Trump says his 'instinct' will tell him when to end lockdown as 17M people lose jobs amid economic slump
President Donald Trump feels less assured as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to batter the US economy every day, affecting his prospects in the November 3 presidential election. The man, who has been banking on a well-functioning economy even two months ago to see him clinching the polls, now has to reassess the entire situation. Trump is not in favor of a longer lockdown as that continues to hurt the economy and now, he has said the final decision to lift the lockdown will be based on his “instinct”.
Trump, it may be recalled, said last month that his administration was considering reopening the economy by Easter but backtracked later when advised by his aides. Trump was worried that maintaining the lockdown would push people towards depression and suicide but his advisors could not ask him to take the risk, particularly keeping in mind the shattering consequences of the pandemic on the country’s health sector.
The US is the most affected country in the world at the moment with over 557,500 confirmed cases and more than 22,000 deaths.
As top health officials in America came up with a cautious optimism on Sunday, April 12, predicting the worst of the pandemic might soon be over, Trump was seen to be preparing to restart the economy telling Fox News host Jeanine Pirro: “There are a lot of things that go into a decision like that. It’s going to be based on a lot of facts and a lot of instinct. Whether we like it or not, there is a certain instinct to it.”
He also said opinions on experts from the fields of politics, medical and business will be taken into consideration before a final decision is made.
Dr Anthony Fauci too has sounded optimistic
Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a key member of Trump’s COVID-19 task force, also sounded optimistic with caution by saying the US could start a “rolling reentry” process as early as May.
“You’re trying to balance two things: You want to make sure you don’t do something prematurely and precipitously. At the same time, you pay attention to the need to try and get back to normal,” Fauci said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday.
According to a report in the Washington Times, Trump had initially hoped to reopen much of the economy by Easter Sunday but then the targeted date was postponed till May 1 even though the president had not publicly announced that.
“We’re looking at a date. We hope we’ll be able to fulfill a certain date, but we’re not doing anything until we know this country is going to be healthy,” he said. “We don’t want to go back and start doing [quarantining] over again, even though it would be on a smaller scale.”
The US economy is in dire straits at the moment with 17 million having lost their jobs in a span of a few weeks. Experts did not sound confident about a restoration of normalcy, saying the high unemployment rate could continue through 2021.