Trump Administration Seeds Idea That Country Should Reopen In Beginning Of May Despite Health Experts’ Concerns
President Donald Trump is pushing to reopen the country earlier than public health experts might recommend. Meanwhile, Trump shrugged off the idea that widespread testing is needed before the country can get back to work. But many health officials agree that testing and contact tracing are key to any plans to end physical distancing.
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Pushing To Reopen Much Of The U.S. Next Month
The Trump administration is pushing to reopen much of the country next month, raising concerns among health experts and economists of a possible covid-19 resurgence if Americans return to their normal lives before the virus is truly stamped out. Behind closed doors, President Trump — concerned with the sagging economy — has sought a strategy for resuming business activity by May 1, according to people familiar with the discussions. In phone calls with outside advisers, Trump has even floated trying to reopen much of the country before the end of this month, when the current federal recommendations to avoid social gatherings and work from home expire, the people said. (Zapotosky, Dawsey, Del Real and Wan, 4/9)
The Hill:
Trump Officials Lay Groundwork For May Reopening
The president has floated reopening businesses in parts of the country that do not have outbreaks. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday unveiled guidelines meant to encourage those in critical sectors who have been exposed to the coronavirus but aren’t showing symptoms to continue working. (Samuels and Chalfant, 4/9)
The Hill:
Trump Downplays Need For Widespread Testing Before Reopening Economy
President Trump on Thursday shrugged off the need to significantly expand nationwide coronavirus testing capabilities in order to be able to restart the U.S. economy and then keep it open. The president, who has expressed optimism that parts of the country could begin easing social distancing restrictions by early May, told reporters a White House briefing that ramping up testing to levels recommended by health experts to quickly identify new clusters would be a goal, but is not a necessity to send people back to work. (Samuels and Sullivan, 4/9)
NPR:
What Will It Take To Reopen U.S., CDC Says 'Aggressive' Contact Tracing
It's the question on everyone's minds: What will it take for us to come out of this period of extreme social distancing and return to some semblance of normal life? It turns out that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been working on a plan to allow the U.S. to safely begin to scale back those policies. CDC Director Robert Redfield spoke with NPR on Thursday, saying that the plan relies on not only ramped-up testing but "very aggressive" contact tracing of those who do test positive for the coronavirus, and a major scale-up of personnel to do the necessary work. (Simmons-Duffin and Stein, 4/10)
ABC News:
As Some Leaders Weigh Pursuit Of ‘Herd Immunity’ From Coronavirus, Experts Warn Risks Are Too High
When will the United States reach the point where the novel coronavirus cannot easily spread? As public health officials battle an ever-expanding crisis, epidemiologists suggest we still have a long way to go. The threshold for achieving herd immunity – the fraction of the population that needs to be immune to a disease to make person-to-person transmission extremely unlikely or even impossible – varies virus by virus. With measles, for example, that threshold is high: 93% to 95%. (Bruggeman, 4/9)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Authorities Roll Out New Coronavirus Tests To Gauge Infection’s Spread
Health departments, hospitals and companies around the world are rolling out the next wave in Covid-19 testing, which looks in a person’s blood for signs of past infection. The new tests promise to give public-health and hospital officials a better idea of how widely the virus has spread and who can safely treat patients and stop social distancing. But uncertainty about the accuracy of some of the tests and unknowns surrounding immunity to Covid-19—the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus—could limit their usefulness, at least early on. (Abbott and Roland, 4/10)
Politico:
Pelosi Warns Trump Not To Reopen Country Too Soon
Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled Thursday that the House is unlikely to return to session later this month, her clearest indication yet that Congress — like the rest of the country — could remain shuttered for weeks or even longer as the coronavirus crisis continues. In a half-hour interview, Pelosi issued a stark warning to President Donald Trump, urging him not to prematurely rush to reopen major segments of the country before the coronavirus is under control, which she said could further send the U.S. economy into a tailspin. (Caygle and Bresnahan, 4/9)
Stateline:
With No U.S. Plan To Return To Normal, Some States Are Creating Their Own
Reopening society, experts say, will require the regular testing of millions of people, a reliable and fast nationwide reporting network and an army of thousands of investigators tasked with tracking down those who may have been exposed to the virus. Experts have compared this to the effort to put a man on the moon and the Manhattan Project. The federal government has yet to produce even the framework of a plan — let alone the supplies and workforce to carry it out — leaving states and local governments to cobble together their own tenuous roadmaps. (Brown, 4/10)
