Washington: In a surprise move US President Donald Trump has extended the federal anti-coronavirus guidelines till the end of April after receiving grim projections from medical experts about the likely toll of the pandemic.
As the number of confirmed cases in the US reached 139,675 on Sunday evening, Trump announced at the White House that instead of relaxing soon the guidelines social distancing at their core, he would continue them.
As they are only guidelines, it is up to the state and local governments to enforce them under the US federal system. They were set to expire on Tuesday.
Trump said that he expected a full recovery by 1 June, while cautioning that it could be earlier or sooner depending on how the pandemic is controlled. The need for social distancing under the guidelines has resulted in the shutdown of all non-essential parts of the economy plunging the US into a recession, a price it will have to pay to save lives.
About half the US population is under semi-lockdown known as Stay-at-Home orders imposed by 27 of the 50 states. Trump had earlier discussed relaxing the guidelines on Easter, which falls on 12 April, to restart the economy, but said on Sunday that had only been “aspirational” and now only expected the deaths from COVID-19 to peak around that date.
He said, “Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all.”
Earlier, the top White House expert on COVID-19, Anthony Fauci, said on CNN that the US could see one million cases and 100,000 deaths from the disease based on models of how the infection could spread.
Discussing the models projecting the number of deaths, he said, “Looking at what we’re seeing now, you know, I would say between 100 and 200,000. But I don’t want to be held to that.”
Before Trump’s announcement of guidelines extension, Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused Trump of being in denial and underestimating the gravity of the situation. “Don’t fiddle while people die, Mr President,” she said on CNN.