Whether the United States looks back at those job cuts as a quick blip of prevention or a devastating spiral into an economic depression depends a lot on what Congress and President Trump do in the next few days.

Here’s what economists say needs to happen.

Aim to put the ‘v’ in ‘recovery.’

The United States is already falling into a sharp economic contraction: It is producing far fewer goods and services now than it did a month or a quarter ago. That contraction will persist as long as businesses are unable to open and people are not able to work. This is not happening because of any choices those workers or businesses made; it’s a mandate from the government that has frozen a lot of economic activity.

At some point — possibly when a vaccine for the virus comes to market, or possibly as soon as the rate of infection starts declining and widespread testing allows for more confidence that another surge is not imminent — governments will lift their restrictions and activity will start to thaw.

Ideally, it would thaw quickly, with shops and restaurants reopening, workers rehired, factory production lines restarted and people spending money on things they didn’t need or couldn’t buy during the freeze. In that situation, the economy would grow much faster for a while than it normally does, as consumers unleash their pent-up demand.

Economists call that a “V-shaped” recovery, because growth plunges and then shoots up. It’s what they’re aiming for now, but it could be hard to pull off.