Currently, the U.S. has the highest number of coronavirus cases in the world.

As of April 20, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports 720,630 positive cases with 37,202 deaths.

While the numbers are indeed alarming, it appears U.S. citizens are unfazed. In fact, thousands took to the streets demanding an end to the lockdown.

U.S. coronavirus cases at a glance.

Unlike other countries worldwide which had issued nationwide measures to restrict movements, U.S. President Donald Trump, however, has declined to do the same.

Instead, U.S. states are issuing their own measures, angering many. Currently there are two factions: Those who feel the lockdown measures should be stricter and others who feel the measures should be lifted.

Currently, New York is the epicenter of the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, with over 233,570 people testing positive. 16 other states have over 10,000 cases, according to the CDC.

This led several states to prolong the lockdown measures until May.

Why are people demanding an end to lockdowns?

As people around the world comply, albeit begrudgingly to social distancing measures, thousands in the U.S. have hit the streets in large numbers demanding businesses to be reopened.

Due to the lockdown, some 22 million Americans are believed to have lost their jobs because of COVID-19. In just the third week of April alone, some 5.2 million people filed for unemployment.

Economists predict that the unemployment rate could hit 16 percent, higher than that of the Great Depression era.

"Shutting down businesses by picking winners and losers in which there are essential and non-essential are violations of the state and federal constitution," Tyler Miller, a protester said.

To make matters worse, several conspiracy theories are currently swirling, claiming that COVID-19 was made in a lab in China.

This led the country's leading authority on infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, to rubbish these claims.

"A group of highly-qualified evolutionary virologists looked at the sequences in bats as they evolve," Fauci said

"The mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of a species from an animal to a human," he said.

According to Slate, the protests were believed to have been promoted by conspiracy-theory website, Infowars. Trump, on the other hand, has been supportive of the protesters.

So what is Trump doing?

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on as Anthony Fauci speaks. IMAGE: The Guardian / Reuters.

With several states already relaxing the measures, Trump has announced that business will go on as usual.

Under his "Opening Up America Again'' plan, economies are to open in three stages. The jurisdiction will be up to each governor to decide how states proceed with their measures.

Trump targets May 1 for the lockdown to ease, with the country taking steps towards "safe, gradual, and phased opening."

To date, several states have already lifted restrictions. Golf courses, public and private marinas, bait shops, and outdoor shooting ranges have reopened in Minnesota while Florida opened its beaches.

But this immediately backfired as hundreds flocked to those beaches, raising fears of another wave of the global pandemic. Non-essential businesses are also scheduled to be reopened on May 1.

What are the state governors saying?

Several governors have voiced their concerns about opening up businesses despite the pandemic not being kept under control. Among them is New York's Andrew M. Cuomo who said that the state is unable to reopen without proper testing.

The two even traded jibes at each other with Trump accusing Cuomo of not using the 2,500-bed field hospital in the Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

Cuomo ridiculously wanted “40 thousand Ventilators”. We gave him a small fraction of that number, and it was plenty. State should have had them in stockpile! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020

In response, Cuomo said that some 800 patients had actually been sent to the hospital, adding that the facility itself was built based on projections by the federal government.

“They’re your projections, Mr. President. If we were foolish for listening to you, then shame on us," he said.

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Cover image sourced from Slate / Getty.