New Yorkers told to cover faces as US coronavirus death toll tops 30,000

"If you are going to be in public and you cannot maintain social distancing then have a mask, and put that mask on," Cuomo told a news briefing.

By REUTERS
A woman wears a face mask on the subway as the coronavirus outbreak continued in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., March 13, 2020 (photo credit: REUTERS/ANDREW KELLY)
A woman wears a face mask on the subway as the coronavirus outbreak continued in Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S., March 13, 2020
(photo credit: REUTERS/ANDREW KELLY)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday ordered residents to wear masks in certain settings to combat the coronavirus outbreak, even as states spared the worst mulled a partial lifting of restrictions on business and social life by May 1.
The U.S. death toll - already the world's highest in the world - has surged relentlessly. The number of U.S. deaths exceeded 30,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 615,000 confirmed coronavirus cases. On Tuesday, the number of U.S. deaths rose to a single-day high.
New York, the state considered the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic, reported another large single-day death toll but showed other evidence that the public health crisis was easing.
Even so, Cuomo said an executive order directed his state's 19 million residents to wear masks or substitutes when in any public situation where maintaining social distancing is not possible. Residents will have three days to comply.
"If you are going to be in public and you cannot maintain social distancing then have a mask, and put that mask on," Cuomo told a news briefing.
New York is following the lead of a few places that already have policies regarding face coverings in certain circumstances, including Los Angeles. Health experts have recommended the use of face masks after initially discouraging the public from wearing them out of concern over a short supply for medical professionals treating coronavirus patients.
Cuomo, who earlier this week said New York had passed the worst of the crisis, said 752 died in his state in the past day - down slightly from the previous day but still high - even as hospitalizations declined.
Cuomo also gave an outline of how he would begin to reopen businesses, starting with the most essential and those where the risk of infection spread was smallest.
With evidence that the outbreak is slowing in hard-hit states like New York, political leaders have engaged in an acrimonious debate over when to try to reopen the economy without paving the way for a deadly second wave of infections.
States and local governments have issued "stay-at-home" or "shelter-in-place" orders affecting about 94% of Americans to curb the spread of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus.
The restrictions have battered the U.S. economy, with mandatory business closures aimed at curbing the pathogen's spread leaving millions of Americans unemployed.
Fresh government data released on Wednesday gave another glimpse at the economic damage. Retail sales dropped by 8.7% in March, the government reported, the biggest decline since tracking began in 1992. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
In addition, output at U.S. factories declined by the most since 1946 as the pandemic fractured supply chains.
Economists believe the economy entered recession in March.
"The economy is almost in free fall," said Sung Won Sohn, a business economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
TRUMP'S MAY TARGET DATE
President Donald Trump, who initially downplayed the coronavirus threat and then called for a reopening of the economy by April 12, now has embraced May 1 target date.
"There are a number of states - 19, 20 states - that really have had limited impact from it. So I think we will see some states that are - the governors feel that they're ready - we're poised to assist them with that reopening," Robert Redfield, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told ABC's "Good Morning America."
Healthcare workers have faced unique health threats while working on the front lines trying to tackle the pandemic. Reuters has identified more than 50 nurses, doctors and medical technicians who have died after being diagnosed with COVID-19 or showing symptoms of it. At least 16 were in New York state.
"The emergency room is like a war zone," said Raj Aya, whose wife Madhvi Aya - a physician's assistant in Brooklyn - was one of the healthcare workers who died in New York.
But in one sign of ebbing hospitalizations, staffing agencies that have deployed thousands of healthcare workers in recent weeks to jobs in New York City and other hot spots have said some of them are no longer needed.
Demand for "travel nurses" had jumped during March and early April in New York, New Orleans and other cities.
Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., extended the public health emergency for the U.S. capital through May 15 and required masks for hotel workers and guests, people using taxis or rideshares and food sellers.