US into Chaos: Protests against Lockdown as Covid-19 Death Toll Reaches 65000

By Staff, Agencies 

US President Donald Trump said he expects up to 100,000 Americans will die of Covid-19. “Hopefully we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number nevertheless.” 

Trump had previously said he expected 60,000 - 70,000 fatalities in the US.

This comes as the United States currently tops the list of nations most affected by the virus, with at least 1,100,000 infected and around 65,000 fatalities.

Meanwhile, schools across New York State will remain shuttered through the end of the academic year to help mitigate the spread of coronavirus, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday.

Kindergarten through high school, as well as college facilities will continue to provide distance learning, while plans for summer school programs will be announced at the end of May, the governor said in his daily coronavirus briefing.

"We don’t think it’s possible" to reopen schools "in a way that would keep our children and students and educators safe," Cuomo said.

This comes as protests against stay-at-home orders to combat the coronavirus pandemic have been held across the United States amid growing anger over the policy’s economic impact that has left millions of Americans unemployed.

Rallies were held on Friday in at least 10 states, including New York, which has led the country in COVID-19 deaths.

At New York’s state Capitol in Albany, protesters chanted slogans and waved flags. Counter-protesters staged their own rallies in support of keeping non-essential businesses closed.

Some workers at Amazon, Target, and other companies staged protests and sick-outs in New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon and other states to demand a safer work environment and better pay during the outbreak.

California has also seen protests over Governor Gavin Newsom’s sweeping stay-at-home orders.

There were about a dozen organized rallies in California’s largest cities including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, promised “meaningful” adjustments to stay-at-home orders in the coming days as thousands of protesters gathered across the state in defiance of the lockdown.

On Thursday, hundreds of protesters, some armed with rifles, gathered at Michigan’s state Capitol in Lansing objecting to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s request to extend the state’s stay-at-home order.

More than 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the US economy slid further into a crisis that is becoming the most devastating since the 1930s.