WASHINGTON, July 4, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The United States is marking
its Independence Day in a somber mood, as a record surge in
coronavirus cases, widespread anti-racism protests and an angry speech
from President Donald Trump have cast a shadow over what normally are
festive celebrations.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted the closing of popular beaches —
normally packed on the July 4 weekend — on both coasts, as California
and Florida suffer alarming surges in virus cases. Los Angeles Mayor
Eric Garcetti issued a stark warning: “You should assume everyone
around you is infectious.”
Across the country, Main Street parades have been canceled,
boisterous backyard barbecues scaled down, and family reunions put off
amid worries about air travel and concerns about spreading the virus.
Some events will be held virtually, as states and cities grapple
with a new surge in the coronavirus, using a mix of admonitions and
prohibitions.
Miami Beach, for one, has imposed a weekend curfew and made it
mandatory to wear a mask in public.
The US virus death toll is fast approaching 130,000, roughly
one-quarter the world’s total, even as many European countries are
edging back toward normality.
That has given this July 4th weekend a particularly dark cast, as
the pent-up desire to celebrate enters into sharp tension with
science-based calls for caution.
– Fireworks canceled –
Fireworks displays are typically a high point of the holiday, with
crowds of thousands gathering to ooh and aah, but an estimated 80
percent of the events have been canceled this year. Some locales are
urging people to watch fireworks from their cars.
The US trade war with China had, in any case, made it harder than
usual to procure pyrotechnics.
Yet while cities and states can enforce virus bans in public, some
Americans in their backyards are carrying on as if the deadly pandemic
were a thing of the past.
Continuing a year of confusingly mixed signals, local officials in
Washington have discouraged residents from massing on the National
Mall for the capital’s traditional fireworks display. But Trump, fresh
from his appearance Friday before the monumental sculpture of four
presidents on Mount Rushmore, plans to be on the Mall for a “Salute to
America” complete with military music and flyovers.
– ‘Violent mayhem’ –
While presidents’ July 4 speeches traditionally are uplifting
affairs that emphasize patriotism and national unity, Trump’s speech
in South Dakota angrily lashed out at the protests that have erupted
since the death at police hands of George Floyd.
Facing a tough re-election battle in November and eager to mobilize
his political base, Trump denounced “violent mayhem” on US streets,
though most demonstrations have been peaceful, and accused protesters
of waging “a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our
heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.”
Trump’s presumptive opponent in the fall, Democrat Joe Biden, has
struck a sharply different tone on the country’s raw racial tensions,
tweeting on Saturday: “Our nation was founded on a simple idea: We’re
all created equal. We’ve never lived up to it – but we’ve never
stopped trying. This Independence Day, let’s not just celebrate those
words, let’s commit to finally fulfill them.”
Protests have become a regular feature in many US cities since
Floyd’s death in May in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and more than a score
of demonstrations were planned for Saturday in Washington.
The largest are expected to include a George Floyd memorial March
beginning at the Lincoln Memorial; a Black Out March at the US
Capitol; and a Black Lives Matter protest at the National Museum of
African American History and Culture.
All the protests — in theory — should be over before the night’s
celebration on the Mall.
Public health officials have been bracing for a new spike in virus
cases after this weekend’s celebrations and protests.
Some link the latest flareup to the delayed result of widespread
celebrations during the Memorial Day holiday in late May, and to the
reopening of some states’ economies starting around that time.
And they see this Independence Day weekend as a potential tipping
point — in the worst case, a replay of the post-Memorial Day
resurgence.