WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and the Coronavirus Task Force met with media Tuesday at the White House Rose Garden.
Trump discussed preparing “for the next phase of this great struggle” within the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We must also do everything in our power to restore prosperity for the American worker,” Trump said. “There’s tremendous interest and excitement surrounding the administration’s efforts to get the economy roaring once again, and I think it’s going to roar once it gets open.”
Trump mentioned that he has “had requests to participate from the best in the world as we share their enthusiasm to get our country going.”
“I thank them for wanting to contribute and we look forward to speaking with many industry leaders seeking their input on how we can return to what was, until very recently, the greatest economy anywhere in the world,” Trump said. “The plans to reopen the country are close to being finalized and we will soon be sharing details and new guidelines with everybody.
“I will be speaking to all 50 governors very shortly and I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening and a very powerful reopening plan of their state at a time and in a manner as most appropriate. The day will be very close because certain states, as you know, are in much different condition and in a much different place than other states. It’s going to be very, very close, maybe even before the date of May 1st – there are over 20 that are in extremely good shape and we think we’re going to be able to get them open fairly quickly and then others will follow.”
Trump also discussed sports returning in the near future and his acknowledgment of citizens missing games being played.
“We want to get our sports back, so importantly,” he said. “These will be some separate calls. Some will be together by the wait lists and some will be separate, but we have to get our sports back.
“I’m tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old, but I haven’t actually had too much time to watch. I would say maybe I watch one batter and then I get back to work.”