US celebrates a Memorial Day holiday unlike any other

It was a Memorial Day weekend in America like no other. The nation celebrated the unofficial beginning of summer at beaches and parks with face coverings and social distancing of at least six feet – though not everywhere – as the number of US deaths from the coronavirus approached 100,000.

Traditional parades and flag ceremonies honoring fallen military heroes on Monday were canceled or changed, with participants inside vehicles and people asked to stay at home and watch online.

At Tybee Island in coastal southern Georgia, beachgoers stretched out on towels, sat under umbrellas and splashed in the Atlantic Ocean. They largely respected rules requiring groups stay six feet apart and have no more than 10 people, but few wore masks, according to a CNN crew.

"If it's my turn to go, I'm going. If not, I'm enjoying life," a mask-less James Dixon told the CNN crew.

In California, beaches are open for "active use", which doesn't include lounging on beach towels. Beaches were closed in New York City.

In Daytona Beach, Florida, beachgoers were asked to stay at least 10 feet apart. Masks were advised, but Mayor Derrick Henry said that it wasn't "realistic or practical to ask people to go to the beach and wear a mask".

President Donald Trump played golf on Saturday at his private club in Sterling, Virginia. He was seen leaving the White House and playing golf without a mask.

Republican Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota issued an emotional plea for residents of his state to avoid "ideological or political" divides on the choice to wear face coverings.

"If someone is wearing a mask, they're not doing it to represent what political party they're in or what candidates they support," Burgum said during a press conference on Friday.

His voice broke with emotion as he went on to say that people might wear a face mask "because they've got a 5-year-old child who's been going through cancer treatments. They might have vulnerable adults in their life who currently have COVID, and they're fighting".

More than 1.6 million people in the United States have tested positive for coronavirus, which has killed more than 96,000 nationwide, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The continuing restrictions of some stay-at-home orders also prompted Trump on Friday to declare houses of worship essential, and he threatened to override governors who have ordered churches, synagogues and mosques not to reopen. But the president doesn't have the authority to force governors to follow his demand and several governors rejected it.

Governor Gina Raimondo said, "No, that's not happening in Rhode Island We're not ready," adding "that would be reckless".

Trump ordered flags to be lowered Friday through Sunday "in memory of the Americans we have lost to the CoronaVirus". Flags will be at half-staff Monday, Memorial Day, "in honor of the men and women in our Military who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice for our Nation", Trump tweeted.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday that New York has seen the lowest number of daily coronavirus deaths since the state became the epicenter of the virus. The state had 84 deaths Friday, the first time since March the figure was below 100.

With new hospitalizations also declining, the governor said the state expects to reopen areas of the state. New York City isn't expected to ease most of its restrictions until the first or second week of June, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

In Ohio, Governor Mike DeWine asked officials in Ironton, an Appalachian town of 11,000 people, to follow social distancing guidelines for their annual Memorial Day parade, which has been held without interruption since 1868.

The parade will go on. But instead of marching, participants will stay inside their vehicles. People have been asked to stay on porches or watch online.

A Memorial Day parade from Vidalia, Louisiana, to the Natchez National Cemetery in Mississippi goes back to 1867. Instead of marching this time, people will motorcade in masks and gloves to let veterans know "that they have not been forgotten," said Laura Ann Jackson, co-chair of the parade.

"It's going be different this year," she said.

At Arlington National Cemetery, on Thursday about 1,000 soldiers placed small American flags in front of more than 240,000 headstones to honor every individual laid to rest there.

For the rest of Memorial Day weekend, Arlington National Cemetery was to be closed to the general public but open to family pass holders to visit their loved ones' gravesites. All visitors were required to have a face covering to enter the cemetery and wear it where people are unable to stand more than six-plus feet from each other.