Ten states make plans to reopen economy

In this April 1, 2020, photo, a news crew wearing personal protective equipment due to COVID-19 concerns reports outside the Chase Center that will become a makeshift hospital at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in the Queens borough of New York. People desperate for information are more reliant than ever on local media as the coronavirus spreads across the U.S. But newspapers, magazines and digital publishers are feeling the pressure as advertising craters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Ten states, seven on the East Coast and three on the West Coast, are making plans to reopen their economies.

Marias Caspani and Jessica Resnick-Ault reported the news for Reuters:

Ten U.S. governors on the east and west coasts banded together on Monday in two regional pacts to coordinate gradual economic reopenings as the coronavirus crisis finally appeared to be ebbing.
Announcements from the New York-led group of Northeastern governors, and a similar compact formed by California, Oregon and Washington state, came as President Donald Trump declared any decision on restarting the U.S. economy was up to him.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he was teaming up with five counterparts in adjacent New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island to devise the best strategies for easing stay-at-home orders imposed last month to curb coronavirus transmissions.

The New York Times reported:

The governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Delaware said on Monday that they would work together to plan for reopening the region’s economies, schools and other important elements.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said that health and economic officials from the six states were starting work immediately on developing strategies for easing restrictions that have brought much of daily life to a halt.
Later in the day, Mr. Cuomo’s office said that Massachusetts would be part of the coalition. Of the seven states, it is the only one with a Republican governor.
The officials participating in the effort, Mr. Cuomo said, would “study the data, study the research, study the experience of other countries, and give us guidelines and parameters to go forward.”
“Let’s be smart and let’s be cooperative and let’s learn from one another,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Fox News’ Ron Blitzer wrote:

“The terrible news is as terrible as it gets,” Cuomo said, noting that while the Sunday’s deaths were not as high as previous days, the number was comparable. “The number of deaths is 671. Not as bad as it’s been in the past but basically flat.” The governor noted that these deaths are “especially tragic” given that they occurred on Easter Sunday.
In addition to the daily death count, Cuomo lamented the total number, which has now reached 10,056. He compared that to the 2,753 New Yorkers who died on 9/11.
Cuomo then addressed the question of when and how the state will eventually reopen, as residents are currently under a stay-at-home order. He rejected the idea that anyone knows at the moment how to make this happen.
“You don’t know because nobody knows,” he said.
What Cuomo did say was that there are specific objectives that should be met as part of a reopening plan. These include easing isolation, increasing the state’s economic activity, expanding the category of “essential” workers, and having greater testing as well as precautions so as not to increase the rate of infection.

Irina Slav