COVID-19 

President Trump calls for states to open “ASAP” as death toll hits 100k

The Big Kahuna

iStock/Kameleon007 (WASHINGTON, D.C.) — After the World Health Organization cautioned the globe of a second wave of COVID-19 if social distancing guidelines aren’t followed, President Donald Trump is urging states to forge ahead with reopening efforts to stimulate the economy.

While claiming his golfing expedition over the Memorial Day weekend constituted as “exercise,” the president tweeted that he’s already seeing promising signs that the country’s economy is recovering. “Stock Market up BIG, DOW crosses 25,000. S&P 500 over 3000. States should open up ASAP,” he tweeted Tuesday. “There will be ups and downs, but next year will be one of the best ever!”

Meanwhile, President Trump has criticized North Carolina’s Governor, a Democrat, for wanting the Republican National Convention — which will be held in the state this August — to practice social distancing measures.  In addition, the governor is asking the RNC to provide a proposal on how it’ll keep attendees safe.

“It’s OK for political conventions to be political, but pandemic response cannot be,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “Already, we’ve been in talks with the RNC about the kind of convention that they would need to run and the kind of options that we need on the table.”

President Trump has given Cooper “a week” to decide if the event can proceed as planned, saying Cooper has “been acting very, very slowly and very suspiciously.”

The president says if he doesn’t hear a response, he will move the RNC elsewhere.

President Trump’s remarks about reopening the country came as the U.S.’s death toll surpassed 100,000 on Tuesday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hardest-hit country in the world.   Over 1.6 million Americans have been sickened by the virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

On a global scale, over 5.6 million people have been infected by COVID-19 and roughly 350,000 people have died. 

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