Although the lockdown has since been lifted, many are still quite wary of the dangers of the coronavirus due to the increasing cases by the day paired with the number of deaths. Despite there being a recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control on how to safely reopen the country, the Trump Administration will not be implementing it.
CNN reports that President Donald Trump’s administration will not be implementing the guidelines drafted by the Centers for Disease Control on reopening the country post-lockdown and in the midst of the pandemic. The CDC came up with a 17-page set of guidelines, which lay out in detail the center’s suggestions as to how public places such as schools and churches can reopen despite the coronavirus remaining present.
Trump has pushed for a quick reopening of the country, placing emphasis on the economy even as CDC officials have advised taking a more cautious approach when reopening the states. However, the CDC officials have already anticipated that the White House would not take their guidelines as the country prepares to reopen even when it requested for such guidelines to be developed.
According to the official that revealed this, “We are used to dealing with a White House that asks for things and then chaos ensues. A team of people at the CDC spent innumerable hours in response to an ask from Debbie Birx. The 17-page report represents an ask from the White House Task Force to come up with these recommendations. That’s our role. To put together this guidance.”
However, according to a Trump administration official, the task force was concerned with how the CDC’s guidelines were too “prescriptive” due to the fact that the reopening guidelines in rural Tennessee would not be the same as the guidelines that may be used for urban New York. At the same time, the recommendations made by the CDC did not fit with the “phases” that the task force had already laid out.
Meanwhile, Trump has also previously suggested that fatalities from the coronavirus as of late would be the price to pay for reopening the United States’ economy. This follows the backtracking of his previous comments that the White House Coronavirus Task Force may be winding down. Trump has revealed that the task force will remain, but will now be focused on reopening and reviving the economy.