“Hell no!” States aren’t ready for Trump’s phased reopening, experts say

Enlarge / US President Donald Trump departs from a news conference at the White House in Washington DC, US on Thursday, April 16, 2020. Some US states and employers may be able to abandon most social distancing practices to curb the coronavirus outbreak within four weeks under guidelines the Trump administration issued to governors on Thursday. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)

Public health experts are offering mixed reviews of the Trump administration's broad, nonbinding guidelines for states to gradually lift social distancing measures currently in place to slow the pandemic spread of COVID-19.

The guidelines, unveiled Thursday, aim to avoid a second overwhelming wave of disease by easing restrictions in three progressive phases. Each of those phases is gated, meaning that a set of criteria should be met before a state can enter a specific phase. Those gating criteria include states having two-week-long "downward trajectories" of confirmed COVID-19 cases and reports of infections with symptoms similar to COVID-19. States must also have the hospital capacity to treat all patients without "crisis care" and have a "robust" testing program.

The guidelines further lay out core "preparedness responsibilities" that each state should maintain throughout the phases. This criteria includes the ability to test all symptomatic cases and trace their contacts; to set up sentinel surveillance for asymptomatic cases; to have a sufficient supply chain of personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, gowns, etc) for healthcare workers; and to have plans to protect at-risk workers and members of the public, such as healthcare workers, the elderly in living facilities, and workers and members of the public using mass transit.

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