Trump aims to ease COVID restrictions

Governors from both parties angry about health risks

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and some of the nation’s most prominent governors plunged into heated debate Tuesday over how much death they’re willing to risk in order to get the economy running again during the coronavirus pandemic.

Public health experts warn that they don’t yet know whether the United States is succeeding in slowing the spread of the virus by shutting down schools, shops and restaurants and telling millions of Americans to work from home. Trump, nonetheless, has repeatedly said in the last two days that he wants to quickly ease restrictions.

“I’d love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” he said during an appearance on Fox News, where he fielded questions from network hosts and viewers. The holiday would be a “beautiful time” to have “packed churches,” he later said. Doctors have discouraged gathering in crowds during the pandemic.

Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat of the coronavirus by comparing it to seasonal flu, setting aside evidence that the new virus is more deadly and contagious. In the last 24 hours, the U.S. death toll from the illness caused by the coronavirus increased by nearly 100 people, reaching almost 700 total.

“We’ve never closed down the country for the flu,” Trump said. “So you say to yourself, what is this all about?”

His remarks drew sharp rejoinders and resistance from governors in both parties — the officials who have the final say over limitations on daily life.

“If you ask the American people to choose between public health and the economy, then it’s no contest,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, said at a news conference Tuesday.

“No American is going to say ‘accelerate the economy at the cost of human life.’”

“My mother is not expendable. And your mother is not expendable,” Cuomo said. “We’re not going to accept a premise that human life is disposable.”

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, also pushed back against Trump’s suggestion of a rapid return to normal.

“We are going to get our economy back, but we have to get through it, protect as many lives as we can, and then move forward. I’m looking forward to that day, but it’s not yet here,” he tweeted.

DeWine, whose state has confirmed 564 cases of illness from the virus and eight deaths as of Tuesday afternoon, was one of the first governors to order the closure of his state’s schools, restaurants and some other businesses.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, another Republican who has put in place similar restrictions, could not conceal his annoyance when he was asked about Trump’s suggestion of loosening restrictions at the same time he’s trying to keep his state under wraps.

“Some of the messaging coming out of the administration doesn’t match” the messages governors are trying to convey to the public, Hogan said.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has tried to avoid directly tangling with Trump over the pandemic but rejected the notion that his state would see businesses open again next month.

“I think April for California would be sooner than any of the experts that I talked to believe is possible,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.