WASHINGTON – Some form of social distancing will probably remain in place through the summer, Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus task force coordinator, said Sunday – the same day several governors expressed optimism about the course of the virus and outlined their plans for a piecemeal reopening of their economies.

It was the latest instance of conflicting signals coming not just from state and federal leaders but also from within the Trump administration amid a coronavirus pandemic that so far has claimed the lives of more than 54,000 Americans. Last week, Vice President Mike Pence predicted that “we will largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us” by Memorial Day weekend in late May.

But on Sunday, Birx said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that “social distancing will be with us through the summer to really ensure that we protect one another as we move through these phases.” She cited the need for further testing to be developed after a potential scientific “breakthrough.”

The mixed messages come as Americans are entering a new phase in the coronavirus crisis. After weeks of being told to stay home, individuals and business owners are now facing more complex decisions about how to proceed.

In places where restaurant dining rooms are reopening, is it safe to go? Is it a good idea to return to the hair salon? And for business owners facing a litany of new guidelines about how to reopen without endangering their workers or customers, are the risks worth it?

Emily Landon, chief infectious-disease epidemiologist at University of Chicago Medicine, said those calculations are tricky for people in states that are beginning to reopen because of the continued lack of widespread testing and the inability to effectively track people who might have been infected.

“It’s hard for me to know what I’d do” in one of the states where governors have announced that spas and salons are able to reopen, Landon said. “I wouldn’t go. And I wouldn’t recommend that my family went. I would recommend that people stay home.

“This is a brand-new virus, and we have to do these things in a measured way,” she said. “Without requirements for things like [personal protective equipment], social distancing and really thoughtful policies for how to do these openings, it’s not the time to do them.”

In its broad guidelines for states to follow as they begin a phased reopening, the White House earlier this month recommended that a number of criteria, such as increasing capacity for testing and contact tracing, should be met before proceeding.

Across the country, however, some states are already relaxing their social distancing restrictions amid pressure from protesters, business groups and others.

On Sunday, several governors defended their decision to do so, arguing that their states’ closures have successfully achieved their goal of building hospital capacity, acquiring personal protective equipment and reducing the spread of the pandemic’s growth.

“The facts in our state are: March 30, we peaked in hospitalizations, with 560 across the state,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Today we have 300 across the state in our hospitals. We think it’s time for a measured reopening.”

Stitt said that more than 55,000 Oklahomans have been tested and that the positive rate was 6.3%. He also noted that no one is obliged to reopen a business.

“I’m giving guidance. If a restaurant doesn’t feel like they’re ready to reopen,” he said, “they don’t have to.”

On CNN’s “State of the Union,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, also defended his decision to partially reopen his state, and maintained that he is focused on measures that are sustainable for the coming weeks and months.

“We’ve really been laser-focused on figuring out how we can endure and sustain these kinds of social distancing measures,” Polis said. “If we can’t succeed in doing that, the stay-at-home was for nothing.”