‘He Is Going to Override the Governors’: Outrage Over Trump Letter on ‘Increasing or Relaxing Social Distancing’

President Donald Trump sent the nation’s governors an uncharacteristically kind and deferential letter on the coronavirus crisis, announcing he is preparing a program to classify every county in the nation as low, medium, or high risk.

The letter also says his administration will “publish new guidelines for State and local policymakers to use in making decisions about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place.”

“Our expanded testing capabilities will quickly enable us to publish criteria, developed in close coordination with the Nation’s public health officials and scientists, to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus,” the letter continues. Trump has been claiming – falsely – that the US has tested more people than any other country. The ability to test is still woefully inadequate. “This will incorporate robust surveillance testing, which allows us to monitor the spread of the virus throughout the country. Under these data-driven criteria, we will suggest guidelines categorizing counties as high-risk, medium-risk, or low-risk.”

It does not state that the CDC or other medical authority will make the determination – or that the CDC even supports this new program.

CNN’s Jim Acosta notes it was sent without the full support – or even notification – of Trump’s coronavirus task force.

Not all Coronavirus task force members had seen Trump’s letter to the nation’s governors detailing plans for possibly relaxing social distancing guidelines before the letter was released, we are told.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) March 26, 2020

Some see the letter as paving the way for Trump to achieve his main goal: opening up the country by Easter Sunday – an act the president has no right or authority to do, especially as the governors and mayors are the ones who shut their areas down.

Here’s how some are responding:

Trump tells governors he wants to rank counties according to their low, medium, or high risk of coronavirus outbreak— and if they want, go ahead and relax social distancing measures. This is idiocy and will lead to preventable deaths.https://t.co/vjR5ALhmN0 pic.twitter.com/qNAe5TGX14

— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) March 26, 2020

If I am reading this correct it sounds like he is going to override the governors decisions Trump tells governors he is setting new coronavirus social distancing guidelines https://t.co/xprzHwJ79h

— Sue Walker (@walksuecan) March 26, 2020

We need to be absolutely clear on 2 things:

1) The Trump administration is actively working against the health, safety & welfare of the American people

2) Trump has no authority to force governors to abandon the social distancing measures they’ve put in place to protect people https://t.co/gNldFm44Jz

— Matthew Cortland, Esq (@mattbc) March 26, 2020

The true face of #Trump
NEW: @realDonaldTrump has sent this letter to the nation’s governors. It says his administration is developing “guidelines” for lifting social distancing restrictions based on “expanded testing capability” (which doesn’t appear to exist). pic.twitter.com/M63twWWPBk

— George Enis (@gorgenis) March 26, 2020

HE’S GONNA KILL US ALL!

Trump tells US governors he’s preparing new social distancing guidelineshttps://t.co/jEKQTWLz71

— Nasty Woman (@NoTrumpJewel) March 26, 2020

Trump sent this letter to the nation’s governors. It says his administration is developing “guidelines” for lifting social distancing restrictions based on “expanded testing capability” Please note at this time there is NOT ENOUGH testing capabilities nation-wide. pic.twitter.com/t4DzAnqIfE

— Brody Levesque (@BrodyLevesque) March 26, 2020