Despite reigning worries about a possible second wave of coronavirus cases, the US is planning to go ahead with reopening its economy at a gradual pace over the coming weeks. This was confirmed by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who added that prolonging the shutdown further could hurt the economy severely.

Mnuchin shared these thoughts during a recent interview with Fox News, adding, “But there is also a risk that we wait too long, there is a risk of destroying the U.S. economy and the health impact that that creates.”

The war of words between President Donald Trump and health expert Anthony Fauci continues, with Trump criticizing Fauci’s recent warning about the resurgence in cases on reopening the economy too soon. While addressing the media at the White House, Trump responded, “To me it’s not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools.”

In more worrying news for the US economy, meanwhile, the Labor Department on Wednesday published revised unemployment numbers, revealing a higher number of job losses in the country through the shutdown during March and April. April’s NFP job loss numbers have been raised to 20.537 million while March saw 881k people losing their jobs.