Trump offers plan for reopening economy, but states are still worried about testing

Judy Woodruff:

We return now to the new guidance coming today out of the White House, as the president and Coronavirus Task Force continue their evening briefing.

Our Yamiche Alcindor is here with the latest. She's just come from that briefing.

So, Yamiche, tell us what the president and his team are saying about their plan to begin to reopen the country.

Yamiche Alcindor:

Well, the big news today is that the president has now laid out a three-phase plan to try to reopen the American economy.

And he's doing that by leaving a lot of the decision-making to states and to governors. He said that he had total authority, but he's really saying, I'm allowing the states to make these decisions, even though governors insist that it's their authority.

These three phase would happen like this. The first phase would be people would still be focused working from home, minimizing nonessential travel. The second phase would be where things would start to loosen up, where you would have schools and day cares opening back up. You might, even also, the administration says, have some churches and bars opening back up, but that would be with largely social distancing still in place.

And the third would be a phase where you would have big arenas, concerts, and things like that taking place, and you would have left social distancing.

Judy Woodruff:

And, Yamiche — and what is the president saying in terms of whether he expects these orders to be followed by the 50 states?

Yamiche Alcindor:

The president is essentially saying that this — he's not really ordering the states anymore.

On a call with governors, he's saying now that they're the ones calling the shots. Those were his exact words. So, what we're seeing here is the president really backing away from the idea that he's going to be forcing governors and states to make decisions.

Instead, he's saying, I'm going to allow them to make their own decisions.

The other thing I should note is that there's a big idea now within the administration to ramp up testing, because so many people, executives and state officials, still say that testing in this country is not where it needs to be and that there's still large numbers of people who can't get tests for the coronavirus when they need them.

And that's going to be, of course, essential to opening up the economy.

Judy Woodruff:

We know, Yamiche, the president met with a number of different groups, including governors, including business leaders he's been talking to.

What else are you able to learn about how the White House is handling and managing this crisis?

Yamiche Alcindor:

Well, what we're learning is that the White House is really managing this by focusing on what the health officials say, with President Trump also thinking about his own political instincts.

We have heard arguments from White House officials, saying that they think that leaving the economy closed, it would — that it would make more people die, either through mental health or through economic hardships, that people would be hurt more by keeping the economy closed.

So, what we're hearing is that the president is really leaning in on the idea that he's eager to have America open back up, but also said, he stressed today, that this is based on data and science.

And we're hearing from some former Republican officials, including one that our producer Meredith Lee talked to, who said that these are reasonable guidelines.

So, what we're hearing, that the president is still leaning into his health officials.

Judy Woodruff:

All right, Yamiche Alcindor following it all, what's going on at the White House this evening.

Thank you, Yamiche.

Yamiche Alcindor:

Thanks so much.