California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he will announce reopening guidelines for places of worship on Monday. Newsom’s comments came just a few hours after President Donald Trump deemed places of worship “essential services.”
Trump demanded governors allow them to reopen “this weekend,” threatening to “override” the governors if they didn’t. He did not explain what legal grounds he had to do so.
Newsom said that California had been working on guidelines for places of worship for weeks. He said officials will look at any CDC guidelines that are released from Trump’s announcement and possibly incorporate them into their own plans.
“We appreciate the CDC is apparently going to be providing today, we are told, some recommendations. We will take a look at those. We take the issue very, very seriously and to heart and we have been very aggressive in trying to put together guidelines that will do justice to people’s health and their fundamental need and desire to practice their faith,” Newsom said. “We are looking forward to a very positive working relationship with faith leaders and look forward to working through this issue in a spirit of cooperation and collaboration.”
