By Sean Yoes
AFRO Baltimore Editor
syoes@afro.com
Six governors representing Northeastern states are beginning to plan the reopening process for their states, despite the national death toll from COVID-19 more than doubling over the course of a week.
As of April 13, around 2 p.m., the nation had recorded 22,858 deaths. At approximately the same time last week just over 10,000 deaths had been recorded.
The governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island had a public conference call on April 13, to announce their regional collaboration. The call was facilitated by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to outline their general plans to eventually open their states in a methodical way.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has generally gotten high marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which has devastated his state. On April 13, he facilitated a public teleconference of several Northeastern governors, who outlined plans to eventually reopen their states. (Photo: Twitter)
As of April 13, New York State had more cases of COVID-19 with 195,051, than any nation in the world. More than 10 thousand people have died in New York of COVID-19.
The governors said they are moving forward with public health issues being considered first, versus economic concerns.
“How do we open things in a way that is safe?” said Gov. John Carney of Delaware, who also acknowledged the economic connectivity of the six states who are forming a collective task force to reopen.
“I am constantly thinking about what it’s going to take to safely open up our economies,” said Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island. “We need a smart, targeted approach. We are developing a plan for what we are calling the new normal.”
“None of us have done this before…sharing resources, sharing information under these circumstances,” said Cuomo.
“How we’re going to do it is the art form.”
