President Donald Trump acknowledged Tuesday during an interview with ABC News’ David Muir that “there’ll be more death” in the coming months after states roll back stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s possible there will be some because you won’t be locked into an apartment or a house or whatever it is,” Trump replied when asked about top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci saying there will be lives lost in order to reopen the country.

After expressing hope that the public will continue to practice social distancing after shelter-in-place orders are lifted, Trump optimistically predicted that the virus would eventually go away—whether a vaccine was developed or not.

“There’ll be more death, that the virus will pass, with or without a vaccine,” he proclaimed. “And I think we’re doing very well on the vaccines but, with or without a vaccine, it’s going to pass, and we’re going to be back to normal. But it’s been a rough process. There is no question about it.” More than 70,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and current models project a death toll of up to 135,000 by August.