WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AFP) — Efforts across the United States to reopen the economy after the long novel coronavirus-related lockdown produced a decidedly mixed picture yesterday as thousands flocked to beaches on a holiday weekend, but some churches defied the president's insistence that they reopen.

Some officials tried to lead by example over the three-day Memorial Day weekend: President Donald Trump went golfing for a second-straight day, while in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered his daily novel coronavirus briefing, not from a stuffy office but from popular Jones Beach on the state's Long Island.

Along much of the Atlantic coast, cool and cloudy weather held down beach attendance, a day after huge crowds hit beaches in some warmer areas.

At New York's Coney Island, the beach was closed to swimmers, but people strolled cheerfully along the boardwalk under the watchful eye of patrolling police, some of them handing out masks.

Governor Cuomo, briefing reporters under a canopy at the beach's edge, was again able yesterday to cite a far lower one-day death rate in New York 109, which was up from Friday's 84 but still far below the 1,000-plus days as COVID-19 hammered the state several weeks earlier.