White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is back to throwing elbows, even as a new poll finds most Americans are certain the coronavirus outbreak will trigger an economic recession.

The aide to Donald Trump has conducted fewer television interviews and West Wing driveway gaggles since the Covid-19 pandemic hit US soil. But she was back at it on Thursday, and in signature form.

Though she did not name Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, she portrayed him as slow to grasp and respond to the sometimes-deadly bug.

"We have the mayor saying – not playing politics here – we have a mayor saying, 'Look at me, I'm on the subway, go out on the town,'" she said. "And then he recommended what show everybody should go see."

Broadway theatres in the Big Apple have shut down since the outbreak made the country's largest and most densely populated city the coronavirus epicenter.

She also had some of a typically sharp critique of former Vice President Joe Biden, who has emerged as the Democratic presidential frontrunner as a Washington Post-ABC News poll found nine in 10 Americans expect a recession due to the pandemic.

"Joe Biden has a 'Democrat problem'" because, during the virus outbreak, prominent state and local officials from that party, including New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and California Governor Gavin Newsom have been "collaborating and complimenting the White House and the administration and the president's efforts."

That, however, is only part of the truth.

Mr Cuomo has at times been sharply critical of Mr Trump and the federal government. For instance, this week he again blasted the commander in chief for calling the country's battle against the virus "a war," saying if Mr Trump truly believes that, his government's response should more closely resemble a wartime effort.

What's more, she also walked back the president's statement from Tuesday that he wants to open all or parts of the country "for business" by Easter Sunday (12 April).

Rather than moving ahead with an order -- which some legal experts say state and local officials would not have to follow under America's federal system -- for sure on that day, Ms Conway contended her boss "will follow the facts of the data."

To that end, Mr Trump informed governors in a letter Thursday his team will judge areas county-by-county, grouping them in three categories as they judge which ones are Covid-free enough to deem ready to be "open for business," as Mr Trump has said.