Transcripts For CSPAN White House Coronavirus Task Force Bri

President trump and members of the White House Coronavirus task force spoke to reporters about the outbreak in the latest projections from health officials. As of yesterday, the u. S. Now has the most reported cases of covid19, surpassing china and italy. President trump hello, everybody. Hello. Thank you very much. Thank you. Beautiful day. Very good, what youre doing. Look at all those empty seats. Never seen it like that. Oh, boy. How the world has changed. How the world has changed. Right . But its going to end up being better than ever. I want to thank you very much for being here and i want to update you on the steps were taking on our ongoing fight to the virus. This morning i spoke to the leaders of the g20. Had a great meeting. We have a lot of different ideas, a lot of good ideas. Were working together. The leaders gathered virtually around the world to discuss the whole subject of the problem now, 151 nations have got. We had president fernandez of argentina, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of australia, president bolsonaro of brazil, Prime Minister trudeau of canada, president xi of china, president Emmanuel Macron of france, chancellor Angela Merkel of germany, Prime Minister modi of the president of indonesia, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of italy, Prime Minister shinzo abe of japan congratulations to japan on making a great decision on the olympics. They are going to make it next year, 2021. Over door president obrador of mexico. I want to thank the president of mexico for having done such a great job with respect to the military. We have 27,000 mexican soldiers on our southern border and very few people are getting through. I can tell you that. Were going to keep it that way. We have a great relationship with mexico now. President putin of russia, king arabia,f saudi president ramaphosa of south moona, president of south korea, a country that we spend a lot of time in, south korea. Were working very hard on that. Prime minister sanchez of spain. President erdogan of turkey. Prime minister Boris Johnson of the united kingdom. President of the european commission, ursula von der leyen , president of the european council, United Nations secretarygeneral antonio guterres, World Health Organization director, world ,ank president David Malpass and the International Monetary Fund Managing director c georgieva. Group, but it is a great group. They were all there, every one of them. We talked about the problem. And hopefully wont be a problem for too much longer. The United States is working with our friends and partners around the world to stop the spread of the virus and coordinate our efforts. We discussed how vitally important it is for all of our nations to immediately share information and data, and weve been doing that to a large extent, but we will do it even iso and to inform our guess you could say inform each of us on the fight that weve got going one way or the other. Its a little bit different, but we are handling it a little bit in different ways. But there is great uniformity, i think. It was a terrific meeting. Tremendous spirit among all of those countries. You had 20 countries, plus the other people that i mentioned. Tremendous spirit to get this over with. After the meeting with the world leaders, i spoke with the governors of our 50 states and territories. Our team has been in constant communication with the governors , and we had a terrific meeting. Somebody in the fake news said that one of the governors said, oh, we need tom brady. I said, yeah. He meant that in a positive way. He said, we need tom brady. We are going to do great. He meant that very positively. But they took it differently. They think tom brady should be leading the effort. Thats only fake news. And i like tom brady. Spoke to him the other day. Hes a great guy. But i wish the news could be real. I wish it could be honest. I wish it werent corrupt. But so much of it is. Its so sad to see. Just so sad to see. We had a great meeting. I tell you what. Im sure you have tapes of the meeting. Im sure that you were able to get tapes very easily. You had 50 governors plus. If you had tapes, you would see. No contention. I would say virtually none. I would say maybe one person that was a little tiny bit of a raising of a voice. A little wise guy a little bit. But hes usually a big wise guy. Not so much anymore. We saw to it that he wouldnt be so much anymore. We had i mean, i would rate mike was there. A lot of the folks in the back were there. It was a great meeting. Took place at about 12 00. So we went from the g20 to the governors. We also spoke about the Economic Relief with the governors and the package that were moving through congress to deliver muchneeded Financial Assistance to hardworking families and small businesses. I want to thank democrats and republicans in the senate for unanimously passing the largest Financial Relief package in American History 960. , i have to say, its the largest by far. Im profoundly grateful that both parties came together to provide relief for American Workers and families in this hour of need. The house of representatives must now pass this bill, hopefully without delay. I think its got tremendous support. When youre at 960 and, as you know, a couple of those people are quarantined and one, rand paul, hes actually got it. But hell be better. Hes been a great guy. Hes been a great friend of mine actually. , the massive 2. 2 trillion relief package includes Job Retention loans for small businesses, with loan forgiveness available for businesses that keep their workers on the payroll. Thats pretty good. Loan forgiveness. Keep the workers on the payroll. Thats pretty good. Direct Cash Payments will be available to american citizens earning less than 99,000 per year. 3,400 for the typical family of four. 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. These are things that, by the way, we have plenty more to go. But theyre things that nobodys ever had any package like this done. I just want to thank them. Hopefully it will get approved equally easily in the house. Really, i think it will go through pretty well from what i hear. Virtually everybody. There could be one vote. One vote, one grandstander, maybe. You might have one grandstander. For that, well have to come back and take a little more time. But it will pass. It will just take a little longer. Lets see whether or not we have a grandstander. Critical support for the hardest hit industries, with a ban on corporate stock buybacks and tough new safeguards to prevent executive compensation abuse. Over 100 billion for our amazing doctors, nurses and hospitals. 45 billion for the Disaster Relief fund, more than doubling the amount available. This is tremendous stuff. 27 billion dollars for the coronavirus response, including 16 billion to build up the Strategic National stockpile with critical supplies, including masks, respirators, and all sorts of pharmaceuticals. 3. 5 billion to expand assistance to child care providers and child care benefits to Health Care Workers. To Health Care Workers, first responders, and others on the front lines of the crisis. And these are really brave, incredible people, i have to say. And some of them are getting sick, and some of them are getting very sick. And some of them dont even recover. Theyre incredible people. 1 billion for defense production act procurement. We are, as you know, using the act, but we use it only when necessary. We use it as leverage. We generally dont have to use it. We generally dont have to use it to accomplish what we want to accomplish. As of today, fema has shipped over 9 million n95 masks. 23 million facemasks, nearly 6,000 ventilators, 2. 6 million gowns, 14. 6 million gloves and were sending more every day and weve got tremendous amounts of equipment coming in. A lot of Great Companies are making equipment right now. The ventilators, obviously they take a little longer to make. But we have a lot of Companies Making them. Were going to be in great shape. We took over an empty shelf. We took over a very depleted place in a lot of ways. As you know, the testing is going very, very well. That was obsolete and broken and we fixed it, and its been going really good. I think very importantly the stockpile, were really filling it up, and we fill it up rapidly. But we get it out. Sometimes we have it sent directly to the states instead. And again, the state has to be doing this kind of a thing also. Were sort of a we look from behind a little bit and we look at how are they doing and if they need help, we do it. But its their first responsibility. Sometimes they just cant get it. But we load it up and we send it out, but if we can, we have it sent directly to the state. We want it to go directly to the point where we want it. I can now announce something that i think is incredible, what theyve done in the navy. Because the incredible Naval Hospital ship, the usns comfort, which is incredible, actually, when you see it inside. Will be under way to new york city on saturday. So its going to be leaving on saturday rather than three weeks from now. They did the maintenance quickly and it was going to be there for quite a while longer. Another three or four weeks. It should be arriving, i told the governor 20 minutes ago, governor cuomo, that the ship will be arriving at new york harbor on monday. I think im going to go out and ill kiss it goodbye. Ill go to its in virginia, as you know. And i will go and well be waving together because i suspect the media will be following. John, are you going to be following . Maybe. You never know. Reporter its a very important vessel. President trump its a great vessel is right. If you want to go, ill see you there. If you dont, thats ok. After being fully loaded with medical supplies, its going to be its loaded up to the top. Its over at the Norfolk Naval base. Thats where it departs. It is expected then to were saving about three to four weeks by the incredible work done by the navy. And i actually look forward to saturday, to see it go. The ship will arrive and i believe its going to get a little bit of a ceremony. Its something very beautiful about it. Its incredible. Piece of work. Going to be landing at pier 90 in manhattan to provide hospital Surge Capacity for the new york metropolitan area. So its a Surge Capacity. They may use it for this or they may have other people coming in from hospitals, unrelated to the virus. And then theyll use those hospitals on land. Theyll use those hospitals for the virus. But well see how they do it. They could do it either way. One way or the other, whichever one is best. But it could be because its set up so well for a regular hospital, that they may take people out of hospitals and then use those rooms for the virus. The National Institute of health and the private sector, working closely with the f. D. A. , continue to collaborate to discover and test treatments and therapies that can effectively reduce the duration and symptoms of the virus and help very much help people to recover. And im firmly committed to bringing these treatments to market very quickly. We have a lot of tests going on with regard to different medicines and i hope we get lucky. I hope we hit a lot of talented scientists and doctors that are working on therapeutics, a cure, a vaccine. I think were doing very well. Tony may speak to that a little bit later. But i think were doing very well with regard to the vaccines. I think were doing well with regard to a lot of the things i just mentioned. But well have to see what happens. Were going to know fairly soon about a lot of them. But its very advanced and the vaccines are very advanced. Prior to, as you know, a fairly reasonably long test period of, in that case, over a year. Every american should be proud of the incredible spirit our country has brought to this effort. Its been incredible. Citizens from all walks of life have come together to turn the tide on this battle. Were witnessing the extraordinary power of american unity, like a lot of people have never seen. Even getting the vote. Youre talking about trillions of dollars and you get a vote of 960. We are waging war on this virus, using every financial, scientific, medical, pharmaceutical and military resource to halt its spread and protect our citizens. I want to express our tremendous thanks to the American People for continuing to practice social distancing, like you people are practicing right here. This room may never be the same. Maintaining good hygiene and follow government guidelines. Vice president pence lifts up that card every time. Its not very complicated. Hopefully you can do that. And your commitment will make all the difference in the world and thats one of the big ones well be for a while stay home. Just relax, stay home. Making a lot of progress. As we continue to gather more information and accelerate the testing, were doing record numbers of tests now. Far more than any other country has done. I told you yesterday, eight days here, because you heard so much about south korea. The media kept south korea, south korea. We have a great relationship with president moon in south korea. When i hear so much about south korea so in eight days, in eight days we do more testing than they did in eight weeks. Its a very highly sophisticated test. Well be able to deploy even more datadriven and targeted approaches to slow the ultimately, you know, its a very devastating thing. But we will vanquish this virus and a lot of progress has been made. Thats why earlier today i sent a letter to americas governors describing how we will be using the data to update existing guidance on social distancing, which will be developed in close coordination with our nations Public Health officials and scientists. Because of the brilliance of our scientists and researchers and the generosity of our people, i know we will achieve victory and quickly return to the path of exceptional health, safety and prosperity for all of our citizens. We have to get back to work. Our people want to work. They want to go back. They have to go back. Were going to be talking about dates. Were going to be talking with a lot of great professionals. But this is a country that was built on getting it done and our people want to go back to work. Im hearing it loud and clear from everyone. So well see what happens. Were going to have a lot more information early next week and well be reporting that back. But i just want to leave it with you. We have to go back. This is the United States of america. They dont want to sit around and wait and theyll be practicing. By the way, a lot of people misinterpret when i say go back. Theyre going to be practicing as much as you can social distancing and washing your hands and not shaking hands and all of the things that we talk about so much. But they have to go back to work. Our country has to go back. Our country is based on that. I think its going to happen pretty quickly. I think its going to happen pretty quickly. A lot of progress is made but we have to go back to work. We may take sections of our country, we may take large section of our country that arent so seriously affected and we may do it that way. But weve got to start the process pretty soon. So well be talking you to a little more about that next week. With that, if you have any questions, you can ask. Then im going to have Vice President stay behind and hes going to take questions and also introduce some of the people, you can ask them some questions. John, please . Reporter mr. President , unemployment numbers, 3. 3 million. I take it not a surprise. President trump no. Reporter but still a staggering number. Wondering about your perspective on that . President trump well, its nobodys fault. Certainly not in this country. Nobodys fault. We got very lucky when we made a decision not to allow people in from china at a very early date. I say that because some people dont want to accept it. But this was a great decision made by our country. The numbers that youre talking about, were a big country, there would be far greater, far bigger. So when i heard the number, i mean, i heard it could be six million, could be seven million. Its 3. 3 million or 3. 2 million. Its a lot of jobs. I think well come back very strong. The sooner we get back to work. You know, every day that we stay out, it gets harder to bring it back quickly. Our people dont want to stay out. So i know those numbers. But i think youll see a very fast turnaround once we have a victory over the hidden enemy, as i say. Its a hidden enemy. Sometimes a hidden enemy is a lot tougher than somebody that stares you in the face, right . Well see what happens. Theyre fully expected numbers. At least. Reporter the u. S. Proposal to deploy troops along the canadian border. Prime minister trudeau is complaining about that. Why is that necessary . President trump we have very strong deployments on the southern border. As you know. With mexico. And we had some troops up in canada. But ill find out about that. I guess its equal justice to a certain extent. In canada we do have troops along the border. We have a lot of things coming in from canada. We have trades, some trade we dont like. We have very strong sanctions on some. We have very strong tariffs on dumping steel. And we dont like steel coming through our border thats been dumped in canada. So they can avoid the tariff. I charge a lot of tariff for the steel. And its been great for our White House Coronavirus<\/a> task force spoke to reporters about the outbreak in the latest projections from health officials. As of yesterday, the u. S. Now has the most reported cases of covid19, surpassing china and italy. President trump hello, everybody. Hello. Thank you very much. Thank you. Beautiful day. Very good, what youre doing. Look at all those empty seats. Never seen it like that. Oh, boy. How the world has changed. How the world has changed. Right . But its going to end up being better than ever. I want to thank you very much for being here and i want to update you on the steps were taking on our ongoing fight to the virus. This morning i spoke to the leaders of the g20. Had a great meeting. We have a lot of different ideas, a lot of good ideas. Were working together. The leaders gathered virtually around the world to discuss the whole subject of the problem now, 151 nations have got. We had president fernandez of argentina, Prime Minister<\/a> Scott Morrison<\/a> of australia, president bolsonaro of brazil, Prime Minister<\/a> trudeau of canada, president xi of china, president Emmanuel Macron<\/a> of france, chancellor Angela Merkel<\/a> of germany, Prime Minister<\/a> modi of the president of indonesia, Prime Minister<\/a> Giuseppe Conte<\/a> of italy, Prime Minister<\/a> shinzo abe of japan congratulations to japan on making a great decision on the olympics. They are going to make it next year, 2021. Over door president obrador of mexico. I want to thank the president of mexico for having done such a great job with respect to the military. We have 27,000 mexican soldiers on our southern border and very few people are getting through. I can tell you that. Were going to keep it that way. We have a great relationship with mexico now. President putin of russia, king arabia,f saudi president ramaphosa of south moona, president of south korea, a country that we spend a lot of time in, south korea. Were working very hard on that. Prime minister sanchez of spain. President erdogan of turkey. Prime minister Boris Johnson<\/a> of the united kingdom. President of the european commission, ursula von der leyen , president of the european council, United Nations<\/a> secretarygeneral antonio guterres, World Health Organization<\/a> director, world ,ank president David Malpass<\/a> and the International Monetary<\/a> Fund Managing<\/a> director c georgieva. Group, but it is a great group. They were all there, every one of them. We talked about the problem. And hopefully wont be a problem for too much longer. The United States<\/a> is working with our friends and partners around the world to stop the spread of the virus and coordinate our efforts. We discussed how vitally important it is for all of our nations to immediately share information and data, and weve been doing that to a large extent, but we will do it even iso and to inform our guess you could say inform each of us on the fight that weve got going one way or the other. Its a little bit different, but we are handling it a little bit in different ways. But there is great uniformity, i think. It was a terrific meeting. Tremendous spirit among all of those countries. You had 20 countries, plus the other people that i mentioned. Tremendous spirit to get this over with. After the meeting with the world leaders, i spoke with the governors of our 50 states and territories. Our team has been in constant communication with the governors , and we had a terrific meeting. Somebody in the fake news said that one of the governors said, oh, we need tom brady. I said, yeah. He meant that in a positive way. He said, we need tom brady. We are going to do great. He meant that very positively. But they took it differently. They think tom brady should be leading the effort. Thats only fake news. And i like tom brady. Spoke to him the other day. Hes a great guy. But i wish the news could be real. I wish it could be honest. I wish it werent corrupt. But so much of it is. Its so sad to see. Just so sad to see. We had a great meeting. I tell you what. Im sure you have tapes of the meeting. Im sure that you were able to get tapes very easily. You had 50 governors plus. If you had tapes, you would see. No contention. I would say virtually none. I would say maybe one person that was a little tiny bit of a raising of a voice. A little wise guy a little bit. But hes usually a big wise guy. Not so much anymore. We saw to it that he wouldnt be so much anymore. We had i mean, i would rate mike was there. A lot of the folks in the back were there. It was a great meeting. Took place at about 12 00. So we went from the g20 to the governors. We also spoke about the Economic Relief<\/a> with the governors and the package that were moving through congress to deliver muchneeded Financial Assistance<\/a> to hardworking families and small businesses. I want to thank democrats and republicans in the senate for unanimously passing the largest Financial Relief<\/a> package in American History<\/a> 960. , i have to say, its the largest by far. Im profoundly grateful that both parties came together to provide relief for American Workers<\/a> and families in this hour of need. The house of representatives must now pass this bill, hopefully without delay. I think its got tremendous support. When youre at 960 and, as you know, a couple of those people are quarantined and one, rand paul, hes actually got it. But hell be better. Hes been a great guy. Hes been a great friend of mine actually. , the massive 2. 2 trillion relief package includes Job Retention<\/a> loans for small businesses, with loan forgiveness available for businesses that keep their workers on the payroll. Thats pretty good. Loan forgiveness. Keep the workers on the payroll. Thats pretty good. Direct Cash Payments<\/a> will be available to american citizens earning less than 99,000 per year. 3,400 for the typical family of four. Expanded Unemployment Benefits<\/a>, the average worker who has lost his or her job will receive 100 of their salary for up to four full months. These are things that, by the way, we have plenty more to go. But theyre things that nobodys ever had any package like this done. I just want to thank them. Hopefully it will get approved equally easily in the house. Really, i think it will go through pretty well from what i hear. Virtually everybody. There could be one vote. One vote, one grandstander, maybe. You might have one grandstander. For that, well have to come back and take a little more time. But it will pass. It will just take a little longer. Lets see whether or not we have a grandstander. Critical support for the hardest hit industries, with a ban on corporate stock buybacks and tough new safeguards to prevent executive compensation abuse. Over 100 billion for our amazing doctors, nurses and hospitals. 45 billion for the Disaster Relief<\/a> fund, more than doubling the amount available. This is tremendous stuff. 27 billion dollars for the coronavirus response, including 16 billion to build up the Strategic National<\/a> stockpile with critical supplies, including masks, respirators, and all sorts of pharmaceuticals. 3. 5 billion to expand assistance to child care providers and child care benefits to Health Care Workers<\/a>. To Health Care Workers<\/a>, first responders, and others on the front lines of the crisis. And these are really brave, incredible people, i have to say. And some of them are getting sick, and some of them are getting very sick. And some of them dont even recover. Theyre incredible people. 1 billion for defense production act procurement. We are, as you know, using the act, but we use it only when necessary. We use it as leverage. We generally dont have to use it. We generally dont have to use it to accomplish what we want to accomplish. As of today, fema has shipped over 9 million n95 masks. 23 million facemasks, nearly 6,000 ventilators, 2. 6 million gowns, 14. 6 million gloves and were sending more every day and weve got tremendous amounts of equipment coming in. A lot of Great Companies<\/a> are making equipment right now. The ventilators, obviously they take a little longer to make. But we have a lot of Companies Making<\/a> them. Were going to be in great shape. We took over an empty shelf. We took over a very depleted place in a lot of ways. As you know, the testing is going very, very well. That was obsolete and broken and we fixed it, and its been going really good. I think very importantly the stockpile, were really filling it up, and we fill it up rapidly. But we get it out. Sometimes we have it sent directly to the states instead. And again, the state has to be doing this kind of a thing also. Were sort of a we look from behind a little bit and we look at how are they doing and if they need help, we do it. But its their first responsibility. Sometimes they just cant get it. But we load it up and we send it out, but if we can, we have it sent directly to the state. We want it to go directly to the point where we want it. I can now announce something that i think is incredible, what theyve done in the navy. Because the incredible Naval Hospital<\/a> ship, the usns comfort, which is incredible, actually, when you see it inside. Will be under way to new york city on saturday. So its going to be leaving on saturday rather than three weeks from now. They did the maintenance quickly and it was going to be there for quite a while longer. Another three or four weeks. It should be arriving, i told the governor 20 minutes ago, governor cuomo, that the ship will be arriving at new york harbor on monday. I think im going to go out and ill kiss it goodbye. Ill go to its in virginia, as you know. And i will go and well be waving together because i suspect the media will be following. John, are you going to be following . Maybe. You never know. Reporter its a very important vessel. President trump its a great vessel is right. If you want to go, ill see you there. If you dont, thats ok. After being fully loaded with medical supplies, its going to be its loaded up to the top. Its over at the Norfolk Naval<\/a> base. Thats where it departs. It is expected then to were saving about three to four weeks by the incredible work done by the navy. And i actually look forward to saturday, to see it go. The ship will arrive and i believe its going to get a little bit of a ceremony. Its something very beautiful about it. Its incredible. Piece of work. Going to be landing at pier 90 in manhattan to provide hospital Surge Capacity<\/a> for the new york metropolitan area. So its a Surge Capacity<\/a>. They may use it for this or they may have other people coming in from hospitals, unrelated to the virus. And then theyll use those hospitals on land. Theyll use those hospitals for the virus. But well see how they do it. They could do it either way. One way or the other, whichever one is best. But it could be because its set up so well for a regular hospital, that they may take people out of hospitals and then use those rooms for the virus. The National Institute<\/a> of health and the private sector, working closely with the f. D. A. , continue to collaborate to discover and test treatments and therapies that can effectively reduce the duration and symptoms of the virus and help very much help people to recover. And im firmly committed to bringing these treatments to market very quickly. We have a lot of tests going on with regard to different medicines and i hope we get lucky. I hope we hit a lot of talented scientists and doctors that are working on therapeutics, a cure, a vaccine. I think were doing very well. Tony may speak to that a little bit later. But i think were doing very well with regard to the vaccines. I think were doing well with regard to a lot of the things i just mentioned. But well have to see what happens. Were going to know fairly soon about a lot of them. But its very advanced and the vaccines are very advanced. Prior to, as you know, a fairly reasonably long test period of, in that case, over a year. Every american should be proud of the incredible spirit our country has brought to this effort. Its been incredible. Citizens from all walks of life have come together to turn the tide on this battle. Were witnessing the extraordinary power of american unity, like a lot of people have never seen. Even getting the vote. Youre talking about trillions of dollars and you get a vote of 960. We are waging war on this virus, using every financial, scientific, medical, pharmaceutical and military resource to halt its spread and protect our citizens. I want to express our tremendous thanks to the American People<\/a> for continuing to practice social distancing, like you people are practicing right here. This room may never be the same. Maintaining good hygiene and follow government guidelines. Vice president pence lifts up that card every time. Its not very complicated. Hopefully you can do that. And your commitment will make all the difference in the world and thats one of the big ones well be for a while stay home. Just relax, stay home. Making a lot of progress. As we continue to gather more information and accelerate the testing, were doing record numbers of tests now. Far more than any other country has done. I told you yesterday, eight days here, because you heard so much about south korea. The media kept south korea, south korea. We have a great relationship with president moon in south korea. When i hear so much about south korea so in eight days, in eight days we do more testing than they did in eight weeks. Its a very highly sophisticated test. Well be able to deploy even more datadriven and targeted approaches to slow the ultimately, you know, its a very devastating thing. But we will vanquish this virus and a lot of progress has been made. Thats why earlier today i sent a letter to americas governors describing how we will be using the data to update existing guidance on social distancing, which will be developed in close coordination with our nations Public Health<\/a> officials and scientists. Because of the brilliance of our scientists and researchers and the generosity of our people, i know we will achieve victory and quickly return to the path of exceptional health, safety and prosperity for all of our citizens. We have to get back to work. Our people want to work. They want to go back. They have to go back. Were going to be talking about dates. Were going to be talking with a lot of great professionals. But this is a country that was built on getting it done and our people want to go back to work. Im hearing it loud and clear from everyone. So well see what happens. Were going to have a lot more information early next week and well be reporting that back. But i just want to leave it with you. We have to go back. This is the United States<\/a> of america. They dont want to sit around and wait and theyll be practicing. By the way, a lot of people misinterpret when i say go back. Theyre going to be practicing as much as you can social distancing and washing your hands and not shaking hands and all of the things that we talk about so much. But they have to go back to work. Our country has to go back. Our country is based on that. I think its going to happen pretty quickly. I think its going to happen pretty quickly. A lot of progress is made but we have to go back to work. We may take sections of our country, we may take large section of our country that arent so seriously affected and we may do it that way. But weve got to start the process pretty soon. So well be talking you to a little more about that next week. With that, if you have any questions, you can ask. Then im going to have Vice President<\/a> stay behind and hes going to take questions and also introduce some of the people, you can ask them some questions. John, please . Reporter mr. President , unemployment numbers, 3. 3 million. I take it not a surprise. President trump no. Reporter but still a staggering number. Wondering about your perspective on that . President trump well, its nobodys fault. Certainly not in this country. Nobodys fault. We got very lucky when we made a decision not to allow people in from china at a very early date. I say that because some people dont want to accept it. But this was a great decision made by our country. The numbers that youre talking about, were a big country, there would be far greater, far bigger. So when i heard the number, i mean, i heard it could be six million, could be seven million. Its 3. 3 million or 3. 2 million. Its a lot of jobs. I think well come back very strong. The sooner we get back to work. You know, every day that we stay out, it gets harder to bring it back quickly. Our people dont want to stay out. So i know those numbers. But i think youll see a very fast turnaround once we have a victory over the hidden enemy, as i say. Its a hidden enemy. Sometimes a hidden enemy is a lot tougher than somebody that stares you in the face, right . Well see what happens. Theyre fully expected numbers. At least. Reporter the u. S. Proposal to deploy troops along the canadian border. Prime minister trudeau is complaining about that. Why is that necessary . President trump we have very strong deployments on the southern border. As you know. With mexico. And we had some troops up in canada. But ill find out about that. I guess its equal justice to a certain extent. In canada we do have troops along the border. We have a lot of things coming in from canada. We have trades, some trade we dont like. We have very strong sanctions on some. We have very strong tariffs on dumping steel. And we dont like steel coming through our border thats been dumped in canada. So they can avoid the tariff. I charge a lot of tariff for the steel. And its been great for our Steel Companies<\/a> because now they can really go you look at whats happened with steel. Its been pretty incredible. Weve taken in billions and billions of dollars on tariffs on steel. Much of it comes in from china but some from canada. Reporter the United States<\/a> now has surpassed china as the country with the highest number of virus cases. Does this surprise you at all . Is it following a predictable trajectory . President trump no. I think its a tribute to our testing. Number one, you dont know what the numbers are in china. China tells you numbers and im speaking to president xi tonight, i believe. Well have a good conversation, im sure. But you just dont know. I think its a tribute to the testing. Were testing tremendous numbers of people. Every day, the way the system works, and i want to thank especially roach has been fantastic, great company. Theyve done a tremendous amount. Deborah was telling me before that they were really theyve really stepped up to the plate and done great. As have other of the companies. But it seems that theyre really doing it particularly well. So well see what happens there. Its a tribute to the amount of testing that were doing. Were doing tremendous testing. Im sure youre not able to tell what china is testing or not testing. I think thats a little hard. Reporter mr. President , on the 3. 3 million jobless claims, you suggested it could be six million to seven million. A lot of those workers President Trump<\/a> i didnt say that. Youre wrong. I didnt say that. I said some people were projecting that it would be six million or seven million. Its i believe 3. 3 million. Reporter millions of americans out of work. Some of them will be losing their insurance. Whats your plan to make sure through no fault of your own, as you just mentioned that they stay insured . Are you going to plus up the subsidies for some of the exchanges under obamacare, expand medicaid . Whats being considered . President trump the things i just read to you are being considered. And other things are being considered. People are going to be getting paychecks and its not their fault. What happened to them is not their fault. Reporter \\[indiscernible] President Trump<\/a> were doing a lot of Different Things<\/a> on health insurance. We have meetings on it today. Were taking care of our people. This is not their fault what happened and were taking care. Were starting off by sending them very big checks. I think for a family of four its about 3,000. Taking care of our people, were taking care of our workers. This was not, you know, as i say, this was not a financial crisis. This was a health crisis, a medical crisis. Were going to take care of our people. Please. Reporter \\[indiscernible] survey this morning saying that 3 of all restaurants in this country have shuttered for good. In the past three weeks. The projection is that 11 more are going to close in the next 30 days. What do you say to a Restaurant Owner<\/a> who is looking at his sheets and thinks he has to close, but then within the next 30 days . President trump i hate to i know the business very well. I understand the restaurant business. Its a very delicate business. Its a business that is not easy. I always say in a restaurant business, you can serve 30 great meals to a person or a family and they love it. One bad meal, number 31, they never come back again. Its a very tough business. But theyre great people that run restaurants and ive heard 3 could be lost and you could go as high as 10 or 11 . But theyll all come back in one form or another. It might be a different restaurant. But its going to be a great business for a lot of people. Were making it easy for people to look what were doing. What were doing in terms of loans, what were doing in terms of salaries. Theyll all come back. It may not be the same restaurant. It may not be the same ownership. But theyll all be back. Yes, sir, please. Reporter you mentioned the pledges from American Companies<\/a> to provide \\[indiscernible] provide supplies. Topping 81,000 cases in the u. S. , does it make sense to relook at using the defense production act . President trump i talked about the defense production act a lot. You know ive enacted it. I can do it with a pen. And we have actually used it on two minor occasions and then we could withdraw it. But for the most part, the companies we dont need it. We say we need this and they say, dont bother, were going to do it. Were dealing with ford, general motors, 3m. Were dealing with Great Companies<\/a>. They want to do this. They want to do this. Theyre doing things that, frankly they dont need somebody to walk over there with a hammer and say, do it. They are getting it done. Theyre making tremendous amounts of equipment. Tremendous amounts. When this is over, were going to be fully stockpiled which they would have never been except for circumstances. This was something that nobody has ever thought could happen to this country. Im not even blaming look. We inherited a broken situation. But i dont totally blame the people that were before me and this administration. Nobody would have ever thought a thing like this could have happened. The production act, defense production act, is a wonderful thing. But i just havent had to use it. They know its activated. They know i can use it. Maybe that frightens them a little bit. You know, got tremendous power. But i havent had to. Please. Reporter thank you, sir. Question and another if youll let me for some of my colleagues who are social distancing. President trump where are they . They were all outside trying to get in. I know. Reporter first question has to do with cruise liners like carnival. \\[indiscernible] worried because they offshored to places like panama and liberia, they might not qualify. Someone said they should move back to the United States<\/a> before they get a check. Do you agree . Should they pay u. S. Taxes to get u. S. Taxpayer relief . Reporter im a big fan of senator holly. And i also like the idea there were some senators who didnt want to do anything, like carnival, great company. But theyre based in different places. I wont tell you i can tell you exactly where theyre based but i wont do that. But theyre based in actually more than one place. Ships are registered in different locations. I do like the concept of perhaps coming in and registering here. Coming in to the United States<\/a>. Its very tough to make a loan to a company when theyre based in a different country. But with that being said, they have thousands and thousands of people that work there and maybe almost as importantly that work onshore filling these ships with goods and products. And the cruise line business is very important and i know carnival, what a great job they do. I would think that we could stick with senator holly and maybe really look at that very seriously. Look, its a big business. Its a great business. Its a business that employs tremendous number of people outside of the ship itself. You look at these ports. Its loaded up with shops and people that are involved with the ships. Were going to work very hard on the cruise line business. And were going to try and work something out. But i like the concept. Reporter the senate bill includes \\[indiscernible] this directly ties to the airlines. Since before the pandemic, boeing was already suffering from the losses of 737 planes. Do you think its appropriate to use this legislation to provide them with 17 billion of aid on top of 25 billion that they could qualify for as a Passenger Airline<\/a> . And then another 4 billion that they could qualify for as a Cargo Airline<\/a> . Is that fair . President trump the Airline Business<\/a> is a very tough business. Over many years, its been very, very tough. Its got everything. Its got labor. Its got very strong, powerful, you know, you look at the cost of these airlines airliners. Everything is tough. Very highly technological. You look at how complicated, how complex. Its got unions, its got everything. The Airline Business<\/a> generally speaking has its a very tough business. Always been a very tough business. With that being said, we have to keep our airlines going. And were going to be using some now maybe well take a piece of the airlines for the country, for our country. Where we loan money and we take a piece. Its all fully ready. Were ready to go. But if we didnt do that, wed up with end up with no airlines and we cant do that. The Airline Business<\/a> is very vital to our country. Its a tough business. We have to understand that. I could tell you other businesses that are different kinds of business. Theyre very good businesses. But airlines have always been very, very tough. \\[talking simultaneously] i didnt call you. I called this gentleman. Reporter thanks a lot. On monday President Trump<\/a> who are you with . Reporter im with bloomberg. President trump how is michael doing . Good . Reporter mr. President , on monday did you speak with chinese president xi before you urged americans to not blame Asian Americans<\/a> for the coronavirus . We noticed that shes backed off of that language. President trump im speaking to him tonight. Its scheduled to go tonight. Ill have a call with president xi of china. Very good relationship. No, i didnt like when they came up it wasnt him. Somebody at a lower level, midlevel, we found out, pretty much. But they made a statement that our soldiers brought it into china. It came from china. You know, we just signed a very big deal with china. Theyre paying us a lot of money in tariffs and other things. They never paid us 10 cents. Look, china has taken advantage of the United States<\/a> until i came here. With Sleepy Joe Biden<\/a> and obama and bush and everybody else. Im not blaming them. Im blaming everybody. They were allowed to 500 billion a year they were taking out. We had trade deficits that were so large nobodys ever seen anything like it. Weve changed it. Look, now were taking and billions of dollars. And we gave some to our farmers because china, you know they targeted our farmers. And our farmers are very happy. And our farmers got through a very rough period because of what i was able to do. Took the money from china and gave it to the farmers. And we have plenty left over after. That now were going into a phase two negotiation with china. But were getting 25 on 250 billion and then were getting a lot on money after that. So, weve never had a deal with china. China took advantage of the United States<\/a>. I dont blame china for that. I blame the people that were right here. Because they should have never allowed it to happen. But the relationship with china has been a very good one. John . Reporter mr. President , did president xi ask you to calm that language down or to not use this . President trump he never asked me to calm it down. Somebody might have spoken to somebody but nobody spoke to me about it. I think it was time, though. Because, you know, i talk about the chinese virus. And i mean it. Thats where it came from. If you look at ebola, if you look at lyme, connecticut, you look at all these different horrible diseases, they seem to come with the name with the location. This was the chinese virus. I dont have to say it, if they feel so strongly about, it well see. But we have we just made a great deal with china. Great hopefully for both parties. But we made a deal with china and were going to do another one. It looks like. They want to do it very badly. Maybe theyll want to wait. Like iran. They want to wait to see whether or not trump gets beaten in the election because would they love to negotiate with biden or somebody else other than me, they would love it. Thats their best dream in the world. So many others. So theres some that may be waiting until after november 3, the election day. They are waiting until after election day, but i think we are doing very well. It would be sad if we blew the advantages because we made unbelievable strayed deals, canada, mexico, japan, south korea, china and others, we have changed the whole thing around. Reporter you sent a notification letter to the nations governors about social distancing. Do you have any data yet to suggest which specific areas of the country may have their guidelines relaxed and which areas of the country President Trump<\/a> well Start Talking<\/a> about that. We have to start opening up. People dont want to close, john. I say it again and again. I want you to report it eventually. Go ahead, steve. Reporter what do you want to talk to him about . President trump its his call. And i think we will have a fruitful call tonight at 9 00. \\[indiscernible question] President Trump<\/a> we will be talking about the virus. Reporter despite the jobless numbers, the mark gained 4,000 in the last three days. Do you think that the Economic Uncertainty<\/a> has passed . President trump it hasnt but it has come a long way but we are doing a good job in running this whole situation in dealing with the virus. I think they feel that, i think they feel myself and the administration are doing a good job and keeping people informed. There is a great fear. And a lot of good things are happening. The mortality rate is in my opinion you have to speak to deborah and tony, but in my opinion, its way, way down and that takes a lot of fear out. One thing to have it, its another thing to die. When i first got involved, i was being told numbers much, much higher. And remember people who have it, many people have it, i just spoke to people who have it, they never went to a doctor and absolutely had it. They never went to a doctor and didnt report it. They have hundreds and thousands of cases and add that to the case load also. And the people that actually die, that percentage is a much lower percentage than i ever thought. We are going to beat this and get back to work. Charges against venezuela wail an president for Drug Trafficking<\/a> and expected that venezuela is going to get hit by the coronavirus. Does the administration see this as a weak point . President trump this is a serious problem for over 150 nations, the virus. Maduro and venezuela, well see what happens. Those charges were made. \\[indiscernible question] you said you use the production act in two different occasions, what were those . President trump we will give you that notification and let you know. Reporter classifying for counties, a lot of these areas have not done testing yet. Is it safe to say that the current guidelines will be extended into next week . Will you wait to change those guidelines until you have the data . President trump i want the guidelines even when you are open and fully operation national. And much of the guidelines like shaking hands, people wont be shaking hands anymore. Tony fauci mentioned, i dont think he would be too upset with not shaking hands. It would be cut down if we didnt shake hands. We have a lot of problems with that, too. He said the regular fluid be cut down by quite a bit. A lot of great things when we wrote them, as soon as we opened, doesnt mean you have to stop with the guidelines and still try and distance yourself, maybe not to the same extent because you have to lead your life. One more question. In the back, please. Reporter i have two questions because im asking on before of on behalf of the foreign press. You said the other day its important that we totally protect asianamericans. President trump very important to me. We have to protect our asianamericans and very important tweet to me. I didnt like things i was hearing. Reporter whats the measures that you are taking to combat that . President trump i dont know. Asianamericans are doing very well and im very close to them and appreciate the job im doing and i wanted to put out that social statement out, asianamericans are a great part of our country. Thank you very much. Well see you soon. \\[indiscernible question] the Vice President<\/a> good afternoon, everyone. The White House Coronavirus<\/a> task force met today. We slowed the spread of hit occasion to advance and expand low the spread of medic nation and to advance and expand testing across the country and to work on the critical supplies that our Health Care Workers<\/a> and nation needs. The president convened the nations governors of all the states and territories and reiterated them with fema in the lead, our approach is our response to the coronavirus in this country is locally executed, Health Care Workers<\/a>, local Public Health<\/a> first, it is state managed and federally supported. We took the opportunity to thank all of the governors across the country, our states and territories for their incredible leadership and the partnership they have forged with this administration. We were able to con film that 10 are able to confirm that 10 major disaster declarations have been issued. Most recently, new jersey, north carolina, florida, texas and illinois. We spoke to them about the importance of the economic recovery legislation that will come before the house of representatives we believe tomorrow midday and we are grateful for their efforts in working for that unanimous bipartisan vote in the United States<\/a> senate last night. In addition to direct payments, the average family of four would receive some 3,400 and payroll report, many of the small businesses, even those restaurants that you just spoke about will now be able to keep people on the payroll for a period of months even if the restaurant or the business is not open. With the governors, we talked about the 150 gillion indirect the 1500 aliens billion in direct aid to the states, 100 billion indirect assistance to hospitals and the expansion of Unemployment Benefits<\/a> to make sure our states have the resources to meet the challenges that were so evident in those unemployment numbers this morning. On the subject of testing, im pleased to report the testing is available in all 50 states and in partnership with commercial labs across america, this morning we received word that 552,000 tests have been performed and completed all across the United States<\/a>. We want to thank the American Hospital<\/a> association and hospitals across the country that are just now beginning to report in a fulsome way. When the president signs the bill tomorrow we will be required by law and dr. Fauci explained at this podium it is so important any hospital or any lab to report back to the c. D. C. And fema to provide the president with the very best counsel. That way we have full visibility. Good news today on testing. Laboratories submitted to the f. D. A. A point of care test. This would be the kind of test where you can go to the doctor and get the test done at your doctor and have the results done in no more 15 minutes. Dr. Steve hahn will be here to talk about point of care test. Speaking of the f. D. A. , on the subject of swabs, the f. D. A. Announced that testing symptomatic patients by swabbing from the front of the nose is perfectly appropriate and its already begun across the country. It allows for selfcollection and relieves the burden on health care protection. It saves personal protective equipment from being ex tended when people can administer the test themselves. With regard to supplies, you heard about the strategic stockpile, 20 million surgical masks, 6,000 ventilators and millions of gloves and gowns and face shields. In addition to that, we are working with a number of suppliers to manufacture ventilators even while we work with state leaders to assess not just what ventilators are available in their state hospitals but what veapts are but what ventilators are available in private hospitals across their state and governors across the country are doing great work evaluating the full supply of tens of thousands of ventilators available. Let me say thank you to the American Society<\/a> of anesthesiologists. They produced a video and will produce a website to demonstrate how devices that they use can be very easily converted into a ventilator that is appropriate for a patient that is struggling with respiratory illness. This adds tens of thousands of devices to the supply and we are truly grateful to dr. Peterson and the whole association for their full cooperation. With five of 10 counties in the country being the top counties for coronavirus being in the new york city metro area, let us reiterate our recommendation. Any resident of the Greater New York<\/a> city area who has traveled elsewhere in the United States<\/a>, please check your temperature, mind your health and selfisolate for 14 days. What we dont want again with five of the top 10 counties for coronavirus being in the Greater New York<\/a> city area, we dont want anyone and no one would want to carry the coronavirus to a community or a Family Member<\/a> inadvertently because they came out of that community. Again as dr. Fauci said recently, if you come out of new york over the last several weeks before the full mitigation measures are put, check your temperature and selfisolate for 14 days. It is inspiring as i introduced dr. Birch to talk about the data we are monitoring and dr. Fauci talk about mitigating. We were awakened this morning with record unemployment numbers and not unexpected during a time of National Crisis<\/a> that we are facing. What you may not know while there were three millionplus unemployment claims, walmart are hiring 150,000 associates. Amazon are hiring additional 100,000 employees. Cvs health is going to apply provide bonuses and hire 50,000 workers and pizza hut is planning to hire more than 30,000 permanent employees and thats a short summary of the list that totals half a million jobs that have been announced by businesses around america. Its not about jobs but about generosity. And highser busch is making a anheuserbusch is making a donation to support first responders. Its 5 million. Otyo oyo hotels is offering free rooms at their Hotels Across<\/a> america. A Pharmaceutical Company<\/a> is donate 25 million to feeding america. American businesses are stepping up to partner with us to meet this moment and being incredibly generous as well for those who are stepping in in the lead and providing Health Care Services<\/a> and to those most in need. We can do this, america. But it will take all of us. The president says we are all in this together. As millions of americans do their part, 15 days to slow the spread putting end to practice the president s guidelines for combatting the coronavirus and its spread, we grow more confident every day this too shall pass with the generation generosity, cooperation and prayers of the American People<\/a>. We will slow the spread and protect our most vulnerable and heal our land. Now for information and the latest on data and what we are seeing, dr. Birx. Dr. Birx thank you, mr. Vice president. This is where it looks this is a summary of where it looks domestically and wont talk so much about the global issues. We have 19 out of our 50 states to be reminded that had early cases but low level of cases and have less than 200 cases. Thats almost 40 of the country with extraordinarily low numbers and they are testing. Some of our governors have been very adamant about their need for test kits. We have gotten them test kits and added and boat on the test to we had a habit add and we had Abbott Laboratories<\/a> add to the test kits and opened up additional test kits for states who want to do contract testing. These 19 states are still active containment. There are 200 cases despite the fact they have been measuring over the last three to four weeks. 55 of all cases and 55 of all new cases continue out of the new york metro area. Thats the new jersey part and new york part in particular. Havent added in connecticut or other counties at this point. We are concerned about certain counties that look like they are having a more rapid increase. When you look at wayne county in michigan and cook county in chicago. So we have integrated all of our information to not only look at where the cases are today but how they are moving and alert fema to where we think it next potential hot spot. The hot spots are in urban areas or the communities that serve that urban area. And that is something to remember as we move forward. Because of the innovation within our private sector, we continue to have these new platforms added for Laboratory Testing<\/a> and they become critical platforms for states that have very low rates and very low rates to test. Why is that important . Some of these machines have and plastics plates in order to be effecttive, you have to put on 96 samples and others are 24 samples at a time. What is critical for us to be able to do is match the need to the county and state and thats the role we can provide advice on because we see across the whole country and where those items are needed most. This is allowing us to adapt and adopt allocation of tests or recommendations to say what piece of equipment they need. Of the 550,000 tests, you can do the math but running around 14 , that means 86 of the people with significant symptoms because you have to have a fever and symptoms to get tested, 86 are negative. These are important facts for the American People<\/a>. You have seen the recent report out of the u. K. About them adjusting completely their needs. This is really quite important. If you remember that was the report that says there would be 500,000 deaths in the u. K. And 2. 2 Million Deaths<\/a> in the United States<\/a> and adjusted that number in the u. K. To 20,000. Half a million to 20,000. We are looking at that in great detail to understand that adjustment. Im going to Say Something<\/a> that is complicated but do it in a way we can understand it together. In the model, either you have to have a large group of people who area h asymptomatic who never presented for any test to have the kind of numbers predicted. To get to 60 Million People<\/a> infected or 6 Million People<\/a> infected you have to have a , large group of asymptomatic. We have not seen an attack in over 1 in a 1,000. Either we are measuring the iceberg and underneath, a large group of people. So we are working hard to get the Antibody Test<\/a> and figure out who these people are and do they exist, or we have the transmission completely wrong. So these are the things we are looking at, because the predictions of the model dont match the reality on the ground in china, south korea or italy. We are five times the size of italy. If we were italy and did all those divisions, italy should have close to 400,000 deaths. They are not close to achieving that. Models are models. These are the kind of things we are trying to understand. There is enough data of the real experience with the coronavirus on the ground to really make these predictions much more sound. When people Start Talking<\/a> about 20 of a population getting infected, its very scary, but we dont have data that matches that. And the situation about ventilators. We are reassured in meeting with our colleagues in new york that there are still i. C. U. Beds remaining and still significant over a 1,000 or 2,000 ventilators that have not been utilized. Please for the reassurance of people around the world to wake up this morning and look at people talking about creating d. N. R. Situations, do not resuscitate situations for patients, there is no situation in the United States<\/a> right now that warrants that kind of discussion. You can be thinking about it in a hospital. Certainly hospitals talk about this on a daily basis, but to say that to the American People<\/a> and make the implication that if they need a hospital bed its not going to be there or a ventilator, its not going to be there. Its our job collectively to assure the American People<\/a>, its our job to make sure that doesnt happen. You can see the cases are concentrated in highly urban areas and other parts of the states that have lots of ventilators and other parts of new york state that dont have any infections right now. We can be creative and we can meet the needs by being responsive. There is no reality on the ground where we can see that 60 to 70 of americans are going to get infected in the next eight to 12 weeks. I want to be clear about that. We are adapting to the reality on the ground and looking at the models of how they can inform but learning from south korea and italy and from spain and i know you will look up my numbers. The only people who are over 1 in thousand 1,000 cases are people who have small populations like monaco and you will see a Different Number<\/a> when population is very small. One case can put you over one two 8000. 12 dr. Fauci im going to 1000. Change the topic and i have been asked about this in a couple of media interactions regarding the interventions we are talking about. And its important because its something i said yesterday about what we would likely see. When you shut things down, you do it to prevent the further spread and called mitigation and buy yourself time to get better prepared for might be a rebound. May be a rebound that we get things under control and pull back which ultimately we are going to have to do. Everybody in the world is going to have to do that. Or it might cycle into the next season. What are we going to do to prepare ourselves for that . One of the important things is one that i mentioned several times from this podium and that is to clarify a bit about the time line for vaccine and whether that has any real impact on what we call the rebound or call a cycling in the season. Certainly for sure, a vaccine is not going to help us now or the next month. If you go into a phase one trial and i keep referring to one vaccine, there is more than one. There are a couple of different vaccines at different stages of development. But they are following the same course and the course is you first go into a phase one trial to see if it is safe and 45 people within a certain age group, all healthy and not at great risk of getting infected. The reason you do that, you want to make sure its safe. And that takes about three months, easily, maybe more. This will bring us into the middle of the summer. And phase two trial or twothree. Now we hope that arent a lot of people getting infected but likely there will be somewhere in the world where that will go on. It is likely we will get an eff and efficacy signal and we will know if it works. If it does, we hope to rush it and have some impact on recycling in the next season. And like i said, that could be a year to a year and a half. Im not changing any of the dates i mentioned. But one of the things we are going to do to understand that has been a stumbling block of Previous Development<\/a> to vaccines and that is even before you know something works, at risk, you have to start producing it. Once you know it works, you cant say, it works, give me another six months. We are working with a variety of companies to take that risk. We didnt take it with zika. Same with sars. That is what we are going to push on is to be able to have it ready if, in fact, it works. The issue of safety, something i want to make sure the American Public<\/a> understands. Not only safety when you inject somebody and get a reaction and get a little allergic reaction or pain. There is safety associated, does the vaccine make you worse. And there are diseases in which you vaccinate and get infected and enhance the infection. And get a good feel from animal models. That is at the same time we are testing, we are going to make sure we dont have enhancement. Worst possible thing you could do is vaccinate someone and make them worse. Finally with regard to therapies. We keep getting asked about therapies, there is a whole menu of clinical trials. The best way to get the best drug as quickly as possible is to do a controlled trial so you know is it safe and is it effective. If it is not effective, get it off the board and go to the next thing. If it is effective, get it out to the people that need it. You are going to hear about different drugs going into these control trials and i feel confident about what this virus is that we will have some sort of therapy that gives a partial if not a very good protection in preventing disease. And we will be back here talking a lot about that for sure. A lot of companies are not shy about doing that. Are you saying in the phase ii two trials, that if you see some form of efficacy, you can ramp up production . Even before. A lot of companies are not shy about doing that. Usually when you do that at risk, john, you have to give them some backup. We put hundreds of millions of dollars to try and make vaccines and i wouldnt hesitate to do that for a moment now. On the county issue, having highrisk counties, there is no domestic numbers what is preventing someone going from a high risk county to go to a low risk county . Wont you allow more cases to slip through the cracks . Dr. Birx this is a very important concept and why we worked on messaging to the American People<\/a> about the 15 days to stop the spread, because part of this will be the need to have highly responsible behavior between counties. And i think the American People<\/a> can understand that that they will understand where the virus is because we will have the testing data and where it isnt and make sure they are taking appropriate precautions as they move in and out of spaces. This will be critical for our future as we Work Together<\/a> to understand where the virus is and where it isnt in realtime. Reporter following up on your modeling and how it has changed. You said on monday about a test coming out of singapore. Where are we on those tests . Is that what you need to do some kind of Community Survey<\/a> . Dr. Birx talking to c. D. C. Right now, they are extraordinary in outbreaks and Contact Tracing<\/a>. They are going to be the work force behind any new strategy that looks at counties that need to completely move into containment and surveillance tracing. Where are these . Thats part of what they are looking at. There are antibodies. Assays but they are by eliza. And what we are trying to do is not just do them because they can use that now but have point of care like we have with. You get a drop of blood and put it on a cassette. We want Rapid Diagnostics<\/a> like we have with hiv. Thats what companies are working on. Correct thats the i. G. G. ,to measure. Thats not going to be helpful in diagnosis but helpful for us to know how many ea symptomatic cases there are or were. That is the big question. How close are we as far as finding out the asymptomatic dr. Birx we have people, the f. D. A. Is working on that around the clock. They have applications coming in and we put out a call for applications and i have been talking about it from this podium if you have an i. G. G. A. , rapid test, you could do it today the original sars react to the current covid19 antibodies. You could do the eliza today because the original sars antigens react very well to the current covid19 antibodies. We are working on that so we could have plasma drive. We are focused on that. Thank you, yes, we are very much focused on that. Reporter how soon will you be able to classify these counties because a lot of testing has not been done yet . Dr. Birx i recognize state and local health first, behind all of this has continued to test and continued to do surveillance and we have states that have been doing Contact Tracing<\/a> all along. It never gets reported because its not that exciting that they have identified 10 cases. But there are states doing it and have been doing it throughout this entire outbreak and we are confident that testing is going on. We have to expand testing for surveillance. We talked a little bit yesterday the flu platform. The flu platform is driven off of Emergency Rooms<\/a> and hospitals reporting flulike illness to their state and local governments and that will trigger the individuals to get tested. So we have a platform that states and local governments are completely used to. They are not used to doing it this late in the season. But flu tails off a lot by april. They usually do it through the end of we are asking them to march. Continue the activation of screening for flulike illness and doesnt get to his question of where is the asymptomatic cases. That helps us find cases and Contact Trace<\/a> unsystematic cases. Reporter do you have guidance for counties that dont have the data yet . Are there different c. D. C. Guidelines . Dr. Birx what we are trying to do is to utilize a a laser focused approach rather genericr than a horizontal approach. Why am i confident we can do that . Because we do it in Subsaharan Africa<\/a> for. Hiv. We have done it and i do believe we can transpose that approach to the United States<\/a> and be able to have we have granular data down to a g. P. S. Coordinate to a site and hospital. We think the same thing can be done in the United States<\/a>. Is there a restriction for states like if there is a high risk county . Wouldnt your fear be is that people in the highrisk county go over to the lowrisk county . Dr. Birx state and local governments make that and how much the governors understand where they are in their epidemic and what they will need to do in the future. This is what we are trying to tailor stop it requires us to have clear data at the county and state level. But i think you have been hearing from us, these outbreaks in clusters we have been welldefined to date. The one that was in king county and one in new york city and one in new orleans and one in wayne county. And we can see that spread throughout the region and closely related counties. How to do surveillance and Contact Tracing<\/a> and each of these items to prevent that spread. Reporter what is your time line for implementing this . Dr. Birx we owe it to the president and we owe it to the president to make that decision. Thats what we are working on. Last question. The Vice President<\/a> the president sent a letter to all the governors today indicating that as every american recognizes the 15 days to slow the spread, we are approaching day 15 and what the president told the governors, we are going to listen to the very best Health Experts<\/a> in the world and examine that data and we will be presenting this weekend the president a range of recommendations and Additional Guidance<\/a> for going forward. The president has made it clear in his words, he wants to open the country up, but were going to do it responsibly and do it based on the data. Ill go to john. Reporter unless there is a lastminute glitch, we should see phase three pass the house. Already there are many members who are talking about the need for a phase four. Do you see the need for a phase four and what do you think should be addressed in it . The Vice President<\/a> let me say again how grateful the president and i and i know governors across the country are for the extraordinary bipartisan work that has been done on capitol hill, not just in the bill that will be taken up by the house of representatives but in legislation last week that extended paid family leave, free coronavirus testing. Made sure that all the agencies at every level of the federal government had the resources to meet this moment. Its really been an inspiring time. What the president has made clear, we are going to do whatever it takes. And already we are hearing from some governors about the need for Additional Resources<\/a> and we will evaluate those very carefully and i think the secretary of the treasury has already indicated and congressional leadership has already indicated a willingness to remain open to that. The American People<\/a> know we are in all of this together and the unity you see on capitol hill and the unity this president has march shaled across our marshaled across our governors and states and territories will continue to drive forward. We are going to make sure that our Health Care Workers<\/a> and the people that are serving them, make sure our state governments and make sure every agency of the federal government has everything we need to put the health of america first. Well see you back here tomorrow. Thank you all. Captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org coming up, more on the coronavirus outbreak on the u. S. Response with dr. William schaffner from Vanderbilt University<\/a> Medical Center<\/a> and we will get your reaction by phone, facebook and twitter. Washington journal is next. Guest republicans 2027488001 independents 2027488002. 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