White House Rejects CDC Reopen Guidance as Too Prescriptive
Donald Trump, right, speaks during a news conference at the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 23.
Photographer: Michael Reynolds/EPA/Bloomberg
The White House blocked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from issuing specific guidance for U.S. daycares, restaurants, churches, theaters and other businesses to reopen from the coronavirus outbreak out of concern the recommendations were too prescriptive, according to two Trump administration officials.
CDC leadership hadn’t signed off on the guidance before it was submitted to the White House’s coronavirus task force, said a task force official. One issue was that the CDC guidance didn’t account for whether businesses were in hard-hit parts of the country or not, said the task force official and the second person, a White House official.