Late Sunday and early Monday, President Trump went on a Twitter spree urging the US economy to get back to business as usual in a week.

“WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” he tweeted on Sunday night, adding that after the end of the 15-day social-distancing period that began last Monday, “WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”

States grappling with a wave of coronavirus cases expect several major industries to be hurt as businesses remain closed for months.

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

On Sunday night and Monday morning, President Donald Trump went on a Twitter spree urging the US economy to go back to business as usual in 15 days, setting up a clash with states and public-health experts.

The coronavirus outbreak has wreaked unprecedented havoc on the US economy. Entire industries have nearly come to a standstill, the stock market has tumbled, and unemployment claims have surged as millions of Americans find themselves out of work or with severely reduced hours.

As of Monday in the US, there were over 35,200 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and more than 470 deaths. New York, which has reported nearly 17,000 cases, has been hit particularly hard.

But Trump appeared eager to return as much of the economy as possible to normal in a matter of days as states and public-health experts have urged containment measures to limit the virus’ spread, closing schools, many businesses, and even public spaces like parks.

Late on Sunday, Trump wrote, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” adding that at the end of a 15-day period of social distancing that began last Monday, “WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO! Lees ook op Business Insider Airbus wil in 2035 CO2-neutraal vliegen met deze 3 modellen die van waterstof gebruik maken – eentje lijkt op KLM’s Flying V — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020

On Monday morning, Trump retweeted several accounts spreading misinformation about the dangers and severity of the virus, including tweets from an account called @SexCounseling that said, “We The People are smart enough to keep away from others if we know that we are sick or they are sick!” and another user who said: “Correct. 15 days, then we keep the high risk groups protected as necessary and the rest of us go back to work.”

Public-health experts have pointed out that the virus is highly contagious and can be spread by people who have no symptoms and don’t know they’re ill, meaning it’s impossible to protect those high-risk groups while going about life as normal. For this reason, they have urged Americans to stay at home as much as possible, and multiple states have severely restricted economic activity and travel.

States grappling with a wave of coronavirus cases expect several major industries to be hurt as businesses remain closed for months; in New York, for example, officials have said they don’t expect the outbreak to reach its peak for at least a month.

In public appearances over the weekend, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York said the crisis “is not a short-term situation.”

“This is not a long weekend. This is not a week,” he said, adding that “it is going to be four months, six months, nine months.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio echoed those concerns on Sunday.

“April is going to be worse than March,” he said. “And I fear May will be worse than April.”

On Monday, de Blasio said New York City public schools would likely remain closed for the rest of the school year.

The guidelines from Trump administration officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say to avoid holding any large gatherings until mid-May at the earliest.

The surgeon general, Jerome Adams, has said that things will get worse in the coming days.

“I want America to understand: This week, it’s going to get bad,” he told NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie on Monday. “We really need to come together as a nation.”

He added, “We really, really need everyone to stay at home.”

And Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former director of the Food and Drug Administration, told CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that “the epidemic right now that’s underway is probably going to peak sometime in April, probably late April, and tail off into May and June.”

Trump’s tweets signal a broader push within the White House to restart the economy as soon as possible and avoid further economic damage, Axios and The New York Times reported on Monday.

NBC News reported on Monday morning that the administration planned to release “updated health and safety guidance” on or before March 30.

But an aggressive attempt by the White House to reopen businesses as the virus ravages communities and strains healthcare systems is likely to clash with state leaders, many of whom have acted to limit the virus’ spread.

As The Dispatch’s David French said on Monday, governors “hold the police power in responding to public health emergencies in their state, not POTUS.”

Trump “can’t force them to re-open businesses if they deem the crisis severe enough to maintain closures,” French said, adding: “To put things as bluntly as possible – the decision is not Trump’s alone. In any given state, it’s not even primarily Trump’s to make.”