As millions of Americans are under stay at home orders, President Donald Trump’s administration is developing new guidelines for social distancing.
In a letter addressed to “America’s Governors,” Trump thanked them for “stepping up to help America confront this unprecedented global pandemic.”
“Together, we are proving that no challenge can match the indomitable strength, ingenuity, and determination of the American people,” he added.
While Trump noted that there is “still a long battle ahead,” he said, “Americans across the country are hoping the day will soon arrive when they can resume their normal economic, social, and religious lives.”
In a letter to the nation’s governors, Pres Trump says the administration will publish new guidelines categorizing counties as high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk to help state & local officials decide whether to maintain, increase, or relax social distancing & other measures pic.twitter.com/ebr1qePlPV
— Sara Cook (@saraecook) March 26, 2020
Additionally, Trump said that his administration is developing new guidelines for state and local governments “to use in making decisions about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place.”
Trump said that the expansion in testing, including “robust surveillance testing,” to track the virus and “suggest guidelines categorizing counties as high-risk, medium-risk, or low-risk.”
“This new information will drive the next phase in our war against the invisible enemy,” he added.
Trump’s letter comes as he has said that he would like to see restrictions, imposed to slow the spread of the virus, lifted by Easter.
However, Dr. Anthony Facui, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that some portions of the country made be able to see those restrictions lifted — while others may not.
“But the country is a big country. And there are areas of the country … that we really need to know more about what the penetrance is there,” Fauci said on Tuesday.
He added, “if we do the kind of testing … and you find after a period of time that there are areas that are very different from other areas of the country, you may not want to essentially treat it as a just one force for the entire country.”
