Coronavirus: CDC quietly releases reopening guidance shelved by Trump White House

The virus does not spread easily 'from touching surfaces or objects'

The White House quietly released initially-shelved CDC reopening guidance after removing restrictions that prevented churches passing around collection plates.

After being held up for weeks by a debate over restrictions for religious organisations, the advice was added to a 20-page appendix of a previously existing document on the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention website on Sunday.

While it did not include faith-related guidance, it outlined advice on how to reopen childcare, schools, day camps, mass transit systems, restaurants, bars and other businesses.

The CDC, meanwhile, subtly updated its website guidance on how coronavirus spreads to focus on person to person contact while saying the virus "does not spread easily" from touching surfaces or objects.

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"This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about the virus," the CDC website now says.

The previously leaked then recently-released guidance was created more than a month ago but was shelved over concerns of a backlash from Donald Trump's religious base.

Quoting administration officials, The Washington Post reported that the White House did not want to upset its religious supporters by implementing strict measures like limits on the passing of collection plates.

The draft version of the document included detailed information for religious organisations, including limits on the size of in-person gatherings and maintaining a distance between worshipers.

During the White House's daily briefing on Wednesday, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that much of the document was "already out there".

"Appendix F was being discussed and there was constructive criticism of it through the taskforce and interagency process. So that was refined," Ms McEnany said.

"The 60-page document was merely an aggregation of a lot of what was already out there so it's not as if this was new information that we were announcing but it was more guidance pursuant to our reopening of America guidance that was issued several weeks ago."

According to the final version of the new guidance, the CDC recommends restaurants spread customers six feet apart and mass transit systems close every other row of seats and place limits on the number of riders on buses or trains.

It recommends schools and child care should remain closed in the first phase while opening in the next phase with enhanced social distancing measures.

"While some communities will progress sequentially through the reopening phases, there is the possibility of recrudescence in some areas," the CDC wrote in its guidance.

"Given the potential for a rebound in the number of cases or level of community transmission, a low threshold for reinstating more stringent mitigation standards will be essential."