President trump says he's eager to get America back to work

(NBC News) – President Trump said again Friday he is eager to get America back to work, and that he has a target date in mind.

“We hope we’re going to be able to fulfill a certain date, but we’re not going to do anything until we know this country’s going to he healthy,” President Trump said.

It’s a life or death balance. Medical experts are starkly warning returning too soon could lead to a deadly second wave of COVID-19 cases.

That outcome is predicted to be even worse for the economy, if it forced the country to retreat back to square one.

“We have not reached the peak, and so every day we need to continue to do what we did yesterday and the week before,” White House Coronavirus Task Force member Dr. Deborah Birx said.

In New York, where new hospitalizations are down substantially, Governor Andrew Cuomo is calling for a dramatic increase in testing to give workers confidence they’re safe before they return to the job.

“We need testing and antibody testing, and we need millions and millions and need them in a matter of weeks,” Cuomo said.

The governor went on to say only the federal government could manage that, urging President Trump to use the Defense Production Act to force companies to make millions of tests.

Still, the president insists it’s not necessary to test everyone, while the U.S. still lags behind other countries in the percentage of our population being tested, leaving blind spots where the virus could strike next.