Donald Trump: Plans to re-open US for business 'close to being finalized'

While the United States continues to see a spike in confirmed cases of coronavirus, US President Donald Trump has said on April 15 that the plans of re-opening the country are “close to being final”. Trump has said that the final details regarding the future plans of the country to ease the lockdown, imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, will be shared with all 50 states. In the press briefing, the US President informed that he will be meeting with governors of all states and provide individual state leader with the authority to implement the “powerful re-opening plan” in their own discretion. However, Trump said that “the day” will be “very very close, maybe even before the date of May 1”.

However, the statements by Trump have sparked criticism because as of April 15, the United States has recorded at least 614,246 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 26,064 casualties. Before making such comments, amid harsh scrutiny of his administration, Trump had even made the media sit through the video of the clips of US governors praising the White House for its swift response since the pandemic originated in China. The unprecedented move by Trump came as White House faced backlash over its response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. Just a day before, one of the leading members of US task force for COVID-19, Dr Anthony Fauci had reportedly said that the country “could have saved lives” with early mitigation processes. 

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All 50 states under the Presidential disaster declaration

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration for Wyoming on April 12 which implies that all 50 states will be under such declaration “for the first time in history”. According to White House Press Secretary, Judd Deere, a US President has never before declared a major disaster in all its states at once. Donald Trump not only tweeted about the move himself but also said that the country is "winning" against the "war with the invisible enemy". The declaration came on the same day the US surpassed the COVID-19 death toll of Italy which is also one of the hardest-hit countries of the pandemic outside China, where it originated. The nationwide number of casualties in the US hiked from 10,000 to more than 20,000 in reportedly just five days. 

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