On Monday morning, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) shot down President Donald Trump’s expectation for American businesses to soon resume as normal amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I will say this, that going out of this thing is going to be just as tough, if not tougher, than going into it and closing things down,” the governor told the co-hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
DeWine said governors face a “series of decisions” on the process of allowing businesses to reopen as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country and put physically vulnerable people at major risk of death.
“I think that sometimes we all think we’re going to turn a switch and we’re going to be back to normal, and that’s just not going to happen,” he said. “We’re going to have to slowly do this.”
DeWine isn’t the first Republican governor to throw cold water on Trump’s push to prematurely “reopen” the economy; Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and three Democratic governors said on Sunday that their states weren’t ready to lift stay at home orders, and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) similarly dismissed the idea at the end of March.
Watch DeWine below:
Ohio Gov. DeWine says immediate reopening of economy "is just not going to happen." pic.twitter.com/BmiBPKFCgo
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) April 13, 2020
