During his tour of the Ford factory in Michigan, U.S President Donald Trump stated that he will not close the country if it gets hit by a second wave of the coronavirus infections. The second wave of the coronavirus is predicted to happen this winter.
Not closing the country
President Trump said while answering press questions that he won't close the United States and that they will "put out the fires, whether it is an ember or a flame" they are going to put it out but the country will stay open.
The president toured the Ford factory which is currently producing ventilator parts to help out the overwhelmed health system. He did not wear a face mask during his tour, despite it being a requirement in the state.
Leading experts have disputed the nature of the second wave of coronavirus infections. Some experts predicted that it will hit the country this fall or winter, which is known to be the flu season, while others predicted that it will be a series of acute eruptions of the virus in communities across the United States, which will then be impossible to predict.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the leading member of the White House coronavirus task force, sent an email to the New York Times and said that his intention is to get across the danger of trying to open the country even when it is still not ready.
Dr. Fauci fears that there will be multiple outbreaks in the country if the reopening guidelines will be skipped over by numerous states. He said that it will not only result in the suffering and death of thousands of Americans, but it would also set the country back to their goal to return to normal.
President Trump avoided shutting down the country even when the virus started to spread rapidly through the U.S. This decision left the individual states to make their own decision about whether they will close their borders or not.
In his press conference in April, Trump claimed that he had the absolute power to compel governors to discontinue their stay-at-home orders amid the pandemic, but he soon retreated his statement. Trump has pushed the states to reopen to combat the failing economy even though it was against the advice of numerous health experts.
Reopening of states
Currently, all 50 states in America are starting to reopen their businesses through phases. Alaska announced that it would be skipping phases three and four and it will be scrapping lockdown, as businesses will be allowed to operate at 100% capacity.
Even though the president does not want to close the country again if the second wave hits, he won't be able to do anything if a state decided to do so.
President Trump had criticized states who were slow in reopening their economy and even went as far as accusing Democratic governors of playing politics. He has based his 2020 reelection bid on a stable and strong economy, which was also a part of his 2016 campaign.
Political experts believe that this is the reason why he wanted businesses to reopen fast, even if the pandemic is still ongoing.
The coronavirus has infected more than 1.6 million Americans and has killed over 90,000. Because of closed businesses, 36 million Americans filed for unemployment, which is the highest number since the Great Depression.
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