Only Kentucky And North Dakota Meet White House Criteria For Reopening, Data Says

TOPLINE

 Only Kentucky and North Dakota have satisfied federal guidelines to reopen, a new data tracker from former Trump and Obama officials suggests, even as other states across the country move forward with reopening plans.

KEY FACTS

Kentucky and North Dakota, the only states that meet federal guidelines, are making plans to reopen: Movie theaters and restaurants reopened on May 1 in North Dakota while Kentucky plans to partially reopen next week by allowing retail stores and restaurants to operate with limited capacity.

White House guidelines, released in April, say states need to see a “downward trajectory” of new cases or positive tests (as a percentage of total tests) for a 14-day period, along with a “robust” testing system—but the rules are non-binding, and many states have disregarded them entirely, used their own metrics or opted for a regional approach to reopening.

The majority of states, 30 in total, are “making progress,” but have not fully met the guidelines, while 18 states are seeing new cases rise, according to covidexitstrategy.org.

Covid Exit Strategy was started by Ryan Panchadsaram, Obama’s former deputy chief technology officer, Cyrus Shahpar, a Centers for Disease Control officer under Obama and President Donald Trump, as well as other public health officials who worked in both administrations.

Many states that do not meet any of the criteria are beginning to reopen, including Minnesota, Alabama and Maryland. 

Other states are seeing cases decline, but have not met all the requirements, such as Florida, which saw cases decline 9% over the last 14 days, but needs double the testing capacity, according covidexitstrategy.org.

Key background

The project had to define terms that weren’t spelled out in the original guidance. “Downward trajectory,” for example, is measured by comparing seven-day averages of new cases, rather than looking at day-by-day numbers, which mitigates against spikes in new cases caused by backlogs or inconsistent reporting on the weekends, said Ryan Panchadsaram, a co-founder of the project who also served as the Deputy Chief Technology Officer in the Obama administration. The testing metric each state is measured on includes the 500,000 per day national target suggested by the Harvard Global Health Institute, adjusted to each state based on its population.

News peg

Public health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, warn that reopening too soon could result in a resurgence of the disease, though it may take weeks before a spike, if there is one, is evident in states that have reopened. But the reality on the ground is sometimes more complicated than statewide data suggests. In Maryland, for example, Governor Larry Hogan lifted the state’s stay-at-home order on Wednesday despite the fact that it hasn’t met any of the requirements from the White House, according to covidexitstrategy.org. But the state has seen a 14-day decline in hospitalizations and deaths, Hogan said, and counties with the bulk of new infections will be allowed to stay under stricter rules.

crucial quote

“People want accurate and reliable information so they can understand what’s going on, so they can stay healthy and get back to work. And there wasn’t something like this before that would allow people to understand how we’re doing, and also to understand the impact of actions from our leaders,” said Natalie Davis, a co-founder and former senior advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services under Obama, told Forbes

Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus

Speak Your Mind

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Get in Touch

350FansLike
100FollowersFollow
281FollowersFollow
150FollowersFollow

Recommend for You

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Subscribe and receive our weekly newsletter packed with awesome articles that really matters to you!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You might also like

Walmart Just Made a Change That Could Shape Its Future...

As part of its strategy to adapt to post-pandemic times, Walmart is making some...

Banks disburse loans of Rs 1.58 lakh crore under...

New Delhi: Public and Private Sector banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 1.58 lakh...