Trump pushes back against national shutdown order and leaves the decision up to each state’s governors, despite projections THOUSANDS could die from coronavirus
- President Trump is letting governors of individual states decide whether to issue shelter-in-place orders
- Only states can decide whether to quarantine their residents
- The federal government can only issue quarantines for foreigners and state-to-state travelers who are carrying deadly diseases
- 30 states and Washington, D.C. have stay-at-home orders in place
- Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has consulted medical experts and says their data doesn’t warrant her closing the state
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
President Donald Trump is leaving the decision to order stay-at-home mandates to the governors of individual states, even as his own administration acknowledges tens of thousands could die during the coronavirus pandemic.
Yet, he’s still called on Americans to stay at home as much as possible, even as he hands off responsibility to the states.
“There are some states that are different,” Trump said during a press conference. “There are some states that don’t have much of a problem.”
Currently, 30 states and Washington, D.C. are under stay-at-home orders.
Police in New York City stand on guard in the streets to enforce the state’s shelter-in-place order issued by Governor Andrew Cuomo
Coronavirus has emptied the streets of New York, the largest city by population in the country
Technically, only states have the authority to order quarantines within states. So the federal government can’t issue blanket nationwide quarantines.
However, the federal government can restrict state-to-state travel or quarantine international travelers who may be carrying deadly diseases.
Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Wednesday said he agreed with President Trump to defer decisions to each state’s governor.
“We trust the governors and the mayors to understand their people and understand whether or not they feel like they can trust the people in their states to make the right decisions,” Adams said during a Good Morning America interview.
The ritzy streets of Beverly Hills are barren as California remains locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic
A lonely pedestrian walks down the Las Vegas strip as casinos and other businesses have closed
An empty Metro train vooms through Bethesda, Maryland as the Washington, D.C. area remains under stay-at-home order
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis only on Wednesday decided to issue a stay-in-place order
A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 78 percent of adults want stay-at-home orders in place.
Until an about-face today, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had only issued stay-at-home orders for south Florida, and pushed back against issuing a lockdown for the whole state.
He relented and put a stay-at-home order in place, after receiving pressure from federal and local government officials to help curb the spread of coronavirus through the country’s third largest state.
Currently, more than 285 million in 40 states after locked down under their governors’ orders. Other states, such as Iowa and Nebraska, haven’t issued state-wide shelter-in-place mandates yet
But some communities within those states have ordered stay-at-home measures.
Still, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts has held firm in resisting a state lockdown, based on advice from public health experts at University of Nebraska Medical Center, which once was used to quarantine Ebola patients.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has also stopped short of issuing a mandatory stay-at-home order. She says the information she consults with doesn’t warrant the measure.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has all-but issued a shelter-in-place order for his state. He has closed all schools through at least May and put in place other restrictions that some say essentially feel like a lockdown.
But Abbott disagrees.
‘This is not a stay-at-home strategy. A stay-at-home strategy would mean that you have to stay home,’ Abbott said. ‘This is a standard based upon essential services and essential activities.’
