President Donald Trump sent a letter Thursday to governors across the U.S., saying that his administration plans to revisit guidelines put into place last week that mandate strict social distancing and advise against gatherings of more than 10 people.
“As you know, on March 16, 2020, I published my Coronavirus Guidelines for America. States, localities, and citizens across our country have responded to this call to action in full force, making tremendous sacrifices in support of our National effort to defeat the virus,” the president wrote. “I want to thank each of you, along with your frontline responders and essential workers, for stepping up to help America confront this unprecedented global pandemic.”
New letter to state governors from @realDonaldTrump states they hope to revise the WH guidelines and classify counties by risk as testing capabilities expand pic.twitter.com/5NijS6liXo
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) March 26, 2020
In his letter, Trump outlined a plan to categorize different counties across the country based on risk, using extensive tracking and testing to do so. (RELATED: Here’s How America Can Safely Restart Its Economy)
“This is what we envision: Our expanded testing capabilities will quickly enable us to publish criteria, developed in close coordination with the Nation’s public health officials and scientists, to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus,” Trump said. “This will incorporate robust surveillance testing, which allows us to monitor the spread of the virus throughout the country.”
“Under these data-driven criteria, we will suggest guidelines categorizing counties as high-risk, medium-risk, or low-risk,” the president continued.
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down the U.S. economy and devastated workers across the country. The U.S. had a record 3.28 million unemployment claims filed last week, shattering the previous record of 695,000, which occurred in October of 1982. The president expressed his desire earlier this week re-open the American economy by Easter.