Trump resists pressure to declare nationwide stay-at-home order

President Trump is holding back on declaring a nationwide stay-at-home order, even as some governors resist imposing restrictions that Trump's top public health officials say are needed to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The president has been reluctant to wade into matters he argues are better left to governors. But the pressure is growing for Trump to be decisive as Republican-led states like Texas, Iowa and Missouri are among the final holdouts to issue stay-at-home directives.

Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, said Trump may not have the legal authority to halt interstate travel or require governors to lock down a state. But the president has yet to fully use the power of his bully pulpit to encourage them to do so.

The U.S. had more than 206,000 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Wednesday afternoon, and roughly 4,500 have died in the U.S. from the virus. Administration officials have repeatedly stressed the best-case scenario — resulting in 100,000 to 240,000 deaths — will only be attained if Americans rigorously follow federal social distancing guidelines that urge people to stay at home when possible and keep a distance of 6 feet from others when outside.

Top U.S. health officials have been careful not to undercut the president and have acknowledged the difficulty some governors face in getting residents to heed something like a statewide lockdown.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/490666-trump-resists-pressure-to-declare-nationwide-stay-at-home-order