-May.
More importantly, states reopening their economies did not cause coronavirus cases to rise in other countries. Right now, coronavirus cases continue to increase in Germany, India, Brazil, Mexico and other countries. Protests over Floyd’s death occurred world wide, and we are seeing an increase in cases worldwide.
What caused coronavirus cases to increase were people not practicing the proper safeguards to keep from spreading coronavirus. Whether going to the beach in Florida, Mexico or Brazil, or joining in rightful protests against police brutality, too many people refused to wear masks and respect social distancing. As a result, the coronavirus spread dramatically.