Puerto Rico to reopen beaches, gyms after 3-month lockdown

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Puerto Rico to reopen beaches, gyms after 3-month lockdown

2020-06-12 07:03 Last Updated At：07:10

Puerto Rico’s governor announced Thursday that she will lift nearly all restrictions aimed at curbing coronavirus cases, which means beaches, churches and businesses including movie theaters and gyms across the U.S. territory will reopen after three months.

Gov. Wanda Vázquez said the changes will occur starting June 16, when businesses also will be allowed to operate seven days a week. However, she tweaked an ongoing curfew that will remain in place for two weeks from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

She also said Puerto Rico will be officially ready to welcome tourists starting July 15 and that airport screenings will continue.

“These have been hard decisions,” she said. “Now it’s up to each one of us...to decide where to go and how to go about it.”

The island of 3.2 million people has reported more than 1,400 confirmed cases and nearly 4,000 probable cases, with at least 144 deaths. But critics say the island has done too little testing, and most of it using the wrong sort of tests.

Masks will still be required while outside the home and inside any business.

The changes were cheered by many in the business community, noting that the two-month lockdown lifted by phases in recent weeks has had an overall estimated $5 billion to $10 billion impact on the island’s economy.

Vázquez’s announcement comes a day after the island’s health officials said Puerto Rico saw its peak of COVID-19 cases and related deaths two months ago, a claim that independent experts have questioned, noting that it’s based on the limited number of tests available at the time.

Health Department Secretary Lorenzo González said he was confident in the agency’s statistics but warned people to maintain social distancing as the island reopens.

“It definitely comes with risk,” he said.

Vázquez warned that the restrictions would return if the number of cases, deaths or hospitalizations spike. In addition, public transportation including buses and trains will not operate yet.

“I want people to understand we’re still in a pandemic,” she said.

What to expect from CES 2026, the annual show of all things tech?

LAS VEGAS (AP) — With the start of the New Year squarely behind us, it's once again time for the annual CES trade show to shine a spotlight on the latest tech companies plan on offering in 2026.

The multi-day event, organized by the Consumer Technology Association, kicks off this week in Las Vegas, where advances across industries like robotics, healthcare, vehicles, wearables, gaming and more are set to be on display.

Artificial intelligence will be anchored in nearly everything, again, as the tech industry explores offerings consumers will want to buy. AI industry heavyweight Jensen Huang will be taking the stage to showcase Nvidia's latest productivity solutions, and AMD CEO Lisa Su will keynote to “share her vision for delivering future AI solutions.” Expect AI to come up in other keynotes, like from Lenovo's CEO, Yuanqing Yang.

The AI industry is out in full force tackling issues in healthcare, with a particular emphasis on changing individual health habits to treat conditions — such as Beyond Medicine's prescription app focused on a particular jaw disorder — or addressing data shortages in subjects such as breast milk production.

Expect more unveils around domestic robots too. Korean tech giant LG already has announced it will show off a helper bot named “ CLOiD,” which allegedly will handle a range of household tasks. Hyundai also is announcing a major push on robotics and manufacturing advancements. Extended reality, basically a virtual training ground for robots and other physical AI, is also in the buzz around CES.

In 2025, more than 141,000 attendees from over 150 countries, regions, and territories attended the CES. Organizers expect around the same numbers for this year’s show, with more than 3,500 exhibitors across the floor space this week.

The AP spoke with CTA Executive Chair and CEO Gary Shapiro about what to expect for CES 2026. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Well, we have a lot at this year's show.

Obviously, using AI in a way that makes sense for people. We’re seeing a lot in robotics. More robots and humanoid-looking robots than we’ve ever had before.

We also see longevity in health, there’s a lot of focus on that. All sorts of wearable devices for almost every part of the body. Technology is answering healthcare’s gaps very quickly and that’s great for everyone.

Mobility is big with not only self-driving vehicles but also with boats and drones and all sorts of other ways of getting around. That’s very important.

And of course, content creation is always very big.

You are seeing humanoid robots right now. It sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t.

But yes, there are more and more humanoid robots. And when we talk about CES 5, 10, 15, 20 years now, we’re going to see an even larger range of humanoid robots.

Obviously, last year we saw a great interest in them. The number one product of the show was a little robotic dog that seems so life-like and fun, and affectionate for people that need that type of affection.

But of course, the humanoid robots are just one aspect of that industry. There’s a lot of specialization in robot creation, depending on what you want the robot to do. And robots can do many things that humans can’t.

AI is the future of creativity.

Certainly AI itself may be arguably creative, but the human mind is so unique that you definitely get new ideas that way. So I think the future is more of a hybrid approach, where content creators are working with AI to craft variations on a theme or to better monetize what they have to a broader audience.

We’re seeing all sorts of different devices that are implementing AI. But we have a special focus at this show, for the first time, on the disability community. Verizon set this whole stage up where we have all different ways of taking this technology and having it help people with disabilities and older people.

Well, there’s definitely no bubble when it comes to what AI can do. And what AI can do is perform miracles and solve fundamental human problems in food production and clean air and clean water. Obviously in healthcare, it’s gonna be overwhelming.

But this was like the internet itself. There was a lot of talk about a bubble, and there actually was a bubble. The difference is that in late 1990s there were basically were no revenue models. Companies were raising a lot of money with no plans for revenue.

These AI companies have significant revenues today, and companies are investing in it.

What I’m more concerned about, honestly, is not Wall Street and a bubble. Others can be concerned about that. I’m concerned about getting enough energy to process all that AI. And at this show, for the first time, we have a Korean company showing the first ever small-scale nuclear-powered energy creation device. We expect more and more of these people rushing to fill this gap because we need the energy, we need it clean and we need a kind of all-of-the-above solution.