Coronavirus: Donald Trump takes virus fight to states

President's challenge comes amid signs state governors will ignore his call on when to kickstart the US economy.

Donald Trump reasserts control over state governors on when the US will reopen for business. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump has tried to assert his authority over the states in managing the coronavirus pandemic, warning governors that he, not them, will decide when to ­reopen the US economy.

The move came as New York recorded its 10,000th death ­ although Governor Andrew Cuomo said the worst might be over if New Yorkers continued to practice ­social distancing.

A further 671 deaths in New York took the state’s toll to 10,058, almost half of the national death toll of 23,649, the highest in the world. Globally, there are more than 1.9 million confirmed cases and more than 119,000 deaths, ­according to Johns Hopkins data.

In Detroit, Michigan, one of the nation’s virus hotspots, photos emerged of bodies being stored in vacant hospital rooms and piled on top of each other in refrigerated holding units at the overrun Sinai-Grace Hospital.

The US President’s challenge to the states comes amid growing signs that many governors will simply ignore his call to reopen the economy if they feel it is too early to do so safely.

“For the purpose of creating conflict and confusion, some in the Fake News Media are saying that it is the Governor’s decision to open up the states, not that of the President of the United States & the Federal Government,” Mr Trump tweeted. “Let it be fully understood that this is incorrect. It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons.”

Constitutional experts say the President has limited powers to compel states to act and that decisions on stay-at-home orders and closures of schools, shops and restaurants are made at the state level.

Mr Trump wants to reopen the US economy as much as possible by May 1, but many state governments and health experts say June 1 is a more realistic target, warning that any earlier could risk a second wave of infections later in the year.

Mr Trump is under pressure from his senior economic team to reopen the US economy as fast as possible, with his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, attacking those ­experts who ignore the human costs of keeping the economy closed.

“It’s disappointing that so many of the medical experts and pundits pontificating in the press appear tone deaf to the very significant losses of life and blows to American families that may result from an extended economic shutdown,” Mr Navarro said.

“Instead, they piously preen on their soap boxes speaking only half of the medical truth without reference or regard for the other half of the equation, which is the very real mortal dangers associated with the closure of the economy for an extended period.”

 

The governors of the hard-hit northeastern US states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island said they would team up for a co-ordinated ­approach to reopening the ­region’s economy when the time came. However, each warned that public health would take precedence over the economy.

“We do know this, that an economic recovery only occurs on the back of a complete healthcare ­recovery,” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said, noting that “the house is still on fire and we still have to put the fire out”.

Mr Cuomo said he envisaged a slow, carefully staged reopening of the economy when the time was right. “There is going to be no epiphany,” he said. “There will be no headline that says: ‘Hallelujah, it’s over’.”

He said the pace and timing of any reopening would be governed by the infection rates. “If you see that infection rates start ticking up, which would be undermining everything we have accomplished thus far, then you know you’ve opened the valve too fast,” he said.

Despite the ongoing high death rates in New York, Mr Cuomo said it was possible that the worst was over, given that death rates had plateaued in recent days. “I believe the worst is over,” he said. “We have controlled the spread … that’s an accomplishment.”

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia