US re-opens even as Covid toll in three months surpasses loss during Vietnam War

WASHINGTON: The United States on Wednesday passed the grim milestone of losing more people to coronavirus in three months than soldiers it lost in nearly two decades of the Vietnam War, with the death toll from the pandemic crossing 59,000 on Wednesday. Despite this, large parts of the country are re-opening for business, and those who are resisting this from fear of a resurgence of virus are under pressure from others who warn that remaining shut will decimate the economy, which shrank by 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of the year just as the pandemic was starting to take hold.

Acknowledging that the second quarter could be far worse, U.S President Donald Trump is going ahead with the risky move to allow the country to re-open for business in the face of warning from experts that a second wave of coronavirus is inevitable. Among them is the national infectious diseases pundit Dr Anthony Fauci, who has suddenly become a much-reviled figure in the Trump base that is yearning for a return to “normalcy” amid massive job losses and economic stress.

Once the lead figure in the coronavirus task force whose word was heard as gospel, Fauci has all but disappeared from the Trump White House briefi