Shortening the duration of the pandemic, which is what it is. The cdc has published guidelines on the coronavirus, dotgov to enable the coronavirus, dotgov, its heavily used right now, for americans to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. While the risks to young and healthy americans remains very low, weve learned a lot about this over the last two weeks, anyone can be a carrier for the virus, and risk transmission to Older Americans and those with Underlying Health conditions, and those who are most at risk. They have not done very well, Older Americans who are especially if they have a health problem, they have not done well. We must take all precautions and be responsible for the actions
that we take and that we see other people take. We want to prevent the spread and transmission of the disease, uh, its incredible whats sports, whats happening with the sporting world, where so many of the great sports that weve gotten so used to at this time of the year, theyre not going to be meeting. And theyve done a great service, actually, that would be another way that it could be, uh, problems could be caused. But this is why i outlined on wednesday night my administrati administrations the fact that weve issued a requirement suspending all medically unnecessary visits to various places, but in particular nursing homes. We should all be working off the same playbook when it comes to protecting americans, we have to. We need to be consistent in adopting measures to limit the spread of the virus. The virus is the same whether its spreading in cities, towns,
or rural communities. The tools and tactics for attacking it are similar no matter where you go, no matter where you go. You have some hotspots throughout the world right now that people would have never thought possible. Theyre being very seriously affected. Key among these efforts, breaking chains of transmission between people. These measures have been adopted by many companies, universities and schools. And we want to protect the safety and the health of their employees and their students. I encourage everyone to follow the guidelines weve issued by cdc and these common sense measures, a lot of it is common sense, for the areas where the virus is spreading. The cdc is advising communities to postpone large gatherings, postpo postpone assemblies, stagger recess and lunch for schools that arent canceled, increase schedule plannings, and cancel
worksponsored travel, among numerous other steps that can be taken. Americans are the strongest and most resilient people on earth and in the coming weeks we will all have to make changes and sacrifices but these short term sacrifices will produce long term gain. And again, ive said were learning a lot for the future and future problems like this or worse, or worse, could get worse. The next eight weeks are critical. We can learn and we will turn a corner on this virus. Some of the doctors say it will wash through, it will flow through. Interesting terms. And very accurate, i think youre going to find in a number of weeks its going to be a very accurate term. In times of hardship the true character of america always shines through. We live in the company of the greatest heroes and the most
inspiring citizens anywhere in the world. We want to take care of our people. We want to draw on the strength of our history, draw on the strength of our people, and we will get through this all together, we will just get through it. So much progress has already been made. And frankly the numbers, because the steps that have been taken, are at a level that a lot of people are surprised, especially when you compare them with other places, far smaller populations. The spirit and the will of our nation is unbreakable. We will defeat this threat. When america is tested, america rises to the occasion. To those families and citizens who are worried and concerned for themselves and their loved ones i want you to know the federal government will unleash every federal authority, tool, and resource at its disposal to safeguard the lives and health of our people. So we are with you every step of the way. No nation is more prepared or
more equipped to face down this crisis. As you know, were rated number one in the world. Were also helping other nations, many other nations, were helping them a lot. And theyre doing okay in some cases, in some cases theyre not doing well at all, but were working with a lot of groups of people and a lot of other nations. With faith and heart and hope and love and determination, we will succeed, we will prevail, we will be very, very successful, and well learn for the future. Thank you all very much. If you have any questions we can take some. Go ahead, john, please. And if you would like to ask some of the folks up here, that would be fine, please. Reporter mr. President , where are you with the house bill . Yesterday we talked to you in the oval office, you were opposed to it. What has happened since then and whats the holdup on that . Well, we dont think theyre giving enough. We dont think the democrats are
giving enough. We didnt agree to certain things they agreed to. We could have something but we dont think theyre giving up in, theyre not doing whats right for the country. Reporter if i could ask dr. Fauci. Go ahead, please. Reporter thank you, mr. President. You just mentioned waiving interest for Student Loans. You talked about adding to the spr. What are the specific targeted measures is your administration thinking about secretary . Treasury secretary mnuchin said youre just in the second inning of things you might be thats true. Were going to be releasing a paper in about two hours stating quite a few other steps, very important ones. Please, go ahead. Reporter sir, if you wouldnt mind. Reporter thank you so much, mr. President. I want to know if you are in contact with the brazilian president bolsonaro after a member of his delegation who was with you saturday was tested positive and also i want to ask another question, if youll let
me, senator Lindsey Graham and also senator rick scott are selfisolating. Are you planning to take any kind of precautionary measure to protect you and also your staff . No. We have no symptoms whatsoever. And, uh, we have we had a great meeting with the president of brazil, bolsonaro, great guy, very a very tremendous hes doing a fantastic job for brazil. And as you know, he tested negative, meaning nothing wrong this morning and we got that word too, because we did have dinner with him, uh, we were sitting next to each other for a long period of time. Reporter are you in contact with him over the Coronavirus Crisis . No, we have were talking about it country to country, but we did discuss, uh, if he had a problem. It was reported that he may have it and he doesnt. Fortunately. Reporter thank you so much, mr. President. Dr. Fauci said earlier this week
that the lag in testing was in fact a failing. Do you take responsibility for that . And when can you guarantee that every single american who needs a test will be able to have a test . Whats the date of that . Yeah, no, i dont take responsibility at all because we were given a, uh, a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time. It wasnt meant for this kind of event with the kind of numbers were talking about. And what weve done is redesigned it very quickly with the help of the people behind me. And were now in very, very strong shape. I think well be announcing, as i said, sunday night. And this will start very quickly. And well have the ability to do in the millions over a very, very quick period of time, so no. And what we have done, and we are going to be leaving a very indelible print for the future in case Something Like this happens again, but it was a
and thats not the fault of anybody, and frankly the old system worked very well for smaller numbers, much smaller numbers, but not these kind of numbers. Reporter by sunday night will every american be able to get a test . So just to reiterate what i said to many of you multiple times, its the system. The system was not designed. For what it was designed for, it worked very well. The cdc designed a good system. If you want to get the kind of blanket testing and availability that anybody can get it, or you could even do surveillance to find out what the penetrance is, you have to embrace the private sector, you cant do it without it. When i said that i meant the system was not designed for what we need. Now, looking forward, the system will take care of it. Reporter mr. President , with respect to go back, please, if you go back to the swine flu, it was, uh, nothing like this, they
didnt do testing like this, and actually they lost approximately 14,000 people, and they didnt do the testing, they started thinking about testing when it was far too late. What weve done and one of the reasons people are respecting what weve done, we got it very early, and weve also kept a lot of people out. Reporter mr. President , the last administration said they tested a Million People by this point. Ask them how they did with the twiswine flu, it was a disaster. They would a very big failure with swine flu, a very big failure. Reporter mr. President , i want to ask you about the european travel ban that goes into effect at midnight tonight and the exemption youve offered to the uk. There are 17 countries that are in the socalled schengen zone that have fewer coronavirus cases than the uk. And just in the past 24 hours, the uk has added 208 coronavirus cases to their total. Why did they, mr. President ,
deserve an exception and would you consider adding them to this travel ban list . Reporter well, that was recommended to me by a group of professionals. And we are looking at it based on the new numbers that are coming out and we may have to include them in the list of countries that we will, uh, you could say ban or whatever it is, during this period of time. But yeah, the numbers have gone up fairly precipitously over the last 24 hours. So we may be adding that. And we may be adding a couple of others. And we may frankly start thinking about taking some off. Go ahead. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Im a correspondent with hong kong phoenix tv. You have mentioned that the number in china has been decreasing and china has made tremendous progress in the past weeks. Im wondering how much confidence does this give you to control the virus in the United States, and do you see the data china has been sharing with the United States has been helpful . I think it has been helpful. Weve been working very much with china. Ive spoken, as you know, with president xi. They went through hell. And their numbers are starting to look very good. Theyre really looking very good, were very happy about that. We are sharing data, yes, in fact were sharing quite a bit of data including the fact that some of our pharmaceutical companies are working over there right now with large groups of people. Yeah, go ahead, please. Reporter thank you, mr. President. You spoke with canadian Prime Minister trudeau yesterday. Did you discuss the potential closing of the border between canada and the u. S. . And by extension, are you considering ways to salvage the 2 billion daily trade between the two countries . So we didnt discuss the border. Weve had a very good relationship, theyre just about finished with the u. S. Embassy, he actually called to tell me that. At the time his wife had not been diagnosed. Shes a lovely lady, wonderful lady, great lady. And since then ive heard, read, that, uh, the result was that she has it. And i was a little surprised, i think he was surprised also. We did discuss it prior to. Shes going to be fine. But, uh, he thought that she would not most likely have the virus, unfortunately she does. But we didnt discuss the border yesterday, no. Go ahead, please. If you have any questions for these great geniuses up here, you should, even a business question, related to what were talking about. Reporter mr. President , russ p palombo from abc news in miami. What is your message to the cruise line and travel industry that florida depends upon . Since senator rick scott and miamidade mayor carlos gimenez
had the same exposure to you and are selfisolating, should you be . I dont have any of the symptoms. We have a white house doctor, i should say many white house doctors, i asked them that same question and they said you dont have any symptoms whatsoever. And we dont want people without symptoms to go and do the test. The test is not insignificant. As far as the cruise line business, were with them all the way, its a great business, its a great u. S. Business, frankly. And i know how important they are to the country, that includes airlines, the cruise line business, obviously, was hit very hard. We had a tremendous success out in oakland where we moved, and Vice President pence did a fantastic job with that. We worked with uk, they worked with canada, they took their people back, in canada, approximately 600 people, uk likewise took a number of people back to the united kingdom. We have people quarantined. It was a big operation and it worked out any you dont hear about it anymore, it worked out really well. Mike, you might want to Say Something about that because it was really done properly. Thank you, mr. President. That program, the grand princess, the ship, is continued to be administered and the highest standards, orderly way, as the president directed. And the americans that needed treatment have received it. I spoke to the governor of iowa today, and some of those who now have been cleared are able in proper supervision to return. Its another example of the extraordinary cooperation, governor abbott, governor newsom, Governor Kemp of georgia. The president directed me last saturday to travel down to miami. We met with all the leaders of the cruise line industry. Several cruise lines have
announced a 60day pause in operations. Our department of Homeland Security has praised them for doing that, because of the unique Health Challenges particularly presented to seniors with underlying conditions. We have a proposal from the cruise line industry. But they are currently considering what other steps that they might take, perhaps even similar to what those other lines have taken. Were anticipating some response on that in the next 24 hours. But as the president said, the American People cherish our cruise line industry. The men and women that work on the ships, men and women who work on the shore, all the economies that are so benefitted by a vibrant cruise line industry. What the president has directed us to do is whether there is a pause in the moment, as some cruise lines are doing, and as we all continue to discuss, we want to work with the cruise line industry to ensure that
when we come through this, that cruise lines and the medical services that are available and for the passengers and all of the crew, the cruise lines are safer than ever before and can prosper for many years to come. Reporte go ahead, please. Reporter this question is for doctors fauci and birx. Dr. Fauci, based on what you know, what is the trajectory of when this outbreak will peak . How long do the American People have to remain on emergency footing . For dr. Birx, as the administration tries to get its arms around the shortage issue, the next glaring need could be respirators and related hospital equipment. What is the administration doing right now to ramp up the production of respirators and that kind of equipment should this outbreak persist . When you have an outbreak like this, particularly if youre trying to interfere with it, its impossible to predict the time element of when its going to peak and when its
naturally going to go down. If you look at the situation where countries really did not get to the point of trying to contain and mitigate very well, you see a peak over several weeks and then down again over other several weeks. What were trying to do is the efforts that were doing is to blunt that peak. And i mentioned it many times, and i think its important and appropriate for me to mention again, because it answers your question, when you talk about preventing infections from without in, which is the kind of travel restrictions were talking about, then how do you handle what you already have in your country . You continue some sort of containment but you also do mitigation. And you try to proportionate to the areas where there are the most infections. The success of that and how much you make this turn into this is going to give you the amount of time. If were successful, it will be less. If were not successful, its going to be more. But these kind of things generally run out in a few months. Hopefully well make it several
weeks, eight, nine, whatever, weeks. But i cant give you a number because it depends on how successful we are. Great, thank you, its a great question. Dr. Fauci have worked together a very long time and continue, its a privilege to work with him every day. I think you can learn very and i appreciate there was some graphics done by the reporting over the last several days, if you align the data from china with the data with south korea, you can start to see almost a complete overlay of that data. So thats what were tracking very closely, as well as italy. But you have an excellent question. I just want to make one note. In south korea, i want to repeat, only 4 of the tests were positive. That means 96 of the people had a different respiratory disease. Because were in the middle of flu season, cold season, and all of the other respiratory diseases that we get every day, in labcorp and quests early
data, theyre running 1 to 2 positive. That means we have a lot more respiratory disease out there besides the coronavirus. Thats why the screening is critical. But even with the screening were going to run what we think are very low rates. Needless to say, though, were taking it extraordinarily seriously to plan for what could come. Not what dr. Fauci talked about blunting the curve, that makes it much less high need at that peak of the curve were all planning for. Were in full inventory of all of our assets. By the president unlocking, the secretary of hhss ability to unlock the resources that every hospital has and the hospital Emergency Preparedness plan allows them to defer elective issues, to keep those hospital beds open for those who might need it. So were in full planning mode for each of those things. And i might add that were in
the process and in some cases have already done it, ordered a large number of respirators just in case. We hope we dont need them but weve ordered a large number. Go ahead, please. Reporter thank you very much, mr. President