Donald Trump claims U.S. has ‘passed the peak’ of coronavirus cases and doubles down on claim that governors are ‘chomping at the bit’ to reopen the economy BEFORE May 1
President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has ‘passed the peak’ of coronavirus cases
He said he would be talking to the country’s governors Thursday and speculated that some states could open before May 1
The governors, he said, were ‘chomping at the bit to get going’
Governors and medical experts have cautioned Trump that widespread testing would need to be implemented before Americans felt safe going to work
By NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER
DAILYMAIL.COM
15 April 2020
President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. has ‘passed the peak’ of new coronavirus cases and claimed that the country’s governors are eager to relax social distancing measures and open back up the American economy.
‘You already know we’ll be opening up some states, some states much sooner than others and we think that some states can actually open up before the deadline May 1,’ Trump said in the White House’s Rose Garden.
The governors, who Trump said he’d talk to on Thursday, are ‘chomping at the bit to get going,’ the president claimed.
But just hours before, members of the president’s newly formed business council reiterated what governors and his public health experts have been saying for weeks – that widespread testing would need to be implemented before Americans would feel safe to leave their homes, CNN reported.
Dr. Anthony Fauci – who’s been missing from the last two press briefings – said Tuesday that the May 1 date was ‘a bit overly optimistic.’
‘We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet,’ Fauci said in an interview with The Associated Press.
On Tuesday, Trump also said some states might be able to open before May 1, which is the date the administration’s ’30 Days to Slow the Spread’ guidance ends.
‘The day must be close because certain states as you know are in much different condition. It’s going to be very, very close,’ Trump said. ‘Maybe even before the date of May 1st,’ he mused Tuesday.
The president said the country was like a ‘puzzle.’
‘We have beautiful pieces, beautiful states with capable governors,’ he said. ‘They know when it’s time to open. We don’t want to put pressure on anybody. I’m not going to put any pressure on any governor to open,’ Trump added.
On Wednesday, Dr. Deborah Birx, one of the key medical experts on the coronavirus taskforce, pointed out that nine states have had less than 1,000 cases. Those states, too, are seeing less than 30 new cases a day.
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