Trump wants to relax the quarantine ASAP but his top military officials are preparing 'for the long haul'

• On Tuesday morning, top defense officials said evidence indicated the military ought prepare for an extended period - about eight to 10 weeks - in dealing with the novel coronavirus.
• Hours later, in a separate virtual town hall at the White House, President Donald Trump suggested the restrictions could ease by Easter, in less than three weeks.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Earlier on Tuesday morning, top defense officials said at the Pentagon that evidence indicated the military ought prepare for an extended period - about eight to 10 weeks - in dealing with the novel coronavirus.

Hours later, in a separate virtual town hall at the White House, President Donald Trump suggested the restrictions could ease by Easter, in less than three weeks.

The mixed messages comes as the White House offered a glimpse of their line of thinking amid the quarantines and shelter-in-place directives across the country, and the subsequent shuttering of businesses.

Speaking of the US military's preparedness for the coronavirus, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the military was "prepared to address it as long as the country needs us" and pointed to other countries who have appeared to curb the spread of the disease after eight to 10 weeks of draconian measures.

"You're looking at probably at least that long," Esper said. "I think we need to plan for this to be a few months long, at least. And we're talking all precautionary measures to do that, to be in it for the long haul ... as long as need be."

US Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, concurred with the secretary's assessment.

"All the reports we've read indicate exactly what the secretary said," Milley said at the virtual town hall. "You're looking at eight to ten, maybe 12 weeks ... call it three months, based on what we know from other countries - China, Hong Kong, South Korea, etcetera."

"That may or may not apply to the United States ... but we'll see," Milley added. "Some of that depends what we do as a nation to mitigate it, to flatten that curve."

Flattening the curve, or alleviating the burden from local hospitals dealing with coronavirus patients, requires the quarantines that some states have imposed, according to health officials. The measure, however, has hurt the local economy as well as sparking worries on Wall Street. Non-essential businesses like gyms, movie theaters, and shopping malls have closed; and stocks have plunged - erasing all of the gains that were made after Trump took office in 2017.

Although the Trump administration created a 15-day plan to slow the coronavirus spread, senior health officials have warned that it was not adequate enough to curb the pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, suggested the earlier estimates were too conservative and Americans ought to observe self-distancing beyond the initial plan.

"I cannot see all of a sudden next week or two weeks or three weeks from now it's going to all of a sudden be over," Fauci said Friday on NBC's "TODAY" show. "I don't think there's a chance of that. I think it's going to be several weeks."

Despite the warnings, Trump and his political allies have pointed to the worrisome economic impacts of shuttering the US economy and insisted the White House was exploring ways to ease the quarantine.

"We're opening up this incredible country because we have to do that," Trump said during the Fox News-sponsored townhall at the White House on Tuesday. "I'd love to have it open by Easter."

Citing a potential "long-lasting financial problem" and "thousands" of suicides, Trump said he was "not looking at months," but sooner.

"You can't do that with a country - especially the No. 1 economy anywhere in the world," Trump said, adding that, "You can't do that. It causes bigger problems than the original."

Studies indicate that prematurely loosening restrictions to limit the spread of a virus would increase the number of cases. A study conducted by the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2007 revealed that dozens of cities experiencing flu epidemics saw another hike in deaths after withdrawing their restrictions.

Get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.