Move by governor draws ire of Trump
WASHINGTON: United States President Donald Trump yesterday said he strongly disagreed with Georgia’s aggressive push to reopen its economy in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic, saying it was ‘‘just too soon’’ to lift some restrictions.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican and Trump ally, is allowing businesses such as beauty salons, tattoo parlours and bowling alleys to reopen as soon as tomorrow.
Trump said Georgia was not adhering to federal guidelines for states to restart their economies.
‘‘It’s just too soon. I think it’s too soon,’’ Trump said.
‘‘They can wait a little bit longer, just a little bit — not much. Because safety has to predominate. We have to have that.’’
Georgia has had more than 20,000 cases of Covid19 and more than 800 deaths. The United States has nearly 850,000 cases and just over 47,600 deaths.
But Trump, at his daily press briefing on the pandemic, largely projected optimism in the nation’s battle against the virus.
The nation’s top medical adviser on the pandemic, Dr Anthony Fauci, said mitigation strategies were working, setting the stage for states to reopen. He urged Kemp to proceed with caution.
‘‘If I were advising the governor, I would tell him, be careful, I would tell him not to just turn the switch on and go,’’ Fauci said, adding that Georgia could see a rebound of the virus, further damaging the state’s economy.
In response, Kemp on Twitter praised Trump’s leadership but said the state would move forward as planned.
At the outset of the briefing, Trump summoned the director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, to clarify his remark that the second wave of novel coronavirus in autumn could be worse than the current situation.
Redfield made the widely circulated comment in an interview with the Washington Post.
Yesterday, Trump tweeted that the health expert was misquoted and would be putting out a statement.
Redfield, however, said he was quoted accurately.
‘‘I think it’s really important to emphasise what I didn’t say: I didn’t say that this was going to be worse,’’ Redfield said.
‘‘I said it was going to be more difficult and potentially complicated because we’re going to have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time.’’
Trump yesterday also ordered a temporary block on some foreigners from permanent residence in the US, saying he wanted to protect American workers and jobs during the pandemic.
The order is to last for 60 days and then will be reviewed. Some critics consider Trump's announcement as a move to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to implement a longsought policy goal of barring more immigrants, in line with his ``America first'' platform. — Reuters