Trump: 'We have to get back to work. We have to open our country again.'

President Trump on Saturday stressed repeatedly the need for the American public to "get back to work," underlining his intent to re-open the country's economy even as he warned of a deadly week ahead. 

"We have to get back to work. We have to open our country again," the president said at a coronavirus press conference at the White House, echoing remarks he made last month about the necessity of jump-starting the economy again. 

Those optimistic comments contrasted with the president's grim pronouncement at the beginning of the conference that America faces a particularly deadly week ahead. "This will probably be the toughest week -- between this week and next week," he said, adding: "There will be a lot of death, unfortunately. But a lot less death than if [the shutdown] wasn't done."

The dueling projections---of the need to reopen the economy and the mounting death toll of the coronavirus---were underscored this week by the data surrounding both fronts of the coronavirus war in America: A record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment in the most recent jobs report, while coronavirus deaths in the country have passed 8,300 as of Saturday afternoon. 

The president stressed the measures his administration is taking, including the deployment of both medical personnel and equipment around the country. "We're looking for an obvious focus on the hardest-hit regions," he said, adding: "We want to save lives. We want as few lives lost as possible."