The plan to reopen the country has been formulated.
President Trump met reporters for the daily White House briefing on the coronavirus Thursday afternoon.
“Based on the latest data, our team of experts believes we can begin the next front in our war, which we are calling ‘Opening Up America Again’—and that’s what we’re doing,” he said. “We are opening up our country and we have to do that.”
He continued, “America wants to be open and Americans want to be open. As I have said for some time now, a national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution. To preserve the health of our citizens, we must also preserve the health and functioning of our economy. Over the long haul, you can’t do one without the other; it cannot be done.”
He said he had a conference call earlier in the day with the nation’s governors. He said the governors are going to be responsible for deciding when it is safe to lift restrictions in their states. “You’re going to call your own shots,” he told them. “We’re going to be standing alongside of you.”
Dr. Deborah Birx reviewed the contents of the guidelines, the “gatekeeping” criteria required, and how states will progress through different phases. Dr. Anthony Fauci also reassured everyone that safety is the ultimate goal of reopening the economy. Dr. Robert Redfield of the CDC said that every state will have a CDC representative working with their state medical oversight groups to help them determine if criteria are met.
President Trump said he also had calls earlier in the day with lawmakers he named to a new congressional advisory task force. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, one of those named, said, “My highest priority on this task force will be to ensure the federal government’s efforts to reopen our economy are bipartisan, data-driven, and based on the expertise of public health officials.”
The president said the U.S. is “past the peak” of the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the numbers have “put us in a very strong position to… reopen the country.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For President Trump, members of the virus task force, and members of the industry groups charged with overseeing the American economic revival.
- For state governors who see the potential for early opening of their states or portions of them to begin the phased-in “return to normal” in America.
Sources: Associated Press, Newsmax, CNN
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