WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he wants to have the country getting back to business by the Easter holiday, April 12, even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen.
“I would love to have the country opened up and raring to go by Easter,” Trump said during a Fox News interview.
Public health experts and local and state leaders have cautioned against easing restrictions too early, saying it could put an enormous strain on hospitals and lead to even more deaths and economic damage. But Trump said Tuesday that he believed the human toll would be greater should Americans continue to stay at home.
"This cure is worse than the problem," Trump said, adding that "in my opinion, more people are going to die if we allow this to continue."
A White House official said the president does not view Easter as a date that he begins opening things up, but a date by which the economy is speeding again. That means the loosening of restrictions would, under this scenario, start much sooner. The official says the focus now remains on how to get there, in phases, to address the challenges demographically and geographically.
Trump said people can continue to practice good hygiene and social distancing even while going back to work to try to control the virus's spread.
Trump on Tuesday expressed frustration with the economic consequences of having millions of Americans staying home and compared the coronavirus to the flu, despite public experts cautioning against the comparison.
“We lose thousands, and thousands of people a year to the flu, we don’t turn the country off every year," he said.
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