PATIENCE

Fed Chairman Warns Against ‘False Start’ by Reopening Economy Too Soon

The chairman said the economy could make a “fairly quick” and “robust recovery” if Americans continue to follow social-distancing guidelines.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday warned against a “false start” by prematurely reopening the economy, which could lead to another surge in coronavirus cases, further jeopardizing economic recovery. Powell said the economy could make a “fairly quick” and “robust recovery” if Americans continue to adhere to social-distancing guidelines. “We need to have a plan, nationally, for reopening the economy,” he said in an online event hosted by the Brookings Institution. “While we all want it to happen as quickly as possible, we all want to avoid a false start, where we partially reopen and that results in a spike in coronavirus cases and then we have to go back again to square one.”