Trump Wants To Rank All Counties By Coronavirus Risk, From High To Low

(This story was updated at 5:58 p.m. on March 26, 2020)

Topline: The Trump administration says it will soon issue guidelines labeling counties across the U.S. as high-risk, medium-risk or low-risk areas, based on the threat of contracting the coronavirus, in an effort to help states roll back social distancing measures. 

• The pending announcement, which was delivered in a letter to governors across the country, comes as President Trump has pushed to reopen the economy and scale back federal guidelines relating to the coronavirus. 
• “This new information will drive the next phase in our war against this invisible enemy,” Trump wrote in the letter first reported by the Wall Street Journal. “As we enhance protections against the virus, Americans across the country are hoping the day will soon arrive when they can resume their normal economic, social and religious lives.”
• “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,” he added.
• Health officials have maintained that it’s still too early — and that it could take months — for Americans to begin socializing and returning to work.
• “We have to get back to work,” Trump said during a televised press conference Thursday, adding that workers would need to practice social distancing when they returned to work.

Key background: Earlier this week, Trump said he hopes to reopen the country “by Easter” and predicted “suicides by the thousands” if Americans cannot get back to work. 

Chief Critic: “You’ve got to understand that you don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, said on CNN on Wednesday. “So you’ve got to respond in what you see happen. And if you keep seeing this acceleration, it doesn’t matter what you say. One week, two weeks, three weeks — you’ve got to go with what the situation on the ground is.”

Fauci said that officials are working to get the data needed to make county by county classifications but that more testing was needed. “We are quickly getting to the point where we will be able to get that data,” he added.

What we don’t know: How Trump will restrict travel between high-risk and low-risk counties.

Crucial quote: Even if Trump issues these guidelines and calls on states to roll back social distancing restrictions, U.S. governors won’t necessarily listen. “I think most [governors] would keep the guidelines in place,” said Elizabeth Goitein, director of the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school, to Forbes. “They are the ones who are going to have to deal with the tens of thousands or more coronavirus cases.”

However, Goitein added that some governors will face some heat should Trump roll back federal guidelines on social distancing. “There will be some political pressure on state and local officials whose political fortunes are tied to Trump.”