The governors of seven Midwestern states — Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin — announced last Thursday they would also partner on plans to reopen.

Public health experts have expressed alarm at another informal federation among the governors of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee. Those Southern states have lagged behind the other territorial groupings in terms of testing capabilities and social-distancing directives, and their residents suffer higher rates of illnesses that increase vulnerability to the coronavirus.

As state leaders collaborate on their imminent emergence from the shutdown, the president has unveiled a series of general guidelines to help facilitate a phased reopening of the economy. According to those recommendations, announced last Thursday, states and localities should confirm a two-week downward trend in coronavirus symptoms and documented cases before easing restrictions.

But some states forging ahead with reopening, such as Georgia and Texas, have yet to meet that basic benchmark and are defying Trump’s nationwide social-distancing guidance, which remains in effect until the end of the month. The flouting of federal protocol has contributed to Democratic dissatisfaction with Republican governors’ plans.

Savannah, Georgia, Mayor Van Johnson said Wednesday his community has been “keeping the faith, but following the science from the White House’s own guidelines” in responding to the outbreak.

“For gradual reopening, there are boxes that need to be checked,” Johnson told Fox News, adding that the governor’s proposal seemingly contradicts Kemp’s own stay-at-home order, which expires April 30.

“Yet we are opening businesses on April 24 and 27,” Johnson said. “That creates the confusion. Obviously, we just want to be very, very clear that we’re all running on the same game plan.”

Brookhaven, Georgia, Mayor John Ernst echoed Johnson’s frustration, calling the inconsistent information from various levels of government the “biggest problem” confronting the state.

“It’s what you hear from one side — the scientists saying, ‘You need to wait,’ the president’s guidelines saying, ‘You need to wait’ — and then all of a sudden … we’re told, ‘No, it’s good, we should go ahead,’” Ernst told CNN. “And it just brings so much mixed messages, which confuses both the public, my citizenry and my business owners. Most of them who have contacted me aren’t going to open this week.”

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who said Monday she was blindsided by her governor’s announcement, charged Wednesday that the types of businesses set to reopen under Kemp’s plan would only exacerbate the coronavirus’ disproportionate toll on people of color.

“Think of our physical imprint in the African-American community. There are beauty and barber shops nearly on every corner,” Bottoms told NBC News. “So when you are opening up businesses like this and you are inviting people in that you have to have close contact, it seems to be irresponsible that you are piling on a community that’s already suffering.”

Asked about the apparent divide between Democratic local leaders and Republican state executives, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said “things are way too political than they need to be” with regard to the coronavirus, and noted that the health care crisis “has no respect [for] persons or parties or socioeconomic status.”

Turner told CNN he agreed with Abbott’s orders in Texas concerning curbside pickup for retail stores, elective surgeries and state parks, but implored the governor not to pursue a reopening plan as aggressive as Kemp’s in Georgia.

“If you go much further than that, if you start opening up everything, like what is taking place in Georgia,” Turner said, “then I think you run into a serious problem — creating a resurgence of this virus when people have sacrificed so much already and we have some very positive results.”

Abbott insisted Wednesday he was confident in his course of action for reopening the state despite not satisfying the standards established by the White House’s guidelines, telling Fox News that Texas had experienced “13 days in a row of a downward trajectory” of coronavirus cases.

“But more important than that is that these decisions about opening up in the state of Texas are not being made by politicians. They are being made by a team of experienced doctors dealing with this,” Abbott said, adding that his administration is “following the data to make sure that we will be opening up in a very safe way.”

Kemp also defended his plan to reopen his state Tuesday as a “measured approach with a lot of different requirements” for Georgians, and acknowledged he had received “a lot of praise and a lot of criticism” for his decision.

“I would urge people to really look at the guidance that we’re going to be putting out the rest of the week,” Kemp told Fox News. “You know, I announced this on Monday so we can have time to educate the public and the business owners that this is just not handing them the keys back to go back to where we were.”

Trump has shown a similar eagerness over the past month to reopen states and rally the flagging U.S. economy, emboldened by conservative demonstrations in capital cities against state-issued stay-at-home orders. Last Friday, the president tweeted an apparent encouragement of the protesters, urging them to “LIBERATE” Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia — all states led by Democratic governors.