Trump Hopes to Have U.S. Reopened by Easter, Despite Health Experts’ Warnings
President says Americans could continue social distancing but go back to work after 15-day period end
WASHINGTON—President Trump said he hopes to have the country reopened in just over two weeks, a timeline that is dramatically sooner than what many public-health experts have recommended to help contain the coronavirus pandemic.
“I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” Mr. Trump said on a Fox News town hall filmed in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday. Easter falls on April 12.
He said that once the 15-day period in which the government has urged Americans to practice social distancing ends next week, “we’ll stay a little bit longer than that” but that he wants the effective shutdown of the country to end “very soon.” He said Americans could continue to practice some form of social distancing while also going back to work.
In a second Fox News interview on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he was concerned that keeping the U.S. shut down longer would make it more difficult for the economy to bounce back. “The longer it takes, the longer we stay out, the longer that is to do,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s comments marked the escalation of a complicated debate, both inside and outside the White House, over how to balance the public-health benefits of coronavirus restrictions against the broad economic pain those measures are causing.
For days, the president and his aides have been discussing easing social-distancing guidelines as early as next week. The president has been pushed by advisers and business leaders to boost an economy beset by deepening job losses nationwide, people familiar with the discussions said. Among those who have pressed the president to get the economy running are Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Domestic Policy Council director Joe Grogan, people familiar with discussions said.
Conservative economist Stephen Moore, an informal outside adviser to the president, has been advocating for reopening businesses and getting people back to work and said he had a conversation Monday with top level White House officials about the idea.
“I think it will be a real shot of confidence to the business community and investors that we’re not going to see a multi-month checked out period, which would be catastrophic,” Mr. Moore said.
His White House conversation followed a Sunday conference Mr. Moore participated in with about a dozen economists and business leaders to discuss the idea. The group suggested Easter Sunday as a date for an “economic resurrection,” though Mr. Moore said he wasn’t sure that was what prompted the president.
“His presidency is riding on getting this right,” Mr. Moore said. “He’s got to make sure that the plan of action is sensible and sound and takes an appropriate balance of getting people back on the job while not making the pandemic worse. You have to have very strict public safety measures.”
As state and local governments have directed Americans to stay home, financial markets have taken a steep dive in recent weeks, as concerns about growth prospects have erased nearly 30% of the value of the S&P 500 and left volatility in American stocks at historically high levels.
Other aides, particularly public-health advisers, have cautioned Mr. Trump against easing the guidelines, warning the measures remain necessary.
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview on NBC on Friday that it would be at least several weeks before the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. begins to abate. “I cannot see that all of a sudden, next week or two weeks from now it’s going to be over,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a chance of that. I think it’s going to be several weeks.”
Other leading public-health experts also called for greater caution. More than 130 million Americans are being urged by cities and states to stay at home. There have been 544 deaths in the U.S. from coronavirus and about 44,100 identified cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) firmly disagreed with the president’s call to open up businesses, saying that the country should listen to the medical professionals.
“This is not a time for notion-mongering, this is a time for serious, evidence-based decision making,” she said in an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday. “What the president is suggesting is really a formula for more uncertainty, more infections and more harm to the economy.”
Some conservative lawmakers expressed caution as well. Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) wrote Tuesday in a tweet: “There will be no normally functioning economy if our hospitals are overwhelmed and thousands of Americans of all ages, including our doctors and nurses, lay dying because we have failed to do what’s necessary to stop the virus.”
The social-distancing guidelines instructed all Americans to avoid nonessential travel, sit-down restaurants and gatherings of more than 10 people, among other steps.
Even if the president relaxes federal guidelines, Americans would still be subject to restrictions that governors and mayors nationwide have rolled out, shutting schools and many retail businesses.
As millions of Americans have stayed home, job losses have escalated while businesses fret about making rent payments. “You can destroy a country this way, by closing it down,” Mr. Trump said on Tuesday. “I gave it two weeks…and we’ll assess at that time, and we’ll give it some more time if we need any more time. But we have to open this country up.”
He predicted that if the shutdown continues, the economy could descend into a massive recession, which he said could be accompanied by a marked uptick in depression. “You’re going to have suicides by the thousands,” he said.