President Donald Trump downplayed the severity of the coronavirus after leaving the hospital Monday afternoon, tweeting: “Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life.” But economists stressed that the course of the virus will dictate the course of the economy — and that the U.S. is still very far from being back to business as usual.

“STOCK MARKET UP BIG, 466 Points! 28,149. Great News for America. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!” Trump tweeted later Monday.

But the economy has largely faltered under the Trump administration’s push to reopen the economy while dismissing the use of masks and social distancing to stem coronavirus infections. The unemployment rate hovers at just under 8 percent. The country’s gross domestic product, or the economy’s total output of goods and services, fell by an annualized rate of 31 percent in the three months that ended in June. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are on the rise in nearly two dozen states, threatening another period of slow economic growth.(NBS news)