Reportedly seven Northeastern US states and the three West Coast states banded together on monday in regional pacts to forge coordinated, gradual economic reopenings as the coronavirus crisis finally appeared to be ebbing, while stressing the need for precautions to avoid a resurgence of infections. Announcements from the New York-led group of east Coast governors, and a similar compact formed by california, Oregon and Washington state, came after President donald trump declared that any decision on restarting the U.S. economy was up to him.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said he was teaming up with his counterparts in adjacent New jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, pennsylvania and Rhode Island to devise the best strategies for easing stay-at-home orders imposed last month to curb coronavirus transmissions.Massachusetts later announced it was joining the east Coast coalition.
“Nobody has been here before, nobody has all the answers,” said Cuomo, whose state has become the U.S. epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, during an open conference call with five other governors. “Addressing public health and the economy: Which one is first? They’re both first.” The three Pacific Coast states announced they, too, planned to follow a shared approach for lifting social-distancing measures, but said they “need to see a decline in the rate of spread of the virus before large-scale reopening” can take place.
