Factory workers have begun returning to assembly lines in Michigan, paving the way to reopen US automobile making but stoking fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections as strict lockdowns are eased across the country.
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With millions of Americans out of work and much of the economy at a virtual standstill, a growing number of states are relaxing tough restrictions on commerce and social life.
Some auto suppliers in Michigan, a Midwest industrial powerhouse hard hit by the pandemic's economic fall-out, reopened plants on Monday with skeleton crews to ready for resumed vehicle production next week.
Skilled-trades workers and salaried employees also began returning to auto plants to prepare for the restart.
Joe Perkins, chief executive of Busche Performance Group, an engineering, casting and machining firm, said in a telephone interview that workers will be issued face masks, checked for fever and required to submit health-screening questionnaires.
"All of that's ready to go," Perkins said. "The big question is are people going to be buying cars and trucks."
The manufacturing reopening approved last week by Governor Gretchen Whitmer was crucial not only to auto plants in Michigan but to vehicle production elsewhere because so many key parts suppliers are based in and around the automaking hub of Detroit.
Detroit's Big Three automakers - General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV - said last week they planned to restart production at North American plants on May 18.
Ford said it had adopted safety protocols from China, where car production resumed in late February, including personal protective garments on assembly lines, barriers separating employees clustered together and heavily sanitised work areas.
Much is at stake. The auto sector accounts for 6 per cent of US economic output and employs more than 835,000 Americans.
A small but high-profile sector of the US auto industry became a flashpoint in California on Monday as Elon Musk, chief executive of electric carmaker Tesla Inc, defied local health officials and restarted his factory outside San Francisco.
California Governor Gavin Newsom had given the OK for manufacturing to reopen statewide on Friday, but Alameda County's more stringent lockdown orders barring factory operations for another week supersede Newsom's authority.
Musk said on Twitter that production resumed on Monday, adding he would join workers on the assembly line.
"If anyone is arrested, I ask that it only be me," he wrote.
Well over 80,000 people in the US have died in the pandemic out of more than 1.35 million known infections reported since January 20, according to a Reuters tally.
Ohio, another industrial state and key player in the US auto industry, reopened its manufacturing last week and said most retail shops could welcome customers back on Tuesday.
Even New York, epicentre of the US crisis, was set to ease some rules, permitting certain low-risk activities like landscaping, tennis courts and drive-in theatres to reopen this weekend in rural areas.
President Donald Trump, accused by Democrats of playing down and mishandling the outbreak, has pushed to swiftly reopen the economy, seen as key to his re-election bid on November 3.
Public health experts have warned that moving too quickly to reopen, without vastly expanded testing and other precautions firmly in place, risks fuelling a resurgence of the virus. Polling shows a majority of Americans also concerned.
Separately, the White House directed its staff to wear masks at all times in the building, except when at their own desks, a senior administration official said.
Trump's valet and Vice President Mike Pence's spokeswoman both tested positive for the coronavirus last week.
Australian Associated Press
