Presently, 43 states are under some sort of “stay at home” order, which has kept non-essential businesses from operating in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. The White House said on Thursday that the spread of cases is declining, and that many states could begin the process of reopening in the coming weeks.
A key model which has been used by the task force to guide its thinking suggests that some states could relax social distancing efforts as early as May 4, but added some states might not be able to until the summer. The University of Washington’s statistical model suggested that the peak of cases in the United States hit on Wednesday, but it's still too early to pluu the plug on social distancing anywhere.
Although the White House has called for intense mitigation through the end of April, President Donald Trump also fired three “all caps” tweets on Friday, which suggest he wants stay at home orders to end in three states immediately.
Trump and many governors are pointing the finger at each other for the lack of testing capabilities, which experts say is a key to getting the economy reopen.
On Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., said his request to the federal government is simple: More testing and more personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.
"We're trying to coordinate, western states are coordinating, middle states are coordinating,” Cuomo said. “All he's doing is walking in front of the parade but he has nothing to do with the timing of the parade, right? The governors will open when they think they should open. All I'm saying is there is (sic) two things they need help from. They need help from the federal government. Two things.”
Trump fired back at Cuomo later in the day.
“Governor Cuomo should spend more time ‘doing’ and less time ‘complaining.’ Get out there and get the job done,” Trump said. “Stop talking! We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn’t need or use, gave large numbers of ventilators that you should have had, and helped you with testing that you should be doing. We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far, & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks. Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!”
In New York City alone, the death toll surged above 10,000 earlier this week, as the city has become the worldwide epicenter of the virus. Cuomo said on Friday that coronavirus-related hospitalizations have flattened in the state, but continue at a breakneck pace of 2,000 per day.
Justin Boggs is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @jjboggs or on Facebook .
