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WASHINGTON, March 26-- U.S. President Donald Trump told state governors in a letter Thursday that his administration will classify regions by levels of risk for COVID-19 in the next phase of response to the pandemic. In the letter, Trump said expanded testing capabilities in the country would enable the federal government to label "high-risk, medium-risk and low-risk" counties with differentiated social distancing requirements. "Our expanded testing capabilities will quickly enable us to publish criteria, developed in close coordination with the Nation's public health officials and scientists, to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus," the president wrote. Based on the new guideline, of which the date of adoption is not yet known, governors and other state policymakers will be better able to decide on "maintaining, increasing or relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures they have put in place," Trump said. Deborah Birx, a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said at a press briefing later in the day that what is vital for the stratification system is that people from a high-risk region should be prevented from traveling to a low-risk region. "Part of this will be the need to have highly responsible behavior between counties," she said. "I think the American people can understand where the virus is, and where it isn't, and make sure that they're taking appropriate precautions." | 
