[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s May 1 goal to restart the economy is “too optimistic,” his top infectious disease adviser said Tuesday (April 14), after a battle broke out between Trump and state governors over who has the power to lift restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic.
Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said public health officials must be able to quickly assess the virus, isolate new cases and track new infections before restrictions on social distancing can be alleviated.
The Trump administration recommended guidelines for staying home until the end of April, and the president presented May 1 as a possible date to start reopening some areas.
That date may be “a little too optimistic,” Fauci, who has become a trusted national figure during the pandemic, said in an interview with the Associated Press.
“We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can trust, and we are not there yet,” Fauci added.
Fauci, who frequently appears with Trump at White House coronavirus briefings, has previously contradicted Trump on issues including unproven treatment promoted by the president.
Trump republished a call on Twitter on Sunday from a conservative political figure calling for Fauci to be fired, but the president later denied plans to fire his adviser.
Trump, a Republican who ran for re-election on November 3, lashed out at Democratic state governors, suggesting they were “mutineers” after New York’s Andrew Cuomo said he would reject any order by the president to reopen the economy too much. soon.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a press conference at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which will partially become a temporary hospital during the coronavirus outbreak.
“If he were to order me to reopen in a way that would jeopardize the public health of the people of my state, I would not,” Cuomo told CNN earlier in the day, referring to Trump.
In a subsequent press conference, Cuomo said Trump was “clearly ruining a fight on this issue” and that he did not want a partisan battle, but added: “We don’t have a king in this country, we have a Constitution, and we elect the president.”
The coronavirus restrictions have paralyzed the United States economy, with businesses forced to close and millions of unemployed Americans, in a development that could harm Trump’s reelection prospects.
The death toll in the US USA COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus, stood at nearly 25,300 on Tuesday, out of more than 600,000 known infections in the US. USA
READ: USA USA Has the most cases of COVID-19 in the world
READ: With more than 20,000 COVID-19 deaths, the United States spends Easter Sunday in closing
Offering an expansive assessment of the powers of the presidency, Trump affirmed Monday that he has “full” authority to decide on the reopening of the economy despite previously having deferred to the governors to establish orders of social distancing.
Cuomo, a Democrat whose state has been the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, and the governors of six other northeastern states have announced plans to formulate a regional plan to gradually lift the restrictions. On the Pacific coast, the governors of the states of California, Oregon and Washington announced a similar regional approach.
‘Riot on board’
Trump, whose attacks on Democrats appeal to his conservative political base, posted tweets attacking Cuomo individually and Democratic governors generally.
“Tell Democratic governors that ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ was one of my all-time favorite movies,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, referring to a classic film about a rebellion against the commanding officer of a British naval ship. in the late afternoon. 18th century.
“An old-fashioned mutiny is exciting and exhilarating to watch, especially when mutineers need the Captain so much. Too easy!” Trump wrote.
Trump rejected the idea that governors should determine when and how to reopen state economies, insisting that “the President of the United States makes the decisions.”
“The governors know it,” Trump said in a briefing on Monday.
But the governors were moving forward with their planning. Oregon Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, offered her own framework Tuesday to eventually restart public life and business in the state.
Some Republicans, including the governors of Ohio, Maryland and New Hampshire, also said that states have the right to decide when and how to reopen.
The political stance coincided with new signs that the pandemic has slowed in New York and other early hotspots, even as the death toll increases.
Hospitalizations in New York have fallen for the first time since the start of the pandemic, Cuomo said, adding: “We believe we are at the top of the plateau.”
Cuomo said 778 New Yorkers died the day before, compared to 671 the day before that had marked the lowest daily number since April 5. A total of 10,834 New Yorkers have died from COVID-19.
David Reich, president of Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, said that even if hospital admissions had stabilized, it still remains an extraordinary time of stress for staff and resources.
“The plateau is not a very comfortable place to live,” Reich said in a telephone interview. “So I don’t think people should celebrate ahead of time.”
CHECK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
[ad_2]
