President Donald Trump has further backed away from his claim of having 'total' authority on when to reopen the country – and told...
President Donald Trump has further backed away from his claim of having 'total' authority on when to reopen the country – and told Americans Thursday he would 'allow' governors to reopen at their discretion.
But his administration's three-phase guidelines provided only a general idea of how and when states would be able to graduate to a point where their citizens could congregate, work, get educated, and dine in public.
'To preserve the health of our citizens we must also preserve the health and functioning of our economy,' Trump said at the White House.
Even as deaths and infections in the nation continued to rise, the president declared the nation in the 'process' of winning the war against the coronavirus, and announced the new phased return toward normalcy.
He said states would make decisions on when to reopen – a turnaround from what he said on Monday, when his bold pronouncements brought a rebuke from New York Gov. Andrew Como, who said the president is not a king.
President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Thursday, April 16, 2020. Trump said the country was 'in the process of winning' the war against the coronavirus
'If they need to remain closed we will allow them to do that,' said Trump, suggesting that he still believes he has the authority to bless such a decision.
'If the virus returns in the fall as some scientists think it may possibly, these guidelines will make sure that our country is up and running so that we can likewise put it out quickly,' said Trump.
Trump centered many of his remarks around the grand battle against the 'invisible' enemy, which he likes to cast in military terms.
'We have an invisible, as opposed to a visible, enemy,' he said.
What he steered clear of were precise metrics about when states should reopen, and what yardsticks citizens can look to to see when they might be able to leave their homes and return to work and school.
Trump teased the possibility of some states reopening within days, but didn't specify which ones. He has said repeatedly that large western states without dense populations should not be subjected to nationwide lock-downs.
The new guidelines say a state can move toward Phase One when it experiences a 'sustained decrease' in infections over a period of 14 days, the period of time during which an infected person is most likely to further spread the disease. But a state could still be experiencing serious public health problems even while on a downward slope.
Trump again pointed to the economy, and the dangers a closed former powerhouse poses to the nation.
'We took the greatest economy in the history of the world and we closed it in order to win this war, and we’re in the process of winning it now,' the president declared.
'We are starting the rejuvenation of our economy again,' he said, a day after recent new unemployment claims hit 20 million.
The White House chose a name for the three-phase program that echoes Trump's Make America Great Again campaign slogan, even as he appeals for bipartisan cooperation.
'Which we are calling [it] "Opening up America Again." And that’s what we are doing. We are opening up our country,' Trump said.
PHASE ONE: Keep hunkering down , but go back to work in phases
PHASE TWO: No break room, but non-essential travel is back. 'Moderate' distancing at the movie theater
PHASE THREE: Grandma visits are allowed. 'Limited distancing' at restaurants and movie theaters
The president indicated that some states with low infection rates could move to Phase One and early stages of opening in a matter of days – promising 'surprises' that would even come before May 1.
We’re going to have a number of states opening relatively soon,' he said. 'You’re going to have some nice surprises over the next few days.' But he noted that some other sidelined states are 'big stuff' and 'very important states.'
'The last thing we want is for say a New York to come back too soon or a New Jersey to come back too soon' and lead to a spike of new infections, he said.
He isn't promising there won't be a resurgence – with health officials warning not to end social distancing too soon, and governors and business leaders warning the nation needs sufficient testing to identify the spread of the disease before reopening.
'As we see a hot spot developing, maybe not, maybe not, we’ll be able to suppress it, whack it,' Trump said.
With all the detail about the three phases, there was very little by way of hard details about when a hard-hit state should move forward.
Asked specifically how many millions or tens of millions of tests a state like New York might need, coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx responded: 'You've heard me talk about tests for a while from the podium, and I think what has happened over the last several weeks is hospitals and clinics that could move to the more point of care tests move to those point of care tests and what's left is an amazing array of capacity that exists in the country for at least a million more tests per week. We have a whole team working lab by lab to see what it would take to turn on all of those labs that aren't running the pieces of equipment now.'
She didn't say how many tests might need to be conducted.
'Just so you understand, we have tremendous testing capacity,' Trump said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci called the three-phase guidelines 'a rather robust program for reentering into normality.' He said the 'dominating drive of this was to make sure that this was done in the safest way possible.'
Trump, however, asserted that the country would return to the way of life before the coronavirus started ravaging the population – even packing arenas like the University of Alabama, which can accomodate 100,000 people.
'We want 110,000 people there. We want every seat occupied,' Trump said.
Trump spoke after telling governors on a conference call the decision on reopening rests with them.
Emergency Medical Technicians wearing personal protective equipment move a patient from a nursing home in Brooklyn, New York, yesterday
The three-phase spells out different iterations of when people can return to work school and a semblance of normal life – absent dates or clarity about how and when it would occur.
Notably missing from the plan are metrics about what level of testing must be reached, or what will constitute a sufficiently leveled 'curve' of deaths or infections to trigger moving up the scale.
The guidelines recommend states be on a 'downward trajectory' to move forward through the phases, Bloomberg News reported.
It will be up to the governors to decide when to reopen, the president acknowledged, days after saying he had 'absolute power' on the subject and getting pushback.
'You are going to call your own shots,' Trump said, a source told CNN.
The first phase would have schools remain closed, with strict guidelines for restaurants and other places where people usually gather.
During Phase One, vulnerable people should still ‘shelter in place, while people should still practice social distancing in public and avoid groups of 10 or more. Businesses should close common areas and avoid non-essential travel. Schools remain closed, and movie theaters and churches are under strict physical distancing. Bars are closed.
By Phase Two, individuals are still to maximize social distancing, and should avoid groups of more than 50. As the situation improves, workers who are not symptomatic could return to their jobs.
Non-essential work travel can resume. Schools and daycare can reopen. Sit-down dining can operate under ‘moderate’ distancing guidelines, and gyms can open. Bars should have ‘diminished standing-room capacity.’
Only by Phase Three is there ‘unrestricted’ staffing at worksites. People can go to senior care facilities to visit their elderly relatives. Nursing homes which have become hotspots for the virus taking the lives of vulnerable populations. Large venues scan operate under limited physical distancing. Gyms and bars can open with ‘increased standing room.’
The plan conforms with Trump's stated goal to get the U.S. economy moving again, with some states potentially opening before current guidelines run out at the end of the month.
The document puts some of the key burdens in the hands of the states, who it says should have the 'ability to quickly set up safe and efficient screening and testing sites,' as well as have 'quickly and independently supply sufficient Personal Protective Equipment.'
Trump has bristled at the notion that the federal government should first implement widespread nationwide testing before reopening, and has said it should be up to states to get needed equipment, even while the administration rushed in March to secure millions of masks and other protective gear.
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