CNN

The top infectious disease doctor in the US says reopening the country will be a gradual process and restrictions will be lifted depending on where you are in the country.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN this is not a "one size fits all" decision.

"It is not going to be a light switch that we say, okay, it is now June, July or whatever, click, the light switch goes back on," Fauci said. "It's going to be depending where you are in the country, the nature of the outbreak that you have already experienced and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced."

Fauci said he believes this approach is needed to try to prevent a "rebound" or second wave of coronavirus cases. He said there will be people who do get infected after restrictions are loosened, but by reopening gradually, there will be time to identify those cases and isolate them.

"If you start, and when one starts, to relax some of the restrictions, we know that there will be people who will be getting infected. I mean, that is just reality," Fauci said.

Fauci said "it's so difficult to make those kinds of predictions" regarding when these measures will begin, but he hopes to reassess the situation at the end of April.

"We are hoping that at the end of the month, we can look around and say, okay, is there any element here that we can safely and cautiously start pulling back on? If so, do it. If not, then just continue to hunker down," he said.