U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday that his administration will oversee a gradual reopening of the economy, noting that waiting too long to relax shutdowns could cause severe economic damage.
"We’re going to slowly open the economy," Mnuchin told Fox News. "But there is also a risk that if we wait too long [it could] destroy the U.S. economy and [we also have to consider] the health impact that creates," he added.
According to Reuters, Mnuchin said he expected the second quarter to be "pretty bad" but that if the economy was reopened safely, subsequent quarters would be better and next year "we’ll be back to having a great economy."