This is encouraging. The epicenter of the worst coronavirus contagion in the U.S. includes three states, and they are now coordinating to plan how to re-open their economies:
The governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are aiming to put together a joint plan for reopening their economies in a coordinated fashion, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.
Cuomo said he would be speaking to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont later Sunday to discuss ways they could synchronize the regional return to normalcy after the coronavirus crisis.
“It all has to be coordinated regionally,” he said during his daily briefing in Albany. “We closed everything down in a coordinated fashion, and we did it regionally. … That partnership is very important for our individual states and our collective states.”
New Jersey’s governor said, however, that they would proceed with caution:
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy cautioned Sunday against a swift reopening of the economy as the country continues to try to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, saying an economic reboot that comes before the virus is under control could be like “throwing gasoline on the fire.”
“Any sort of economic reopening or recovery depends first and foremost on a complete health care recovery,” Murphy said on “Face the Nation.” “Getting that sequencing right, I think based on the data and the facts that we’re seeing, is incredibly essential and that, if we either transpose those steps or we start to get back on our feet too soon, I fear based on the data we’re looking at, we could be throwing gasoline on the fire.”
We definitely would not want to see coronavirus cases and deaths start to increase again after relaxing the lockdown measures. And they are especially fearful of that because any resurgence would be directly linked to their decision to open up again.
One of the advocates of the shutdown is Scott Gottlieb, who admits that there will be a gradual re-open with some risks that we have to accept:
.@ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan that a reopening of the economy will pose some risk, but says that "there is always going to be risk” pic.twitter.com/1VBGcP7tVt
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 12, 2020
Fauci agrees that a re-opening should be gradual, but adds that some areas will be more open than others:
Dr. Fauci on the reopening process: "It is not an all or none. It's going to be something that you gradually and carefully — in different parts of the country in different ways — try to get back." pic.twitter.com/xFUvTpTw4G
— The Hill (@thehill) April 12, 2020
And that makes sense, and is what a lot of people have been asking for. It definitely feels like the light at the end of the tunnel is strengthening slowly.
Well that’s it for Sunday. We hope you had a holy and blessed Easter weekend!