GOP Sen. John Kennedy said reopening the US economy means accepting an accelerated spread of coronavirus.

He warned of a global economic collapse if the American economy wasn't reopened soon in a Fox News interview.

"We've gotta reopen, and when we do, the coronavirus is gonna spread faster," Kennedy said.

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Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday night that reopening the American economy from its coronavirus-induced shutdown means accepting the infectious pathogen will spread faster.

Speaking with anchor Tucker Carlson, Kennedy said he wanted to be blunt about the need to kick the economy back into high gear.

"Every politician, myself included sometimes, is just dancing around the issue. The American people get it. We've gotta reopen, and when we do, the coronavirus is gonna spread faster," the Republican senator said. "And we've gotta be ready for it."

He also warned of a global economic collapse.

"We gotta open this economy. If we don't, it's gonna collapse," Kennedy said. "And if the US economy collapses, the world economy collapses. Trying to burn down the village to save it is foolish — that's a cold hard truth."

The GOP senator said the shutdown failed to stop the spread of the virus and only slowed the transmission rate — even though that's what public health officials were trying to achieve.

Still, Kennedy acknowledged the US had to be "smart" in its strategy to reopen the economy.

"Don't open up in the middle of a hot-spot," he said. "Encourage your elderly and those with pre-existing conditions to stay quarantined and provide them with financial support. Wear masks, try to socially distance."

Read more: Restarting the economy doesn't mean life will return to normal anytime soon. Here are 5 plans that offer a glimpse of a dystopian future.

Kennedy's comments channel a growing push among conservatives to reopen the economy after a month of astonishing job losses and business closures that have wreaked economic chaos and thrown millions of Americans into dire financial straits.

On Thursday, the Labor Department released data showing 5 million people filed for unemployment for the week ending April 11. That brought the total number of unemployment claims to 22 million — and virtually wiped out all the jobs created in the decade since the Great Recession.

Read more: Bank of America's wealth-management chief overseeing $2.7 trillion says investors must make 3 permanent changes to thrive in a market ravaged by the coronavirus

The Trump administration is driving to restart economic activity next month, despite its struggle to ramp up mass coronavirus testing that public health experts say is critical to tracing and managing the spread of the disease.

The White House's own efforts to reopen the economy have been hobbled by a lack of planning and coordination so far. Trump's much-vaunted second economic task force instead became a marathon series of phone calls with scores of corporate leaders on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.

Still, any semblance of a normal life for Americans is likely far off, experts say — at least until a coronavirus vaccine is successfully created and administered to a large segment of the public.