Coronavirus: Reopening Economy Remains Top Priority For Donald Trump Over Saving Lives

The novel coronavirus might have plunged the United States into a state of turmoil, but there’s more to President Donald Trump’s political timetable than just being focussed on ways to mitigate its spread and flatten the curve.

The White House made its priorities clear—with the Election Day less than six months away, there’s a dire need for "revival and an aggressive pitch for the second term." After having drawn major flak for its mismanagement of the pandemic, the Trump administration is making conscious efforts to deflect the failures that worsened the outbreak.

Despite repeated warnings by health experts, Trump is overlooking the dangers looming over—the gnawing death toll owing to the pandemic—and is pushing for an easing of the restrictions at the earliest. Lifting the lockdown at this juncture may not be the best idea, but Trump is focussed on getting the economy running.

Upon being prodded whether the price of opening the economy and getting things back to “normal” would cost lives, Trump implied that the average American staying cooped up in their home would do more harm than good to the individual’s as well as the national well-being.

“It's possible there will be some, because you won't be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is,” said Trump. Around 30 million Americans have lost their jobs owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has pushed them into complete home confinement.

"We have to get our country back. You know, people are dying the other way too. When you look at what's happened with drugs, it goes up. When you look at suicides, I mean, take a look at what's going on. People are losing their jobs -- we have to bring it back, and that's what we're doing,” said Trump as he addressed the press during his first real press meet in Arizona, outside of the White House.

The president doesn’t want to sit back and let things take their course anymore. And, it was clearly evidenced in his talks that stressed upon the horrors of wading through the grim reality of today. The stay-at-home orders have wreaked havoc on the economy and have pushed the United States on the brink of a total collapse.

The flurry of openings in several states, however, has left health experts worried about the repercussions of flouting the lockdown exercise to curb the infectious spread of the coronavirus.