US Governors Agree on Relaxing Emergency Measures

(Patria) – Ten US governors from the East and West Coasts formed two regional alliances on Monday to coordinate the gradual revival of the economy amid the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic in the US.

This move by the leaders of American federal states was announced after President Trump's statement that the decision to restart the American economy lies solely in his hands.

The governor of New York State, which has been the epicenter of the epidemic in the US since the beginning, Andrew Cuomo, says he has joined forces with five other governors from the states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island to find the best strategies for relaxing emergency measures:

- This is new territory, nobody has all the answers, Cuomo said during a video conference with five other governors. 'Public health or the economy – which comes first? Both come first,' concluded the governor of New York, where the epidemic has claimed the most victims, more than 10,000.

States on the other US coast are also considering relaxing measures, emphasizing that before any major move, they must first be convinced of 'a decline in the rate of virus spread'.

All 10 governors, Democrats except for Charlie Baker from the state of Massachusetts, emphasized that decisions will be based on scientific knowledge, not politics, and that the health of the population will be paramount.

In the US on Monday, at least 1,500 new victims were reported, which is less than the average of the past week when 2,000 deaths were registered every 24 hours. There were about 23,000 new infections on Monday, which is still significantly less than last week's daily trend of 30,000 - 50,000. It is believed that the epidemic in the US is at its peak, meaning the curve is starting to flatten.

The governor of New York State stated on Monday that 'the worst is over'.

US President Donald Trump has also been considering the return of Americans to work recently, in order to mitigate at least some of the catastrophic consequences the crisis has had on the economy. Some time before the governors' decision, Trump repeatedly insisted in public that as president he possesses the authority to lift the measures that have caused 17 million Americans to lose their jobs.

 

(data source Reuters)