WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is bracing the nation for a coronavirus death toll that could exceed 100,000 people.

Trump on Sunday extended restrictive social distancing guidelines through April. He was bowing to public health experts who presented him with even more dire projections for the expanding coronavirus pandemic.

It was a stark shift in tone by the Republican president, who only days ago mused about the country reopening in a few weeks. From the Rose Garden, Trump said his Easter revival hopes had only been “aspirational.”

U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN on Monday, “It would not have been a good idea to pull back.”