Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Tuesday six key indicators he and his team are watching to determine how and when to lift the statewide social distancing orders that have been in place since March 19.

While he didn't give a specific date, he said his team will reevaluate the timeline in the next two weeks. The number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases in California, now at 23,338, has started to slow, signaling the state is successfully flattening the curve. Still, as of Tuesday morning, more than 730 people have died from complications related to the virus in California. Newsom also said 3,015 people are currently hospitalized, with 1,177 in ICUs on Tuesday, a modest drop from the day before.

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"We move from surge into suppression," Newsom said, adding that officials see a light at the end of the tunnel. But, he cautioned, this is "perhaps the most difficult and challenging phase of all," and emphasized that "this phase is one where science, where public health, not politics must be the guide."

California’s six indicators for modifying the stay-at-home order are:

The ability to monitor and protect our communities through testing, contact tracing, isolating, and supporting those who are positive or exposed;

The ability to prevent infection in people who are at risk for more severe COVID-19;

The ability of the hospital and health systems to handle surges;

The ability to develop therapeutics to meet the demand;

The ability for businesses, schools, and child care facilities to support physical distancing; and

The ability to determine when to reinstitute certain measures, such as the stay-at-home orders, if necessary.

Newsom foreshadowed the plan Monday morning, sharing that California is moving forward in coordination with its West Coast neighbors, Washington and Oregon. The strategy, which is part of a "shared vision" between the three states, Newsom said, centers on science and data and puts public health ahead of political pressure to get the economy humming again.

“COVID-19 doesn’t follow state or national boundaries,” Newsom, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and Gov. Kate Brown Washington said in a joint-statement issued Monday. “It will take every level of government, working together, and a full picture of what’s happening on the ground.”

The model follows a separate collaborative effort taking shape between seven states on the East Coast, including New York, which has been the hardest hit by the virus.

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The pandemic has had a devastating economic effect in the state, a consequence of the abrupt halt of business as usual across the country.

A historic number of unemployment claims have been filed in California, surging past 1 million in early April. Current projections from the Newsom administration show the unemployment rate could top records set in 2009 during the Great Recession, when close to 13% of the labor force didn't have work.

The state also stands to lose roughly $54.5 billion in travel spending by the end of the year, based on projections from the tourism bureau, Visit California.

But officials are attempting to strike a difficult balance between softening the economic impact and ensuring the progress made in curbing the spread of the coronavirus continues. The costs to both public health and the economy could be made worse if distancing orders are lifted prematurely. Newsom emphasized that the decision to reopen will be made carefully and based only on health and science data.

Trump takes aim at governors

The announcement of the West Coast plan comes as President Trump takes aim at the nation's governors, tweeting Monday that he has the sole discretion over when to reopen both states and the federal government, a claim widely refuted by constitutional scholars.

The president repeated the assertion at a press briefing Monday evening, saying that "the president of the United States calls the shots,” and that his “authority is total."

The statements marked a sharp shift in tone from Trump, who has for weeks been emphasizing that the responsibility to prepare and respond to the pandemic lies largely with state leaders.

Trump has yet to share his plans for reopening the economy but has assembled a new task force, tentatively called the “Opening Our Country Council.” The White House has yet to say who sits on the council, but Fox News released a partial list on Monday indicating that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, his daughter Ivanka Trump, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Purdue, and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao are likely to be involved.

New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters he would defy the president's orders if told to reopen the state before he thinks it is safe to.

"The president basically declared himself King Trump, right?" Cuomo said on MSNBC's Morning Joe show. "And all that annoying federal-state back and forth our founding fathers went through, he just disregarded that."

Newsom, who has not been shy about challenging the president in the past, said this week that he will continue collaborating with the federal government. But California was already largely acting on its own.

Speaking on MSNBC on April 7, the governor referred to California as a "nation-state," a phrase he's since clarified was used to suggest a “sense of scale and scope.”

Still, it's clear California will forge forward with its own plan, and make local determinations about when and how the state will reopen. Even the state's vision, he said, would be "realized at the local level."

As the state moves into the next phase, and takes steps toward recovery, he emphasized the importance of individual accountability. People will be expected to cover their faces in public, isolate themselves if they are exposed to the virus, and the state could add additional enforcement to quarantine requirements, Newsom said, without elaborating on what that additional enforcement might entail.

Even after orders are lifted, life isn't likely to bounce back immediately.

"There is no light switch here," he said, likening the shift to a dimmer that will toggle back and forth on the degree of how restricted movements will be. "This is an imperfect science," Newsom added. "We talk about what the new normal will look like — normal, it will not be."

Gabrielle Canon is the California Reporter for the USA Today Network. You can reach her at gcanon@gannett.com or on Twitter @GabrielleCanon.