President Trump might be taking the threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus more seriously now, but he's already considering restarting the economy.
The Washington Post reports that Trump has been made aware that some Republican lawmakers and White House advisers are eager to scale back isolation and quarantine efforts to contain the virus, with many saying the impact on the economy is too severe. However, public health officials have made it clear that the country is not ready to go back to normal just yet.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci has warned that the pandemic could get much worse in the country before it gets better, as have a number of other health officials. The Trump administration has repeatedly been told scaling back the efforts to contain the virus so early could only worsen the impact and overcrowd U.S. hospitals, sources close to internal deliberations have said. As of Monday, the number of confirmed cases in the country have surpassed 40,000, and that figure is expected to continue to rise.
Numerous Republican lawmakers, including Patrick Toomey and Ron Johnson, have called to expedite reopening parts of the economy. Other notable conservative figures including Steven Moore and Art Laffer have similiarly lobbied for the White House to scale back the efforts, particuarly when it comes to the closure of restaurants and stores. Trump has reportedly continued to discuss the possibility of restarting the economy with his advisers and GOP senators, as he is allegedly concernd the rise in unemployment and other economic downfalls could hurt his 2020 reelection chances.
Additionally, those close to Trump have allegedly shared an article that "downplays the extent of the spread and the threat posed by the outbreak." As of right now, no such proposals to restart the economy have been presented to Trump.
