The White House has released new guidelines on coronavirus testing and reopening businesses as it seeks to regain its footing after weeks of criticism and detours created in part by presidential sideshows. But U.S. President Donald Trump appeared reluctant to cede the spotlight.
The White House released new guidelines Monday on coronavirus testing and reopening businesses as U.S. President Donald Trump sought to regain his footing after weeks of criticism and detours created in part by his sideshows. Trump appeared reluctant to cede the spotlight, with on-off-on plans for a news conference to capture the flurry of action.
As part of the guidelines effort, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new priorities for virus testing, including people who show no symptoms but are in high-risk settings.
“Testing is not going to be a problem at all,” Trump said later in the Rose Garden.
Many of the administration’s past pledges and goals on testing have not been met and Monday’s developments were meant to fill critical gaps in White House plans to begin “reopening” the nation — ramping up testing while shifting the president’s focus toward economic recovery.
Private Republican Party polling shows Trump’s path to a second term depends on the public’s perception of how quickly the economy rebounds from the state-by-state shutdowns meant to slow the spread of the virus.
Days after he set off a firestorm by publicly musing that scientists should explore the injection of toxic disinfectants as a potential virus cure, Trump said he found little use for his daily task force briefings, where he has time and again clashed with medical experts and reporters. Trump’s aides had been trying to move the president onto more familiar and, they hope, safer, ground: Talking up the economy in more tightly controlled settings.
At one point the White House announced there would be no Trump briefing, but he appeared to have other ideas.
Hours after the White House scrubbed the nightly briefing from its official schedule, it reversed course.
Spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany said