Transcripts For FOXNEWSW Outnumbered 20200318 : vimarsana.co

The newer governor saying that kennedy weve got it harris he and the president have worked out whatever wrinkles that may have been there, and that they are working together. In fact, its not just new york, new jersey, connecticut now. Pennsylvania has folded in as a fourth state which the governor of new york is now working with in concert. Because he has clearly set over the last few days that whatever we do here in this huge, massive population across a few states needs to be as coordinated as possible. Especially when it comes to things like medical Care Services and kind of rolling lockdowns and that sort of thing. Communication is really going to be key. So he made that point. The only thing he wants people to be able to prepare for here in new york, and particularly in a city where you have so many large employers, is that businesses beginning they were talking about a timeline for this, but pretty expeditiously will not be open with any more than 50 of their workforce. So 50 at least working from home at this point will be the restriction. A lot of information there. Simultaneously, with that, we are awaiting the White House Coronavirus Task Force Press briefing where we expect the president to speak very soon. The president saying today that the United States and canada have agreed to temporarily suspend nonessential travel between the two countries. This, as coronavirus cases you heard the governor say they are in new york, but worldwide have exploded. There are now more than 201,000 confirmed cases with more than 8,000 deaths. Some of that expected with the expanse and testing all around the globe. So that is part of what we are watching. Here in the United States, nearly 6500 cases confirmed, and now more than 110 deaths. With cases now in all 50 states and the district of columbia. Again, some of that burst coming from the fact that we are learning more through the testing. That will continue to happen, according to the governor of new york and Anthony Fauci with the nih. Dr. Fauci. And so many other experts who over it. Ng us that. Youre watching outnumbered. Im harris faulkner. Here today, melissa francis. Board certified physician fox news contributor, dr. Nicole saphier. Fox news contributor, jessica tarlov. Host of bull bears on the fox business network, david asman. And he, as we like to say, is outnumbered. David [laughs] in the boxes. Harris its much information. David, i want to start with you. One thing we havent talked about is what its going to be like for those businesses as we see more and more of this across the country, more people working from home. Theres a lot of support digitally now, and it should be relatively smooth. What are you learning . David first of all, 60 of american businesses are Small Businesses. There are the ones that sort of operate from week to week. If they have employees, those employees, they cant pay those employees much longer. Maybe for one or two or three weeks, a month at the most. If this shutdown of Economic Activity continues for more than a month, they are going to be in desperate straits. Thats why we have the stimulus package being planned out of the by congress but the white house. It looks like theyre putting political differences aside right now and really focusing on agreeing, to help he can help. With 60 of american businesses right on the edge right now, thats a very tough place for america to be. Yes, we are able to do some telecommuting for home, to connect everybody. But not every business can do that, particularly the ones in service industries. And we remember that several years ago the u. S. Became more of a Service Industry economy, that is people to people contact, close contact in restaurants and bars, et cetera. Harris interesting point. David than we used to be. We are really obliterating Economic Activity, or a lot of it, with these shutdowns. They are going to need help, those businesses, what its over. Harris dr. Saphier, i want to bring it. Some of the headlines today, as i was trying to just point to the facts of all the testing that has ramped up, we will see some numbers pop. But there was no denying that when you get north of 200,000 people globally it is something to Pay Attention to, and here at home, 6500 confirmed cases. What are you telling people . Dr. Saphier thats right, harris. The thing is, weve been saying this all along. As we see more testing come out we will see those numbers increase. So we did expect this. By no stretch of the imagination, this is a Global Pandemic and people need to take extremely seriously. In the marinade states, about a third of the cases are in new york city or the state of new york. Its a denser population area, Service Industry, we are very social animals. This is why we have seen an uptick and cases composer increase in testing. Harris doctor, im going to cut inferences as i can. Dr. Saphier, i need to prosper mode to let our broadcast stations join us. We are going to cook along here because we have two. Fox News Coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. The White House Coronavirus task force is set to give an update now. We see them lining up on the dais from the white house. Theyve been doing this regularly, round about this time. We get a lot of questions answered. Of course, they normally will open this up after a couple of comments at the top. Answers from the media there. We have brought you this morning the new york state Governor Cuomo, andrew cuomo, talking about what hes going to be doing in the most Populated Areas here on the east coast. So weve had a lot of communication there, but maybe a key point was the partnership that he says he has with President Trump. We fully expect, as he does each day, for President Trump to begin. Lets watch together. President trump i would like to begin by announcing some important developments in our war against the chinese virus. I will be invoking the defense production act, just in case we needed. In other words, i think you will know what it is. It can do a lot of good things if we need it, and we will. We will have it all completed, signing it in just a little while right after im finished with this conference. Ill be sending it. Its prepared to go. So we will be invoking the defense production act. Last week i signed an Emergency Declaration under the stafford act, which as you know we invoked previously. And which activated femas National Response coordination center. Fema now is fully engaged at the highest levels. Today, fema has activated in every region. We are at level 1, 1 being the highest level which we will work with. Weve been working with fema. Ive done a lot of work with fema, theyre incredible. Its always been on hurricanes or tornadoes. They are right now in tennessee, a large group working in tennessee. Theyve been incredible. It was a tragic event. Alabama last year, also a tornado. And then, obviously, the numerous hurricanes in different locations that were in some cases very devastating. And in every case, fema came through. This is a very different type of work for fema, but they will come through as they always do. We have tremendous people, tremendous talent in fema. We are sending, upon request, the two hospital ships are being prepared right now. There are massive ships. The big white ships with the red cross on the sides. One is called the mercy and the other is called the comfort. They are in tiptop shape, they soon will be. They are getting ready to come up to new york. I spoke with Governor Cuomo about it, hes excited about it. We havent made the final determination as to where its going to go on the west coast. The comfort is located now in san diego, and it will be picking a destination very shortly. Those two ships are being prepared to go, and they can be launched over the next week or so depending on need. Earlier this week, the first Clinical Trial of the vaccine candidate for the virus began in washington state, as you probably know. The genetic sequence of the virus was First Published in january, but thanks to the Unprecedented Partnership between the fda, nih, and the private sector, we have reached human trials for the vaccine just eight weeks later. Thats a record by many, many months. It used to take years to do this and now weve done it just in the very short while. That is the fastest development in history of what we are doing with regard to the vaccine, we are making very, very big progress. Today i can announce further steps to expand testing capacity. We are working with several groups to determine if the selfswab, the much easier process than the current process that is not very nice to do. I can tell you, because i did it. We have a current process that is a little bit difficult. If you have it done the groups are working on determining if a self swab by an individual is as effective as the others. The other is very effective, very accurate. But we are going to see if we can do a selfswab, which would be a lot more popular, i can tell you that. And that would be administered also by a health official, but it would be a lot easier to do. The fact is that the Health Professionals it would free up a lot, let me just say. The selfswab is what it is, you do it yourself. The other has to be issued by a health professional, and it is something that is quite difficult. And we think it is working out for the selfswab. If it would test positive, the people would go and they would do what they have to do. But we think thats probably working out. Ive asked the fda to cut through the red tape and reduce regulatory barriers. We are looking at some very exciting things, and im going to be holding a second News Conference either today we are going to be talking about the fda, some things that are happening that are quite exciting. We are going to be doing that either later today or tomorrow, fairly early tomorrow. So well see what happens. But the fda, my instructions ive been working very hard on a number of developments, and well be discussing them with you later today or tomorrow. This afternoon i will be meeting with nurses on the front lines of the battle against the virus. They are Truly American heroes. They want to get it done, they are incredible people. So we are going to be meeting with nurses. Actually look forward to that, they are very brave. They are taking a lot of risk and they have done an incredible job. And they never complain. Today i am also announcing that the deponent of housing and urban development is providing immediate relief to renters and homeowners by suspending all foreclosures and evictions until the end of april. So we are working very closely with dr. Ben carson and everybody from hud. Every generation of americans has been called to make shared sacrifices for the good of the nation. In world war ii, young people in their teenage years volunteered to fight. They wanted to fight so badly, because they love our country. Workers refused to go home and slept on factory floors to keep Assembly Lines running. The numbers of ships they built during world war ii, to this day, has never nothing like that has ever been equaled. They were doing ships would really on a daily basis. Nobodys ever seen anything like it. To this day, nobody has ever seen like it, what they were able to do during world war ii. Now its our time. We must sacrifice together, because we are all in this together, and we will come through together. Its the invisible enemy. Thats always the toughest enemy, the invisible enemy. But we are going to defeat the invisible enemy. I think we are going to do it even faster than we thought, and itll be a complete victory. Itll be a total victory. So well have a second conference again, having to do with the fda. I think its going to be potentially very exciting News Conference. We will do it as quickly as we can, whether its today or tomorrow. With that, i will ask mike pence to say a few words. Thank you very much. Vice president pence think you, mr. President. The White House Coronavirus task force but this morning, and now that we have cases in all 50 states, we are continuing to move out on the president s call to bring the full resources of the federal government, the full partnership with every state and territory, the full power of the american economy, to support businesses and families. As the president says, to us and every day, we will do what it takes. We are all in this together. Yesterday, the president met with the Tourism Industry executives, and also had an engaging discussion with all the Top Companies in our industrial and medical supply chain. The president , as you all are aware, also announced today that, by Mutual Consent of the northern border to canada will be closed to nonessential travel. This does not include essential travel or the transit of goods. But it was through mutual discussion that took place this morning between the president and Prime Minister trudeau and the deferment of Homeland Security will be effectuating the decision. The president spoke with some of the nations top Business Leaders today, again, to speak about the supply chain in the country. For our part, we are going to be conducting a Conference Call later today with state and local officials to renew our ongoing commitment of cooperation and collaboration. As the president said last , last weekand signing the sevee stepped up the coronation center. Today, at the president s direction, fema has gone to level 1. Femas mission is to support disasters that are locally executed, state manage, and federally supported. Tomorrow the president will be hosting all the nations governors from a videoconference at fema to ensure that they have a full connection to all of the activated regions were fema going forward. With regard to testing, i am pleased to report that we are increasing the number of tests being performed by the thousands every day, thanks to the Publicprivate Partnership that President Trump forged with commercial laboratories around the country. Our Health Experts tell us to remind every american, its important to remember, people without symptoms should not get tested. We want to make sure of the supply testing is there for those that need it most or are symptomatic or in the vulnerable population. Dr. Deborah birx in a moment will address the progress we are making on testing. The infection rate, our recommendations to every american, as well as some important new findings about the impact on youth that we are gaining from data that is coming in from europe. It will be important to every american. On the subject of supplies, the president has our task force extremely focused, as the president mentioned, that he is invoking the defense production act today. Secretary esper in a few moments will describe the ongoing efforts that the department of defense is taking to make medical resources available. Secretary Robert Wilkie will announce decisions the va has made to expand Hospital Capacity within their system. Also with regard to medical personnel, at the president s direction, hhs is issuing a regulation today that will allow all doctors and medical professionals to practice across state lines, to meet the needs of hospitals that may arise in adjoining areas. In addition to that, we are again today asking every american and our medical Community Leaders and hospitals to partner with us in delaying elective procedures across the country in our Health Care System to ensure that medical supplies and medical capacity go where they are needed most. Seema verma will describe guidance that cms will be issuing on that front. Finally, i just want to remind every american of the president s 15day guidance to slow the spread. We are grateful for members of the media and the general public that are adhering to these, sharing them with neighbors and friends. All of our experts continue to believe that if every american will do their part and embrace and put into practice these principles that we can significantly limit the reach of the coronavirus in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you, mr. President. President trump thank you very much. Dr. Birx . Think you , mr. President , mr. Vice president. We continue to look at data every single day. There are concerning reports coming out of france and italy about some young people getting seriously ill and very seriously ill in the icus. We think part of this might be that people heded the early data coming out of china and coming out of south korea, that the elderly are those with preexisting medical conditions were at particular risk. It may have been that the millennial generation, our largest generation, our future generation that will carry us through for the next multiple decades, there may be disproportional numbers of infections among that group. So even if its a rare occurrence, it may be seen more frequently in that group. And be evident now. So we are looking at that information very clearly. We have not seen any significant mortality and the children, but we are concerned about the early reports coming out of italy and france. Again, im going to call on that generation that is part of that group that brought us innovation, particularly throughout all of their ability to look around corners and skip through games i always went little by little. I didnt realize you could go from level three to level seven. Thats what they taught us. They look for things that we dont see. We need them to be healthy. Not only calling on you to heed what is in this guidance, but to really ensure that each and every one of you are protecting each other. We cant have these large gatherings that contently to occur throughout the country for people who are off work, to then be socializing in large groups and spreading the virus. You have the potential to spread it to someone who does have a condition that none of us knew about and cause them to have a does asterisk outcome finally, on the testing piece and what we are learning, i know you know last week in bringing the private sector, what has been exciting to me over the last two and a half weeks is to see this administration harness the full capacity of the private sector. Understanding that a lot of our solutions that we need to confront this virus rely on the private sector. Bring in the private sector commercial labs was critical to this process. We are now beginning to see that they have spread out in a prioritized way, because we asked them to prioritize the regions that were mostly affected. So you still may have difficulty getting tests in areas that do not have significant cases. Weve had them prioritize the regions where we need diagnoses, and the diagnostic percent remember, i told you south korea was under 4 . 296 of people were negative . The last report weve seen for the last laboratories had about 7 plus positivity rate. Still, 92 or negative. But i think that is encouraging to me personally that we are privatizing up her beauty to those areas that have the greatest need. Today and yesterday, Thermo Fisher push out most of their Laboratory Testing capacity. That will grace the ability to run additional tests in addition to roche. I appreciate everybodys attention to these numbers. Im excited that we prioritized where the need was the greatest, but again, please follow the guidance and please make sure and every report that youre putting out that you are talking about the president ial guidance to actually stop the spread of this virus. Thank you. President trump thank you, deborah, very much. Good afternoon, everyone. I want to provide an update on dods coronavirus efforts, as we continue to focus on our three priorities. First of all, protecting our personnel and their families, second, safeguarding our National Security mission capabilities, and third, supporting the administrations whole of government approach. First, i want to assure that the United States military remains ready and capable of defending the country and our interests abroad. With the outcome of the deferment is leaned forward and a response to covid19. Weve issued international and Domestic Travel restrictions to all dod personnel and families. That should dramatically reduce potential exposure to the virus. Those have been in place for some time now. As i announced yesterday, the deferment of defense will make available up to 5 million respirator masks and other personal protective equipment from our own Strategic Reserves to the deferment of health and Human Services for distribution. The first 1 Million Masks will be available immediately. We are also prepared to distribute to hhs up to 2,000 operational deployable ventilators for use as needed. Yesterday i was at fort dietrich maryland, which is probably the militarys premier research institute, where i got updated on the incredible work our people are doing as part of the Interagency Team to work on vaccines and therapeutics. They are making great progress there. We also have announced that we have certified our 16th lab, or we will soon certify our 16th lab, to help with processing tests from across the country. Additionally i have directed, as the president mention, that the hospital ships mercy and comfort be prepared to deploy to increase the nations medical capacity. We have also alerted a variety of fields and expeditionary hospitals to be prepared to deploy as well, as needed, based on direction from the commander in chief. Today, leadership from the army corps of engineers is new york with Governor Cuomo and his team. I spoke with Governor Cuomo yesterday, and other governors. I will speak with more in the coming days, to make sure they know what dod can provide for our system to address their needs. My conversation with governors and members of congress about dods resources made it clear we will continue to support the administrations competence of efforts every step of the way while ensuring our Nation Security remains the top priority. I want to conclude by thanking again all our Service Members and their families who have been affected by this outbreak. They are all great heroes. We are continuing to support them throughout this period we are all in this together. Thank you all very much. Yesterday the president made a very important announcement about telehealth. This is allowing our 62 million seniors to be able to get medical services from the safety of their home, reducing their risk, and without any copays. We are also making sure the Health Care System is prepared, and with those on the front line have the support they need. The reality is, the stakes are high, and we need to preserve personal protective equipment for those who are on the front lines of this fight. To that end, we put out guidelines of a last two weeks to expand the types of masks that can be used in routine care and saving those n95s for the most risky situations. Considering personal protective equipment is also essential to combat the virus. Today cms will announce detailed regulations to further promote this needed conservation. Specifically by limiting nonessential elective medical and surgical procedures, including dental procedures. We believe that these recommendations will help surgeons, patients, and hospitals prioritize what is essential, while leaving the ultimate decision and the heads of state and local Health Officials and those clinicians who have direct responsibility to their patients. And we urge providers and clinicians and patients to seriously consider these recommendations. They will not only preserve equipment, but it also allows doctors and nurses to help those that are on the front lines. And itll protect patients from unnecessary exposure to the virus. We fully appreciate that this is going to have a major impact on the Health Care System, but the shared sacrifice is essential to help those that are on the front lines. I want to thank the medical societies such as the American College of surgeons and the American Dental Association took a proactive approach and ive already posted these recommendations. Weve also talked to the american medical association, and they have fully indicated their support for this recommendation. We know invite the entire Health Care Community to join us in this effort. Thank you. President trump thank you very much. Robert, please. Thank you, mr. President. My instructions from the president were very clear. I was to do everything imaginable, as aggressively as possible, to protect the 9. 5 million veterans who are part of the deferment of veterans affairs. Last month we established 19 Emergency Operations Centers Across the country. We began to limit the number of visitors who entered our facilities. We began i think we were the first system to begin triaging across the country, in our 170 hospitals, the interest of anyone into our facility withoug questioned or tested. We expanded those restrictions to those in our 135 Community Living centers, which have about 7807800 veterans who are in an acute condition, to make sure they were protected. We also took the next step and made sure that we limited the dental surgeries that we provide. Weve cut back by onethird the number of routine appointments we have had. And we have canceled elective surgeries. These were all part of the president s directive to be as aggressive in a Public Health sense as we could be. I think we have set the pace for the entire country. I will say, we have often said that we work the most Noble Mission in the federal government. Our veterans have been in the toughest spots in the world. Theyve been put in conditions that are unimaginable to most americans, and they have responded. They responded clearly, they have responded with passion, and also the 400,000 numbers of our department who are out there on the front lines. Youve heard a lot about the Fourth Mission that va has. Our First Three Missions are health care, benefits, and memorial affairs. Our Fourth Mission is to support the federal government in times of natural disasters and pandemics. We are buttress force encased fema or hhs calls upon us to deploy medical professionals across the country to meet crises. We plan for that every day. We are gaining out Emergency Preparedness scenarios, and we stand ready when the president needs us to expand our mission. Thank you. President trump thank you very much, robert. Thank you. Thank you all, thats very nice. Any questions, please . Reporter two questions, if i may. Your treasury secretary was on capitol hill talking about the potential for what could, and he said that unemployment could skyrocket to 20 . That could rival the great depression. Are we looking at potentially President Trump i dont agree with that. No, i dont agree. Thats an absolute, total worstcase scenario. No, we dont look at that at all. We are nowhere near it. Reporter okay. Why do you keep calling this the chinese virus . There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese Americans in this country. Your own secretary azar said he does not use this term. He said ethnicity does not cause the virus. Why do you keep using this . A lot of people think its racist. President trump because it comes from china. Its not racist at all. It comes from china, thats why. It comes from china. I want to be accurate. John . Please. Reporter mike are you comfortable President Trump i have a great love for all the people from our country, but as you know, china tried to say at one point that maybe theyve stopped now, that it was caused by american soldiers. That cant happen. Its not going to happen. Not as long as im president. It comes from china. John . Please. Reporter two questions if i could, mr. President. The act you are invoking today, senator schumer set on the floor of a short time ago that it urgently needs to put down might be put into action to produce medical supplies, particularly the ventilators. Do you have some targets you would like to see immediately spooled up . President trump we have tremendous numbers of ventilators but theres never been an interest like this, where no matter what you have theres not enough. That would be the case. It is being signed. Its essentially done and well sign in a little while. If we need to use that, we will use it at full speed ahead. Reporter you said its urgently needed. Do you have some targets . President trump we dont know whether they are urgent, but we have targets. For certain pieces of equipment. We have targets for masks, the numbers of masks are incredible. Weve ordered millions of them. But we need millions more. A thing like this has never been requested, and weve never had to even think in terms of these numbers. But we need millions of masks and all that will be we need respirators, we need ventilators, thats a big thing. Because its a complex piece of equipment. So we have a lot of ventilators, but we are going to be ordering more. Reporter second question, what size will the checks beat that will be sent out . President trump to be determined. We are working with the senate right now, we are working with everybody on capitol hill. Theres been tremendous there really has been trade with some exceptions, obviously, because thats always the way it is. But theyve been getting along very well, republicans and democrats. Its a nice thing, very bipartisan. Reporter would you like to be more than a thousand dollars . President trump we will see. I dont want to get into that right now, john. We are looking at different numbers, we are looking at timing that would be different. Splitting the time, splitting the payments. We are looking at a lot of different things. It hasnt been determined yet but it will surely be determined. People want to go big. Everybody seems to want to go big. They want to get to the recovery, the big day the big thing we can do is get rid of this horrible i call it the unseen enemy. Theres a thousand different terms for it. It snuck up on us, and it did 128 countries, i think. Something like that, very close to that. Think of that. So it spreads violently. Its a very contagious, very, very contagious virus. Reporter do you consider america to be a wartime footing in terms of fighting this virus . President trump i do, im looking at it that way. If it got unde out of control, d a big stoppage of people coming in. It could be very heavily infected. That was a good move and it was very early, very, very early. Most people including a lot of professionals didnt want us to do it. That really saved a lot of lives. Yeah, i view it as, in a sense, a wartime president. Thats what we are fighting. Its a very tough situation. You have to do things, you have to close parts of an economy that six weeks ago where the best theyve ever been. We had the best economy weve ever had, and then one day you have to close it down in order to defeat this enemy. But we are doing it, and we are doing it well. Ii tell you, the american peope have been incredible. For the most part they been really credible. Report back i have a question for you and one for secretary wilkie. Ill start with you. He said theres a tremendous amount of ventilators you have. For weeks, hospitals have warned about a critical shortage they say we are not prepared for. So i did it take so long to invoke the defense production act . President trump hospitals when we have thousands of ventilators, it sounds like a lot. But this is a very unforeseen thing. Nobody ever thought of these numbers. Nobody ever saw numbers like this, even with regard to testing. Normally we wouldnt be testing, and they decided to do it. Very, very hard to ramp up. Now we are getting highly sophisticated tests and its going very well. But nobodys ever heard of testing and the kind of quantities youre talking about. Reporter but we knew for weeks we needed more ventilators. So i did it take this long . President trump we knew, depends how it goes. Worst case, absolutely. Best case, not at all. So we will have to see where it goes. But we are ordering thousands and thousands of ventilators. And they are complex. These are complex machines, but we are ordering them. Does anybody have mike, maybe you do. How many do we have . Please. Do you know the number . We have a specific number of ventilators in the stockpile, its an excess of 10,000. You just heard the announcement from the apartment of defense, they will be adding several more thousands of that. Even this morning, and yesterday afternoon, speaking with the Largest Companies in the supply chain in this country. We are hearing a tremendous spirit among Industry Leaders who are ready to step in and add to that volume. The stockpiles dont count all of the ventilators that exist today in the marketplace and in Health Care Facilities around the country. But the president has given us a directive to make sure our stockpile just as important lee, working with Industry Leaders, that we are securing the increase in ventilators, the increase in masks, gloves, by protective care, garments, that are all necessary to lean forward. We are comfortable do not confident we will be able to encompass that with the incredible support of the supply chain that exists in america today. Reporter do you know nationwide how many ventilators we have . President trump we will give it to you. But we are ordering a lot more. Go ahead come in the back. Reporter i have one question for President Trump once again, well do it in a second. Reporter two questions, mr. President. The first one, on the canadian border, what was that important . On friday you said no one knew President Trump i said not yet. I spoke with the Prime Minister trudeau, very good relationship, obviously, between us and our two countries. No tipping point. Its just that we want to isolate from the standpoint that we dont want people coming into contact. Thats the way we are going to win this war. Thats so important. People thought it was something else. Its not affecting trade, its nonessential crossings. It wont affect trade at all. It was just something we thought would be good for both countries. Yes, please. Report a mexican question, mr. President. How do you make sure that trade how can you be sure that trade and everything thats being shift President Trump they are doing it in a very careful manner. You can only be vigilant and very professional, but we are not its not pertaining at this moment to trade between the two countries. Yeah, please. Reporter the trillion dollar economic stimulus package could look Something Like 50 billion for the airlines, 150 billion in loan guarantees, a 250 payment in april, another payment on the 18th. Again, directly to individuals. As well, 300 billion for Small Business loan guarantees. Is that, in a general sense President Trump it could be. We are also playing with a lot of numbers, a lot of very big numbers at a lot of very small numbers, frankly. We want to take care, we want to help everybody. It was nobodys fault this have been paid some people could say it was somebodys fault, actually. It was nobodys fault, and certainly none of these companies that all of a sudden had no passengers in planes and had no passengers on cruise ships, all of the things that have happened, but i will say that they cant be blamed for this. We want to keep those companies vibrant, because theres going to be a come back very, very quickly. As soon as this is solved. And it will be solved. We will win, and they will be a come back. Itll take place very quickly. Reporter 250 billion, when theres give or take 300 million americans are so. Just do the math on that, thats about 750 a person. A family of four, that would be about 3,000 on average, rough math. President trump i dont want to say that, its a moving every number that you mentioned, yes, weve talked about those numbers. We are also moving those numbers in both directions. So well let you know. Its moving along fast. Again, there is a great bipartisan effort going on that i havent really seen before to this extent. Reporter at the beginning of this you mentioned the fda approved President Trump no, they are looking down the line and they are looking at it very seriously. I think it would be a great thing. To use a nice word, its very inconvenient. Its very tough. Reporter you tweeted this morning about your Approval Rating amongst republicans. You said you give yourself a 10 in terms of handling this crisis. How do you reassure americans at home who dont trust you to handle a crisis of this magnitude . President trump well, i think youre doing a really good job. We started with a termination of the border. People coming in from china where this all started, that meant i took a very seriously. When i use the word calm, that doesnt mean im not taking it seriously. We should be calm, we should be extremely calm. 95 within the Republican Party and over 50 , and i also have we have very great approval numbers. People like the job we are doing. When you compare this to other epidemics or, if you want to use a different term, you can, but within this country. You look at whats happened over the years. This is being handled very, very professionally. Where the greatest professionals in the world. Were doing a good job. Nobodys ever been swamped like this. Nothing has been so contagious, the level of contagion has been incredible, actually. Nobodys seen anything quite like this. Peter, go ahead. Reporter federal officials have shipped millions of tests, as you and your colleagues have said, why are there only 59,000 tests that have been processed to this point . We just heard from the atlanta Public Health director saying they have fewer than 50 test kits for more than 900,000 citizens. President trump i will let mike answer that. Thats a very critical question. Thank you for answerin asking i. The test kits to put out last week, the Rapid Movement of that meeting that President Trump called less than two weeks ago, that has resulted in bringing our private sector to the table. The one that was out there can only run between four and 12 tests per platform per day. We have now moved into platforms that can run basically tens of thousands of tests per day. So yeah, the reason im grateful for your question, it allows me to point out that of course there was backlog. There were individuals who had been tested who hadnt had their specimen run because of the slow throughput. Its now in the highspeed platform. So we will see the number of people diagnosed dramatically increase over the next 45 days. I know some of you will use that to raise an alarm that we are worse than italy because of the slope of our curve. To every american out there, it will be 56 days worth of tests being run in 2448 hours. So our curves will not be stable until sometime next week. The reason i talked about Thermo Fisher yesterday is because their platform is in 2,000 laboratories. They are the ones who are putting out the million tests this week. That will solve the issue that atlanta and others have brought up. I wanted to be clear. We prioritize the areas we do county by county analyses. Based on those analyses on what counties had more than 50 cases, we prioritized the test kits we put out. The 400,000. Thats why we are seeing a 7 plus positivity rate. We will be able to expand that platform and reprioritize based on this sense assess ability of the other cats do not kits. Reporter how are professional athletes getting tests while others are waiting in line and cant get them . To the wellconnected go to the front of the line . President trump youd have to ask on that question. I wouldnt say so, but perhaps that has been the story of life. That does happen on occasion. Ive noticed where some people have been tested very quickly. Weve inherited excuse me. Weve inherited a very obsolete system. This was a system that was out of date, obsolete, it was a system that was never meant to take care of the kind of quantity. The number of people we are talking about. Millions and millions of people. If you go back to years past, even recently, like the flu, nobody had tests before. They didnt test the entire nation to see whether or not they had the flu. They got the flu, they got better. Hopefully they got better, that was it. Now all now all of a sudden they do this very complex testing. Weve done is broken it down, broken up the system. But it was obsolete, and or you could say it was also a system that just wasnt meant to handle the kind of volume youre talking about. We revolted into a system that, for the future, will be a very good system if you want to go this route. But this was never done before, and i would imagine it will be done in the future. We built it into a very good system by using private companies, great private companies. I have to say, roche has been doing a very good job. Theyre doing a lot of work, very good job. This was an obsolete system. This is not a symptom done access to meant to do anything like this or near this. John . Reporter a major trade coalition is calling on you to suspend tariffs with other countries as part of the response to the coronavirus. President trump who heads the group . Those countries do. [laughs] go check. Im sure, free trade. China is paying millions and millions of dollars in tariffs, and theres no reason to do that. They havent even spoken to me about that. China hasnt asked me to do that. But we are getting billions of dollars a year from tariffs from china, and i cant imagine americans asking for that. But it could be that china will ask for a suspension or something. Well see what happens. China is having a very rough time. They had their worst year at 76 years, as i understand it. Theyre having a very, very tough time. On top of that, this happened with the virus. But no, we are taking in billions and billions of dollars a year in tariffs. This was caused by something totally unrelated to tariffs. Reporter on asylumseekers and people who cross the southern border illegally, are you planning to invoke 42 usc 265 which would allow you to prohibit entry of certain people . President trump the answer is yes. Reporter when will that happen . President trump very soon, probably today. Reporter are there plans to fully shut the Mexican Border . What do you define as a central travel when it comes to the u. S. Canadian border . President trump i think essential is medical. We have military working together. We have industry working together. Again, its not affecting trade. Things like that. Just leisurely, lets go to a restaurant to have dinner, which a lot of people do. They come both ways, they go in both directions. That kind of thing. We have ended on a temporary basis. Please, go ahead. No, were not going to close it. But we are invoking a certain provision that will allow us great latitude as to what we do. Please. Go ahead. Reporter i wanted to clarify something. Just a week ago you all were standing here telling us that unless you had sustained contact with somebody who was symptomatic for covid19, he really didnt need to worry. The president , the Vice President , they shook hands with somebody who had this, they took a photograph with somebody had this period that you didnt really need to worry. Several days later we are in a situation where people are being told, dont leave your houses. There are curfews saying you cannot walk alone at night after a certain time. Can you walk us through what seems like a very dramatic swing, very dramatic disconnect from what we are hearing before to what were hearing now . Two things. We look at data all the time. I know youre looking at the china and south korea data. When you look at china and south korea data and you look at what china and south korea did, you can see that their curves are not only blunted outside of wuhan so, chinese areas outside of wuhan, blunted curve, and south korea, blunted curve. If you look at their curves today, they are already on the far end of the epidemic curve. Of course, none of those countries are fully back to work. So thats what we worry about. Im sure you seen these articles published, about surface contamination. I think none of us really understood the level of surface peace. So we are still working out, how much is that by human to human transmission, and how much is that by surface . This is why those fundamental guidelines were put out that says, dont expose yourself to surfaces outside the home. Those guidelines are, dont expose yourself to an excess number of persons who could be asymptomatic and infected, and the persontoperson contact. And dont expose yourself to surfaces that could have had the virus on it, for which on Hard Services i know we had the cardboard issue about shipping hard surfaces not shown in fabric as much or in cardboard,e transmission. These are issues we havent had to deal with before with the level of respiratory infections. Thats why we have this concern. Thats why the president put out the guideline. So its to cover both of those pieces. Thats all new science, all new models. I think many of you have the imperial studies available, and looked at the impact of those. Thats the first time those have been modeled as a comprehensive approach to mitigating an epidemic. Reporter dr. Birx, yesterday reporter what about money . Reporter mr. President , the wall street journal is reporting the administration is looking into executive orders that would expand the use of investigational but the fda scientists are warning that this could put patients at risk. President trump i havent seen the article. We are making a lot of progress therapeutically, i will say that. But i have not seen that artic article. Go ahead. Reporter mr. President , weve shut down nonessential travel to canada. Are you considering shutting down all travel to ground the spread of the virus . Referred from Industries Like the airlines who are seeking relief. What other industries, or how exactly is your administration going to determine which industries and businesses get help . President trump there are Certain Industries people know. Airlines would be number one if you look at whats going on. They go from having the best year theyve ever had to have them no passengers because of what weve had to do in order to win this war. Its a war. Basically, what many of the industries are. What we want to do is make sure they all Stay Together so that after the war is win we can go back to her we werent even beyond. I think we will go beyond where we were paid a lot people say that, by the way. We are poised to do that. But we have to win the war for us. Reporter a follow up on that, the treasury proposed 150 billion today for those industries. But the proposal doesnt detail which industries would get that money, and how much. So aside from the airlines, would you just mentioned, what about the cruise industry, the hotels . How much of that money President Trump we are talking about all of it. We havent detailed yet. Be detailed into senators and members of the house. We have been talking about it and we are coming up with numbers. Havent gotten there yet. The hotel industry, the cruise ship industry, the airlines, those are all prime candidates, absolutely. Reporter on the border, sir President Trump which border . Reporter the northern border. When you say temporary, which he said in your tweets, does that mean 30 days . President trump hopefully at the end of 30 days will be in great shape. Jeff, please. Reporter i was struck what dr. Birx said about millennials and perhaps others not taking these warnings as seriously as he would like. Some of those people also seem to be your supporters and conservatives who may be quoting some of what you said at the beginning of this, comparing it to the flu. What is your message to them, to really follow what youve been saying so far . Are you concerned that they are still listening to some of your earlier comments rather than your more recent ones . President trump i think my earlier comments are to be calm. I do want people to be calm, because we are going to win this. Its just a question of time. I want to go quickly. Based on the fact i wanted to go quickly. I hope they just listen to what weve been saying over the last period of time. We dont want them gathering. I see they do gather, including on beaches and in restaurants. Young people. They dont realize they are feeling invincible. I dont know if youve felt invincible when you were very young. But they were feeling totally invincible, or are feeling that way, but they dont realize they can be carrying lots of bad things home to their grandmother and grandfather and even their parents. So we want them to heed the advice. I think its getting through. I do believe its getting through. What . Reporter i think there are a lot of them watching. President trump i think i just said it. Heed the advice, i just said it. Thank you. Reporter mr. President reporter mr. President , how long President Trump we will get you next. Say it . Reporter in talking about china youve been very clear about how you think is to blame or where the origin for this virus is. President trump i dont think, i know where it came from. I dont know if you would say china is to blame. Certainly we didnt get an early run on it. It would have been helpful if we knew about it earlier. But it comes from china. Its not a question, nobodys questioning it. Reporter senator cotton is saying they should be punished, in so many words, for inflicting this on the american people. Do you feel that way about it . President trump i have a lot of respect for tom cotton and i know exactly what hes been saying. There are those people who say that, so we will see what happens. Thank you. Go ahead. Please. Hes been waiting a long time, please preview how your hand up so nicely for a long time, its your time. Reporter thank you, sir. Seen the chinese governor kick out journalists. What is your message to them when it comes to transparency in what dont i could moment where you still have reporters asking questions here at the white house . President trump im not happy to see it. I have my own disputes with all three of those media groups. I think you know that very well. I dont like seeing it at all, im not happy about that at all. Yes, please. Reporter i wonder if you agree, do you believe china is inflicting this up on our country . President trump i dont believe they are inflicting, i think they could have given us a lot earlier notice, absolutely. Go ahead, please. Reporter mr. President , your credibility ratings are very low. There is a recent npr poll President Trump who are you asking with that question connect because i see they are very high. 95 of the Republican Party, we just had a poll that was done by a very reputable group where im beating Sleepy Joe Biden by a lot in florida, in the state of florida, and another states. I dont know who youre talking about. Jennifer, go ahead, please. Reporter two questions if you are willing, sir. Your conversation with the airline executives, did you explain to them whats coming chemical was a reaction . President trump i did, they explained to me where theyre coming from. They went from full planes packed, the best year theyve ever had by far, to boom, one day empty because of what weve had to do t to to win this war. We had a little deaf people havent seen before. Theyve been fantastic, theyve been great. They went from being extremely happy to being people that are Running Companies that are. Reporter would you be willing to give us an update on how thats going . Counties have been having difficulty President Trump a lot of people are looking at it but we will be increasing funding a lot. They are very well prepared to do what they have to do. The sbas doing a fantastic job. Shes doing a really good job, the administrator. Reporter a couple questions for dr. Birx, if i could. Dr. Birx, researchers have had some luck with hydroxychloroquine it is that something that might be in the arsenal of therapeutics in the United States . I think we are exploring every one of those issues. The president asked for a critical briefing on that today. He opened with that. It is more than that single drug. There are other drugs that individuals are looking at. Just to go back to what we talked about many times, the things that look really good in cell culture in the virus that may look good and small animals and then dont have an impact in humans. Those are the pieces we are looking at very carefully. Of course theres also anecdotal reports, and we are trying to figure out how many anecdotal reports equal real scientific breakthroughs. Reporter second question, are you confident of the seasonality of coronavirus . All we can do is look at the past to inform the future. We know what sars looked like. We also know and i just want to put this out, i know you can get it online. Look at the curve in china and look at the curve in south korea. Those curves were accomplished in still the winter season. So we are trying to understand what those relationships are. We are very interested in the curves in italy, because of their different approach. And we are following every single countrys curve. All we can do is look at prior coronavirus and prior respiratory rna viruses. These are rna viruses. When you look at flew in the nova hemisphere, when you look at other viruses, when you look at sars, thats the way the peak normally occurs. But that a novemberapril. We all started later. So youre asking me to predict based on a later start, and thats what we are trying to really look at china and south korea to really inform that. President trump caitlin . Reported mike a question for secretary wilkie, if you dont mind. How many veterans that have needed to be tested have been tested . Those that have needed to be tested, we believe weve caught most of them. Right now we have 44 veterans who have tested positive. Sadly one has passed, in portland. We are working with state labs and private companies to make sure that testing is available. The president had us out aggressively, early, we have been in a better place than most Health Care Systems in the country. Dr. Birx said, when the next surge will become if it will be. One of the things we do at the vas prepare for a national emergencies. Be it National Disasters or epidemics, we prepared for this, we started stockpiling equipment. Our equipment is stable, and i think thats in large part because of the instructions the president gave. Reporter to have a number of how many have been tested . Weve tested several hundred. I cant give you the dash weve tested several hundred, yet. I dont know exactly. I do know 44 veterans have the virus. Most of those are quarantined at home. Reporter i think you, mr. President. Question for dr. Birx quickly. Im trying to understand its about the mortality rate. Yesterday we underlined the fact that we had reached 100 deaths, and this morning we wake up and we are at 110. Within 12 hours, we have climbed by 10 . Is this something we have to expect from now