ATLANTA — Spain called off the Running of the Bulls in July, the U.S. scrapped the national spelling bee in June and Germany canceled Oktoberfest five months away, making it clear Tuesday that the effort to beat back the coronavirus and return to normal could be a long and dispiriting process.

Meanwhile, top diplomats from China, where the virus first began to spread, officially handed over a donation of medical supplies to hard-hit New York City on Tuesday, while also indirectly sending a message to President Donald Trump to stop criticizing the Asian nation over its handling of the pandemic.

Amid growing impatience over the shutdowns that have thrown tens of millions out of work, European countries continued to reopen in stages, while in the U.S., one state after another — mostly ones led by Republican governors — began taking steps to get back to business.

Business owners in the U.S. who got the go-ahead weighed whether to reopen, and some hesitated, in a sign that commerce won’t necessarily bounce back right away.

Mark Lebos, owner of Strong Gym in Savannah, Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp announced that gyms and salons can reopen this week, said it would be professional negligence to do so right now.

“We are not going to be a vector of death and suffering,” he said.

Ronique Holloway, who owns a hair salon in Smyrna, Georgia, said she will wait until late next week, and even then thinks that’s too early. She is nervous about contracting the virus from customers, though she plans to wear a mask and gloves and is looking for sanitary wipes and Lysol.

“I would have waited at least until the end of May, but I’m going back because I don’t have a choice,” she said. “I have to feed my daughter.”

With deaths and infections still rising around the world, the push to reopen has set off warnings from health authorities that the crisis that has killed well over 170,000 people globally — including more than 42,000 in the U.S. — is far from over and that relaxing the stay-at-home orders too quickly could enable the virus to come surging back.

The economic damage mounted as oil prices suffered an epic collapse and stocks registered their worst loss in weeks on Wall Street.

With demand for petroleum plummeting because of the economic shutdown and producers running out of room to store crude, the price of a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June plunged 43% to just under $12. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 630 points, or 2.7%.

The crisis hit home at Trump ‘s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, which laid off 153 workers, including bartenders, cooks, dishwashers and housekeepers.

In Europe, meanwhile, Denmark, Austria, Spain and Germany began allowing some people back to work, including hairdressers, dentists and construction workers, and some stores were cleared to reopen or will soon get the OK.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the government will be watching carefully and will “pull the emergency brake” if necessary.