President trump thank you very uch. So. Nice to be with you. America continues to gain ground in the war against the virus. I want to thank the American People for answering the call, following our guidelines and making the sacrifices required to overcome this terrible threat more aggressively. We commit to social distancing, so important. Social distancing, such an important phrase. And we do it right now. The more lives we can save and the sooner we can eventually get people back to work, back to school and back to normal. And there are large sections of our country probably can go back much sooner than other sections and were obviously looking at that also. People are asking, is that an alternative . I say, absolutely, it is an alternative. I have now approved major disaster declarations for new york, california, washington, iowa, louisiana, texas and florida. That has great significance, as you know, and legal significance. Grouping andnstant i can say this, we have a large grouping of people that does nothing but communicate with the various officials, including weve been spending a lot of time with new york officials because that really is by far he hottest spot. Ive got a number of very tough theyve got a very theyve got a number of very tough weeks ahead of them. The governor is doing a good job. I spoke to Governor Cuomo last night and this morning. And he mentioned that, in his remarks, that hes using the that we are using i think he feels, because he understands negotiation, he thinks were using very appropriately the defense production act and we are. Were using it where needed. Its a great point of leverage. Its a great negotiating tool. But ive really i will tell you this, tremendous spirit from people and tremendous spirit with respect to these companies. And i dont have to use it very much at all. They want to do it, as you know, General Motors is involved. Fords involved. 3ms involved. Others are involved. Theyre all working very hard to produce product, all different products. We had very little product when we came. We built it up and we give it away as fast as we can to the different states. Were also, as you know, building numerous hospitals and medical centers throughout certain areas in new york. In new york its at the convention center. Were doing four hospitals and were doing, throughout the state, four medical centers there. Somewhere different. I want you to know that im doing everything in my power to help the city pull through this challenge. Im working very hard in new york. Its really by far our biggest problem, maybe it will be, maybe it wont be. But theres a lot of good, capable people working on it with us and our teams are working very well with the state representatives. Were also doing some very large testings throughout the country. I told you yesterday that and south korea, and this is not a knock in any way. I just spoke with president moon, we had a very good conversation about numerous other things, but theyve done a very good job in testing. But we now are doing more testing than anybody by far. We do more in eight days than they do in eight weeks. We go up on a daily basis exponentially. So its really good. By the way, while im honored, on it, i also spoke with the Prime Minister of japan last night and congratulated him on a wise choice. I think its going to be a fantastic olympics. 2021. I think its going to be a fantastic olympics. It was the absolute right decision to delay it. For a full year. And now have a full beautiful olympics. Its going to be very important because its probably the first time maybe ever or certainly in a long time that it was on an odd year. Its always on an even year, they tell me. But hes going to have a fantastic success and now theyll have even more time. He didnt need any more time. Everything was perfect will i will ready. What a job theyve done. But i want to congratulate japan, the i. O. C. And Prime Minister abe on a great decision. I think its going to be a fantastic olympics. I told him, ill be there. Ill be there. Ed a we fight to protect as we fight to protect american lives, were also protecting american livelihoods. Democrats and republicans in the senate are very close to passing an emergency relief bill for American Workers, families and businesses. This legislation, in addition to the two bills i signed this month, it includes, as you know, sick leave and we have all sorts of things in for the workers, for families. But we have a tremendous paid sick leave provision for workers at no cost at all to the employers. And its a big thing. No cost to the employers. We want to get everybody back working. Together this 2. 2 trillion legislative package is bigger than anything i believe ever assed in Congress Perhaps relatively speaking if you look during the new deal validity, but this is far and away the biggest ever done and thats a tremendous thing because a lot of this money goes to jobs, jobs, jobs, and families, families, families. The senate bill includes 350 billion in Job Retention loans for Small Businesses with loan forgiveness for businesses that continue paying their workers. We want them to keep their workers and pay their workers. This will help keep workers in the payroll and allow accelerate s soon as we defeat the virus. 300 billion indirect payments or american citizens earning 99,000. 3,000 400 for a typical family of for. Nothing like that has been done. Up to 250 billion in expanded unemployment benefits. The worker will receive 100 of their salary for up to four full months and unlike full benefits, independent contractors and the selfemployed will be eligible. You have independent contractors and selfemployed people will be eligible for this. Over 100 billion to support the heroic work of our doctors, nurses and hospitals have been incredible, 45 billion for Disaster Relief fund and we are setting up a fund of 45 billion for Disaster Relief. More than doubling the amount of available to support my National Emergency and disaster declarations. 27 billion to buildup the Strategic National stockpile with critical supplies including masks, respirators and pharmaceuticals and everything you can imagine because it was very depleted like our military was depleted its already come for the most part. But we have a lot of things that will soon be coming, planes, missiles, rockets, lots of things. But the stockpile was very depleted, like everything else. This will also include significant funding for the development of vaccines on top of the 8 billion we approved several weeks ago. Over 500 billion in support for the hardest hit industries, with a ban on corporate stock buybacks which is something i insisted on and frankly, i tell you the republicans wanted that and the democrats wanted that. We want them to use the money for the companies and the planes or whatever there may be helping to get over this rough patch. And i dont think its going to be a rough patch. When reopen, the sooner the better, its going to open up like a rocketship and go very good and very quickly and tough new limits on executive compensation also. They need the money. They are going to have to make things work because we are interested in the workers, the jobs. And we are interested in the companies because thats what fuels the workers in those great jobs. We have 16 billion in funding for the purchase of personal protective equipment. We know about that such as masks and respirators through the Strategic National stockpile. I encourage the house to pass this vital legislation and send a bill to my desk for signature without delay. I will sign it immediately. We will have a signing and great signing and great day for the American Worker and for American Families and for American Companies which were having the best years they ever had, the last few years and then a little bit less than a month ago, they went into a position they havent seen because of the hidden enemy, the virus. Earlier today, i spoke to leaders of many americas amazing nonprofit organizations. I thank them for their unwavering diversion to American People, to American Families, to our nation and they have been fantastic and collecting supplies, distributing food and supporting Health Care Workers, caring for vulnerable workers and families. I encourage them to continue to do it. The nonprofits have been fantastic and great. They are great. I know a lot of them. I want to provide an update on the critical supplies. Ma is shipping 9. 4 respirators, think of that, 9. 4. 20 million surgical masks and we have others that we think are going to be delivered quickly. The whole world, not just us or the states, the whole world is trying to get these things in competition with many, many countries. I believe today you broke the 150 mark for the virus. We have 150 countries, over 150 countries that have this virus and nobody will believe a thing like that is possible. Nobody could have seen Something Like this coming. We know it could happen again. And if it does, somebody is going to be well prepared because of what we learned. How incredible what we have done. There are more tests by anybody by far. And the news, the reporters, the media they called me and amazing your testing procedures are amazing and we have a highlevel test and its a test that is accurate. 3. 1 million face shields. 14. 6 million gloves and 6,000 ventilators, which go to the airs of greatest needs. We sent over the last day 4,000 ventilators to new york. And i spoke with the governor about that. He was happy. I spoke with the mayor also about that. Mayor de blasio who is very happy. Not to be happy with the job we are doing. Throughout this National Emergency, every day here has continued to step forward and demonstrate the character of our nation including the people behind me, by the way. These people are amazing. They are amazing people and maybe i should speak for myself, to me they have become friends. Maybe they dont like me, maybe they do. They work very hard. Sevenyearold boy used his birthday money to buy meals for senior. In nevada, they helped deliver groceries and supplies. This is happening. Thousands and thousands. I could stand up here. In minnesota, hundreds of medical students have volunteered to provide child care for hospital workers helping to keep our doctors and nurses on the front line fighting to save lives. These americans remind us we have a role to play in winning this Great National battle and it is a worldwide battle. We are dealing with other nations. I am a little bit take calls. A lot of countries are in big trouble. So now we will hear from our great secretary of the treasury. He has been working rather hard, i will tell you. Steve mnuchin is a fantastic guy and dealing with both sides, democrats and republicans. One of the most beautiful buildings and gotten to know it, steve, very well and have a little update it would be nice to hear what we are doing and what it is looking. Secretary mnuchin i would like to thank Mitch Mcconnell for his leadership and i would like to thank Chuck Schumer for the enormous bipartisan support we had on this bill and the democrats and republicans who worked tirelessly. The president said, i got to live in the l. B. J. Room the last five days and couldnt be more pleased with the unprecedented response from the senate to protect American Workers and American Business in this situation. The president has outlined many of these but let me go through these quickly. Small Business Retention loans, this will cover roughly 50 of the private payroll in Small Businesses where we will immediately make loans that will supply eight weeks of salaries as long as they keep workers employed and overhead. And those loans will be forgiven at the end of the period as long as they keep workers employed. These are s. B. A. Loans but the treasury will authorize every single fdic insured bank to make these. I expect by the end of next week, we will have a simple process where these can be made and disbursed in the same day. This will be a very simple system to get money into Small Business hands. For companies that dont qualify that, we have an Economic Program of tax incentives to retain workers and as the president said, we have enhanced Unemployment Insurance for people who dont fit into these two programs that will be administered through the states. We will have Economic Impact payments. These will be within the next three weeks. Direct payments into most peoples deposit accounts. And for those who dont have it, we will be having the check in the mail. Our treasury will have additional authorities, we have 500 billion to work with the Federal Reserve to work for emergency programs and create 4 trillion if needed to support American Business and American Workers in an unprecedented way. And the president mentioned 100 billion to hospitals and 150 billion to states that have specific coronavirus expenses. Mr. President , i want to thank you and the Vice President. You are constantly available to us. We spoke constantly throughout the day and you gave us guidance and quick decisions on many issues. And again, thank everybody for this bipartisan work. This is going to be enormous help for the American Workers and the American Economy. The president was determined that congress would move swiftly to protect americans in this unprecedented situation. President trump day and night. A lot of work and see how it all goes and we need the votes. Do you have a question . Reporter how do you think this bill will keep the economy afloat . President trump we are going to take care of the American Workers and make the country great. Its not their fault. Not their fault. But we think reporter do you anticipate it in three months and wont need this for three months. This war will be won quicker. Secretary mnuchin this is a significant amount of money, if needed, to recover the economy. President trump this is to keep economies. Aaarated companies to keep them going and going to be in the form of loans. So the money is coming back. Reporter let me ask you something, you said we shouldnt rely on a Foreign Company for the means of our own survival, what do you mean . President trump we rely on countries we give up our supply chains and give up our production facilities and buy it someplace else for a lower price but we lose jobs and everything and lose our independence and cant let that happen. We will be making some changes. We have been making those changes. Reporter do you have a ban to export the medical equipment . President trump it is happening by itself. Some people, we make the best medical equipment in the world and you have some people like the european union, they dont take it because they have specifications that dont allow our equipment in because its designed in a different way, even though its a better way. They are all playing games against us. They have been playing games against us and no president has ever done anything about it. But the european union, you look at the medical equipment, we make the best but we cant sell it because we are not appropriately. And we take their medical equipment in our country. We are changing things. All of this is changing. But they have specifications so that our equipment designed specifically so our equipment cant come into their countries. Its a very terrible thing that has happened. Some of the people that took the biggest advantage of us are our allies. They took advantage of us in many ways, financially and militarily. When you look at look, i got if you look at nato, the abuse that was given to our country on nato where they wouldnt pay. And we were paying for everybody. Now, because of me, they are paying a lot. More ey paid 125 million and then ultimately secretary general who i think would say is my biggest fan we got them to pay an additional 400 billion. And then theres the trade. They make it almost impossible for us to have a fair deal. They know this. We are just waiting. We have all the advantages. Its going to be easy when i decide to do it. But we have been treated unfairly by the european union. Reporter mr. President , four republican senators have indicated that will extra 600 for Unemployment Insurance may encourage employees to lose their jobs. What do you think . President trump i know the issue very well. Steve, maybe you can discuss that. Secretary mnuchin let me just explain the issue, which is we want to have enhanced Unemployment Insurance. Most of these state systems have technology that is 30 years old or older. If we had the ability to customize this with much more specifics, we would have. This was the only way that states could get money out quickly in a fairway and used 600 across the board. Most americans, what they want, they want to keep their jobs. For 50 of these businesses, they will have the businesses keep those jobs. So this was our number one issue is how do we make sure that American Workers who needed to keep getting paid, this is no fault of their own, that businesses have been shut down, the president and Vice President wanted to make sure the hardworking americans got money and this was the most efficient way. Are they in agreement now . Secretary mnuchin i would say our expectation this bill passes tonight and gets to the house tomorrow and pass it. We need to get this money into the American Economy and American Workers. Thats the importance of this. President trump people would actually get more money but dont want to get a disincentive. Good question, actually. Reporter family of retired f. B. I. Agents robert leffen son that u. S. First that he died in iranian custody, are you aware of that . President trump i have been very much involved in that and he was a great gentleman and great family. I have to say this and they have been making the statement to the family i believe, but its not looking good. He wasnt well for years in iran. Its not looking promising. We have gotten so many people back. We got two people back this week. But robert leffenson, he has been sick for a long time and rough problems prior to his detainment or capture. And we feel terribly for the family. I dont accept it that hes dead. Its not looking great. But i wont accept that hes dead. But a lot of people are thinking that is the case. Reporter when you tweeted earlier linking the closing the country to your election. Is this easter time line related to your political interests. You said the media want to remain closed [indiscernible] President Trump the media would like to see me poorly. Reporter reopening the country is not a good idea. President trump just so you understand. Sole people would like it not to open so quickly and some people would like it to do financially poorly because that would be good at defeating me at the polls. And i dont know if thats some but there are people in your profession that would like that to happen. I think its very clear that there are people in your profession that write fake news. You do. She does. There are people in your profession that write fake news. They would love to see me for whatever reason nobody has done the job we have done and lucky that you have this group now right here or you wouldnt have a country left. Ok. Reporter once you sign this package, how can you who are you with . Rum cbs. [indiscernible] within three weeks, we will have direct payments out where we have deposit tower information and looking to get a lot more information than we have procedures to do that. Three weeks for that and end of next week we want all the banks to originate loans same day. Reporter i have two questions for you g20 and ban the on wild animal markets toll prevent covid19 that was transferred tom humans. President trump i dont know if that subject is going to come up. It came out of china and say thats how it happened in china. Its something we will talk about. But its not the top of my list. Indiscernible] President Trump how many deaths are acceptable to me . None. None. If thats your question. Look i saw his statement. We have tested by far more than anybody. We are testing more than anybody right now. Theres nobody even close. And our tests are the best tests and most accurate tests. If you are saying we are going to test 350 million people. I watched the statement. I disagree with it. I can go to certain statements but im not going to do that but certain statements. We dont have to test the entire. Ate in the midwest i think its ridiculous. We dont have to do it. A lot of those states could go right now. Because at some point in the not too distant future, maybe new york and california cant. Maybe the state of washington cant. But if you look at them, their biggest problem was in one nursing home. Reporter if you test one state and the person moves over to the other state. President trump just look at that. If you look at the states and many states im talking about, they dont have a problem. We have some big problems but confined to certain high density areas. Why would we test the entire nation 350 million people. We tested far more than anybody else. We have the ability to test, we have come a long way from a broken system i inherited. We have tested far more than anybody else. When i say anybody else, other countries. No country is even close. They came out with a statistic i guess yesterday that i heard from dr. Birx where its for eight days here more than eight weeks in south korea and south korea has done a great job. But we did in eight days what south korea did in eight weeks. Thats a big number. And i said we are getting better. Every day is going up. We have an incredible apparatus. I dont want to test 350 million people. I think its ridiculous. Two questions. Indiscernible] President Trump with respect to hat . [indiscernible question] President Trump we have strong borders. [indiscernible] President Trump people could come in and had a whole different deal and up to 164 miles, think of that. 164 miles of wall big, beautiful wall. And in those areas its very, very tough to come in. We have been very tough on the borders. I mean where we have the world built, nobody is getting through. They are going around, but thats a long trip. Thats the way they get through. But im very strong on borders and dont want people coming in here. If they are going to come in, they have to come in through legally and merit. We are not having the people you are talking about coming to our country. Reporter republicans and democrats to pass the stimulus and the Kennedy Arts Center here in washington, d. C. ,. Shouldnt that money be going to masks and reportors . President trump it was 35 million and took off 10. Im a fan of that. I would love to go there evenings but im too busy doing things because thats more important. But the contendy center has suffered greatly because nobody can go there. It is closed and do need some funding and i said that was a democrat request, not my request. But you have to give them something. It works that way. Democratsville treated us fairly. I believe we have had a good back and forth and i say that with respect to Chuck Schumer and spoke to him a number of times and they had requests ool. It came down to 25. Got it down to 25. I said thats a lousy soundbite. But thats the way life works. The kennedy center, they do an incredible job. David does an incredible job and puts up a lot of money and does things that a lot of people wouldnt be able to do or do. They have closed. They have tremendous deficits. I didnt have a big problem. This was a request from the democrats because they have a facility that is essentially closed up. If i wanted to go there to look at romeo and youll yet, i ould love to look at it. Reporter senator rubio said the World Health Organization shows favorism to china and representative mccaul on the House Foreign Relations Committee questioned the integrity of the World Health Organization director and said there were several red flags with respect to his relationship with china. Do you think the World Health Organization showed favoritism. Do you think the United States should reexplore its relationship with the World Health Organization . President trump there is talk that has been very unfair. A lot of people feel it has been very unfair and onesided with china and a lot of people are not happy with that. Drp fauci and myself and other people, there are people that we like and know. I think there are friends, a lot of good professionals. It would be interesting if you would like to talk about the w. H. O. But i have heard for years that that is very much biased toward china. I dont know. Do you want to get into this political mess . Dr. Fauci no. Towed is an outstanding person and i have known him since he was Prime Minister in ithe ethiopia yeah. Someone who said who doesnt have problems. But under his leadership, they have done very well. He has been all over this. I was on the phone with him few hours ago leading a w. H. O. Call. Im not talking about china. Reporter w. H. O. Is praising china on its response to the pandemic. Dr. Fauci i cant comment on that. I dont know what your question is. [indiscernible] President Trump i have heard that for years and i spoke to him yesterday. Seems fine to me. But we gave the great response and kept china out of here. And if we didnt do that, thousands and thousands of people would have died that are now living and happy. If i didnt do that early, nobody wanted that to happen. Everybody thought it was just unnecessary to do it. And if we didnt do it, thousands and thousands of people would have died more than whats happened. Maybe one more. Reporter when you have this g20 meeting, what sort of coordinated response are you expecting . President trump no response. There will be a Conference Call tomorrow morning. I look forward to talking to people i know and like. I like every one of them. It will be an interesting call and will be the first to know. Reporter are you going to extend it . President trump i will be speaking with tony and deborah and they are going to bring along with them. And speaking to Vice President mike pence and steve and we will be speaking to everybody. Im not going to do anything hastily. But the country wants to get back to work. We dont have a country where they say lets close it down for two years. We cant do it. So we are going to do it. There could be big sections of our country that are little affected by whats taking place and other sections that are heavily affected. I would say by easter, we will have a recommendation and maybe before easter and at the end of the 15th day or during the 15th day, we will have some kind of recommendation but our country wants to get back to work. I have had so many people and they want to practice social distancing and they want to practice no handshaking and no hugging and kissing, even though they may feel like it. They are going to wash their hands and do all the things you are supposed to do. But steve, its time, people want to get back to work. I get it from both sides in all fairness and maybe its a combination of both. Tony said before, combination of both is sometimes very good. But there are areas that possibly wont qualify and there are other areas that may qualify now. But it will be an interesting period of time. I would like to get our country back. I have tremendous numbers of people wanting to go back. You have store owners with the stores sitting there. They have to get back. There are businesses that are going to be closed. The longer we stay out, we want to go quickly, the harder it is to bring this we are having the most successful years that we ever had in the history of our country. You saw what happened with the stocks and today they are up. If steve gets the deal done, its going to take care of people and workers and companies that employ our workers, small and big. We spend more time. There are people ask about that. We spent more time thinking about the Small Businesses than the big. And that really fuels our country. We want to get back and people want to get back. We want to get our country going again and want to be able to do that. The Vice President is going to stay with you and take a few more questions specifically and i will see you tomorrow. Indiscernible chatter] the Vice President thank you all. Well report on todays action by the White House Coronavirus task force. The president and our entire team continue to be inspired by the way people all across this country are putting into practice 15 days to slow the spread. We are 10 days into the 15 days and let me say if you are in an area that has been impacted by the coronavirus, it is absolutely essential that you listen to state and local authorities for guidance. But for every american, what you can do is implement the practices outlined in the president s coronavirus guidelines today because we truly do believe as millions of americans have done and will continue to do, that we can significantly impact the rate of growth in this epidemic in our country and spare americans from exposure to the coronavirus and we can save lives. On behalf of the president , i want to say thank you to the American People and thank you for your cooperation and embracing the principles in the 15 days to slow the spread. We heard about that cooperation today in a series of Conference Calls. We spoke with equipment manufacturers who are stepping forward as never before to assist us in developing the medical equipment that is essential whether it be masks or other medical supplies or ventilators. Fema reported to our task force today that hundreds of companies have stepped forward to be involved in the supply chain and we are vetting nearly 70 of those companies for specifically repurposing of their manufacturing to produce masks, gloves and gowns and to ventilators. We had a productive call with education vos with leaders. And thank you to all of our teachers. Many of whom are now home teaching children from afar even in many cases while they have their own kids from school. You are truly heroes. And the department of education as well as your state of department of education are grateful who find yourselves educating out of home and the department of education has a helpful website on coronavirus recommendations, ed. Edv coronavirus. Secretary devos and secretary perdue will be joining us on friday to speak about Distance Learning recommendations that have been made not just for secondary and College Education but for k12 education. We are opening up avenues and creating new flexibility so College Students can continue to be involved in learning from afar but children k12 can do the same. Secretary perdue will be here to talk about the Food Lunch Program and free and reduced lunches. The president and i spoke to 150 c. E. O. s of top nonprofit organizations. We thank them for their ongoing work supplying the needs of people not only impacted by the coronavirus but the most vulnerable among us in our communities, like red cross, the salvation army, feeding america are still working every day. And we promise and urge every american if you have the means and have the ability, continue to beer generous to nonprofit organizations that are helping those most in need in your community. The president march shaled a whole of government aapproach and the president and i i were in contact with governors today. Work on capacity and i want people to know on states that are most impacted by the coronavirus that we are with you and going to stay with you and continue to work around the clock to make sure your courageous Health Care Workers, Health Systems and state governments have the resources to support your response. On the subject of testing, dr. Birx will reflect on what the data is showing in just a moment and not including local labs and hospitals. We are at 432,000 tests come completed and we are pleased to see there are literally drivethrough and Community Sites around the country and assisting states in standing those up each and every day. We remind the hospitals and labs around the country and the moment the president signs the bill that it is essential that they provide the results of the sts to us and gives us visibility of what is happening on the ground. President trump initiated with these labs across the country we are adding tens of thousands of tests every single day. On the subject of supplies, before the end of the week, we will talk about a bit more about the supply chain. I was at fema last night and literally saw a roomful of people with lap tops and cell phones and leaving no stone unturned as i told governors to find medical supplies whether it be masks or gowns or gloves or veapts and the team is working around the clock to meet those needs. A few smaller items. First and foremost, the c. D. C. Is developing guidance which we will be publishing tomorrow about the best way to utilize our Natural Resources at our parks. It was several weeks ago that our park service waived all entrance fees and we directed the c. D. C. To produce guidance to practice social distancing and be out of doors and enjoy our National Parks and we will be sharing that with the vast state park systems across the county and encouraging their support. Let me last say again, there is nothing more important for the American People to do to slow the spread than to head your state and local guidance and areas impacted by the coronavirus and for everyone ellings to put into practice the 15 days to slow the spread. Dr. Fauci will reflect on the impact that we believe it is having around the country. But the people asked me from time to time what can i do. And i say from my heart to every american. This is what you can do, not just to protect your own health and your family, but no american was to inadvertently spread the coronavirus particularly to those who may be vulnerable. The risk of serious illness to the average american remains low. The majority of americans will have mild symptoms and will recover. But for seniors with serious underlying conditions, Everyone Needs to practice the principles of 15 days to slow the spread. The president announced this week that we are looking forward to the day we can open up the country and this team will be bringing him recommendations about how to safely and responsibly do just that. But for every american who wants to see america back in business, you can put in practice. We coronavirus. Gov and will do what we can do. We will slow the spread and heal our land. Ith that, let me recognize dr. First and dr. Birx then dr. Fauci. Dr. Birx thank you for us talking to the American People. We have been watching the testing results and it is critical to look at that very. Let me tell you. Our system to look at flulike illnesses is still up in running. And why is that important . For those of you been following flu a epidemic, we had and then flu b and those symptoms is the platform where we can see where there is increase. If you have very few cases in your state and counties, maintain your flu surveillance and work closely with the c. D. C. And look for changes in your slope of new flulike illnesses and there are new test kits and there are enough test kits that ns on your flu surveilpens program. They can participate in the surveillance that we need to ave out there now. New york city, westchester, new york, suffolk and nassau county. Those are the four counties associated with new york and new York Metro Area. There are a few counties in new jersey but 56 of the cases are and its very important that people look at the number of new cases per day. Remember we told you it will take a while to work through the testing backlog. I think we are close so you can interpret the number of cases per day and you will see in new york city that the number of cases per day has been relatively constant over the last three days. Those are the number of new cases per day. This is a real call to every person in new york city and new York Metro Area to continue every one of these 15 days to slow the spread and to do that part of that at the same time they are following the mayors and governors. Yesterday, we talked about people that may have left the metro area that were residents that may have gone to secondary homes or other places to reside and we asked them to monitor their temperatures and selfisolate themselves just to ensure their own health and the health of their communities while people move around the country. Why this is so important, its very important to me personally, because my grandmother for 88 years lived with the fact that she was the one at age 11 who brought home flu to her mother when her mother had just delivered and her mother succumbed to the great 1918 flu. She northwesterly forgot that she was a child in school that innocently brought that flu home. This is why we keep saying to every american, you have a role to protect each and every person that you interact with. That is why we are social distancing and you are social distancing. To every american, when you are protecting yourself, you are protecting others. If you inadvertently brought this virus home with someone to a preexisting condition, my grandmother lived with that for 88 years. That is an a message that is important. This is a reality. You can see the number of deaths that are occurring. We all have a role in preventing them. Thank you for the work you do to get our message to others to make sure every american understands how important their role is as we move through the next five days to not let up. I hear reports that there are new cases are increasing or the hospitalizations are increasing. The number of new cases over the last three days have been consistent but not rising. You will see hospital cases continue to increase because they are a reflection of what happened one to two weeks ago before the full mitigation efforts were put into place. No matter what community, county or state can work with us to ensure that we prevent the spread of this virus to others. I thank you. Dr. Fauci i want to spend a couple of minutes telling you about the information we got on the weekly call we have at least give useek by w. H. O. To information. In that regard, i want to apologize to my current response to you when you asked me about the china deal. I should have responded to you, but thats not my style. Y job is im a scientist physician and i dont get involved in that stuff. Getting back to the w. H. O. We ran into some new interesting information, china and others have been hit prior than we did. One of the things that was striking to me and i throw it out because it is something we will face, but not facing it now, our chinese colleagues are very concerned because they went through the entire cycle of the you are curve to come down. They have very few cases. But what they are starting to see they are relaxing the restraints on travel and wanted to warn us that when we get successful, make sure you very carefully examine how you are going to release the constraints on input. I know we are going to be successful on putting this under control. We dont want to input cases in. Thats the first thing. The second thing that was important, it was something that dr. Birx mentioned. When you look at the infleck shon of the curve, we nowville multiple Different Countries that have gone through various stages of their individual outbreaks and you could learn something from them about where you are in your own outbreak. For example, when china went up, what happened is they just didnt turn around they went from going through, ill take an arbitrary number, 500 cases, next day was 1,000 and then 1,500 and then 2,000. Once the new cases start to flatten out you get to the point where the infleck shon goes down. He thing that dr. Birx mentioned, you dont declare victory but you are on the way where you want to go. And i think that is very important. The third and final thing that i think it gets back to the question that many of you in the audience asked of us, would this be a seasonal cycle thing . I think it very well might. The reason i say that, what we e starting to see now in the Southern Hemisphere countries is that we are having cases that are appearing as they go into their winter season and they have a substantial outbreak, it will be inevitable that we need to be prepared that well get a cycle the second time. What does that mean for us . It totally emphasizes the need to do what we are doing in developing a vaccine, testing it quickly and try to get it ready and have a vaccine available. And do the trials of drugs so we will have a menu of drugs that we have shown to be effective and safe. I know to be successful inputting this down now, we need to be prepared for another cycle and we are doing will prepare us well. Reporter on ventilators, there is reporting that there is only 16,000 in the National Stockpile. Give us clarity, how many ventilators do you have in the National Stockpile . Who else is making them and how long will it be to make them. There isnt enough . The Vice President it is a singular focus and good portion of our supply chain supply task force at fema since the president stood up femas National Response center and we are making progress in a variety of ways. First, there is the National Stockpile which you refer and depending what has been distributed, we distributed 4,000 ventilators to new york including ventilators we sent to new york city. There is that number of some 20,000 less than 20,000. I wont dispute your number. There are literally by more estimates more than 150,000 ventilators in the broad Health Care System all across the country. And working with doctors and there was a very important Conference Call today, we have determined several weeks ago that the devices that the doctors use for outpatient surgery can be converted to a very useful ventilator. I spoke to Governor Cuomo about that today and he is in the process of serving governors around the country. We believe there are tens of thousands of ventilators that can be converted now that the f. D. A. Has given guidance. We have produced a helpful video to explain how those devices can be converted. But we are working with General Motors and companies to speed up. Contracts are being reviewed and vetting their capability. But one of the other ideas as we look at areas of the country that are most impact and more than half of the cases for coronavirus are in new york state and in the region around there, will focus our resources including ventilators on where communities are struggling the most with coronavirus. One of the ways we are working through that at fema now is by speeding up production and at the same time working with the National Supply maybe in areas that dont have a particular burden yet with the coronavirus and making sure we are manufacturing and backfilling and meeting that need. What im telling you, we have an extraordinary team. The twostar admiral is doing an incredible job. We are identifying resources and arranging contract. Dr. Birx, maybe you can speak to the ventilators. Dr. Birx i thank drr marry peterson and the american association, because they immediately when we asked them, they went to work on it and have question and answers for every doctor in every city has been working with their state and local officials on how to change this. Its not only the ventilators they have been supplying but the people running those ventilators that are not doing elective surgery. Changing that elective surgery piece has freed up a lot of additional resources. When i talked to you about we have done some things that are horizontal across the country but collecting data now in a county by county way. Its not equal everywhere. There are places that are very spared and places where there is more. We have a vast country that has a lot of capacity and a lot of infrastructure. Looking specifically where the virus has been and where is it going and who has freed up resources from where it has been. It hit Washington State before it hit new york and looking at those pieces to ensure how we can move equipment around based on the need. And so i know it has become a place where people are looking numbers versus what is needed. If you do these projections and get to those projections like in germany and others that implied that 50 of the population would get infected, i want to be very clear, the only way that happens, because this virus remains continuously moving through populations in this cycle, in the fall cycle and another cycle. Thats though through three cycles with nothing being done. We are dealing with cycle a right now, not one that could come in the fall of 2020 or other innovations and not 2021. We are planning for the future. And i think the numbers that have been put out there are actually very frightening to people. But i can tell you if you go all nd look at wuhan and of these provinces and talk about 60,000 people being nfected, if you say they are asymptomatic, 60,000 people out of 80 million, that is nowre near the number. It is frightening the American People. On a model you run full out. If you have zero controls and you do nothing and we know that every american is doing something. And so i think what our job right now is to carefully detail on a hospital by hospital, state by state, county by county what the infrastructure needs are both from the stockpile and generosity of the American People. Reporter well intentioned are selling clothe masks. Can you weigh in. They have great intentions and mixed feedback on whether that is a good idea. Clothing manufacturers. Is that helpful and something you recommend . Dr. Fauci what were seeing is a rather significant inflow of masks coming in that are available. If you dont have a mask and you need a mask and its appropriate for you to wear it, do what you can. But i dont see that now as a necessity given whats going on right now. Vice president pence well take a couple more. Reporter we keep hearing reports of Competition Among states, the governor of kentucky said yesterday that his state was in line to buy some equipment but fema came in and bought it, purchased it from under them. He said this is creating a problem for states because on the one hand theyre being told to get the equipment themselveses if they can and on the other hand the federal government is buying up the supply chain. Is this a problem youre hearing about and what is your advice to states like kentucky having this issue . Vice president pence i spoke to the governor of michigan, governor whitmer, about just that. We put our fema Regional Representative right on the case. We want to make sure that we are were acquiring every bit as much as we can. Through fema. But as we work with the supply chain, we want to have full coordination with the states and and were looking into those matters. Make no mistake about it. This fema team at the president s direction is lining into this effort, leave nothing stone unturned. Literally searching not just the nation but the world for all these critical supplies and as the president just reported to you, were in the process of tsyplakov of shipping 9. 4 llion n95s reprators, millions of surgical misks, 3. 1 million face shields, the list goes on. Be well be shipping those every day. As i told governor whitmer, we want to partner with her and every governor and make sure the left hand know what is the right hand is doing in terms of acquire regular sources. Reporter on the mask question, people, Health Care Work thornse ground still report there are mask shortages. What timeline is there for making sure everyone who needs masks gets those . Vice president pence ill let dr. Birx address that as well. Let me say again i just receive read port, well be detailing it before the end of the week, where weve literally identified significant resources not just around the country but around the world of the masks that can be used by Health Care Workers. And but as dr. Birx said, we are focusing those resources on the areas where Health Care Workers are most exposed to the prospect of contracting the coronavirus. The president has made it clear from early on, right after seeing to the needs of americans who are struggling with the coronavirus, making sure they have the support that they need on the same level of priority, we want our Health Care Workers to have personal protective equipment to be able to do their job safely and were working on that. I will tell you, i spoke about this today to several governors, not only the governor of michigan but the governor of indiana and President Trump and i couldnt be more grateful. The way governors around the country are joining us in calling on businesses to go back to their warehouses and identify industrial masks, n95 masks that because of the change that President Trump insisted on in the law can now be used by hospital workers. And theyre perfectly accept to believe protect Health Care Worker from the possibility of a respiratory disease. Were calling on every business across america, when many businesses are idled, go back to injure storehouses, identify n95 masks, they can call fema, the state Health Care Services or just load them up on a flatbed and drive them to their local hospital. We hear story nervous state in the union of people doing that. So its happening all at the same time. Well be detailing the progress were making on masks. Anything further . Dr. Birx i want to add one piece. That is a call over the state out there and every county that has been doing communitybased testing. The f. D. A. Put out new guidance, we talked about it several days ago that people can do selftesting in the drive through where you give them the materials to do it in their car and you pick it up in a biohazard bag. This would free up all of that p. P. E. That you see being utilized in those drive throughs back to the hospitals and back to the clinics that need it most. We have to move to the new technology, f. D. A. , worked tirelessly to get that out there so it could be sparing of gowns nd gloves and full respiratory n95s. This is the in a moment move to that selftesting front of nose with the new applicators that can be utilized so that every single bit of the n95 can be put into the hospitals that need t. Vice president pence let me just say we look forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Well be back here with further progress and news. But if i could just say to every american, well get through this. Well get through this. Well get through this together. Every american needs to understand that whether youre in an area thats impacted by the coronavirus or an area where theres very few case, you do your part to put into practice 15 days to slow the spread, you will do just that. Youll impact the spread of this coronavirus epidemic in our country. These experts tell me we can significantly reduce the number of americans that will be exposed to the coronavirus as every american continues to put these guidelines into practice. And we just know that with all the extraordinary effort thats being done at the federal level by this tremendous team and all of our agency, all the great leadership by governors in both parties across the country, with all the incredible and courageous work by Health Care Workers, with the cooperation and prayers of the American People, we will get this done. We will not only we will not only slow the spread, well protect the vulnerable and heal our land. Thank you all. Word as the briefing raps that colorado wraps, colorado becomes the latest state to shut down. Governor polis telling 5. Million coloradans to stay home beginning thursday morning. Steve mnuchin, the treasury secretary, earlier said about the 2 trillion coronavirus economic stimulus bill, our expectation is this bill passes tonight and gets to the house tomorrow. Follow Senate Coverage over on our companion network cspan 24e678 house returning for a pro forma session tomorrow morning at 11 00 a. M. Eastern live here on cspan. Follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at cspan. Org coronavirus. Watch congress, white house briefings, and updates from governors. Track the spread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps. Watch on demand any time unfiltered at span. Org coronavirus. Prime minister Justin Trudeau held a briefing earlier today outside his residence in at wasm he announced an Emergency Response benefit for these who lose their income as a result of the outbreak that benefit would provide workers with 2,000 a month for the next four months