Foreign Property News | Posted by Si Thu Aung
As Covid-19 continues to spread across the US, President Donald Trump has given governors guidance on reopening state economies in the coming months.
The guidelines for "Opening up America Again" outline three phases for states to gradually ease their lockdowns.
Mr Trump promised governors they would be handling the process themselves, with help from the federal government.
There has been a mixed reception to the plans, with a leading Democrat calling them vague and inconsistent.
The US currently has 654,301 confirmed cases and 32,186 deaths due to the virus, and Mr Trump has suggested some states could reopen this month.
In his daily briefing on Thursday, "America wants to be open and Americans want to be open," President Trump said. "A national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution."
He said that a prolonged lockdown risked inflicting a serious toll on public health. He warned of a "sharp rise" in drug abuse, alcohol abuse, heart disease, and other "physical and mental" problems.
Mr Trump told reporters that healthy citizens would be able to return to work "as conditions allow". He said Americans would continue to be called upon to maintain social distancing measures and to stay home if they are unwell.
The administration's 18-page guidance document details three phases to reopen state economies, with each phase lasting, at minimum, 14 days.
Phase one includes much of the current lockdown measures such as avoiding non-essential travel and not gathering in groups. But it says large venues such as restaurants, places of worship and sports venues "can operate under strict physical distancing protocols".
If there is no evidence of a resurgence of the coronavirus, phase two allows non-essential travel to resume. The guidance says schools can reopen and bars can operate "with diminished standing-room occupancy".
Under phase three, states which are still seeing a downward trend of symptoms and cases can allow "public interactions" with physical distancing and the unrestricted staffing of worksites. Visits to care homes and hospitals can resume and bars can increase their standing room capacity.
Ref: BBC
