Governors of the three Pacific states presented a joint plan to loosen restrictions on socio-economic life after the CCP virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19, abates.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the three states’ cooperative plan during his Monday morning COVID-19 news briefing. Newsom shared with the assembled press that he, along with the other two west-coast Democratic governors Kate Brown of Oregon and Jay Inslee of Washington, were brainstorming over the past week about “what it would look like and how we could begin the process of the incremental” reopening “in safe, a strategic and a responsible way,” Monterey County Weekly reported.
“COVID-19 has preyed upon our interconnectedness. In the coming weeks, the West Coast will flip the script on COVID-19—with our states acting in close coordination and collaboration to ensure the virus can never spread wildly in our communities,” the governors said in a statement Monday.
“We are announcing that California, Oregon, and Washington have agreed to work together on a shared approach for reopening our economies—one that identifies clear indicators for communities to restart public life and business,” they added.
Newsom also said that each state will adhere to its own crisis plan as all three have imposed strict lockdowns on their citizens and businesses, and that they are trying to move forward in a coordinated manner.
“COVID-19 doesn’t follow state or national boundaries,” the governors added, saying they will also each develop state-specific plans. “It will take every level of government, working together, and a full picture of what’s happening on the ground.”
New York Working On Reopening Plan With 5 Other States
New York officials are also working on a reopening plan with five other states, including New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.
The governors of those four states have already made lockdown announcements, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is hoping to draw up a plan with them for reopening the economy, as the hardest-hit state in the nation starts to see declining hospitalizations and new cases.
The states, along with Rhode Island and Delaware, announced on Monday a regional advisory committee that will explore how “to get people back to work and restore the economy.”
The six governors announced the committee during a one-hour conference call led by Cuomo.
“We cannot act on our own. We must be smart and tactical in how our region comes out of this, or else we’ll be right back to square one,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement.
Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Delaware Gov. John Carney, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf were also on the call.
The reopening plan will be designed by public health and economic experts, not politicians, Cuomo told reporters in Albany.
Epoch Times reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this article.
