It will not be one single thing that determines when Alabama will open back up for business, but several different things according to State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris.
On this week’s broadcast of Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” when asked by host Don Dailey about Alabama’s neighbor Georgia moving forward with reopening, Harris explained what criteria he and Gov. Kay Ivey were considering to green-light Alabama’s economic reopening.
According to Harris, Alabama was proceeding based on guidelines handed down by the Trump White House.
“The governor has a lot of different things to consider,” he said. “But what she has said, and I support completely, is that the White House has given us very clear guidelines about when it makes sense to move forward with things, and we’ve discussed this before on this program, I believe. But we want to see a certain decline in cases over a couple of weeks period. We want to make sure our hospital capacity is preserved correctly. We want to make sure other measures that we have of the symptoms that people have, who are going to emergency departments and clinics — that those are going in the right direction.”
“So those are all factors that can help play into the decision,” he continued. “I don’t think there is one single number that determines a yes or no answer on any of those, but all of those are important. And the governor has said several times she thinks that is important for us to look at.”
“I would echo what the governor has said, which is we’re not looking at a date on a calendar,” Harris added. “We’re trying to look at the data we have and just trying to make the best decisions we can.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.
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