President Donald Trump delivered a bit of optimistic news about the national status of coronavirus in his latest press conference Wednesday evening.
The president proclaimed that new guidelines will be announced Thursday for several states, which have been hit hardest by the onset of the novel virus COVID-19. He suggested that some of the restrictions in various areas will be relaxed, including dates those changes will happen, during an announcement Thursday afternoon.
“We’re going to be announcing guidelines, and we’re going to be talking about various dates. It’s going to be very exciting,” Trump said.
With the number of daily cases either flattening or declining in states like New York, Trump said the changes coming to guidelines will be made in hopes that the country “will continue to make progress” in battling the virus, which has killed more than 28,000 people in America.
Dr. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, accentuated the message about the declining cases during the press conference. In the last 5 to 6 days, she noted, there had been declines that are “very reassuring.”
Nine states, including Montana, West Virginia and Nebraska, have less than 1,000 COVID-19 cases and less than 30 new cases per day, Birx said. Though the new guidelines will look at states “as individuals,” Birx warned that those itching to hold “that dinner party for 20,” should still hold off.
After making the announcement about the guideline changes, Trump revealed plans for the FDA to work with more than 300 labs to develop new tests for the virus. Other tests that will develop will be used from the blood of surviving COVID-19 patients, a measure that has been tested on a smaller scale in America and abroad.
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence will meet with several state governors Thursday prior to the announcement on relaxed guidelines. There were no specifics on which states would change guidelines or what the changes will be. However, Trump did advise that the changes would be some states will “open up” before May 1, noting that state governors are “chomping at the bit” to get back to normal.
“We miss sports. We miss everything,” he said Wednesday. We wanna get back.”
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