US President Donald Trump has issued guidelines to the Governors in order to reopen the states. Trump has chalked out three-phase plan for guidelines for “Opening up America Again” to ease the lockdown gradually. “America wants to be open and Americans want to be open,” he said. “A national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution,” said Trump.
The administration’s 18-page guidance document details three phases to reopen state economies, with each phase lasting, at minimum, 14 days. The guidelines in full can be seen here. They include some recommendations across all three phases including good personal hygiene and employers developing policies to enforce social distancing, testing and contact tracing. Phase one includes much of the current lockdown measures such as avoiding non-essential travel and not gathering in groups. But it says large venues such as restaurants, places of worship and sports venues “can operate under strict physical distancing protocols”.
If there is no evidence of a resurgence of the coronavirus, phase two allows non-essential travel to resume. The guidance says schools can re-open and bars can operate “with diminished standing-room occupancy”. Under phase three, states which are still seeing a downward trend of symptoms and cases can allow “public interactions” with physical distancing and the unrestricted staffing of worksites. Visits to care homes and hospitals can resume and bars can increase their standing room capacity. Some regions could begin returning to normal after a month-long evaluation period, at the earliest, according to the document. In places where there are more infections or where rates begin to rise, it could take longer.
IANS
