VIRUS FIGHT CLOSE TO END – TRUMP
NEW YORK: United States President Donald Trump declared the beginning of the end of the coronavirus crisis in the US and called for a quick end to social distancing, even as New York’s governor compared the growing pandemic to a “bullet train.”
Trump, who is keen to get his reelection campaign back on track, said social distancing had caused too much pain to the US economy, prompting Congress to debate a historic rescue package.
“Our country — it’s not built to shut down,” he said. “You can destroy a country this way by closing it down.”
“I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” continued Trump, declaring he could see “light at the end of the tunnel.”
The president said he looked forward to “packed” churches on Easter, which is on April 12 — less than three weeks away.
Social distancing and quarantine measures have been instituted across much of the US, with stay-at-home orders for more than a third of the population, bringing the world’s biggest economy to an abrupt halt.
An Ipsos/ Axios poll released Tuesday found that 74 percent of Americans had stopped attending large gatherings, while 48 percent had canceled travel plans, leaving airports deserted.
Another significant casualty of the shutdown has been the presidential campaign, with Trump
having to halt a relentless series of big rallies around the country.
Health experts have advised the measures as the foundation for preventing the easily transmitted, potentially fatal illness from multiplying uncontrollably.
The administration on March 16 declared “15 Days to Slow the Spread,” a period which expires early next week.
But Trump made clear Tuesday that he thinks the response to coronavirus deaths has been
blown out of proportion, saying “we lose much more than that to automobile accidents. We didn’t call up the automobile companies to say, ‘Stop making cars.’”
Later, Trump appeared to retreat from his Easter goal at a press conference alongside the renowned government infectious diseases specialist Anthony Fauci.
“We’ll only do it if it’s good,” the president said, adding that the reopening could be limited to a “portion” of the nation. He mentioned
areas like farm country, Texas and the west, often sparsely populated.
His own press secretary, Stephanie Grisham, quarantined since coming into contact with Brazilian officials almost two weeks ago, has tested negative, the White House said Tuesday.
The plunge in activity and warnings of recession or even depression are a brutal reversal for what was until a few weeks ago a humming economy, with record low unemployment.