Administration announces three-phase plan to loosen social distancing

President Trump yesterday announced guidelines that states and localities can use for easing social distancing restrictions, including criteria for employers, individuals and hospitals. Before beginning a three-phase loosening of social distancing, states or regions would have to meet the following gating criteria:

• downward trajectories of influenza-like illnesses and COVID-19-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period; and
• 14 days of downward trajectories of documented cases of positive tests as a percent of total tests within that period (flat or increasing volume of tests).

Furthermore, hospitals must be able to treat all patients without crisis care and communities must have in place robust testing programs for at-risk health care workers, including emerging antibody testing.

Once the gating criteria is met, communities must monitor for a rebound of cases before moving to other phases. Clinically appropriate elective surgeries can resume in outpatient settings during phase one and on an outpatient- and in-patient basis during phase two at facilities that adhere to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services guidelines.

Visits to senior care facilities and hospitals cannot resume until communities reach phase three.