US authorities are beginning to gradually ease quarantine restrictions. This was stated by the head of the White House, Donald Trump, speaking on April 16 at a briefing at the White House. According to him, this decision was made on the basis of an expert assessment of the situation with the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus in the country.

“Based on the most recent data, our team of experts now agrees that we can open the next front in our war,” Trump said, explaining that this is a gradual lifting of restrictions.

“This is exactly what we are doing: we are rediscovering our country, and this must be done - America wants to open, Americans want to open,” Trump added.

He also emphasized that the earlier decision to terminate the enterprises does not have long-term prospects, since in order to maintain the health of citizens it is necessary to ensure the functioning of the national economy. Trump also noted that under the conditions of quarantine restrictions, the number of deaths is increasing for reasons not related to the epidemic. According to the president, in order to provide the population with food and medical supplies, the country needs a working economy.

“Prevent Collapse”

However, as specified in the newsletter published on the White House website, all sanitary restrictions will not be lifted at one time. State governors will act in stages, based on incoming data.

The document states that the plan proposed by the authorities was developed by leading experts in the field of health and is based on real indicators. It is a matter of enabling individual states to remove restrictions by “taking a balanced approach.”

“We are seeing significant progress in smoothing the curve thanks to the support and dedication of Americans across the country,” the newsletter says.

It is noted that long-term national quarantine "will cause extensive damage to the health and well-being of citizens."

“Thanks to the decisive timely actions of President Trump, we were able to supply the necessary funds to our medical workers at the forefront of the struggle and avoid a shortage of human losses,” the document says.

Political scientists say that the economic agenda has indeed become a priority for Trump. 

“The economy is now in serious condition, the Trump administration is trying to prevent a complete collapse. But still, we see that unemployment is growing quite rapidly, it has already reached double digits. According to all forecasts, the decline will be from 3 to 6% in annual terms. Therefore, Trump is trying to catch the middle ground so that the economy does not go into a giant minus, ”Viktor Supyan, deputy director of the US and Canada Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said in a conversation with RT.

However, Trump opponents from the US Democratic Party have already criticized the White House decision. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement condemning the president’s actions. The politician noted that testing is the key to removing restrictions and resuming the usual pace of life.

  • Nancy Pelosi
  • Reuters
  • © Kevin Lamarque

“The vague and inconsistent White House document does not in any way compensate for the president’s inability to listen to scientists, to start producing and conducting rapid tests,” Pelosi said in a statement.

The speaker said that "the president’s continued stubborn desire to do without testing, tracking contacts, collecting demographic data, as well as respect for science and facts is fraught with continued deaths and an economic catastrophe."

Experts also doubt that Trump's statements about the country's readiness to abolish the regime of self-isolation were made in a timely manner.

“The United States is confidently leading the pandemic. Yes, indeed the incidence rate is slightly decreasing, but I doubt very much that, despite economic reasons, it gives real reasons for such optimism and the lifting of restrictions, ”Supyan explained.

Operation Lock

Recall that over the last day in the country, 4,591 people died from COVID-19, and 31,451 new cases of the disease were recorded. These statistics were presented by Johns Hopkins University, which conducts its own calculations based on federal and local statistics, as well as several other sources. At the same time, the mortality rate in the United States over the past day has risen sharply compared with recent days. For comparison, as early as April 13, 1,557 people died in the United States in a day, in whom the coronavirus was detected.

  • US Patient Transportation COVID-19
  • Reuters
  • © Lucas Jackson

To date, the total number of cases in the country has reached 670 thousand people, of which more than 34 thousand Americans have died. The most difficult situation was in the state of New York, where 15,970 people died from the beginning of the pandemic, in the state of New Jersey - 3,518 people became victims of COVID-19, and also in the state of Michigan, where 2,093 people died from coronavirus on April 17 and became ill almost 30 thousand

Moreover, it was in Michigan that the day before a mass protest rally against sanitary restrictions imposed by local authorities took place.

On April 16, thousands of Michigan residents gathered at the local Capitol, many arrived in cars. They were joined by pedestrians who rallied, trying to comply with the recommended distance of two meters. The demonstrators found the measures introduced too harsh and demanded permission from the authorities to return to work.

Protesters in Michigan shouted allegations to state governor Gretchen Whitmer, demanding that the state’s social distance measures be lifted or weakened. Commenting on these statements, Whitmer noted that the protest “threatened the lives of people.”

In her opinion, such actions will only delay the abolition of the regime: protesters may have only aggravated the epidemiological situation in the state, which ranks third in the country in severity of the current situation.

It is worth noting that the action was not spontaneous: the Conservative Coalition of Michigan, supporting the Republican Party of the USA, acted as the organizer. Earlier, a number of conservative organizations, such as the Heritage Foundation Research Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council (“American Legislative Council”), spoke in favor of easing restrictions that negatively affect the economy.

Almost simultaneously, similar actions took place in the states of Kentucky and Utah, as well as in Ohio and North Carolina. However, as the American media note, not all citizens support these requirements.

Note that on the morning of April 17, Donald Trump spoke briefly about the situation in Michigan. “Free Michigan!” Wrote the head of the White House on his Twitter. The post gathered thousands of conflicting user reviews, whose opinions were divided - some expressed support for weakening quarantine measures, while others, on the contrary, condemned the appeal of the head of state.

"Hasty statements"

While the head of the state of Michigan is faced with harsh criticism from the conservative public, a number of other governors, by contrast, have come to the fore with widespread support, experts say. As an example, Americanist Vladimir Vasiliev cited New York Governor Andrew Cuomo - in recent days, the politician has become very popular, despite the fact that it was in New York that the most difficult epidemiological situation developed.

“This is a kind of“ rebellion ”of the governors-democrats. Many Americans, under the influence of media loyal to the Democratic Party, begin to say that governors such as Cuomo are more correct and adequate than Trump. And Trump really does not like this, he is afraid that among his rivals in future elections more vivid figures from among the governors may appear than Joe Biden, ”Vasiliev explained in a conversation with RT.

From his point of view, the plan presented by Trump is aimed not so much at quickly lifting sanitary restrictions, but rather at removing the responsibility for what is happening in the country's economy from the head of the White House.

“This plan does not correlate with real expediency or the epidemiological situation, but is simply a cunning political move. Trump’s goal is to shift the responsibility for deepening the economic crisis onto someone, ”Vasiliev stressed.

According to him, Trump’s idea is a win-win: if the states refuse to remove the isolation regime, the president “will be able to blame the Democratic governors for the crisis. At the same time, if the economic recovery does begin, the president will attribute this to himself and his plan. ”

  • Maimonides Medical Center Hospital, New York
  • Reuters
  • © Caitlin Ochs

This point of view is shared by Victor Supyan. In his opinion, Trump is now making loud statements to “look in the eyes of citizens as a strong politician who was able to cope with the pandemic.” At the same time, the analyst recalls that the head of the White House even earlier could not fully appreciate the seriousness of the threat.

Trumpon the one hand, it is trying to shift the blame on China and WHO for the huge epidemic in the USA, and on the other, introducing itself as a politician who was able to quickly cope with the situation. This is the purpose of his hasty statements, ”the expert concluded.