Transcripts For CNNW The Lead With Jake Tapper 20200511

Camp david was called off, in part because of concerns about the outbreak, leaving trump to meet with the joint chiefs of staff at the white house instead. Although his press secretary was one of the two white house officials who tested positive last week, Vice President pence says he wont quarantine and was seen arriving at work today. However, several officials who did have contact with his press secretary are now quarantining. After testing negative, the fha director and cdc director say theyll selfquarantine. Dr. Fauci began what he described as a modified quarantine. Iowa governor kim reynolds announced shes coming into modified quarantine after coming into indirect contact with miller. Last wednesday, i was at the white house, as you know. Reporter shes tested negative but says shes concerned about possible exposure. Out of an abundance of caution i will follow a modified quarantine plan. Reporter Vice President pence visited her state on friday where he attended a food supply roundtable. A video of that event shows that the food executives he met with were all Wearing Masks before he arrived, but then an unidentified staffer there on the administrations behalf signals for them to remove their masks. Now, jake, we talked to the white house about this video. They said the reason she was indicating they should remove their masks is because they were socially distanced, and that they didnt have to remove them, just if they felt they wanted to do so. We saw dr. Birx arriving today, she is not selfquarantining but she was wearing a mask as she entered the white house grounds, as we see in this video from this morning. Kaitlan collins, thank you so much. As we wait for President Trumps press conference, lets bring in chief cnn medical correspondent sanjay gupta. The president tweeted, coronavirus numbers are looking much better, going down almost everywhere, big progress being raised. It looks as though numbers are going down in at least 16 states which of course is graineat new but the numbers are Holding Steady or rising in 34 states. Give us a sense of where you think we are in this current outbreak. Look, jake, i think were still in the early days. I mean, were going to see these ups and downs, trends like this. Theres two things. One is that overall, i think we have to look at sort of where we are as a country, where were headed, and take cues from whats happened other places around the world. I think we have the map of where these places are going up, because it does sort of make a difference, in your own state versus other states. You can see how the numbers are sort of doing. But jake, these gating criteria, we have 14 days where we want to see downward trends before you started thinking about reopening. 14 days. Thats a significant trend, 14 days of downward trends in new cases, 14 days in downward trends of symptoms that are associated with this. And we havent seen that. It seems like thats just sort of been abandoned here. We do see the overall improvement in some states. The plateauing, perhaps, in other states. The continued increase in other states still. I think the big question is when do we as a country start to see the 14day downward trend to make the case that we can more safely reopen. And lets talk about the procedures that theyre going through at the white house itself. Vice president pence, were told hes not selfquarantining even though his own press secretary, katie miller, has tested positive. Do you think he should be . Well, you know, its funny, ive talked to my sources at the white house today about Vice President pence and ambassador birx, and, you know, one thing ill say is that, you know, you have the top Infectious Disease doctor in the country who is selfquarantining. You have the head of the cdc who is selfquarantining. You have the head of the fda that is selfquarantining. So that should send a message to people about what the right thing to do in this situation is. My sources inside the white house tell me that when it comes to Vice President pence, ambassador birx, they are running the Coronavirus Task force, ambassador birx is essentially in charge of that. Tony fauci, for example, is considered an adviser to that. And theyre drawing a distinction, saying she still needs to be in the white house doing these types of meetings and things like that. If they were to follow the guidelines, and the guidelines are not equivocal on this, they should be selfquarantining. But these are the sorts of Decision Matrix thats probably going to happen in places like the white house and frankly in other places all over the country. Although just to point out, i think dr. Fauci is at the white house today, and he did tell me when he described the selfquarantining, that he would be willing to go to the white house if they wanted him to go there, he would be willing to go to nih because his offices are basically empty anyway. You and i have been to the white house, i worked there when i covered obama. The spaces are very cramped. People work on top of each other. Not just in the press area. All over the entire building, with the exception of the oval office. Do you expect more people will likely test positive in the white house . Unfortunately yes, jake. You know, the virus is in the white house now. We know that. People have been diagnosed there. As you do more testing or people develop symptoms, you know, youre probably going to see more cases. Thats the concern. It is a tough place to maintain physical distance, as you point out. And even up until recently, people not Wearing Masks, up until today, i guess, people are still very close to each other. Weve watched a lot of these press briefings when people are close to each other. When im looking at that, people cant imagine a little virus moving around person to person, but thats what i see, thats what a lot of Infectious Disease doctors see in their minds when they see that. I guess the good news is, the majority of people still, jake, who contract this virus, may not have much in the way of symptoms. You know, thats the good news. But the idea that more people will test positive is i think inevitable at this point. The white house Just Announced that every staffer who comes in needs to wear a mask. They have said that people who are around President Trump are Wearing Masks. Is that enough protection . Its a good step. Its the best, you know, i think that people can really do at this point besides maintaining the physical distance and quarantining themselves if theyve had a known exposure. Jake, last week we were talking about this and we said its going to seem like an obvious decision that people should wear masks around the president , the Vice President , around the principals. Its almost like you see with the secret service. Were going to look back and say, we can see how things were implemented, we know where this is headed, we know that people were going to have to physically distance and stay at home, we knew that far before it actually got implemented. We knew people, in settings where you could not physically distance, would need to wear masks to prevent the spread. When you see the images of ambassador birx with a mask on, the primary reason for her to wear the mask is to prevent her from spreading the virus if she has it. And were seeing, sanjay, a case study. The white house engages in random testing of individuals at the white house, thats how they found out that some of the people had it. Theyre engaging in Contact Tracing, figuring out who the people who have tested positive have come in contact with. There is this Robust Testing Program inside the white house, but the president keeps downplaying the need for a nationwide Testing Program like that so that your children or my children or people who want to go to work are able to also keep hold of who has the virus. Take a listen to white house Senior Adviser Kevin Hassett yesterday on stay of the union. Why not . Why not implement an aggressive nationwide testing and Contact Tracing system . Whats the downside . No, there is no downside. In fact we should use every test we can generate. Thats something were working overtime on, ramping up testing. But sanjay, theres no downside, mr. Hassett says, but theyre not doing it. Theyre not invoking the defense production act to get all the reagents and the swabs. I mean, its just one of the most bizarre things about this entire pandemic. Yeah, it really is, jake. It was a good interview, i watched that interview, and i think he was being honest. Look, you see whats happening inside the white house. Theyre testing, some people are being tested every day, they recognize the value of testing in terms of trying to contain this at the white house, trying to contact trace, do all the things to contain this. Its a microcosm of larger institutions, a microcosm of cities and states and even the whole country. Thats what needs to be done. And why havent we solved this problem so many months into it . Were one of the greatest countries on the planet, we solve really, really hard problems, and yet, swabs . Why dont we 3dprint swabs . Why dont we create more reagents . I realize everybody on the planet wants these things but these are big problems we have to solve, major societal issues around this, who gets the vaccine, who pays for it, how many times will they need to see receive the shots. Swabs and reagents is a solvable problem. Were seeing it at the white house in a sort of small picture. That needs to be applied to the country. Everybody knows this. Its been talked about for months now. What were hearing from the white house essentially is, testing for me but not for thee. Dr. Sanjay gupta, thank you so much, appreciate it. Be sure to listen to sanjays podcast, coronavirus faction versus fiction. On apple podcasts or however you listen to your podcasts. Coming up, President Trumps press conference. And the nation begins to try to reopen amid economic devastation. Ill have shocking scenes ahead. Stay with us. D up the years, but what i do count on. Is boost high protein. And now, theres boost mobility. With key nutrients to help support. Joints, muscles, and bones. Try boost mobility, with added collagen. [ siren ] doug give me your hand i can save you. Lots of money with Liberty Mutual we customize your Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. President trump is in the white house rose garden. Lets listen in. To provide an update on the unprecedented Testing Capacity developed by the United States, the most advanced and robust testing system anywhere in the world by far. This afternoon ill also announce new steps that were taking to make steps even more widely available to battle a virus my administration marshalled every resource at our nations disposal. Public, private, military, economic, scientific, and industrial, all at your disposal. We launched the largest manufacturing rampup since the second world war. Theres been nothing like it since. At the center of this industrial and scientific mobilization was the development of our coronavirus testing capabilities. In the span of just a few short months weve developed a Testing Capacity unmatched and unrivalled anywhere in the world and its not even close. This is a core element of our plan to safely and gradually reopen america and were opening and were starting and theres enthusiasm like i havent seen in a long time. Every american should be proud of the amazing array of talent, skill, and enterprise our nation has brought to this challenge. In three months, the fda has authorized more than 92 different tests and over 9 million have been performed here in the United States. Three weeks ago, we were conducting roughly 150,000 tests per day. Now were doing approximately 300,000 tests per day, a 100 increase, and it will go up substantially from that number. This week the United States will pass 10 million tests conducted, nearly double the number of any other country. Were testing more people per capita than south korea, the united kingdom, france, japan, swed sweden, finland, and many other countries and in some cases combined. On friday the fda authorized coronavirus antigen test, an alternative Testing Technology that can be much more readily manufactured. The maker of the newly authorized point of care test estimates that it will be able to manufacture 150,000 tests per day immediately increasing to 300,000 tests per day within just a few weeks. To further expand our nations testing capa am announcing that my administration and we got this all approved, its all done, is sending 1 billion to americas states, territories, and tribes. So this has all been approved. Weve gotten it done, completed. The money is going out. This major investment will ensure that america continues to conduct more tests than any country on earth by far. I said from the beginning that the federal government would back up the states and help them build their testing capability and capacities and thats exactly whats happened. This partnership has truly flourished. We have really had a very Good Relationship with the states and the governors and other representatives within the states, a relationship like i think i can honestly say has not been seen in this country for many, many years. Uh, the governors and us are working together very closely, not only on testing, but on ventilators, where we have a capacity thats at this point virtually unlimited. And were sending ventilators, as you probably heard, from other countries. Were sending many, many thousands of ventilators to other countries because theyre in tremendous need. And i think building up a lot of goodwill but much more importantly than that, were saving a lot of lives. Most states are now doing a great job. My administration located 5,000 machines in 700 labs across all 50 states and governors have learned how to maximize these testing resources. The federal government is also supporting states with vital supplies, quick approvals of new tests, and one on one coaching from the team here at the white house on how to increase capacity and increase it very quickly. In recent weeks, weve held multiple Conference Calls with every state as well as with d. C. And puerto rico. We jointly developed testing projections and goals for each state for the month of may, all together totaling 12. 9 million tests, think of that, 12. 9 million tests. Today im announcing that my administration will provide the collection supplies to help states meet their targets and meet them rapidly. During the month of may fema and hhs will be delivering 12. 9 million swabs to states nationwide. We already have them. The delivery will be very quick. Were prepared to provide millions of additional swabs if any state is on a pace to surpass its goal and their goals are very high. Weve set them very high. Weve told them to set them very high. My administration will also provide approximately 9 million transport media which are used to transfer swabs to the lab processing, a complicated process but weve made it simple. As a result of these actions every single state will be able to test more people per capita in may alone than south korea has tested in four months since the outbreak began. This major commitment is possible because of the massive mobilization of american industry including puritan medical products, u. S. Cotton, abbott labs, and thermofisher. Some of these incredible companies produced and produced rapidly for us and their products are here with us this afternoon. These are all different products that were literally just developed, and if you can imagine that, these are the best machines and the best equipment anywhere in the world, and other countries are calling us and were trying to work as much as we can, not only on ventilators but also with testing. My administration also continues our tireless effort to expand testing in the most underserved communities. Through our partnership with the private sector, leading pharmacies and retailers are now operating over 240 testing sites across the country and thats in addition to all the other sites that weve working. 70 of these sites are located in communities with unique vulnerabilities. There will be more than 300 sites by the end of this week and retailers are making plans to open up hundreds and hundreds more locations within the next 30 days. These additional sites are helping us ensure access to testing in every community. My administration is fighting relentlessly to protect all citizens of every color and creed from this terrible virus. The invisible enemy. In addition to vast amounts of testing supplies, my administration has partnered with the private sector to coordinate the delivery of more than 90 million n95 masks and these are of the highest quality. Many are made right here in the United States, a capacity we didnt have at all at the beginning. 126 million surgical masks. Likewise, many are made here. 9 million face shields. 21 million surgical gowns. 993 million gloves. And 10,690 ventilators. Were building thousands of ventilators in numerous plants all across our country. Its incredible, actually. This Global Pandemic has inflicted great pain and hardship on our people. It should have never been allowed to happen. It should have been stopped at the source. We mourn for every life the virus has claimed. And we share the grief of all of you who have lost a loved one. And that goes worldwide too. Many, many countries. 184 countries at least. Thanks to the courage of our citizens and our aggressive strategy, hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved. And we have saved, and if you look at on a per 100,000 basis, were at the best part of the pack, right on the bottom. Germany and us are leading the world. Germany and the United States are leading the world. Lives saved per 100,000. In every generation, through every challenge and hardship and danger, america has risen to the task. We have met the moment. And we have prevailed. Americans do whatever it takes to find solutions, pioneer breakthroughs, and harness the energies we need to achieve a total victory. Day after day were making tremendous strides with the dedication of our doctors and nurses. These are incredible people. These are brave people. These are warriors. With the devotion of our manufacturing workers, food suppliers and lab technicians. And with the profound patriotism of the American People we will defeat this horrible enemy. We will revive our economy. And we will transition into greatness. Thats a phrase youre going to hear a lot because thats whats going to happen. Were going into the third quarter. And were going to do well. In the Fourth Quarter were going to do very good. And next year i think well have one of the best years weve ever had because there is a tremendous pentup demand. Its a demand, and im feeling it, ive felt things a lot over my life, and ive made a lot of good calls. Its a demand like i dont think ive ever seen. It is a pentup demand. There is the spirit in this country like few have seen. And i think you can say and weve helped a lot of the countries a lot. Really a lot. Theres a tremendous spirit all over the world to beat this terrible, terrible thing. But were transitioning to greatness and the greatness is going to be in the Fourth Quarter but its really going to be next year. And its going to a year like weve never had before. I really believe that. As good as weve done, and weve done great, we had the best economy in the history of the world. Not just here. But anywhere in the world. You can talk china. You can talk any other country. We had the best economy anywhere in the world. And we were going for numbers, whether it was unemployment numbers, where we had our best numbers, employment also numbers. A little different, where we had our best numbers, almost 160 million people. All of that, we had the greatest stock market numbers ever. I think we had 142 days where we set records. In a short period of time, 152 days, we set records in the stock market. We rebuilt our military. All built in the United States. All of our equipment built, 1. 5 trillion plus. On the southern border, the wall is being built. Its being built rapidly. And now you dont hear the opponents talking too much about the border, they dont like to talking about it because it seemed we were right on a lot of things. One of the things we were right about, one of the many things, was the border. We have a very powerful border. Now, we had one of the best weeks in the history of our border between the United States and mexico, our southern border. We had very few people coming in, very, very few. Almost record low numbers. And the wall is being built. Its up to 181 miles already. Its being built, its being built rapidly. People dont talk about it anymore because its very successful. And the area where the wall has built, there is a lot still, but we want to be up to 450 by a very short period of time, early next year, we should be up to 450. And very shortly after that, 500 miles will be completed. But, uh, its had a tremendous impact. Weve had the best numbers. The last thing we want now with this pandemic is for people to come across our southern border, and, uh, were doing record numbers, meaning record low numbers. So i just want to thank everybody, and i want to introduce admiral giroir, if you could, please come up, and brad, if you would, brad smith. And theyre going to do a little explaining as to what weve done with regard to testing and how successful its been. And then well take some questions after that. Thank you very much. Well, thank you, mr. President , for your leadership and for your High Expectations that really made this all come together. And for the uniform support of everyone in the white house and the administration. And thank you, secretary azar, for providing his leadership at hhs and allowing both brad and i the opportunity to work on this project. I think its clear that america does lead the world in testing. Ill go through some of the charts that show that we lead quantitively. I will also suggest we lead in the diversity of tests which are very important to establish the testing ecosystem to keep america safe. And clearly, as weve said multiple times, no one beats america when it comes to quality. So lets start potentially with the next slide. This may be hard to see, but if you look at the line on top, thats the total numbers of tests done by the United States. No other country in the world comes close to the total numbers. Again, as the president has said, today we will top over 9 million tests. And if you look at per capita, everyone talks about south korea being the standard. Today, we will have done more than twice the per capita rate of testing that was accomplished in south korea. No matter how you look at it, america is leading the world in testing and how did we get there . Lets look at the next slide. Next slide, please. A very important component of how we came to this point was the authorization by the fda under the leadership of our secretary of many different diagnostic tests, diagnostic devices, and now of serology tests. So youve heard a lot about the different testing. You see some of the machines up here. Most of the diagnostic tests, all but one, rely on the amplification of the viral rna, the viral genetic material. And weve talked to you about the diversity of tests. Theyre very high throughput tests that are done at big reference labs like labcorp and quest. But very importantly, theyre also tests, and youve heard us talk about sepian delivering 2 million tests, vitally important to rural americans and places that do not have large infrastructure. Youve also seen abbott tests, there it is on the left of the president , delivering about 1. 4 million tests as a point of care test. You get the result within 5 to 15 minutes. We have deployed over 235,000 of these tests to the state Public Health laboratories in every state of this country to make sure that that point of care testing capability is there to research outbreaks like in Nursing Homes or in certain industrial capacities. And well over 90,000 to the Indian Health service so they can test at a point of care in remote locations. The president also talked about a new first in class test. Its listed there as an antigen based test. This is very important. And youve heard ambassador birx talk about this multiple times, because antigen testing, although complex, is much less complex than the nucleic acid testing that weve had. Quidel will be making 9 million point of care tests that well have every month in just a few weeks. It will clearly add to and to a certain degree transform our landscape. What you dont see up here is the important work the fda did. Im a swab guy now, im very interested in swabs. In order to make all these tests work, you have to show that a certain swab made of a certain material performed in a certain way delivers a highly accurate result. And what youre seeing up here is some of the fruits of that labor. Without the authorizations of, for example, the foam nasal swab, we would be blowing through ppe all across the country because of the need for full ppe just to take a test. That has really been changed by this diverse authorization. And a recent authorization allows the great manufacturer u. S. Cotton to join our foundational industry of puritan. Next slide. Last week we did over 1. 9 million tests. And that number is growing. And again, as the president said, and brad will talk about, our states aspire to do well over 12 million tests over the next four weeks. You see the graph growing. What you also see, very importantly, is that Little Orange bar on the bottom is the cumulative number of positives. Our percent positives are going down. And thats what we want to see. In fact in 31 states as of last night the Positivity Rate is less than 10 which is not a litmus test but as a good idea that were doing plenty enough testing that we can enter phase i four r reopening. I want to take the opportunity to say this doesnt happen by accident. Im seeing everyone in the audience here, and im so pleased they can be here, people sitting in the front have been working literally 18 to 20 hours a day every single day of the week for at least the past two months. None of this happens by accident. It happens because their hard work, their sacrifice, their sacrifice to their family, all for a common good. And im very, very honored to consider you all as my colleagues. In my last slide, as the president said, 11 billion are now being announced to be delivered to the states for the sole support of testing. This will give them the resources to parnas they hatner have with the president , with the task force, with brad and i, to achieve their testing goals. There needs to be minimum numbers to be planned to test. They have to have plans for their vulnerable communities, including Nursing Homes, including those who are disabled, including those who are in prisons or who have working environments that they may have a more likelihood to spread the infection. And combined with that, the secretarys office of Minority Health will soon be awarding a large contract to guarantee a National Network of state, local, and communitybased organizations to assure that those underserved, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, are linked to the services they need, not only testing but care as well. With that i would like to hand it over to brad smith who is the director of the center for medicare and Medicaid Innovation but has really been the chief operating officer to make all of this come together. Brad . Thank you, admiral. I want to talk through a little bit specifically about the work weve been doing specifically with the states. As the admiral mentioned, over the past few weeks weve been working with each state to set a target for their testing goal for may. Over a series of a couple of different calls, weve aligned on what those goals are. As the admiral mentioned and the president mentioned, theyve had 12. 9 million tests for the month of may. For every state this is greater than 2 of their population in the entire state being tested in may and for many states its a much higher number than that. When you compare this as the president mentioned to south korea, south korea is actually below that 2 , not for a month but for their total tests to date since the start of the year and so our states have come together to set really ambitious goals. Were excited to support them in meeting them. Next slide. As i talked about last time in the briefing, there are really three parts to making sure testing can happen. The first part is Sample Collection supplies. The second is the machines. The third is the lab supplies the machines need to run. Weve been working to make sure each state has all three of those parts to be able to conduct the number of tests. The first part is the specimen collection supplies. The commercial market today is providing a large number of these supplies already to states and already to hospitals. But we wanted to ensure that every state had more than what they needed to be able to conduct the number of tests theyre aiming in may. So we purchased enough tests to support the state testing goals for may and june. So we will be sending more than 12. 9 million swabs and 10 million media in may and a similar or greater number over the course of june. We have several million in reserve so if states are able to exceed their goal, we can provide them even more swabs and transport media. This is in addition to whats already available on the commercial market. If you go to the next slide. There are large numbers that have been talked about many times, large numbers of testing machines across the country, over 5,000 different machines that can conduct these tests. The key part is making sure that the machines and that the labs have enough supplies to run the machines. There will be in the month of may commercially produced over 25 million test kits which is either the pcr and extraction kits or the cartridges to be able to support states in their testing effort. And what weve been working to do with each state is understand their total goal and each of the manufacturers has been a great partner with us and told us how many tests theyre shipping to each lab and each state over the course of may. And what we know is in the aggregate, the number of test kits the state is getting is greater than their testing goal for the month of may. In addition to what the states have already purchased theres over 7 million additional tests that remain unpurchased, the majority of those from thermo fisher. We feel confident the states will have the supplies and the machines but also the extraction kits and reagents they need to be able to hit or potentially exceed their testing goals. If you go to the last slide, the last piece of the puzzle is making sure americans have access to these tests. Health care providers, hospitals, primary care physicians, are already providing these tests today. And we for the past six or seven weeks have been patterned wirtn retailers. Weve been working with the retailers to make sure theyre specifically targeting low income and other vulnerable communities across the country. And we are talking about with them about potentially opening another thousand additional sites over the next month or two. We hope weve put together the right pieces of the puzzle, having Access Points for patients and americans across the country, having the collection and specimen supplies to take the tests, having the machines, and the lab testing supplies with the machines. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, brad. Maybe youll both stay there, could be some questions. Okay. Please, john, go ahead. Reporter we had a situation here at the white house on friday where a member of the Vice President s staff tested positive for coronavirus which has now caused three of the top u. S. Officials involved in the Coronavirus Response to selfisolate. Twopart question. Where did the system break down to allow that to happen . And what would you say to employers who look at the experience here at the white house and say, are we ready for this . I dont think the system broke down at all. One person tested positive, surprisingly, because the previous day, tested negative. And three people that were in contact, relative contact, who i believe theyve all tested totally negative, but they are going to for a period of time selfisolate. So thats not breaking down. It can happen. Its the hidden enemy, remember that. Its the hidden enemy. So things happen. But the three tested negative. The one who tested positive will be fine, will be absolutely fine. John . Reporter what do you say to other companies who look at this and say i dont know if were ready for all this . I think we have a lot of people in the white house, and we had one, basically one person. We had a lot of people that work here. This building is shocking, if you it looked like numbers, its also tremendous numbers of people coming in, normally you wouldnt do that, but because were running a country we want to keep our country running so we have a lot of people coming in and out. Many of those people, most of those people tested, depending on what portion of the oval office area theyre going in. Everybody coming into the president s office gets tested. And i felt no vulnerability whatsoever, john. But the two people, as i said, and three people, they have been tested, and its negative, and there will be probably, uh, out of quarantine very quickly. Okay . Reporter if i can follow up on that, your staff, your senior staff, as you just referenced, is able to get tested every day. When will it be that americans across the country will be able to get tested every day as they go back to work . Very soon. Really very soon. Its an interesting question because normally you would have said, uh, that you are not tested, and you would have been, you know, knocking us for not getting tested. So if we get tested, its a problem, and if we dont get tested, its a problem. I like the way your question was phrased better this way because it is a positive. We are tested. We have great capability. We look at all of these machines here, theyre incredible machines. The best anywhere in the world. No place in the world has this kind of equipment. Other countries are calling, sophisticated countries, and theyre calling, lots of countries, and, uh, were trying to make as much as we can available to them because theres nothing like what weve been able to do. In literally a couple of months. What theyve been able to do, the private sector, how they got it done, this is a 5 to 15minute test. As an example, the Abbott Laboratories test. These tests are highly sophisticated, very quick, very good. This is things that didnt even exist a short wile ago. So we do have a great testing capability at the white house. Were doing it, and i think, uh, generally speaking, we had a call with the governors the other day, generally speaking, without exception, they were all extremely happy with whats going on with respect to their testing. Okay . Reporter should people be told to go back to work until they have that assurance that they and their coworkers are able to get tests, which were still not there . Were living that up to the governors, as you know. If we see something wrong, well call it out and stop it. But were leaving it up to the governors. Some are being not aggressive enough in my opinion, and some are being a little bit aggressive, but theyre being very careful. The people in the country have learned a lot over the last two months. Theyve learned about social distancing and washing your hands and other things that weve all learned and talked about. Theyve learned about, i see everybody, just about everybody has a face mask on, theyve learned about face masks, the good and the bad, by the way, its not a onesiding thi dsh believe it or not. Our country has learned, our country has been incredible. And you see the numbers, theyre dropping very substantially, the numbers are dropping around our country very, very substantially. So we leave that, john, up to the governors and i think theyre making a lot of good decisions. Weve had, as i said, a great relationship with governors, democrat and republican, and i think overall theyre making very good decisions. Nobody in this group . All the ones behind the room. Thats interesting. Please. Reporter thank you, mr. President. You said in your comments earlier, we have met the moment, we have prevailed. To you, sir, is the mission accomplished, even with 1. 9 directors no, we prevailed in regard to testing. Thats what i was referring to. You never prevail when you have 90,000 people, 100,000 people, when you have 80,000 people as of today, when you have the kind of death youre talking about, when you have potentially millions of people throughout the world that are dying, thats not prevail. What im talking about is, we have a great Testing Capacity now. Its getting even better. Theres nobody close to us in the world. And we certainly have done a great job on testing. And testing is a big is a very big, important function. By the way, some people consider it more important than others, to be honest with you. But testing certainly is a very important function. And we have prevailed. We have the best equipment anywhere in the world. Okay, please. Yeah. Please, go ahead. Reporter there are a variety of reports that chinese hackers are attempting to steal Technology Related to vaccine research. Is this something youre concerned about . What can you say . So what else is new with china . What else is new . Tell me. Im not happy with china. They should have stopped this at the source. They could have stopped it right at the source. So now youre telling me theyre hacking. So i just say this, steve. What else is new . Were watching it very closely. Reporter if i could follow up, sir, the south China Morning post, the beijing newspaper, says the chinese would like to make the terms of the trade deal more favorable to them. Is this something you would be more interested in doing . No, not at all, not even a little bit, im not interested. We signed a deal. I had heard that too. They would like to reopen the trade talk to make it a better deal for them. Chinas been taking advantage of the United States for many, many years, for decades, because we had people at this position right here where im standing, sitting right in that office, the oval office, that allowed that to happen. No, im not interested in that. Lets see if they live up to the deal they signed. Please, go ahead. Reporter mr. President , what are your thoughts about a second round of direct payments to americans thats included in the House Democratic bill . Were talking about that with a lot of different people. I want to see a payroll tax cut. I want to see various things that we want. I want, uh, the workers to be taken care of. But were talking about that. Were negotiating with the democrats. Well see what happens. But, uh, as i said, its a transition. And this is really going to be, in my opinion, well see, but i think its going to be something thats very special. Its a transition to greatness. And greatness is next year. Right from the beginning i think well do fantastically well. I view the third quarter, as i said, as a transition quarter. Could be pretty good. But a transition quart. Towa quarter. Next year youre going to have potentially the kind of numbers that you saw before, maybe even better, because there is that pentup demand that is you know, a lot of people wanted to do things, theyre ready to do things and theyve had to hold back because of the virus. So i think youre going to have with that pentup demand a phenomenal year next year unless somebody messes it up by coming along and raising taxes, doubling, tripling, quadrupling your taxes like a certain party, namely the democrats want to do, youll mess it all up. We had the greatest esest in t world. I presided, this administration presided over it. It got great for a reason and well do it again and well do it again very quickly and easily. I see that happening. Yes, maam, please. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Almost everyone as you noted in the rose garden is wearing a mask today. Why havent you required everyone at the white house to wear masks before now . Well, if theyre a certain distance from me or a certain distance from each other, they do. In the case of may, im not close to anybody. I would like to be close to these two gentlemen, theyre hard working men. But they said lets keep it this way. Obviously in my case im very far away from everyone. If you look at all of those people over there, every one of of them, from what i see, these are white house staffers, theyre white house representatives, theyre white house executives, and everybody has a mask on. Weve had just about everybody ive seen today, has worn a mask. Reporter are you the one who required that, sir . Yeah, i did. I did. I required it, yes. Please. Go ahead. Reporter mr. President , youre now promising that everyone who needs a test will be able to get one at some point soon. Can you give us some figures on what youre changing to ramp up testing, when will that be a true statement exactly, and how exactly are you going to accomplish that . Its a true statement already. We have more testing than any country in the world by far. But ill let admiral go into a little bit of the future. When you look at the testing numbers that we worked with collaboratively with the state leadership, its not just with the governor but the state health officers, the state epidemiologists, the Public Health labs, its really a combination of testing those who need something for diagnosis, diagnostic testing, tracing, but the largest fracking part of th moving into surveillance, testing those who are asymptomatic. When you do the numbers, this amount of testing on a state to state basis really is in the range that we need to accomplish all of that, certainly within the range that we need. So it really encompasses those three things. The other thing i would say is, particularly as we move into the summer, there are surveillance mechanisms. And i talked about them before, like a weather radar. Just think about that weather radar. That influenzalike illness network which is at about 75 of Health Care Institutions and syndromic surveillance. So if we see a blip on that weather radar, combined with cdc personnel in every single state and with contact tracers, we really run to the fire, right . Thats when you detect, you trace, and you shut off that outbreak right when it starts. Reporter mr. President , there does seem to be a double standard here, mr. President , where members of your own staff can get tests frequently when they need it but ordinary americans cannot. When will the rest of america have access that the members of your own white house can get to testing . If we did no tests in the white house, you would be complaining, why cant you get tests in the white house. We cant win. I understand you very well, better than you understand yourself. And frankly, if we didnt guest tests done, you would be complaining. Now that we have so quick, so fast, five minutes, et cetera, and so accurate, youre complaining were getting too many activities. So you cant win. Go ahead, phil. Reporter mr. President , Many Americans want to return to their normal lives but theyre afraid to do so. How can you assure americans its safe to go to their workplaces when the most secure place in the country, the white house, cannot prevent the spread of the coronavirus, its infected some of your own staff . You say some. So we have a person, the person got something happened right after a test was done, uh, three other people met that person, came into relative contact, very little contact, and theyre selfquarantining. That is not exactly not controlling it. I think weve controlled it very well. We have hundreds and hundreds of people a day pouring into the white house. Its a Massive Office complex, including the very large building right behind us that you know so well. So i think were really doing a very good job in watching it and i think its very wellcontained, actually. Part of the reason is because of all the tests were able to give but it was one person and the other people were only people who are quarantined, you understand this, theyre quarantined for a specific reason. The reason is they were in the general proximity of the one person. And the one person i believe will be fine in a very short period of time. Reporter why hasnt Vice President pence followed the cdc guidelines of selfisolation and other people who might have been exposed . He will give you that information. Whatever he is proceeding and doing, he will give you that information, ill make sure they put out a notice. John, go ahead, please. Reporter mr. President , up until now its not that the most Vulnerable People were those above the age of 60 or 70 or 80 and the children were pretty much i dont want to say immune from this but werent affected by it. But all day long in the news today weve been hearing and seeing this terrible syndrome that some 85 children have now, three of them have died. What is the task force talking about in terms of that, and what could be done about it . Were seeing that all over the world now with young children, very, very tiny percentage, but its still, its, uh, the swelling and the skin crash, and were looking at that very closely, john. Its a, uh, phenomenon thats just been brought to everyones attention a couple of weeks ago. Admiral, you may have something to say about that. So thank you for pointing that out, and again, ive said many times, im a pediatrician and a pediatric icu doctor. This syndrome which we call or similar to kawasaki syndrome, this has been seen in a Novel Coronavirus before and its associated with illnesses. We have a strong activation on this. We do know treatments for this. But the cdc is interacting actively with the pediatric intensive care unit network to create case definitions and to understand how this is going and if there are predispositions. The national heart, lung, and blood institute, i spoke to dr. Gary gibbons who directs that who is advancing Many Research projects based on that. The assistant secretary for preparedness and response has a team out in several areas, looking at if there are any special treatments. We know what the basic treatment is but this is a little different than we normally see. There really is an activation of all the branches in hhs working with networks at childrens hospitals and icu nets. This is a small percentage but it is quite frightening. This reflects the fact that this virus affects the vasculature, we see clotting, we see strokes. This is a vasculature phenomenon of the inflammation we see in children. Reporter mr. President , with this newlyemerging syndrome among young children, what do you say to parents who would like to get their children back to school but are now looking at this and are afraid to do that . Again, its a tiny percentage. But youre right. Were looking into it very strongly. The admiral has known about this long before it happened. It is a very, very small percentage. And people recover from it, the children recover from that. Right . Reporter yes, sir, most do recover from this, but it is a serious and it can be a fatal condition. So we could want to make sure that parents understand that high fevers, red rashes, particularly in your child, may need to contact your health care provi provider. There are treatments for this. They work very effectively if gotten early at least for the vast majority of the cases. Were studying that very closely. Its been on the radar for weeks, actually, because weve seen this for quite a while. But its been very rare. But were looking at it very closely, its very important to us. I think one of the things were most proud of is, this just came out, deaths per 100,000 people, death, so deaths per 100,000 people, germany and the United States are at the lowest running of th rung of that ladder, meaning low as a positive, not a negative, germany and the United States are the best in deaths per 100,000 people which frankly to me thats perhaps the most important number there is. Please, in the back. Reporter thank you, mr. President. I ever t i have two questions, one on the Ahmaud Arbery case and one on the coronavirus. On the coronavirus, the Vice President is said to be in some some sort of selfisolating, keeping his distance from people. What do you say to americans who say, how can you keep me safe, how can you reopen the government if even the Vice President is selfisolating and why hasnt testing gotten up to the point where every american who wants a test can get a test . The Vice President , first of all, has been tested and hes negative. He was tested, tested today, and hes negative. Hes in very good shape. And i think that thats going to be fine. As far as americans getting a test, they should all be able to get a test right now. They should be able to get a test. Thats the problem with the question like that, we go through a whole announcement saying were number one in the world by far, by a factor of two and even three or four depending on where youre looking, and i get a question, when will everybody be able to get tested. If somebody wants to be tested right now, theyll be able to be tested. As far as the incident youre talking about, i think its horrible, and its certainly being looked at by many people, im speaking to many people about it. Uh, he, uh, looked, i saw the picture of him in his tuxedo, its so beautiful, he looks like a wonderful young guy, he would have been a wonderful, uh, i mean, just a wonderful guy. I think its a horrible thing. I think its a horrible thing. With that being said, as you know, theyre studying the case very carefully. Theyre interviewing everybody involved. And well see what happens. To me, uh, its a very sad thing. I spoke to, uh, a number of people that are very much involved in it. Ive been following that one very closely. It breaks your heart to watch it, it wreabreaks your heart. Certainly the video was a terrible looking video to me. But you have a lot of people looking at it. And hopefully, uh, an answer is going to be arrived at very quickly. But its something that is heartbreaking. Reporter a question about the case, if i can ask it, the specific question i have is, youve said there possibly are things that happen that were not recorded on the tape. Could you expound on what you mean by that and your thoughts on yeah. I saw the tape and when they moved left, i dont believe, when they moved left outside of the tape, nobody saw what was going on, nobody saw its an empty spot on the tape, i guess. Now, do they have additional tapes, i hope. But i will say its something that based on what i saw, doesnt look good. Somebody that i have a lot of respect for is senator scott of south carolina, you know what im talking about, hes a great gentleman, hes great senator, hes a great gentleman, tim scott. I called him two days ago, i said, tim, what do you think, tell me, what do you think. Hes very disturbed by it. Hes very disturbed. And im very disturbed also. Please, go ahead. Reporter President Trump, thank you. I have two questions. One on testing and one on democratic states that youve tweeted about. First, the money for this new testing support today comes from the c. A. R. E. S. Act which you signed into law 42 days ago. Did your delay in embracing widespread testing have anything to do with the desire to suppress the official number of u. S. Cases and deaths as you try to reopen the country . No, we just wanted to make sure we had the proper machinery, apparatus, and Everything Else out there before people started wasting money. So method of saving money. We wanted to make sure we had even things like this, plus they have machines that are far more complex than this. They have massive machines at some of the laboratories that can do millions of tests. We wanted to make sure everything was in place, okay . Go ahead. Reporter and earlier today you tweeted that democrats are moving slowly for political purposes. Why do you believe that their motive is politics rather than Public Safety and how do you respond to criticism that youre also motivated by politics to try to grow the economy ahead of the election . Well, i think that if you look at pennsylvania as an example, if you look at various other states, i wont get into them, the people want to go back, the numbers are getting to a point where they can, and there just seems to be no effort on certain blue states to get back into gear. And the people arent going to stand for it. They want to get back. Theyre not going to stand for it. They want our country open. I want our country open too. I want it open safely. But i want it open. Dont forget, people are dying the other route. You can go with the enclosed route, everythings closed up, youre in your house, youre not allowed to move. People with dying with that too. You look at drug addiction, you look at suicides, you look at some things that are taking place. People are dying that way too. You can make the case its in even greater numbers. So its a situation that some people, and ive noticed that some states could be moving more quickly and also at the same time, safety. Look, safety is paramount. People are dying in the lockdown position too. And everybody understands that. Theyre just starting to find out. And look at whats going on with drugs. And look at whats happening with suicides. Please