300 billion in direct Cash Payments will be available for every american citizen earning less than 99,000 per year. That would be 3,400 very quickly for the typical family of four. Nothing like thats ever been done in our country. Up to 250 billion in expanded unemployment benefits. The average worker, who has lost his or her job will receive 100 of their salary for up to four full months, unlike normal unemployment benefits, independent contractors and the selfemployed will be eligible. So you have independent contractors. And selfemployed people will be eligible for this. Over 100 billion to support the heroic work of our doctor, nurse, and hospitals. Theyve been incredible. 45 billion for Disaster Relief fund. So we are setting up a fund 45 billion for Disaster Relief. Thats more than doubling the amount of available to support my National Emergency and disaster declarations. Thats a doubling up. 27 billion to build up the Strategic National stockpile with critical supplies, including masks, respirators, pharmaceuticals, and everything you can imagine, because it was depleted, like our military was depleted. Now we have a brandnew military. Never had a military like this. We have equipment either coming or its already come. For the most part its already come, but we have a lot of things that will soon be coming. Planes, missiles, rocket, 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 the 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 wanted to use the money for the companies and the planes or whatever they may be helping to get over this rough patch. And i dont think its going to end up being such a rough patch. I think when we open, especially if we can open it, the sooner the better, its going to open up like a rocket ship. I think its going to go very good and very quickly. And youre going to have some tough new limits on executive compensation, also. They need the money. r going ha just make things work. Because were interested in the workers, the jobs. And were interested in the company, because thats really what fuels the workers in those great jobs. We also have 16 billion in funding for the purchase of personal protective equipment. You know about that, such as masks and respirators through the Strategic National stockpile. I encourage the house to pass this vital legislation and send the bill to my desk for signature without delay. I will sign it immediately. We will have a signing, and it will be a great signing and a great day for the American Worker and for american families. And frankly, for american companies, some of which were having the best years theyve ever had these last few years. And then a little bit less than a month ago, they went into a position that they havent seen because of the hidden enemy, the virus. Earlier today i spoke to leaders of many of americas amazing nonprofit organizations. I thanked them for their unwaving and unwavering devotion to american. To people, to american families, to our nation. And they have been fantastic. Theyve been collecting supplies, distributing food, supporting health care worker, caring for vulnerable workers and families. I encourage them to continue to do it. But i tell you, the nonprofit, great people. I know a lot of them. Finally, a brief update on the critical supplies. Through fema, the of the has delivered or is in the process of shipping 9. 4 million n95 respirators. Think of that. 9. 4 million. 20 million surgical masks, and we have others that we think are going to be delivered pretty quickly. The whole world, you know, its not just us. Its not just the states. The whole world is trying to get these things. So in competition with many, many countries. I believe today you broke the 150 mark for the virus. We have 150 countries, over 150 countries where you have this virus. And nobody would ever believe a thing like that is possible. Nobody could have ever seen Something Like this coming. Now we know. We know it can happen and happen again. If it does, somebodys going to be very well prepared because of what weve learned and how weve done. Its been incredible how weve done. Remember, there is more tests than anybody by far. And the news, the reporters, the media always likes to bring south korea. They called me and told me its amazing, your testing procedures are amazing. Plus we have a test that is a very high level test and its a test thats very accurate. 3. 1 million face shields, 14. 6 million gloves and almost 6,000 ventilators, which go to the areas 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. He was very happy. Its hard not to be happy with the job were doing, that i can tell you. Throughout this National Emergency, everyday heroes continue to step forward and demonstrate the extraordinary character of our nation, including the people behind me. By the way, these people are amazing. They are amazing people. And they become i dont know, maybe i should just speak for myself. But to me, they become friends. Maybe they dont like me. Maybe they dont. Maybe they do. I dont know. All i can tell you is theyre talented people. They work very hard. In maryland, a 7yearold boy used his own birthday money to buy meals for dozens of senior citizens. In nevada, a College Student recruited 90 of her friends to help deliver groceries and supplies to the most vulnerable. This is happening all over the country. Thousands and thousands of instances. I could stand up here all day and tell you about other things. 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 lines, fighting to save lives. These inspiring americans remind us that we all have a role to play in winning this Great National battle, and its really a worldwide battle. Were dealing with other nations all the tile. The people here are, i take calls from a lot of people. Theyre in trouble. 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, he will tell you. Steve mnuchin is a fantastic guy, and he loves our country. And he has been dealing with both sides, republicans and democrats. He has sort of lived over in that beautiful building. To me its a beautiful building, one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. If we can have a little update what it looks like and how were doing. Thank you. Thank you very much, mr. President. First let me say i would like to thank Mitch Mcconnell for his leadership, and id also like the thank Chuck Schumer for the enormous bipartisan support we had on this bill and the many senators both republicans and democrats that work tirelessly over the last five days on all the task force. As the president said, i got to live in the lbj room for the last five pleased with the unprecedented response from the senate to protect American Workers and American Business in this situation. Let me quickly go through them. Again, 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 sba loan, but the treasury will be issuing new authorizatio authorizations, i expect by the end of next week we will have a very simple process where these can be made and dispersed in the same day. 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 that dont fit into these two programs that will be administered through the states. We also have Economic Impact payments. These will be within the next three weeks, direct payments into most peoples deposit accounts. And for those that dont have it, we will be having the checks in the mail. Treasury will have additional authorities. We have 500 billion that we can use to work with the Federal Reserve for emergency programs that will create up to an additional 4 trillion if needed to support American Business and American Workers in an unprecedented way. And then finally, the president mentioned 1 100 billion to hospitals and 150 billion to states that have specific coronavirus expenses, as well as many additional things. Mr. President , i especially want to thank you and the Vice President. You are constantly available to us. We spoke constantly throughout the day. You gave us guidance and quick decisions on many issues, and again, thank everybody for this great bipartisan work. This is going to be enormous help for the American Workers and the American Economy. The president was very determined that congress would move swiftly to protect hardworking americans in business in this unprecedented situation. Thank you very much. Great job. Day and night, right . Day and night. That was a lot of work. And well see how it all goes. We still need a vote, steve. Do you have a question . Yes. How long do you think this bill will keep the economy afloat . Hopefully a long time. Well see. If we have to go back, we have to go back. Were going to take care of the American Worker. Were going take care of these companies that fuel the country and make america great. Its not their fault. Its not their fault. Id say we anticipated three months. Hopefully we wont need this for three months. Hopefully this war will be won quicker, but we expect that this is a significant amount of money if needed to cover the economy. And dont forget, a lot of this is going to be to Keep Companies that are very strong, aaa rated companies previously, to keep them going. And its going to be in the form of loans. So the money is going to come back. A lot of this money is coming back. Let me ask you about something you said yesterday. You said we should never rely upon a foreign country for the means of our own civil. Ive been saying that for a long time. What did you mean . We rely on many countries where we give up our supply chains, we give up our factories, we give up our production facilities and we can buy it some place else for a little bit lower price. But its really costing us more when that happens because we lose jobs, we lose everything, and we lose our independence. And we cant let that happen. So well be making some changes. We have been making those changes. An executive order to basically ban the export of medical equipment . I dont know if we need that, but i think its happening by itself. I think a lot of things are happening. Well, some people, we may 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, its designed. Theyre all playing games against us, okay. Theyve been playing games against us for years, and no president has ever done anything about it. But the european union, you look at medical equipment, we make the best medical equipment in the world, but we cant sell it because were not appropriately. And yet we take their medical equipment in our country. Were changing things, steve. All of this is changing. But they have specifications so that our equipment designed specifically so that our equipment cant come into their countries. Its a very terrible thing thats happened to our country. And let me tell you, some of the people that took the biggest advantage of us are allies. You know, we talk about allies. They took advantage of us in many ways, but financially as well as even 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, theyre paying a lot. Now they paid 125, 235 billion more, and then ultimately, secretary general sultanberg, who i think you would say is my biggest fan we got him to play an additional 400 billion, billion, other countries. And then there is the trade. They make it almost impossible for us to have a fair deal. They know this. They know im just waiting. We have all the advantages, by the way. Its going to be easy when i decide to do it. But this isnt the right time to do it. But weve been treated very, very unfairly by the european union. Mr. President , four republican senators have indicated that the extra 600 for Unemployment Insurance may encourage workers to leave their jobs, even though you can only collect unemployment if youre fired. Im curious what you think of that concern. Well, i know the issue very well. We talked about it just a little while ago. Steve, im going to let you maybe discuss that. Sure. I spoke to several of those senators today. Let me just explain the issue. We wanted to have enhanced Unemployment Insurance. Most of these state systems have technology thats 30 years old or older. So if we have the ability to customize this with much more specifics, we could have. This was the only way we could assure that the states could get money out quickly in a fair way. So we used 600 across the board. And i dont think it will create incentives. Most americans, what they want, they want to keep their jobs. I said for 50 of these businesses, they will have the businesses keep those jobs. This was our number one issue was 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 those hardworking americans got money. And this was the most efficient way of doing it. Senators that you spoke with, are they in agreement now . Im not going comment on the specifics of where they are. But i would say, you know, our expectation as this bill passes tonight and gets to the house tomorrow and they pass it, we need to get this money into the American Economy and American Workers. Thats the importance of this. The one good thing when you think about that, people get actually more money. But we dont want to give a disincentive. But they have been talking about that. Its a good question, actually. Yes, maam, please. Thank you. The family on another subject, the family of retired fbi agent Robert Levenson says u. S. Officials have concluded he has died in iranian custody . Are you aware of that . And how did u. S. Officials reach that conclusion . And ive been very much involved in that. And he was a great gentleman and a great family. Its just i mean, i have to say this, and theyve been making this statement to the family, i believe. But its not looking good. He wasnt well for years in iran. Its not looking promising. Weve gotten so many people back. We got two people back this week, but robert levinson, who was outstanding, he has been sick for a long time. And its rough problems prior to he detainment or capture, and we feel terribly for the family. Do you accept that he is dead . No, i dont accept that he is dead. I dont accept it. Im telling you its not its not looking great, but i wont accept that hes dead. They havent told us that hes dead. But a lot of people are thinking that that is the case. Mr. President , you tweeted earlier linking the closing of the country to your election success in november. Is this easter timeline based on your political interests . What do you mean my bimy success . You tweeted. You said the media wants the country to remain close to hurt the media would like to see me do poorly in the election. Is that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said reopening the country by easter is not a good idea. What is that plan based on. Just so you understand. Are you ready . I think there are certain people who would like it not to open so quickly. Thing are certain people who would like it to do poorly because that would be very good as far as defeating me at the polls. I dont know if thats so, but i think there are people in your profession that would like that to happen. I think its very clear. Does not endorse that 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 because weve done one hell of a job. Nobodys done the job that weve done. And its lucky that you have this group here right here for this problem or you wouldnt even have a country left. Okay. Go ahead. Mr. President , two questions. The first one, once you sign the 2 trillion package, how soon or how rapidly do you expect to see economic growth. Who you with . Cbn. And my second question is we are pushing for april 6th to have direct payments issued to taxpayers. That the target date . I think its very much. I would say our expectation is within three weeks we will have direct payments out where we have depository information and were looking to get a lot more information, and we have procedures to do that. Three weeks for that, and i would say the end of next week we want all the banks to be able to originate loans the same day. Thank you, mr. President. Have i two questions for you. One is tomorrow youre going to be speaking with the g20 leaders. And i want to know if youre going lead an effort to craft a worldwide ban on wild animal marks as to prevent another pandemic given that covid19 is a zoonotic that was transferred to humans in animals. I dont know if thats going come up. There is talk that happened. It came out of china. They say thats how it happened in china. Its something that maybe will be talked about, but its not the top of my list. I think were going have a very good conversation. And also, dr. Azschiescee sh test everything so we can test all quarantined individuals and allow everyone else to go back to work immediately would. You subscribe to that strategy . No. But we have tested more than anybody. And if not, how many deaths are acceptable . None. How many deaths are acceptable to me . None, okay. None. If thats your question. Look, i saw him. I saw his statement. We have tested by far more than anybody. Were testing more than anybody right now. There is nobody even close. And our tests are the best test, the most accurate tests. But if youre saying were going test 350 Million People, i watched his statement. I disagree with it. We can go to certain states. I can name them now, but im not going do it. Well can go to certain states right now. They have virtually no problem or a very small problem. We dont have to test the entire state in the middle west or wherever they may be. We dont have to test the entire state. I think its ridiculous. We dont have to do it. A lot of those states could go back right now, and they probably will, because at some point in the not too distant future, certain states are going to come off the rolls. Maybe new york cant and california cant. Maybe the state of washington cant, although if you look at them, their biggest problem was in one nursing home. But the states are silent. If you test one state and the person moves over to the other state. Well, you know, youre going to just look at that. But if you take a look at the states, many states that im talking about, they dont have a problem. We have some big problems, but its confined to certain areas, high density areas. So why would we test the entire nation, 350 Million People . With that being said, im going say it again. We tested far more than anybody else. We are we have the ability to test i mean, weve come a long way an obsolete broken system that i inherited. We have now tested with the best test far more than anybody else. And when i say anybody else, im talking about 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, eight days here, more than eight weeks in south korea. And south korea has done a good job. But we did in eight days more than south korea did in eight weeks. Thats a big number. And were getting i said before, exponentially better. Every day its going up substantially. We have an incredible apparatus built now. But no, i dont want to test 350 Million People. I think its ridiculous. Yes, please . Thank you so much, mr. President. Two questions. One follow on g20 because the u. N. Ask the g20 countries for more resources, for a coordinated stimulus package on terrorists, waive on sanctions to try to prevent what they call an apocalyptic pandemic. Would you consider those measures. With respect to what . Tariffs and related also to waive tariffs and sanction and would you consider to join this global effort . Before we came here, we werent into borders. We had a country people could come in. We had a whole different deal. Now were up to almost 164 miles. Think of that. 164 miles of wall, big beautiful wall. And in those areas, its very, very tough to come in. Weve been very tough on the borders. I mean, where we have the wall built, nobodys getting through. Now theyre going around, but thats a long trip. Theyre going around, thats the way they get through. But no, im very strong on borders, and i dont want people coming in here. What i want is if theyre going to come in, they have to come in legally, they have to come in through merit. Were not having the people that youre talking about come into our country. There is a followup with another question. A question for you and for dr. Fauci if youll let me. Both republican and democrat packages of the stimulus included 25 million worth of funding for the Kennedy Arts Center here in washington, d. C. Shouldnt that money be going to masks, respirators . Well, i tell you, i approved that. I knew it was 35 million, and we actually took off 10. But im a fan of that, although i havent spent time there, because im far too busy. Id love to go there evening, but im too busy doing things because thats more important for me than going there. But the Kennedy Center has suffered greatly because nobody can go there. Its essentially closed. And they do need some funding. And i said look, that was a democrat request. That was not my request. But you got to give them something. Its something that they wanted. It works that way. The democrats have treated us fairly. I really believe that weve had a very good back and forth, and i say that with respect to Chuck Schumer. I spoke to him a number of times. But, you know that. Had requests also. That was a request. There were 35, as you know, and it came down 25. We got it down to 25. We agreed. I said thats a lousy sound bite. Thats not a good sound bite. But thats the way life works. With that being said, the Kennedy Center, they do a beautiful job, an incredible job. David rubenstein does a fantastic job. He is very much involved and he puts up a lot of money and he does things that a lot of people wouldnt be able to do or do. But theyve been essentially closed. They have tremendous deficits that have built up. This thing has been devastating to it. So i didnt have a big problem with it. But this was a request from the democrats because of the fact that they have a facility thats essentially closed up. Another question, sir. In other words, you couldnt go there if you wanted to. If i wanted to go there tonight to look at romeo and juliet. I would love to see romeo and juliet tonight. Theyd say sorry. 250 people, or 50 people, whatever it might be down. To. And earlier today, senator marco rubio told rcp that, quote, the World Health Organization showed favoritism to china and representative michael mccaul, the Ranking Member on the House Foreign Relations Committee he questioned the integrity of the World Health Organizations director saying, quote, there were several red flags in his past with respect to his relationship with china. Do you agree . Do you think the World Health Organization showed favoritism . And once all the dust settles, do you think that the United States should reexplore its relationship with the World Health Organization . Thing is a lot of certainly a lot of talk that its been very unfair. I think that a lot of people feel its been very unfair. Its been very much sided with china, and a lot of people are not happy about it. At the same time, dr. Fauci and myself and other people, there are people on there that we like and we know. A lot of i think your friends ron there. A lot of good people. A lot of professionals. It would be interesting to hear if youd like talk about the w. H. O. The fact is i have heard for years that is very much biased toward china. I dont know. You want to get into this political mess . No, i dont want you to do that, but i will. So tedros is really an outstanding person. Ive known him from the time he was the minister of health of ethiopia. Obviously over the years anyone who has said the w. H. O. Has not had problems has not been watching the w. H. O. But i think under his leadership, they have done very well. He has been all over this. I was on the phone with him a few hours ago leading a w. H. O. Call. Im not talking about china. You asked me about tedros. The World Health Organization, transparency and leadership on their response to the pandemic . I cant comment on that. I dont have any viewpoint into it. I dont even know what your question is. Can i follow up on that . Welcome. Let me just tell you, i have heard that for years. I spoke to him yesterday. Seems fine to me. I dont know. But were the one that gave the great response, and were the ones that kept china out of here. And if i didnt do it, youd have thousands and thousands of people who have died that are now living and happy. If i didnt do that early call on china, and nobody wanted that to happen. Everybody thought it was a just unnecessary to do it. And if we dont do that, thousands and thousands of people would have died. More than whats happened. So maybe one more. Steve . Go ahead. When you have this g20 meeting tomorrow, what sort of coordinated response are you expecting . Not coordinated. Were going have a meeting with the 20 nations total, including us. It will be a Conference Call tomorrow morning some time. I look forward to people i know, i like. I think in every instance, i like every one of them. But it will be an interesting call. Youll be the first to know. Next week when the 15day period ends, what should we expect then . Are you going to extend it for another week . Ill be speaking. Ill be speaking with tony. Ill be speaking with deborah. Ill be speaking with some of the people they like and respect and theyre going to bring along with them. Well be speaking to Vice President mike pence and steve. And well be speaking to everybody. Im not going to do anything rash or hastily. I dont do that. But the country wants to get back to work. Our country was built to get become to work. We dont have a country where they say hey, lets close it down for two years. We cant do that. Its not our country. So were going to be talking. And it could be well do sections of our country. The big sections of our country that are very little affected by whats taken place. Then there are other sections that are very heavily affected. So there is a big difference. I would say by easter, well have a recommendation, and maybe before easter. And at the end of the 15th day, or even during the 15th day, i think well have some kind of a recommendation. But our country wants to get back to work, steve. Have i had so many people. And they want to practice social distancing, and they want to practice no handshaking, no handshaking. Theyre not going walk around hugging and kissing each other in the office when they come become, even though they may feel like it. Theyre going to do theyre going to wash their hands more than theyve ever done, theyre going to do all the things youre supposed to do. But steve, you know what . Its time. People want to get back to work. Im having you know, i get it from both sides, in all fairness, and maybe its a combination of both. Tony said before a combination of both is sometimes very good. But there are areas that possibly, probably they wont qualify. There are other areas that almost qualify now. So were going have to see what happens. But it will be an interesting period of time. Id like to get our country back. Have i tremendous numbers of people of wanting to go back. You have store owners with the store sitting there. Youve got get back. You have businesses that are going to be closed. The longer we say out, the longer we do it, we want to go quickly. The longer we say out, the harder it is to bring this incredible we were having the most successful years that weve ever had in the history of our country. You saw what happened yesterday with the stocks and today theyre up. Im telling you, if steve gets the deal done, the incredible incentive thats going take care of people. Its going to take care of our workers. Its going take care of companies that employ all these workers. Small and big. By the way, i would say we spend more time on the Small Companies than we did on the big people. People ask about that. We spent more time thinking about the Small Businesses than the big. That really fuels our country. We want to get back, and the people want to get back. We want to get our country going again. And well be able to do that. So Vice President is going to stay with you, and going to take a few more questions specifically, and i will see you tomorrow. Thank you very much. Mr. President. Mr. President mr. President , a question for you on the dpa. Well, thank you all. A 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 ten days into the 15 days. And let me say again to every american if youre in an area thats been impacted by the coronavirus, its 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. We can spare americans from exposure to the coronavirus. And we can save lives. And so on behalf of the president and our entire task force, i want to say thank you to the American People. Thank you for your cooperation. Thank you for 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 manufactures whoa 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 countries for specific repurposing of their manufacturing. To produce everything from masks to gloves, to gowns, and of course to ventilators. We also had a very productive call with secretary betsy devos with education leaders from around the country today. And let me say on behalf of the president and a grateful nation, 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 home from school. You are truly heroes, and the department of education, as well as your state department of education are grateful to each and every one of you who find yourselves educating out of home and the department of education has a helpful website on coronavirus recommendations, ed. Gov coronavirus. And as we mentioned before, secretary betsy devos and secretary sonny purdue will be joining us at this podium on friday to speak about Distance Learning recommendations that have been made not just for secondary or college education, but also for k through 12 education. Were opening up avenues, creating new flexibility so not only College Students can continue to be involved in learning from afar, but children k through 12 can do the same. Secretary purdue will also be here to talk about the Food Lunch Program and free and reduced lunches. Today the president and i also spoke to over 150 ceos of the top nonprofit organizations in the country. We thanked them for their ongoing work supplying the needs not only of people impacted by the coronavirus, but the most vulnerable among us in our communities. Organizations like red cross, the salvation army, feeding america are all still working every day. And we promised to urge ever America American if you have a the means and the ability continue to be generous to nonprofit organizations that are helping those most in need in your community. The president marshaled a whole of government approach that means working with our governors today. The president and i were in direct contact with governors of new york, california, Washington State, new jersey, michigan, and others. And we continue to be inspired and impressed by the leadership that governors are providing in their states, making tough choices, leading their states and the president and i are truly grateful. The Task Force Made a recommendation and fema has assembled a team for to provide Technical Assistance to the state of new york. And that team was welcomed by governor cuomo. It will be arriving on the ground there very soon, along with all the other resources that the president recently announced would be flowing to new york and to Washington State and to california. In my conversation with gavin newsom of california, i was pleased to speak to him and hear that our fema team is literally at the table with the state of californias team, working to meet their supply needs, working to work on capacity. And i want people to know in the states that are most impacted by the coronavirus that we are with you and were going to stay with you, and were going to continue to work around the clock to make sure your courageous health care worker, your health systems, and your state governments have the resources to storm your response. On the subject of testing, dr. Birx will reflect on what the data is showing in just a moment. Not including local labs and hospitals, we are at 432,000 tests completed. And were pleased to see that theyre literally drivethrough in Community Sites around the country and the u. S. Public Health Service is assisting states in standing those up each and every day. We do remind hospitals and labs around the country. The moment the president signs the bill that it is absolutely essential that they provide the results of the test to us. It gives us visibility into whats happening on the ground. But because of the Public PrivatePartnership President trump initiated with these vast commercial lab networks around the country, we are adding tens of thousands of tests every single day. On the subject of supplies, before the end of the week, well talk a bit more as the president did moments ago about the supply chain. I was at fema last night and literally saw a room full of people with laptops and cell phones. Were literally leaving no stone unturned, as i told governors today, to find medical supplies, whether it be masks or gowns or gloves or ventilators. And the team is working around the clock to meet those needs. A few smaller items. First and foremost, the cdc is developing guidance, which well be publishing tomorrow about the best way to utilize our Natural Resources at our parks. It would be several weeks ago that our park service waived all entrance fees and we directed the cdc how people can still practice social distancing and common sense, but be out of doors and enjoy our national parks. Well also be sharing that guidance with the vast state systems around the country and encouraging their support. With that, let me last say, again, there is nothing more important for the American People to do to slow the spread than to heed your state and local guidance in areas impacted by the coronavirus. And for everyone else, to put into practice the 15 days to slow the spread. Dr. Fauci will reflect on the importance of mitigation and the impact that we believe that it is having around the country. But it is 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 that of your family, but no american wants to inadvertently spread the coronavirus, particularly to those that may be vulnerable to Serious Health consequences. Remember that. The risk of serious illness to the average american remains low. The vast majority of people that contract the coronavirus will have mild symptoms to flulike symptoms, and will recover. But for seniors with serious Underlying Health conditions or people with immunodeficiencies Everyone Needs to practice the principles of 15 days to slow the spread. The president announced this week we are looking forward to the day that we can open up the country. And that team will be bringing him recommendations about how we can safely and responsibly do just that. But for every american that wants to see america back in business, you can hasten the day by putting into practice the 15 days to slow the spread. Go to coronavirus. Gov for details. And i truly believe if all of us can do all that we can do, we will slow the spread we will protect the most vulnerable and we will heal our land. And with that, let me recognize dr. Tony fauci to speak about oh, dr. Birx, please, and then dr. Fauci. Thanks, deb. Thank you, mr. Vice president. And thank you all for listening to us talk to the American People. Weve been watching the testing results. Its very critical to us. Its very critical to be looking at that very carefully. Let me tell you two things that are going on in parallel. Our system to look at flulike illnesses is still up and running in county after county and state after state. And why is that important . For those who have been following the flu epidemic this year, you remember we had flu a, and then another peak of flu b, and those systems that are in every single state and local government is the platform where we can see whether there is any increase in flulike illnesses. So if you have very few cases in your state and in your counties, maintain your flu Surveillance System that you work closely with the cdc on and look for changes in your slope of new flulike illnesses, and there are enough test kits, and there is particularly enough of the cdc test where we started that runs on the flu surveillance platform to be constantly surveilling what those flulike illnesses are in our states and counties that have very low number of cases. We have counties still with zero to 1 cases. But they can participate in their surveillance that we need to have out there now by using their flulike Surveillance System. And we thank all of the states who have that up and running. If you go to cdc. Gov and go to flu surveillance, you can see state by state, and you can be looking at those curves with us. Its what were look at day by day in addition to the testing results that are coming in. For the testing results, there are four counties thy s thaies constitute the majority of the current cases and the new cases. I think you know those are new york city west chester, new york, suffolk and nassau county. Those are the four counties all associated with new york and the new York Metro Area. There are a few counties in new jersey. But this is still where 56 of the cases are and 56 of the new cases. Its very important that people look at the number of new cases per day. Remember, we told you it was going to take a while to work through the Testing Backlog. I think were close to working through the Testing Backlog so that 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 in the new York Metro Area to continue every one of these 15 days to slow the spread, and to do that part of it at the same time that theyre following the mayors and governors piece. Yesterday we talked about people that may have left the metro area that were residents. Residents of the metro area that may have gone to secondary homes or other places to reaside. We asked all of them to carefully monitor their temperatures and selfisolate from the communities where they went just to ensure their own health and the health of the communities while they move around the country. Finally, 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 named leah for which i am named when her mother had just delivered. And her mother succumbed to the great 1918 flu. She never forgot that she was the child that was 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. Its why we are social distancing and you are social distancing. But to every american out there, when you are protecting yourself, you are protecting others. And if you inadvertently, i know, brought this virus home to someone with a preexiexisting condition, i can tell you my grandmother lived with that for 88 years. So this is what were trying. This the message thats not a. This is a reality. You see the number of deaths that are occurring. We all have a role in preventing them. So thank you for the work that you do to get our message out to others to really ensure that every american understands how important their role is as we move through these next five days to not let up for an insta instant. I hear some reports that someone said oh, well, the new cases in new york are increasing or the hospitalizations are increasing. The number of new cases over the last three days have been consistent but not rising any more than a consistent day over day rise. 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. So each person in every place, no matter what county, what community, what state can work with us to ensure that we prevent the spread of this virus to others. So thank you. Doctor . Thank you, mr. Vice president. I just want to spend a couple of minutes telling you about some information we got on our weekly call we have at least once a week with w. H. O. , which is led by dr. Ted rose and mike ryan who is the point man there to give us some information. In that regard, i want to apologize for my kurt response to you when you asked me about the china deal. I shouldnt have done that. Thats not my style. But what i really wanted to say is my job is that im a scientist. Im a physician and im a Public Health person, and i dont like to get involved in that stuff. So anyway, getting back to the w. H. O. , so we learned some really interesting information, because obviously the other countries like china and others have had been hit prior than we did. One of the things that was striking to me, and i just throw it out because its something that we will face. Were not facing it now, but we will face. Our chinese colleagues are very because they went through the entire cycle of the curve to come down. They have very, very few cases. But what theyre starting to see as theyre relaxing the constraints on travel, that theyre getting imported cases. And they wanted to warn us that when we get successful, make sure you very carefully examine how youre going to release the constraints on input. So i know were going to be successful in putting this under control. But i think were going to have to remember we dont want to import cases in. Thats the first thing for today. The second thing that was important is that it was something that dr. Birx mentioned and that is, when you look at the inflection of the curves, we now have multiple Different Countries that have gone through various phases 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 to ill just take an arbitrary number, 500 new cases a day, the next day it was a thousand cases, then 1,500, then 2,000. But once the number of new cases each day starts to flatten out, thats when you get to that point where the inflection goes down. The things we want to look for, the things that dr. Birx mentioned, it doesnt mean you declare victory when it does that but you know youre at least on the way to where you want to go, and i think thats really very important. The third and final thing that i think gets back to the question that many of you in the audience had asked of us, is about, would this possibly become a seasonal cyclic thing. And ive always indicated to you that i think it very well might. And the reason i say that is that what were starting to see now in the Southern Hemisphere, in Southern Africa and in the Southern Hemisphere countries, were having cases appearing as they go into their winter season. If in fact they have a substantial outbreak, it will be inevitable that we need to be prepared that well get a cycle around the second time. What does that many for us aean say what were doing . It totally emphasizes the need to do what were doing in developing a vaccine, at the beginning of the day it quickly and trying to get it ready so that well have a vaccine available for that next cycle. In addition, origination the randomized controlled trials of drugs so that well have a menu of drugs that we have shown to be effective and shown to be safe, because i know well be successful in putting this down now, but we really need to be prepared for another cycle. And what were doing i believe will prepare us well. Thank you. Thanks, doctor. A few questions, please. Reporter mr. Vice president , on ventilators, the center for Public Integrity suggests theres only 15,000 in the national stockpile. Weve just been listening to todays Coronavirus Task force briefing and it really was a tale of two different press conferences, if you will. There was the one that the president led, very little new information, it was mostly some of his he did have some prepared remarks, argued with a reporter. We didnt get a lot of information. He did indicate he would sign the stimulus bill, probably the biggest piece of information in the first 35 minutes of that briefing was simply from the treasury secretary steve mnuchin, who said it will be as soon as three weeks that the first checks are out the door for those direct payments and then just now, in the last 25 minutes, we got a scientific update, if you will, from drs. Birx and fauci there. And you can hear some green shoots from dr. Birx about what were seeing in new york and thats about it. And essentially a sober warning from dr. Fauci that this may be a seasonal impact, meaning it could hit us hard again the second time around, if tn the f. Kasie hunt is with me, also is me is our virologist and msnbc science contributor. Kasie, its significant the president said he would sign it. Mnuchin on the checks. He made a very important addendum. If the Treasury Department already knows where you live and has your bank account information. Yeah, thats right, chuck. And weve actually been reporting on this all through the afternoon. There was a background call with the Senate Finance committee and we were trying to nail down these details. And i think this is what americans are most focused on. So if you have filed tax returns for 2018 or for this year, 2019, and you got your refund via direct deposit, you are in this category of people that they can hit as soon as possible. So as soon as you go in there, make that claim, if theyve got your Bank Information on file, they think they can get that out the door in about three weeks after this is signed. Thats good news for what they think will be 50 of americans eligible for these detect paymendirect payments, perhaps as many as 70 Million People. It will be a little trickier if they dont have that information on file. That could take potentially weeks. And thats an area of concern, because there are a lot of people in this country who maybe dont have the right bank account to get this all set up. That could take more months. But mnuchin does have the ability to perhaps send people debit cards, thats one option theyre looking at to try to get to those people. I think the challenge is a logistical one. The goal here, and frankly, the president really underscored this for me, chuck, he defended the 25 million theyre going to give to the Kennedy Center, he took responsibility for that, he said, yes, i absolutely want to do that, thats something some conservatives have been critical of. You get a sense of how urgently the white house is focused on this and how aggressive theyre being in pushing it behind the scenes. I know hans nichols is with us again, i want to dig into the science in a second. Hans nichols, i have to say, forgive me for sort of having a split reaction to this presser but it felt like two different press conferences, one held by the president and then one held by the Vice President. Reporter and even i would say three different press conferences, because you had two different points that the president was weighing in at, one, whats happening down on the hill, and there was some mild optimism that theyll get this done and the technicalities will be ironed out. The bigger question everyone is wondering is how much longer everyone will be on this social distancing, safety guidelines, slow the spread, that the Vice President was holding up there. And the president clearly indicated that he, a, is going to make a decision after sometime before this 15day period is over. He suggested he would do it closer to easter but hes leaning towards a decision. He says hes leaning towards a geographical distinction where some states would have it lifted but it would stay in place or something would stay in place for, say, new york or florida. And then he did say he would be guided by the science. I do think we need to take note of that, hes giving himself some flexibility, chuck. There was no doubt yesterday he seemed to, by the evening, walk back his easter declaration. Doctor, i want you to help us explain what dr. Birx was saying about new york first. I want to say i felt like she was trying to describe some green shoots in that there is good news in seeing that at least the new caseloads are might be plateauing. Is that what you see out there . I dont think thats necessarily accurate, just because the testing is still not fully up and running. People that are in urgent need can get the test right now in new york. New york has been ahead of the curve in that game. But there are still a lot of cases Walking Around new york that have not been tested because they dont meet the criteria of being in a High Risk Group or being elderly or both, that are not being tested for covid19. So scientifically its impossible to say. We do know cases are still rising every day. That would indicate to the contrary that were still seeing a dramatic rise in cases. I have to say, at the beginning with the president , the questions were sort of scattershot but the question i was wishing somebody would ask, and ill ask you, we went from february 29th to march 17th, by march 17th we had 100 deaths. Now well go nine days, well cross the 1,000 mark tomorrow. What does that tell about you this disease . Every day youll see the number mount and every day it will mount on a larger amount. Thats all dependent on social distancing. We referenced this earlier, lifting the 15day ban, theres nothing to lift, if you havent implemented a federal mandate to do it. Guidelines are not a law. Right. So theres nothing to lift. If weve only got five days left and we know cases are still going up, what are you even talking about lifting . Are you lifting the guidelines . Its very unclear to me. And thats why i would still advocate for a 15day halt of all nonessential activities other than hospitals, pharmacies, essential services. Can you imagine let me ask this, can you imagine at all us being able to sort of geographically open up one part of the country and somehow or is it too late because of our frankly, our inability to test . I think we would have to change our constitution to cordon off certain states and not others. For example, if california is on a twoweek shutdown, and this is just a hypothetical, and arizona isnt doing the exact same thing, once california lifts that two weeks, and someone travels from california to arizona with covid19, it starts all over again. If you dont do it everywhere, its not going to work. Thats why were the United States, we all are free to travel to any state we want to. Dr. Fair,