WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — President Trump wants states to open for business. He met Wednesday with the governors of North Dakota and Colorado to talk about how those states are approaching the issue.
Gov. Jared Polis told the president Colorado is open for business.
“A few places have restaurants open, we’re working on the rest soon,” he said. “But offices, manufacturing, salons—pretty much all people are back. But in a safer way.”
Polis said safety measures are in place and some businesses in coronavirus hot spots remain closed.
Polis and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum shared their strategies for reopening at a White House meeting with Trump.
“We passed New York in terms of testing per capita and we’ve got the fifth-lowest rate of positives in the country,” Burgum said.
North Dakota’s governor said his message for the White House and the country is we don’t have to choose between lives and livelihoods.
Gov. Burgum said contact tracing is also key.
“If we can isolate those we can control the spread of the virus,” Burgum said.
But in a Tuesday hearing, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned senators states should move carefully as we still don’t understand much about the virus including its affect on children.
In the meeting with the governors, the president seemed to take issue with that advice—encouraging other states to quickly reopen.
“I think they should open the schools, absolutely I think they should,” Trump said. “It’s had very little impact on young people.”
