WASHINGTON, DC, United States (AP) — With lives and the economy hanging in the balance, President Donald Trump said yesterday he is hoping the country will be reopened by Easter as he weighs how to refine nationwide social-distancing guidelines to put some workers back on the job amid the coronavirus outbreak.

As many public health officials call for stricter, not looser restrictions on public interactions, Trump said he was already looking toward easing the advisories that have sidelined workers, shuttered schools and led to a widespread economic slowdown.

“I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter,” he said during a Fox News virtual town hall. Easter is just over two weeks away — April 12.

Health experts have made clear that unless Americans continue to dramatically limit social interaction — staying home from work and isolating themselves — the number of infections will overwhelm the health care system, as it has in parts of Italy, leading to many more deaths. While the worst outbreaks are concentrated in certain parts of the country, such as New York, experts warn that the highly infectious disease is certain to spread.

The US is now more than a week into an unprecedented 15-day effort to encourage all Americans to drastically scale back their public activities. The guidelines, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are voluntary, but many state and local leaders have issued mandatory restrictions in line with, or even tighter than, those issued by the CDC.

On Monday, the US saw its biggest jump yet in the death toll from the virus, with 609 America deaths attributed to COVID-19 since the outbreak began. Trump’s comments come after dire warnings by officials in hard-hit areas, including New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo warned yesterday that his state’s hospital capacity will soon hit a breaking point, even with the restrictions already in place.

“I gave it two weeks,” Trump said during the virtual town hall from the Rose Garden. He argued that tens of thousands of Americans die from the seasonal flu or in automobile accidents and “we don’t turn the country off”.

“We’ll assess at that time and we’ll give it some more time if we need a little more time, but we need to open this country up,” he added. “We have to go back to work, much sooner than people thought.”

Trump’s Easter target was not immediately embraced by Dr Deborah Birx, the coordinator for Trump’s task force, who indicated any move would have to be guided by data still being collected. She suggested that public health professionals could recommend a general easing, while pushing for local restrictions to remain in the hardest-hit areas.

Trump acknowledged that some want the guidance to continue, but claimed without providing evidence that it would lead to “deaths” from suicides and depression.

“I’m sure that we have doctors that would say ‘let’s keep it closed for two years,’” Trump said. “No, we got to get it open.”

He added: “This cure is worse than the problem.”

Trump also criticised Cuomo, who has grown critical of the slow pace of federal aid to his state, particularly to fill its urgent need for ventilators.

The reassessment comes as the White House is encouraging lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass a roughly $2 trillion stimulus package to ease the financial pain for Americans and hard-hit industries.

Appearing before the president at the virtual town hall, Vice-President Mike Pence said Trump has asked for recommendations from the White House coronavirus task force for how he can send people back to work while minimising the public health risk. He said Trump wants to find a way “to open America back up”.

Trump’s enthusiasm for getting people back to work comes as he takes stock of the political toll the outbreak is taking. It sets up a potential conflict with medical professionals, including many within his Government, who have called for more social restrictions to slow the spread of the virus, not fewer.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases and a member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, did not appear at the virtual town hall, but Trump denied there were any tensions between the two men.

Lawmakers have suggested that they’ll look to Fauci for guidance on when the restrictions should be lifted.