Trump: CDC to issue church opening guidelines soon

President Donald Trump says he's spoken to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about quickly issuing guidelines for opening the nation's churches during the coronavirus pandemic.

The president said churches were "important in terms of the psyche of our country" and that warned that the country would be "broken" if the churches aren't reopened.

Trump also slammed Democratic governors who thought it was "good politics" to keep their states closed.

"I think churches are essential," Trump said at a round table meeting of African American leaders in Michigan. He said the CDC guidelines will be released "maybe tomorrow, maybe today."

Pandemic politics shadowed Trump's trip to Michigan, where he toured a Ford Motor plant that had been repurposed to manufacture ventilators for the COVID-19 epidemic.

The visit to Ypsilanti, outside Detroit, comes a day after he criticized top state leaders and threatened to withhold federal funding over the state's mail-in balloting effort.

U.S. health officials quietly released more reopening guidance Wednesday that was created more than a month ago but initially shelved.

As with other recently released guidance, religious organizations were not included.

Instead, the document has advice for childcare facilities, schools, day camps, mass transit systems, restaurants, bars and other businesses and organizations that have workers at high risk of becoming sick from the coronavirus.

The guidance discusses different steps organizations can take as they reopen from closures aimed at stopping the virus's spread.