State vs. federal Covid-19 guidelines, and a hint towards reopening

The White House says states could ease up social distancing by the end of the month, if they show a steady decline in coronavirus cases.

KUOW’s Paige Browning brings us today’s update.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

President Trump distributed federal guidelines to the governors today. How did they square up with what states are actually doing?

We know that 17 states have already made their own plan for how they'll reopen the economy, Washington state being one of them.

Governor Jay Inslee spoke with Trump Thursday. He says there's some good news from the president's guidance. Note a little ribbing here from the Democratic governor:

“He will not be interfering with our Stay Home, Stay Healthy initiative. He has decided to follow the Constitution, which is always a good thing, to make sure that we could make our decisions for what is best for Washington here in Washington.”

How does Washington's criteria and plan compare to this new guidance coming now from the Trump administration?

The federal recommendations tell states not to open until they have a decline in hospitalizations for two weeks, and for the number of people reporting symptoms to go down.

No easing of social distancing until the end of April at the earliest, which is what West Coast states are already doing.

But, the federal guidance says very little about testing, and that's where the big difference lies. Washington won't reopen until there's more widespread testing, not just for high risk patients, but all people with symptoms, healthcare workers and others.

We're weeks away from that. Large parts of the economy, of course, are still closed. We are seeing people continue to apply for unemployment benefits in droves. What is the latest?

About 600,000 people in Washington have applied for unemployment help since the start of this pandemic. That's according to new state data today.

And 250,000 of them have actually gotten the benefits. The rest of those 600,000 are waiting to be approved and paid.

We are seeing a glimmer of something different, some things reopening. Can you tell us a bit about that?

Two Seattle farmer’s markets will reopen this weekend, and some Boeing workers are going to be back at work making planes this month, both with some social distancing measures in place.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.