Trump warns of 'painful two weeks'

President Trump, speaking in unusually somber tones, told Americans on Tuesday to brace for a “very, very painful two weeks” and begged them to stay at home as much as possible through April 30, saying 100,000 to 200,000 people could die from COVID-19 despite his team’s best efforts to fight the coronavirus and that they want to depress that number.

Mr. Trump wanted to get the nation “raring to go” by Easter, but sobering models forced him to reverse course and plead with people to work and learn at home, avoid nonessential travel and stay out of restaurants for additional weeks.

“I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” Mr. Trump said at the White House.

The president called for sacrifices as his coronavirus task force said the virus could kill far more Americans than car crashes or influenza do each year.

“As sobering a number as it is, we should be prepared for it,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Administration officials said the models are guided by epidemiology but aren’t gospel. Actual outcomes will be guided by human behavior.

Social distancing, a term that has become part of the lexicon, “is going to be the answer to our problems,” Dr. Fauci said.

Mr. Trump said social distancing is working, noting up to 2 million people might have died had the nation “done nothing.”