President Donald Trump on Thursday announced federal guidelines for reopening the United States in a “science-based” phased manner but left it wholly to governors to determine the timeline and extent of the easing of restrictions in their states hacking out of a spiraling showdown.
“We’re starting our life again. We’re starting rejuvenation of our economy again in a safe and structured and very responsible fashion,” Trump told reporters at the daily briefing of the White House task force on coronavirus.
The reopening announcement came amidst growing optimism among public health officials and experts that the United States is past the peak in reported new cases and is seeing flattening of the curve on other important indices such as hospitalization even as cases and fatalities continued to grown: the number of confirmed cases went up to 667,801 and deaths to 32,917.
Trump’s announcement of the new guidelines were more recommendations than rules to be followed. Unlike the lockdown in India that was ordered by the Central government and enforced by states without any discretion in the extent of the rollout and timeline, US restrictions were guidelines that were recommended by the federal government and were enforced by states partially or in full depending on their determination of the severity of the outbreak.
States will announce their own reopening plans as New York did later Thursday. But there were no indications of timelines or specifics states that will follow the guidelines.
Trump said there are 29 states (of the total of 50) that can start soon and some of whom can get on to it right away. The White House task force has spoken of nine states that have reported less than 1,000 coronavirus cases each, with less than 30 new cases a day. But no specifics were forthcoming once again.
The guidelines are split into three phases that are recommended to kick off only after a downward slide in cases and are contingent on protecting the most vulnerable populations, the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions.
