Coronavirus in US: Is Trump Right About Restarting Economy By Easter? What Dr. Fauci Said About Claims

President Trump has insisted that U.S. businesses reopen by Easter amid a looming recession. However, as with many of Trump’s assertions about the pandemic, experts have taken issue with this decision.

In an interview with Trevor Noah of “The Daily Show,” director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci took issue with Trump's timetable. While not specifically calling out Trump’s Easter statement, Fauci made it clear that the U.S. cannot dictate a schedule to return to normal.

“The virus is the clock, Trevor,” Fauci said. “So, people may arbitrarily say [in] two weeks, we’re going to be OK. It depends on the kinetics of the outbreak. It's unpredictable about when you can say this cycle, which is usually measured in several weeks. Sometimes, when you're into the cycle, you may only be two to three weeks away before it turns around.”

In recent weeks, Fauci has frequently contradicted Trump’s claims and statements about COVID-19. He has pushed back against Trump's championing of treatments for the illness, including chloroquine phosphate, and as well as his attempts to coin the contentious name, “Chinese Virus.”

“I think what the president was trying to do, he was making an aspirational projection to give people some hope,” Fauci said about Trump’s Easter comment in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

While Trump has pushed for optimism with his April 12 date, public health experts have called for a national shutdown.

"We are seeing community spread in every state. You need the nation to shut down," Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary of homeland security, told NPR.