Sen. Barrasso on economic impact of coronavirus pandemic
Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso joins ‘Sunday Morning Futures.’
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Speaking in an exclusive interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Republican Sen. John Barrasso, who is a doctor, said, “it is time to reopen America.”
Barrasso, who is a member of the White House task force on reopening the economy, made the comment three days after President Trump rolled out plans to reopen the U.S. economy in three phases with the help of governors across the country.
The efforts to reopen will happen gradually and depend on reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus first.
The economy has been largely shuttered for weeks to reduce the spread of the virus and the new guidelines to reopen the country could provide a glimmer of hope for Americans itching to get back to business as usual.
Host Maria Bartiromo noted that Barrasso is a doctor who understands the potential health risks associated with reopening the economy and asked the Wyoming senator, “Are you worried that you're going to be opening the economy too soon and we get a relapse?”
“It is time to reopen America, to do it in a smart way following the metrics, using science, but we need to get Americans back to work,” Barrasso said in response. “Everyone in this country has been impacted by coronavirus, some more from the medical standpoint, others more from the economic standpoint, and Wyoming for one, we've been very fortunate in terms of the disease, but the economy has been flattened; energy, agriculture, tourism, all of those things.”
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He then provided an example of a place in his state that he thinks can already reopen. He noted that in one county only nine people tested positive for COVID-19 and no one in that county has been hospitalized.
“The businesses have been shut for a month. The hospital itself is on life support because patients aren't coming in for elective procedures,” Barrasso said. “This is an area of the country and the economy that can be opened using the criteria, watching all of the science. These are the people in the jobs that I'm fighting for.”
During the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing Thursday night, Trump unveiled a set of guidelines titled "Opening up America Again" as he declared that the U.S. was moving on to its next stage in the fight against the coronavirus and announced a bipartisan council of lawmakers dedicated to restarting the economy.
"We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time," Trump said, adding that the guidelines were "based on hard verifiable data."
He added: "Some states will be able to open up sooner than others."
The Trump administration's guidelines outline what individuals, businesses, health care workers and more should do over three phases in reopening the economy, with states only making it to the first phase if they see a decrease in the number of cases within their borders over 14 days.
When asked which industries he thinks can start operating right now Barrasso said, “You can start construction right away, energy, agriculture, in certain office settings you can do those sorts of things so there are a number of places.”
“You're still going to need to do all of the issues of handwashing, social distancing, taking care of our most vulnerable, but we need to start opening the areas where it's safe to do it,” he continued.
He noted that there are places across the United States that can be reopened, adding that that is why it’s important to have the input of governors and “people at the local level.”
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Barrasso added “there may be some bump up in new cases” when the country starts to reopen.
“You need to make sure the hospitals have testing capacity and ICU capacity to take care of those people, but that's why we can, I think, go phase one, phase two, phase three, and then a fully reopened economy,” Barrasso said.
Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.
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