Trump tells governors he's preparing new social distancing guidelines based on geographic risk factors

Donald Trump.
(Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

In a letter sent to governors on Thursday, President Trump said new coronavirus testing will identify "high-risk, medium-risk, and low-risk" counties, and his administration will be able to release new social distancing guidelines based on this information.

These guidelines will help governors decide on "maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place," Trump wrote. A person with knowledge of the matter told CNN not everyone on the White House Coronavirus Task Force saw Trump's letter before it was made public, and the plan is still being developed.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.