Power point presentation theyll be sharing with the public here in a few minutes. Though governors and local officials will ultimately make the final decisions, this is the guidelines they want all states to use to make the decisions. Reporting indicates that members repeatedly told him that the thing that was missing in here was more testing. None of this works without more testing. Context for all of this, the number of unemployed americans surged to 22 million. Another 5 million first time unemployment claims. It technically wipes out every single job gain that has been made since the last recession. With me now, as we await the start of this briefing, ive got White House Correspondent kristen welker. Ive got nbc Business Correspondent stephanie ruhle, adviserologist joseph fair, and dr. Naheed bedahlia, director of the special pathogens unit at Boston University school of medicine and White House Correspondent for the Washington Post anne gearan. Weve got a lot going on. Ive got a question based on the nursing home tragedy that we see taking place in new jersey, and we know these hot spots are in a lot of places. There is a lot of people that are watching right now, dr. Fair, that have Family Members in a facility. If you find out your Family Members in one of these facilities that has somebody who tested positive, but your Family Member hasnt, what do you tell what do you tell them to do . You know, thats really going to be a conversation between them and their caregiver, and the specifics of either their parent or loved ones circumstances. And id like dr. Bedahlias opinion on that first. But i think thats going to be a specific conversation between them, but something they universally can do is ask the facility what precautions the facility is specifically taking against the spread of covid19. Dr. Bedahlia, id love for you to weigh in on this. I think that dr. Fair said this exactly right. Some of this will depend on the patient, the Family Member who is in the nursing facility and what is their risk. Imagine theyre at advanced risk, a more severe risk. A lot of nursing home facilities have started to put in a lot more measures in terms of protecting patients and Health Care Workers, and some of this is coming from the data that Health Care Workers may come in who are completely well and still shed the virus and others may get this infection. So there is universal masks of both patients as well as Health Care Workers within the Health Care Worker setting. The question is would ask as dr. Fair said, what are those Infection Control measures in place. You know there is going to be Family Members who wonder is this person safer in my house or safer in their own facility. And there is risk to either way i imagine, right, dr. Bad bad delia . I would say theyre still safer in the facility. That is a medical facility geared to do the decontaminat n decontamination. Its the ability to completely clean the environment which could also translate the virus, the potential you might touch something that is contaminated. And that level happens much better in facilities that are linked for that. I would say the worrisome part is a nature article came out recently this week that says at 43 of the transmissions actually occur before you develop symptoms. So half of the people youre going infect are already infected. That is a very scary proposition when it comes to this virus. Were obviously going to get a preview of how to open. Stephanie ruhle we had another 5 million today. So we have 22 million people. They have already run out of the Small Business funds. Its obvious weve underestimated the impact of this. But by a factor of what have we underestimated the Economic Impact of this virus . Chuck, lets go through a few things. The idea that there is this enormous pentup demand, and were going to snap back, people are starting to realize thats not the case. In the last few minutes, youve talked all about the importance of tracking and testing. Just think about this for a moment. Were not turning back the country on a light switch, and businesses realize that. Thats why youre seeing more and more unemployment claims. Its going to be Health Department officials looking with local and state governments to figure this out and realize in the last 24 hours when the president had what it called this new Great AmericanIndustry Groups and all the ceos talking to him, the majority of them arent saying we just need to rush back out there on the field, coach, because they know thats not possible. Right . Name a ceo thats not saying to the president we dont need mass testing. Are you talking was it the ceo from Morgan Stanley . Theyve got their own hospital. The ceo of salesforce . Hes got his own hospital. These businesses know that things are going to change indefinitely. Bill gates earlier today said were most likely not going to get a vaccine for 12 to 18 months. That means social distancing is here for that long. You and i arent going to be sitting next to one another at the movies. And youre seeing that reflected in the unemployment numbers because businesses know that. But where its not a surprise that the Small Business loan program has run out of money, it is essential that more money gets put in that program. But chuck, if they replenish it, theyve got to take a really close look at the language, because i promise you, when we see all the businesses that applied for this loan, youre going see a lot of industries that were not dramatically impacted, and we cant turn the clock back. Weve got to get the money to the heart of this economy. Those smallest businesses that that first 350 billion didnt get to. All right. Well, that was a good place for you to stop your sentence here. The president has hit the podium. Lets take a listen. To win this fight, we have undertaken the greatest National Mobilization since world war ii. And thats exactly what its been. Weve marshaled every instrument of american power, and weve unleashed or most potent weapon of all, the courage of the American People. These have been trying times. A cruel virus from a distant land has unfairly claimed thousands of precious american lives. To every citizen who has lost a cherished loved one, your pain is our pain. We mourn as one national family. Our country has come together. We draw solace from the faith that god has received and he has taken the departed into his eternal and loving embrace. They will never be forgotten. Over the last weeks and months, millions of americans have joined together in a shared national sacrifice to halt the spread of this horrible disease. The armybuilt field hospitals in sports arenas and convention centers, the army corps of engineers is great. Over 20,000 beds in record time. The navy sailed hospital ships to our biggest cities. Lifesaving supplies and experimental medicines were rushed to the front lines as we launched a rapid search for groundbreaking treatments and vaccines. We built the most advanced and robust testing anywhere in the world, and weve done more testing than any country anywhere in the world. We suspended dangerous foreign travel. We leveraged our Industrial Base to produce vast quantities of critical medical gear and enabled a historic 2 trillion relief package. Through it all we have seen the heroism of our doctors and nurses like never before. These are our warriors. The bravery of our truck driver, such bravery and food suppliers, such incredible bravery. And the determination and drive of our citizens. Through this unified national endeavor, we have made great progress. You could really say incredible progress. Our experts and scientists report that our strategy to slow the spread has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Models predicted between 1. 5 million and 2. 2 million u. S. Deaths. If there was no mitigation, it could have been even higher than that. And between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation, its looking like we will come far under even these lowest numbers thanks to our allout military operation and the extraordinary devotion of our people, we believe we will experience far fewer deaths than even the optimistic projection. But there is no such thing as an optimistic projection on death. One person is too many. Our experts say the curve has flattened and the peak in new cases is behind us. Nationwide, more than 850 counties were nearly 30 of our country have reported no new cases in the last seven days. Because of our early and aggressive action, we have avoided the tragedy of health care rationing and deadly shortfalls that have befallen many other nations, nations where if possible we are helping. In america, no person who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. Were making hundreds of thousands of ventilators. Weve delivered thousands and thousands of ventilators to the states. And actually, its been an incredible operation. We started with very little, and we ended with a lot. The United States has achieved a significant lower mortality rate than almost all other countries. Based on the latest data, our team of experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war, which we are calling opening up america again. And thats what were doing. Were opening up our country. And we have to do that. America wants to be open, and americans want to be open. As i have said for some time now, a National Shutdown is not a sustainable longterm solution. To preserve the health of our citizens, we must also preserve the health and functioning of our economy. Over the long haul, you cant do one without the other. It cannot be done. To keep vital supply chains running, these chains have to be taken care of so delicately. Theyre delicate. The balance is delicate. We want to deliver food and medical supply. We must have a working economy. And we want to get it back very, very quickly. And thats whats going to happen. I believe it will boom. An economic lockdown with a forced economic depression would effect an immense and wide ranging toll on Public Health. This includes a sharp rise in drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide, heart disease, and many other dimensions of physical and mental wellbeing. Moreover, many patients have put needed medical care on hold, create i creating entirely new hazards for Public Health. Our country has suffered. The world has suffered. 184 other countries have suffered. Therefore, my administration is issuing new federal guidelines that will allow governors to take a phased and deliberate approach to reopening their individual states. I dealt with them now a long time, and weve had a great relationship. Democrat, republican, the relationship has been good. This strategy is based on hard, verifiable data. I want to thank dr. Birx for her incredible leadership in crafting these guidelines. In consultation with scientists, experts, and medical professionals across government. Dr. Birx will explain the guidelines in more detail in a few moments, and dr. Fauci has been absolutely terrific. Weve all worked together, and weve worked together well. They are interested in the health of our country, and were all interested in the viability and making us truly great again. We took the greatest economy in the history of the world, and we closed it in order to win this war, and were in the process of winning it now. Our approach outlines three phases to restoring our economic life. We are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time. And some states will be able to open up sooner than others. Some states are not in the kind of trouble that others are in. Now that we have passed the peak in new cases, we are starting our life again. Were starting rejuvenation of our economy again. In a safe and structured and very responsible fashion. Our strategy will continue to protect Senior Citizens and other vulnerable populations while allowing military and other groups of incredibly talented people to go about their real business and the business thats supposed to be hard at work at doing and nobody does it better. Our military is the greatest anywhere in the world, and were so thankful for what they have done. Healthy americans will now be able to return to work as conditions on the ground allow. Instead of a blanket shutdown, we will pursue a focus on sheltering the highest risk individuals. So important. Were establishing Clear Scientific metric and benchmarks on testing, new case growth and Hospital Capacity that must be met before advancing to each phase. And thats each phase specifically in the reopening of our country. This is a gradual process as the caseload in a state continues to go down. Restrictions continue to be eased and come off. Throughout the process, citizens will be continued to be called on to use all of their weapons in this war. Vigorous hygiene, teleworking when possible, staying at home if you feel sick, maintaining social distance, sanitizing commonly used surfaces, and being highly conscious of their surroundings. Those are our weapons, and theyre very powerful weapons indeed. Governors will be empowered to tailor an approach that meets the diverse circumstances of their own states. Every state is very different. Theyre all beautiful. We love them all. But theyre very, very different. If they need to remain closed, we will allow them to do that. And if they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task, and very, very quickly, depending on what they want to do. We are also encouraging states to Work Together to harmonize their regional efforts. Well have numerous cases where states have worked and will be working very, very closely together. As we reopen, we know that there will be continued hardships and challenges ahead. Our goal will be to quickly identify and address any outbreaks and put them rapidly. If the virus returns in the fall, as some scientists think it may possibly, these guidelines will ensure that our country is up and running so that we can likewise put it out quickly. At the heart of our strategy is the vital role of medical research, especially for therapies that will significantly improve outcomes for high risk patients and reduce the need for urgent care. This will be tremendously valuable in allowing life to eventually return to normal. At least 35 Clinical Trials are already under way, including antiviral therapies, immune therapies, and blood therapies in the form of convalescent plasma. Youve all heard about some of these events and some of these therapies. Theyve come a long way. Whats been done in the last four weeks is incredible. We will also continue to expand our Testing Capacity. We have now completed more than 3. 5 million tests, by far the most anywhere in the world. Areas of our country that have been hot spots have done much more testing on a per capita basis than south korea. Weve done more than south korea, and south korea has done a good job, but weve done more. We will continue to work with governors to advise them on how to conduct both surveillance and diagnostic testing. We have now distributed over 600,000 avid id point of care diagnostic tests. These are tests that are done onsite and within five minutes you know the answer. Positive or negative. In recent days, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of tests performed by hospitals and academic institutions with more than 120,000 tests recently reported in a single day. Far more than any country in the world has ever been able to do. And our numbers are actually going up. As these new and better Testing Solutions come online, were seeing this additional capacity reflected in the numbers. For this reason, the number of tests processed in commercial laboratories has dropped from approximately 100,000 to roughly 75,000 tests over the last week. The reason it dropped is because we have so many other tests and we dont even have to go through the laboratories. But the laboratories have tremendous additional capacity, and states feel free to use that capacity. Some in the media falsely reported this as a bad thing when in fact it is a great thing. Because it indicates that the states are moving to faster, more local Testing Solutions, including onthespot tests. So this drop in the utilization of commercial laptories is an affirmation that testing, which is at an alltime high, is growing at a historic rate. In other words, the laboratories are great, but now we have forms of testing that are much quicker, much better, and we dont have to use the laboratories, but theyre there, and they have a great capacity to do the work. As dr. Birx has been advising our governors for weeks, we continue to have an excess Testing Capacity of one million tests per week available for use and our capabilities are growing every single day, especially with the new tests that are coming on to the market rapidly. As we begin a sciencebased reopening, we must be extra vigilant in blocking the foreign entry of the virus from abroad. Border control, travel restrictions and other limitations on entry are more important than ever to keep the virus in check and allow americans to get back to work. The sacrifices our citizens have made in this time of crisis will be remembered, studied, honored, and praised for generations to come. Were really all working together. Democrat, republican, conservative, liberal, were all working together. This is not about parties. This is about our country. Now the American People are ready to rise to the occasion once again. Theyre ready to show the world once more than americans can defeat any challenger. Together we will rebuild this land that we love. We wi