Governors of Washington, Oregon, and California announced on Monday that they would be working on a joint plan to reopen their economies as soon as coronavirus-related restrictions and guidelines are lifted.
Oregon's Kate Brown, Washington's Jay Inslee, and California's Gavin Newsom said in a statement, "COVID-19 has preyed upon our interconnectedness. In the coming weeks, the West Coast will flip the script on COVID-19 - with our states acting in close coordination and collaboration to ensure the virus can never spread wildly in our communities."
"We are announcing that California, Oregon, and Washington have agreed to work together on a shared approach for reopening our economies - one that identifies clear indicators for communities to restart public life and business," the governors continued.
The joint decisions will address vulnerable populations like nursing homes and care facilities as well as the indirect effects on disadvantaged communities. They will put into place a plan that will help with a system for testing, tracking, and isolating future patients.
They've also stressed that their decisions will be rooted in health guidelines and science, not politics.
The West Coast was one of the hardest-hit regions in the country in the pandemic's early stages. California has 21,794 confirmed cases with 1,527 in Oregon and 10,224 in Washington.
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