Trump says U.S. to make a decision on coronavirus at end of 15-day plan

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States will make a decision at the end of a 15-day period on “which way we want to go”, to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

“We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” he said on Twitter. He did not elaborate.

Trump issued new guidelines on March 16 aimed at slowing the spread of the disease over 15 days.

Since then, Trump’s administration has been pushing for aggressive steps to stem the economic hit of the epidemic, after the president spent several weeks playing down the risks.

Nearly one in three Americans was under orders on Sunday to stay home to slow the spread of the virus as Ohio, Louisiana and Delaware became the latest states to enact broad restrictions, along with the city of Philadelphia.

They joined New York, California, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey, home to 101 million Americans combined.

Cases of the coronavirus in the United States have topped 32,000, with more than 415 dead, according to a Reuters tally. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T)

Earlier on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the lockdown affecting large segments of the American public was likely to last 10 to 12 weeks, or until early June.