U.S. President Donald Trump is slated to unveil a slew of new federal guidelines as part of the country's reopening process. He made this announcement from the Rose Garden some members of the White House coronavirus task force discuss options on how to advise Americans to return to their schools and workplaces without jeopardizing their safety.
After first claiming that the decision to reopening states can be made only by the president, Trump has now admitted that the final decision on how and when to reopen certain areas of the economy will be made by individual governors. Nevertheless, he is bent of still providing guidelines and benchmarks to advise states on lifting social distancing measures to some extent in the coming days.
During Wednesday's briefing, the president announced that he will be revealing the guidelines a day later, assuring favorable developments as the nation combats the impact of the coronavirus. Talking about the encouraging developments at the briefing, Trump said they have placed them in a strong position to determine guidelines for states on reopening the country, adding that they will be talking about it tomorrow.
After the briefing, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the White House will talk to governors on a phone call before publicly revealing these guidelines. Acknowledging that some states were doing better in terms of containing the virus than others, Trump asserted that some places are likely to reopen before May 1, CNN Politics reported.
According to the White House coronavirus response coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, nine states recorded less than 1,000 cases. Trump says there could be about 30 states that are in good shape. Officials noted that the new guidelines would coincide with the social distancing measures that the president announced in March.
Although the social distancing guidelines were touted as noncompulsory, they carry the weight of the presidency as well as the federal government. The existing federal guidelines of social distancing are highly unlikely to be extended once they expire on Apr. 30.
Officially said the White House would team up with the states to make sure the reopening efforts do not jeopardize people's safety and are done only when local outbreaks have been contained. While the new plans are yet to be finalized, officials are gearing up to issue guidelines to states on how to check whether or not they are ready to lift social distancing and other measures and create specific thresholds for minimizing cases.