KEY POINTS

  • The U.S. has reported at least 654,000 coronavirus infections with 31,000 deaths
  • More than 22 million Americans have filed initial unemployment claims in the last four weeks
  • The CDC plans to hire hundreds of people as contact tracers to try to contain the virus once nonessential businesses are allowed to reopen

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to hire hundreds of people as contact tracers to allow the economy to reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, it was reported Thursday. President Trump was expected to announce the plan as soon as Thursday evening

Widespread testing and contact tracing are seen as key steps needed to keep the COVID-19 from resurging once stores, restaurants and other nonessential businesses are allowed to reopen.

“The president will announce a plan in the works to drastically increase the capacity for state and local health departments to do core public health work like testing people, doing contact tracing,” a government official whose identity was withheld told the New York Times. “We want to beef up state capacity to be able to perform core functions, so that if and when we start to open the country back up, we don’t have a resurgence of cases to require the country to shut back down.”

Trump’s 6 p.m. news briefing can be watched here.

In a conference call Thursday, Trump told the nation's governors they could begin reopening their states before his May 1 target date.

“You’re going to call your own shots,” Mr. Trump said according to an audio recording obtained by the New York Times. “You’re going to be calling the shots. We’ll be standing right alongside of you and we’re going to get our country open and get it working. People want to get working.”

By midafternoon Thursday, the U.S. had reported nearly 654,000 confirmed coronavirus infections with 31,000 deaths, nearly 11,000 in New York City alone.

The pandemic has shut down most sectors of the economy and resulted in 22 million Americans filing initial unemployment claims in the past four weeks.

Trump signaled he would announce guidelines for getting the economy going again after holding marathon conference calls with business leaders Wednesday.

Trump initially was dismissive of the coronavirus pandemic and was slow to respond to the contagion, leaving it to individual governors to make decisions on how best to contain the outbreak. Shortages of medical equipment also have plagued the effort.

Trump lately has tried to deflect blame for the pandemic onto the World Health Organization and ordered a halt to funding for the organization, which has been coordinating the global response. Trump initially dismissed WHO’s warnings about the pandemic and ignored advice from U.S. intelligence agencies.

A man who was unaware he had the COVID-19 illness set off a chain of transmissions that infected 15 other people, including three who died, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said
A man who was unaware he had the COVID-19 illness set off a chain of transmissions that infected 15 other people, including three who died, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said AFP / Piero CRUCIATTI
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