Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci said he would like to see the country start “gradual reentry to something like normal,” starting in May.

Fauci said, “Once we turn that corner, hopefully, we’ll see a sharp decline, and we’ll start thinking about how we can keep it that way and prevent it from resurging, when you start to think about a gradual reentry to something like normal. You don’t want to do something precipitously. At the same time, you pay attention to the need to try and get back to normal.”

He added, “I spent this week on the phone with a considerable number of governors, some of which I believe are going to be on your program later on. They are really important. I’m deeply impressed about how much they care about the balance of preserving the health of their citizens in their state at the same time as they cautiously do this reentry. So I have confidence that with the help that we can do federally, from the federal government to the fact that the states are really committed to doing it right, I think that combination hopefully is going to get us to where we want to be.”

Host Jake Tapper asked, “Based on what you know right now, when do you think the country will be ready to take some of these steps to reopen based on the availability of testing? What do you see that happening?”

Fauci said, “You know, Jake, that’s a great question. That’s really what I was inferring when I said a rolling reentry. It is not going to be a light switch that we say, OK, it is now June, July, or whatever, click, the light switch goes back on. It’s going to be depending where you are in the country, The nature of the outbreak that you already experienced, and the threat of an outbreak that you may not have experienced. It’s having to look at the situation in different parts of the country. Obviously, New York, who is going through a terrible ordeal, is going to be very different from Arkansas. And you’ll hear from the governor shortly. And very different maybe from some places on the west coast like Washington state which has been successfully able to prevent that big spike. I think it’s going to have to be something that is not one size fits all.”

Tapper said, “When do you think it could start?”

Fauci said, “You know, I think it could probably start at least in some ways maybe next month. And again, Jake, it’s so difficult to make those kinds of predictions, because they always get thrown back at you if it doesn’t happen, not by you, but, you know, by any number of people. We are hoping by the end of the month. We can look around and say, ‘OK, is there any element here that we can safely and cautiously start pulling back on,’ if so, do it. If not, then just continue to hunker down. And that’s what, at least from the standpoint of the public health aspect, that we look at. Other decisions to be made at the level of the president and the governors about what they are going to do with all of the information they get.”

Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN