PROVIDENCE – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo is joining a coalition of mostly fellow East Coast Democratic governors to develop a regional plan to guide the opening of individual state economies that have been largely shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group was brought together by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and originally included Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Rhode Island. Several hours later, Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s office said he would join the group.
Democratic governors of California, Oregon and Washington also announced similar plans on Monday to form a West Coast coalition, according to The Associated Press.
“The virus doesn’t care about state borders, our response shouldn’t either,” said Raimondo on a Monday conference call with the other East Coast governors. “We’re going to have a better shot of getting it right working together,” she added in pledging cooperation with the group.
Each participating state in the coalition will contribute a public health representative, an economic-development official and the chief of staff for each governor to a working group to assemble plans for reopening their economies that are consistent with each other.
Cuomo said the group would begin work Tuesday but he did not identify any date for completion of a regional plan, adding he did not expect “a fully common strategy” all the states would follow.
(UPDATES with Baker joining Northeast group.)
