ATLANTA -- Spain called off the Running of the Bulls in July, the U.S. scrapped the national spelling bee in June and Germany canceled Oktoberfest five months away, making clear Tuesday that the effort to beat back the coronavirus and return to normal could be a long and dispiriting process.
As impatience grows over the shutdowns that have thrown tens of millions out of work, European countries continued to reopen in stages, while in the U.S., one state after another began taking steps to get back to business.
Business owners in the U.S. who got the go-ahead weighed whether to reopen, and some hesitated, in a sign that commerce won't necessarily bounce back right away.
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Mark Lebos, owner of Strong Gym in Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp announced that gyms and salons can reopen this week, said it would be professional negligence to do so right now.
"We are not going to be a vector of death and suffering," Lebos said in Savannah.
With deaths and infections still rising around the world, the push to reopen has set off warnings from health authorities that the crisis that has killed well over 177,000 people globally -- including more than 44,000 in the U.S. -- is far from over and that relaxing the stay-at-home orders too quickly could enable the virus to come surging back.
In Europe, meanwhile, Denmark, Austria, Spain and Germany began allowing some people back to work, including hairdressers, dentists and construction workers, and some stores were cleared to reopen or will soon get the OK.
But in an indication that it will be a long time before life returns to normal, Spain canceled its Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, the more than 400-year-old event made world-famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. It was also called off during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee in the U.S. was canceled. The competition has been held since 1925 and was last scrubbed in 1945, during World War II.
Germany called off the centuries-old Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, which draws about 6 million visitors each year. It was previously canceled during the two world wars; during a period of hyperinflation in Germany in 1923; and twice because of cholera outbreaks in the 1800s.
"We agreed that the risk is simply too high," Bavarian Gov. Markus Soeder said.
In Italy, Premier Giuseppe Conte confirmed that businesses can start reopening on May 4 but dashed any hopes of a full end to the country's strict lockdown any time soon, saying: "A decision of that kind would be irresponsible."
In the U.S., some states, including Tennessee, West Virginia and Colorado, announced plans this week to begin reopening in stages in the coming days. Sunbathers quickly flocked to the sand after some South Carolina beaches reopened with the governor's backing.
Some sheriffs in Washington state, Michigan and Wisconsin said they won't enforce stay-at-home orders. Protesters demanding the lifting of restrictions marched in Alabama, North Carolina and Missouri. And Wisconsin Republicans asked the state's high court to block an extension of the stay-at-home order there.
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During an online ceremony Tuesday to donate masks, ventilators and other medical supplies to hard-hit New York City, Chinese Consul-General Huang Ping indirectly appealed to President Donald Trump to tone down his recent rhetoric against the Asian country where the virus first emerged.
"This is not the time for finger-pointing," Huang said. "This is the time for solidarity, collaboration, cooperation and mutual support."
Trump, meanwhile, said he had a "very productive" meeting with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo at the White House on Tuesday during which they discussed how they could work to expand screening "with the goal of doubling testing" in New York in the next few weeks.
Numerous governors and local leaders have said that before they can relax social-distancing restrictions, they need help from Washington in expanding testing to help keep the virus in check.
A Section on 04/22/2020