President Trump said the United States was past the peak of new coronavirus infections as he promised to unveil guidelines on Thursday for reopening the country’s shuttered economy.
“The battle continues, but the data suggests that nationwide we have passed the peak on new cases,” he said on Wednesday during his daily White House briefing.
Like previous appearances, Trump cut an angry figure as he continued his attacks on the World Health Organization and this time also turned his fire on Congress, threatening to adjourn both chambers in order to force through key appointments.
When to ease social distancing restrictions has dominated policy discussions for the past fortnight as allies urge the president to begin the work of rebuilding an economy shattered by job losses.
Earlier in the day, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield said as many as 20 states may be ready to reopen on May 1, although some mitigation measures would have to stay.
Trump is due to speak to governors on Thursday and said he would be making an announcement in the afternoon.
“These encouraging developments have put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country, which we will be announcing, we’re going to be talking about that tomorrow,” he said.
Thursday is likely to begin with another sobering demonstration of the work ahead. New jobs numbers are expected to show that another 5 million people filed for unemployment benefits last week, adding to almost 17 million new claimants since the middle of March.
Those numbers have heaped pressure on a president whose reelection campaign had been built around a message of economic growth.
Last month, he said he wanted the country to be opening up in time for Easter, a claim he later was forced to rebrand as aspirational.
And at times, the president has suggested he has absolute authority for lifting social distancing guidelines. But on Tuesday, he said the decision on when to open schools and nonessential businesses lay with governors.
In a phone call with business leaders on Wednesday, he was warned not to push too far, too fast for fear of letting the virus take off again.
Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur, was on one of the calls and urged caution during an earlier Fox News interview.
“This is such a moving target that I think the biggest mistake we can make is rush to a decision,” he said. “But I’m going to help him in every way I can, whatever he needs me to do.”
The new guidance is expected to open the way to ease restrictions in areas with low transmission of the novel coronavirus.
“We’ll be opening some states much sooner than others,” said Trump.
The U.S. has the world’s highest coronavirus death toll in the world. It passed 30,000 on Wednesday, according to a tally maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
Trump’s scientific advisers say the death toll lags behind the number of hospital admissions by several weeks.
Task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx detailed the variation around the country, saying nine states had fewer than 1,000 cases. But she said it was too early to declare victory.
“To all of you out there that would like to join together and just have that dinner party for 20, don’t do it yet”, she said. “Continue to follow the presidential guidelines.”
