Trump’s 3-phase plan to open the US economy

The plan and its implementation, however, won’t come from the Federal government. Instead, Trump is handing the reins over to state governors. According to Trump’s plan, it’s up to the leadership of each individual state to assess its condition and act accordingly.

America will go back to work in stages.

“We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time,” Trump told reporters. “Some states will be able to open up sooner than others. Some states are not in the kind of trouble that others are in. We are starting rejuvenation of our economy again in a safe and structured and very responsible fashion.”

Each of the three phases listed in the plan is structured around varying levels of risk. As the presence of the virus lessens, certain types of work spaces will be allowed to open, depending on the risk pertaining to that particular work-environment.

Phase one encourages a continuation of CDC guidelines. It’s an appeal for citizens to continue practicing social distancing, maximize sanitary practices in public, and minimize non-essential travel. That being said, businesses with sit-down dining, movie theaters, sporting venues, places of worship will be allowed to open again, provided they maintain efforts to social distance as much as possible. Nursing homes and senior living facilities will also be allowed to re-open under strict sanitary guidelines.

The second phase, allows for the re-opening of non-essential travel, but continues to call for vulnerable individuals to stay at home and is an exhortation for everyone to maximize space between people in public areas. If possible, phase two encourages employees to work from home. Where this isn’t a possibility anymore, the White House is asking that employers make whatever changes they can to protect vulnerable workers.

Finally, phase three relaxes restraints on workplace staffing and visits to senior care facilities and hospitals. At this point businesses will be allowed to return to normal levels of occupancy.

Before the plan can be implemented in any state, there are a couple of ground rules. First, before taking the first steps to re-open their economies, the White House asked governors to wait for a period where there’s been a 14-day decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases. Also, the plan asks for governors to make sure hospitals are equipped to handle incoming cases or current cases before states implement phase one.

The timeline as to when governors will put the plan into effect is unclear, and factors include testing, case load and death rates. It remains to be seen how long it will take for governors to make the call to put their states back to work.