Trump at odds with governors of N.J., Pa., and other states over when to reopen America

With the coronavirus-related death toll increasing but case numbers flattening across the nation, the White House and the governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and several other states evidently hold very different visions of when the United States could reopen for business.

While President Donald Trump said he would like to see the process begin next month, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday that “June or July” would be more realistic for a return to normality in the Garden State. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine said that in terms of reopening decisions, “We’ll have to take that day by day, week by week.”

And numerous governors are pushing back on the president’s assertion that he has “total authority” in making decisions on when to restart the economy.

“We don’t have a king,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday on NBC’s Today.

In Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the GOP-controlled House voted almost entirely along party lines to override Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s business-closure decree in favor of less restrictive federal guidance. The bill went to the Senate, where Republicans also have a majority.

The state reported 1,146 new positive cases on Tuesday, bringing its total to 25,345, and 60 additional deaths, for a total of 584.

Murphy announced an additional 4,059 cases in the Garden State for a statewide total of 68,824. The death toll stood at 2,805, with 365 more reported Tuesday.

Over 25,000 deaths have been attributed to the disease nationally, and between 10% and 20% of all coronavirus cases involve health-care workers, federal officials said Tuesday.

But the overall case curve has flattened considerably. In mid-March, positive tests were doubling every one to two days; now it is taking three to four days.

It remained unclear just how those numbers would inform the debate over the timetable for returning to normality or some version thereof.

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In any event, millions of Americans are about to get some spending money. The IRS has begun distributing stimulus checks via direct deposit in response to the economic struggle initiated by the pandemic.

About 80 million Americans are expected to see deposits of up to $1,200 in their bank accounts by Wednesday, Steven Mnuchin, secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury, said on Monday. The funding comes from the $2.2 trillion economic recovery package that Trump signed last month.

» READ MORE: The rent is due, and many can’t pay. Here’s what some Philadelphians are doing in the meantime.

Taxpayers who receive IRS refunds via mail, however, will have to wait longer for the checks than those who get refunds by direct deposit, according to a survey by MagnifyMoney, a personal finance research and data service, perhaps up to three months.

Some others might be giving their checks away. With steady paychecks and the ability to work from home, teachers are among the workers likely to weather the economic storms better than others. A group of Philadelphia teachers and other school-based employees is calling for colleagues who can do so to donate their stimulus checks to people in need.

The Caucus of Working Educators, a group focused on social-justice issues within the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, began the campaign this week.

The city meanwhile reported a continued slowing of new coronavirus cases. However, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said that virus-related hospitalizations are increasing.

More than 750 coronavirus patients are hospitalized in Philadelphia, and better than 1,350 region-wide. “All the hospitals are busy,” Farley said.

New Jersey is recruiting reinforcements to battle the pandemic. New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced that more than 10,600 out-of-state health professionals have been granted emergency licenses to practice in the Garden State. More than half the licenses have been granted to physicians, physician assistants, or nursing professionals.

In Pennsylvania, health officials are putting pressure on doctors and laboratory employees to better report coronavirus patients’ demographic data, including race. Communities nationwide have seen the virus disproportionately affect people of color. While New Jersey and Philadelphia officials have noticed a similar disparity, Pennsylvania has contended with an outdated reporting system, Levine said.

Wolf said that Pennsylvania has taken pains to cut costs in order to keep essential services operating.

“We’re all fairly confident that the federal government will in fact come through with support for the states to keep our services open,” he said. But as other governors, he cautioned against moving too quickly on reopening business.

“All of us have to figure out the right cadence,” he said. “How do we get back to work and normal life in a way that is not going to swamp the health-care system?”

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In voting to favor federal guidelines for restarting the state’s economy, the House’s Republican majority argued that the Wolf administration’s approach has been inconsistent, unfair, and difficult to understand. They said that businesses that can safely operate should do so.

Democrats countered that loosening the shutdown, in place for about a month, would result in more infections and overwhelm the health-care system. The House voted to send the proposal to the Senate, 107-95, with every Democrat and two Republicans opposed to it.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said the U.S. lacks the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin a grand reopening.

“We have to have something in place that is efficient and that we can rely on, and we’re not there yet,” he said.

A study warned that coronavirus infections will rebound and threaten to overwhelm hospitals when current social distancing measures are lifted. Prolonged or periodic restrictions may be needed for two more years, according to mathematical modeling by Harvard University’s Chan School of Public Health. The study was published Tuesday in the journal Science.

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Could the city’s sewer system endure two more years of this? With the proliferation of wipes, paper towels, and napkins, the Philadelphia Water Department warns that flushing anything but toilet paper down the drain can lead to significant damage and create massive problems for city services.

According to the city, 13 sanitary pump stations have been impacted by discarded wipes, which act like magnets for cooled fat and grease commonly called “fatbergs.”

Said City Water Commissioner Randy Hayman, “We can get through this together, and not flushing wipes or littering are really simple ways to help your city and the environment.”

Staff writers Nick Vadala, Marie McCullough, Kristen A. Graham, Erin Arvedlund, Katie Park, Rob Tornoe, and Laura McCrystal contributed to this article, which also contains information from Inquirer wire services.