As life in the United States freezes to a screeching halt amid the coronavirus pandemic, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that he does not believe an economic recession will result from this; only an economic slowdown.

Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Mnuchin said he does not believe that the United States has entered an economic recession and does not believe it will enter an economic recession.

“The real issue is not the economic situation today. The real issue is what economic tools are we going to use to make sure we get through this because this is a unique situation,” he said, as reported by CNN. “Later in the year, obviously, the economic activity will pick up as we confront this virus.”

Regarding the critiques of President Trump’s address from the Oval Office last Wednesday, Mnuchin said that the president addressed the important issues while being unable to address every single detail.

“The President was very clear – he wanted to address a very important point, which was he made the move to shut down travel so that we shut down more cases coming in,” Mnuchin said. “He wanted to reassure the American public – I don’t think in an Oval Office address you can address every single issue as you’re discussing it.”

“I don’t think he got things wrong at all,” Mnuchin said. “And we were very clear that people misinterpreted the comment on cargo.”

In an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Mnuchin also said that Americans could hope to experience an economic revival. “If the medical professionals are correct and we’re doing all the things, I expect we’ll have a big rebound later in the year,” he said. “This isn’t like the financial crisis. This will have an end to it as we confront the virus.”

Over the weekend, Congress and President Trump helped pass the coronavirus relief bill (H.R. 6201) that will help small businesses and workers during this time of crisis.

CNN provided more detail:

The legislation will provide, according to Pelosi, “paid emergency leave with two weeks of paid sick leave and up to three months of paid family and medical leave.” It will also expand federal funding for Medicaid “to support our local, state, tribal and territorial governments and health systems, so that they have the resources necessary to combat this crisis.”

“I fully support H.R. 6201: Families First CoronaVirus Response Act, which will be voted on in the House this evening,” the president tweeted over the weekend. “This Bill will follow my direction for free CoronaVirus tests, and paid sick leave for our impacted American workers. I have directed the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Labor to issue regulations that will provide flexibility so that in no way will Small Businesses be hurt. I encourage all Republicans and Democrats to come together and VOTE YES!”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, has not ruled out the possibility of total lockdown.