Restrictions Rolled back in May? Trump Forms Second Task Force to Focus on US Economic Recovery

WASHINGTON -  President Donald Trump announced a second Coronavirus Task Force Tuesday to focus on the country's economic recovery. This new group's main priority is the economy, which is weighing heavily on both the American public and the president himself.

He calls it "the biggest decision" he's ever had to make - when and how to reopen the country. He's hoping to roll back restrictions by May. 

"The US is continuing to make substantial progress in our war against the virus," the President said during a news conference in the White House Rose Garden. 

The latest battle to roll back restrictions.

"It's going to be very very close, maybe even before the date of May 1st," Trump said. 

"You're talking about re-opening parts of the country by the end of the month and if you do that, as a result, will you see a spike in cases?" CBN News White House Correspondent Ben Kennedy asked the president. 

"We may or we may not. Some countries have and some countries haven't," Trump answered.  "I'm watching other countries. I'm studying other countries as they open."

The president said he's focused on getting Americans back to work. 

"The plans to reopen the country are close to being finalized and we will soon be sharing details and new guidelines with everybody," Trump said. 

And that includes faith leaders. 

"We will be talking about churches and we will be talking about opening," Trump said.

Several states from New York to California have already begun discussing ways to begin.  

CBN News asked Stephen Moore, an economist with The Heritage Foundation what needs to be done to reopen the economy? 

"The president will need to issue an executive order saying that certain states can open but ultimately the logistics of this will be decided by the nations' governors,"  Moore replied. 

"I will speaking to all 50 governors very shortly and I will then be authorizing each individual governor of each individual state to implement a reopening," Trump said. 

Trump predicts once doors are open again, the economy will take off like a rocket. Observers warn some workers and consumers will be hesitant to return to life as it was.

"I think if the government can focus on consumer confidence with the underlying principle of the communications being the truth. Then I think demand will start to come back because ultimately this economic issue is a demand issue," said Dr. Andrew Root, a member of the faculty at the Regent University School of Business and Leadership. "It's not a supply issue and demand will be a function of how well consumer confidence rebounds from what's obviously been a significant decline from cyclical highs."

CBN News asked Moore how long he thought it will take before we're basically back to normal?

"When are we getting back to normal, that is the question we all of us want an answer to," he said. "It's not going to be like an ignition switch of a car that we can just reopen the economy and everybody is going to get back to work. I wish that were the case. It's going to take in my opinion about three of four months before we have the end of this recession and it's going to be a slow recovery."

Officials will have to be cautious. The Minneapolis Federal Reserve president warns that when restrictions have been relaxed in other countries, the virus has flared back up again. Re-opening will also be difficult for many small businesses, who employ about half of all private-sector employees. 

The CDC also says the first step to re-opening is widespread testing, which is not yet available. It will also likely be a year before a coronavirus vaccine is available. 

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