Thursday, April 16, 2020

Donald Trump unveils plans to reopen US amid claims coronavirus outbreak has peaked

Photo of Donald Trump
President Trump pictured ahead of Thursday’s coronavirus briefing (Picture: AP)

Donald Trump is unveiling plans to reopen the US economy amid claims the coronavirus outbreak has peaked. Addressing reporters in the White House Wednesday, President Trump revealed his three-phase plan, which he is calling Opening Up American Again.

Despite previous assertions that he had authority to reopen the whole country whenever he chose to do so, Trump today conceded that each state would be allowed to move through the reopening phases whenever its governor deemed it was safe to do so.

Trump said: ‘We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time. Some states will be able to open up sooner than others. Some states are not in the kind of trouble that others are in.

‘Healthy Americans will now be able to return to work as individual conditions allow. Vulnerable individuals will be protected. (A certain level of testing and hospital capacity must be met before advancing to each phase. This is a gradual process. As the caseload in a state continues to go down restrictions can be eased and called off.

‘If the virus returns in the fall, as some scientists think it may, these guidelines will ensure our country is up and running so we can put it out quickly.’

Vice President Mike Pence and Coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx later outlined the targets state would have to meet before they could begin reopening, including a downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses for 14 days, as well as a downward trajectory of positive Covid-19 test results for the same length of time.

States must also continue widespread testing to try and isolate sufferers and stop further outbreaks, with hospitals required to have an adequate number of emergency beds before restrictions can be relaxed. Almost 670,000 people in the US have so-far tested positive for coronavirus, with over 34,100 dying with Covid-19.

World coronavirus capital New York has already announced plans to continue its lockdown until at least May 15.



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