With the coronavirus crisis still spinning out of control in the United States, Donald Trump appears to be training the White House’s focus away from public health and toward reigniting the economy. According to Axios, Trump is expected to sideline public health officials Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, shifting attention to business “success stories” and to governors and local leaders who heed the president’s calls to reopen their states. “[Fauci and Birx] will continue,” a White House official told the outlet, “but will take a back seat to the forward-looking, ‘what’s next’ message.”

Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany acknowledged Monday on Fox News that briefings later this week “may have a different look,” though declined to outline specific changes. Fauci and other public health experts have cautioned against attempting a premature return to normal, warning that social distancing guidelines cannot safely be lifted without increased testing that the Trump administration has so far failed to adequately provide. “You don’t make the timeline,” Fauci said late last month, as Trump first began floating plans to reopen the country. “The virus makes the timeline.” But the president, concerned the plunging economy and escalating unemployment due to the pandemic could stand in the way of his reelection, has insisted that the government has provided states with sufficient resources to combat the deadly virus and openly grown impatient with the social distancing measures that have only just begun to show promise in slowing its spread. “Remember,” Trump tweeted Saturday, “the Cure can’t be worse than the problem itself.”

Having wasted months downplaying the COVID threat, he has desperately grasped for a miracle cure that could make the problem go away without him needing to do any real work—first by promoting the unproven off-label use of an anti-malarial to treat the disease, then by ludicrously suggesting toxic cleaning products and/or “very powerful” light could be injected into the human body as a possible cure. Those bizarre remarks drew widespread mockery, condemnation, and disbelief, as well as warnings from supporters that his rambling performances at the daily coronavirus briefings are hurting him politically. “It’s not helping him,” one adviser said recently.

For now, Trump has signaled plans to possibly step back from the pressers, framing his apparent withdrawal as a response to reporters’ “hostile” treatment of him and his staff. “Not worth the time & effort!” the president tweeted Saturday of the marathon briefing sessions he’s substituted for the boisterous campaign rallies he’d expected to hold heading into the 2020 election. He didn’t hold a weekend briefing and Monday’s scheduled briefing was canceled. Pivoting later this week to economy could allow Trump to get back into the public eye after a brief retreat and focus on an issue he appears more comfortable discussing and that is central to his reelection campaign. “Expect to see a pivot from the White House in the days ahead, focusing on the economy and a more hopeful, forward-looking message,” an official told Axios.

Of course, it is just like Trump to shift away from a problem before it is even close to being solved; despite small protests calling for lockdowns to be lifted and some promising signs that social distancing has begun to flatten the coronavirus curve, the U.S. remains in the throes of its first wave of infections, with confirmed cases and deaths continuing to multiply and several states still looking ahead to their peaks. Meanwhile, ongoing deficiencies in testing nationwide mean it is still impossible to know the full extent of the spread and to track outbreaks. Americans won’t be able to endure the pain of economic shutdown forever—but urging businesses to resume normal activity without treatment, a vaccine, or adequate testing will undoubtedly cause the crisis to escalate further.