U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday unveiled guidelines for a phased reopening of the U.S. economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has grounded the nation to a halt.
"My administration is issuing new federal guidelines that will allow governors to take a phased and deliberate approach to reopening their individual states," Trump said at a White House press conference.
"Governors will be empowered to tailor an approach that meets the diverse circumstances they have in their own states," he said.
"If they need to remain closed we will allow them to do that. And if they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task and very, very quickly," he added.
According to the guidelines, the criteria for reopening include showing a downward trajectory of COVID-like symptoms reported over 14 days in a given state or region, a drop in documented cases or positive tests during the same 14-day window, and assurances that hospitals have the capacity to treat all patients without crisis care and a solid testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers.
DIFFERENT REACTIONS
The COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be the worst U.S. crisis since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, as over 670,000 Americans have been infected with and more than 30,000 have died of the disease.
The U.S. economy has also been disrupted, as authorities have ordered to shut down the service sector -- restaurants, coffee shops, hair salons and bars -- as well as some factories in the country, which has sparked an upsurge in unemployment.
Statistics showed that over the past month, a historic 22 million Americans have filed unemployment claims.
A national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution, and a prolonged lockdown, combined with a forced economic depression, would "inflict an immense and wide-ranging toll" on public health, Trump noted at Thursday's press conference, explaining to the public why Washington issued such guidelines.
Experts believed that as state governors have the final call on the phased reopening, they will react differently to the guidelines.
"I suspect we're going to see a lot of lowering of expectations, as for instance Los Angeles' warning that sporting events and concerts might not come back for a couple of years," Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua.
"There will be a phased reopening with some cities and states in low impact areas opening before others," Darrell West, senior fellow of Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution, told Xinhua.
"Their rationale is they have not been much affected and therefore want to resume business activity," West said.
WIDESPREAD TESTING NEEDED
There are hidden dangers of a phased reopening right now, for example, possible emergence of new epidemic hotspots, experts noted.
"States that haven't been impacted much are simply in the earliest part of the curve, unless they took strong preventive steps in mid-March," Clay Ramsay, a senior research associate at the Center for International and Security Studies at University of Maryland, told Xinhua.
Experts suggested that the country should secure widespread testing before the phased reopening of the economy, which they believe is the reason behind the successful curb of the spread of the virus in countries like South Korea.
"We are told that the shortage of test kits will come to an end fairly soon. That's good, because without more test kits it's not actually possible to reopen the economy," Ramsay said.
"With widespread testing, temperature checks, contact tracing, and continued wearing of masks, it's possible much of the economy could reopen safely, in stages," Ramsay said.
Echoing Ramsay, West said no one wants a "case resurgence that would prolong the pandemic."
"There needs to be widespread testing to monitor health status and provide leaders with up-to-date information on infection rates. That is the only way to know for sure when the best time is to reopen activities," West said.
