Mnuchin: Economy can’t shut down again

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. shouldn’t shut down the economy again even if there is another surge in coronavirus cases.

“We’ve learned that if you shut down the economy, you’re going to create more damage — medical problems that get put on hold,” Mnuchin said Thursday on CNBC. “We can’t shut down the economy again.”

Mnuchin added that he believes President Donald Trump made the right decision to urge states to ease social distancing rules that have crippled the U.S. economy. He said that in the event of a resurgence, it will not be necessary to impose restrictions again because COVID-19 testing and contact tracing are improving and officials understand more about how to contain outbreaks.

U.S. stocks tumbled the most in almost six weeks Thursday morning as evidence mounted that a second wave of coronavirus cases was coming. More than 2 million people in the U.S. have been infected so far.

Mnuchin echoed an argument advanced by Trump and Health Secretary Alex Azar: The health costs of the shutdown may exceed the toll of the virus or already have. The White House has offered no data to support that assertion and has declined requests to do so.

While the U.S. has seen a decline in some services such as cancer screenings and childhood vaccinations during the lockdown, health experts have warned that it’s a false choice to weigh those directly against the pandemic. The U.S. continues to see around 20,000 new cases and 1,000 deaths per day from the virus, with rising case totals in states including Texas.

Meanwhile, the economic shutdown has put more than 40 million people out of work. While some of those jobs are starting to return faster than expected, the unemployment rate was 13.3 percent last month.

Mnuchin credits a bipartisan effort to inject about $6 trillion into the economy through fiscal and monetary stimulus for the start of an economic recovery. But he says more spending will be needed.

“One of the things we’re going to need to be focused on is how we help the industries that are especially impacted: hotel, travel, entertainment, restaurants,” he said. Also under discussion, he said, is federal aid for state and local governments, and support for small businesses impacted by recent looting linked to protests against police brutality and racism.

“The president and I won’t be done until we get every single person back to work,” Mnuchin said, adding that there is still money from the previous packages that remains unused. “Over the next month, you’ll see another $1 trillion go into the economy.”