President trump thank you very much. Thank you. Beautiful day in the rose garden. Appreciate everybody being here. Today i would like to provide an update to the American People on several decisive actions we are taking our vigilant effort to combat and ultimately defeat the coronavirus. We have been working very hard on this. We made tremendous progress. When you compare what we have done to other areas of the world, it is pretty incredible. A lot had to do with the early designation and closing of the borders. Justu know, europe was designated as the hotspot. We closed that border a while ago. Luck, call it what you want. Through collective action and shared sacrifice, national determination, we will overcome the threat of the virus. Announced wednesday night following the advice of our medical professionals that we appreciate very much that we are suspending the entry of foreign nationals who have been to europe in the last 14 days from entering the u. S. Citizens, permanent residents, and our families, any families returning from europe will be subject to extra screening and selfisolation for 14 days. As the World Health Organization confirmed today, many of what we said were 100 correct, including our designation. Like our earlier aggressive actions with china, this measure will save countless lives. I appreciate the number of folks ofind me that saved a lot lives, the early designation. Only the beginning of what we are doing. We had some very old and obsolete rules we had to live with that worked under certain circumstances. They were in place for a long time and they are usable for certain instances. To unleash the full power of the federal government, i am officially declaring a National Emergency. Two very big words. The action i am taking will open up access to up to 50 billion a largeortantly amount of money for localities and territories in our shared fight against this disease. I emerging every state to set up Emergency Operations centers effective immediately. You will be hearing from some of the companies and greatest retailers of the world. Me ande standing behind to the side of me. I am asking every hospital in the country to activate its Emergency Preparedness plan so they can meet the needs of americans everywhere. The hospitals are engaged. New york and other places are engaged. I spoke with governor cuomo. We had a good conversation and we are working strongly with many states, including new york. Alsomergency orders will confer Broad Authority to the secretary of health and human services. They will be able to waive applicable laws and regulations to give all hospitals and Health Care Providers maximum flex ability to respond to the virus and to care for patients. This includes the following critical authorities. For ability to waive laws telehealth, a fairly new and incredible thing that happened in the not so distant past. What they have done with telehealth is incredible. It gives remote doctors visits and hospital checkins the power to waive certain requirements so doctors of other states and provide states with the greatest need. The ability to waive requirements to hospitals, limit the number of beds to 25, and the length of stay to 96 hours. The ability to waive the requirements of a three day hospital stay to a nursing home. The authority to waive rules hospitals ability to bring more physicians on board or obtain new office space. They want tohat do. They can do what they have to do and now they dont have any problem getting it done. The authority to waive rules where hospitals can care for patients within the hospital itself, ensuring the emergency capacity could be quickly established. We will remove or eliminate every obstacle needed to give people the care they need. No resource will be spared. Nothing whatsoever. 10 days ago i brought together ceos of commercial labs to the white house and directed them to work on a solution to dramatically increase the availability of tests. Other countries have called and worked with us and they are doing similar things. As a result of that action, today we are announcing a new partnership with the private sector to accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus. We want to make sure those who need a test can get a test safely, quickly and conveniently, but we dont want people to take a test if we feel they should not be doing it and we dont want everyone running out and doing it, only if you have certain symptoms. The fda approved a new test for the virus. We did this within hours after receiving the application. A process that would normally take weeks. We therefore expect up to half a million tests will be available early next week. We will be announcing locations sunday night. I would like to thank the fdas goal is to authorize within 24 hours and go very quickly, which will bring additionally 1. 4 million tests on board next week and 5 million within a month. I doubt we will need anywhere near that. At the same time, we have been in discussions with pharmacies and retailers to make drivethrough tests are test available in critical notations. Locations. The goal is for individuals to be able to drive up, be swabbed without having to leave your car. I want to thank google. Google is helping to develop a website. It will be quickly done, unlike with us unlike websites of the past to determine whether a test is warranted and facilitate a test at a nearby location. We have many locations beyond us. We will not be talking about the world right now, but we cover sources inr country virtually every location. 0 engineersover 170 working on this right now. Our overriding goal is to stop the spread of the virus and help all americans who have been impacted by this. We dont want everyone taking this test, it is totally unnecessary. This will pass through and will be Even Stronger for it. A tremendous amount has been learned. I want to thank deborah birx and want to ask her to say a few words as far as what is happening. Dr. Birx is a highly respected person that i have gotten to know well over the last six days. What we have done is rebuild something very oldfashioned, somewhat obsolete, certainly obsolete when it comes to the numbers we are talking about. Dr. Birx, please. Dr. Birx it is a pleasure to be here with all of you. I think you know at the beginning of this epidemic, hhs proactively developed on the Surveillance System was converted to diagnostic systems, but last tuesday, seeing the spread of the virus around the globe, the president realized our approach was inadequate to meet the needs of the american public. He asked for an entire overhaul of the testing approach. He immediately called the private sector laboratories to the white house and charged them with developing a high quality platform that can meet the needs of the american public. Corp andateful to lab quest for the taking of the charge immediately in bringing additional testing to the outbreak areas of Washington State and california and now across the country. We are also very grateful to universities and large Hospital Systems that took of the charge to develop their own tests made by new fda guidance. This has resulted in expanded testing across new york, washington, colorado. You see the drivethrough options that have been saved available to these high throughput options. Following the meeting last week, major commercial laboratory commercial and diagnostic Equipment Companies took immediate action to adopt and develop new testing systems. Companyht, the initial roche received fda approval moving from request to development to approval in record time. This approach centered on unleashing the power of the private sector, focusing on providing convenient testing to hundreds of thousands of americans within short turnaround time. In less than two weeks together, we have developed a solution that we believe will meet the future testing needs of americans. I understand how difficult this is been. I was part of the hiv aids response in the 1980s. Us until1, it took almost 1985 to have a test. It took us another 11 years to have effective therapy. It is because of the Lessons Learned from that that we are able to mobilize and bring individuals key to the hiv response to this response. I understand a lot of the behindthescenes actions the last couple of weeks have been invisible to the press and the American People, but this intense effort has not only resulted in innovative solutions, but automated high throughput system capable of burning the availability of the coronavirus testing to the p American People. Finally, south korea did have large number of tests available and their Positivity Rate is between 3 and 4 . With lab corp and quest expanded testing, their Positivity Rate is between 1 and 2 . So we wanted to announce this new approach on testing which will start on this screening website here, facilitated by google for clients and patients and people can go, fill out a screening questionnaire. Move down for symptoms and risk factors. They would be told where the drivethrough options would be for them to receive this test. They would move through automated machines to provide results in 24 to 36 hours. That is the intensivist reproach approach. We have seen this work across the United States. We want to bring this across the continent. Thank you very much. President trump i would like to have tony i think everybody out here knows you pretty well. Tony has been doing a tremendous job working long hours. It has been a great experience and working with you has been terrific. Thank you, mr. President. Another example of what im referring to in my discussions with many of you in the audience in trying to stay ahead of the curve. Constraintsve the so people all the way up through the federal government will have as many constraints as possible removed for them to do everything they possibly can so we can implement the things we talk about. The containment the mitigation. The curve i referred to that goes up, we want to suppress it to the small mound. What we have done today will be an important element in having us be successful. We still have a long way to go. There will be many more cases, but we will take care of that. What is going on today will help it end sooner than it would have. Thank you. President trump if i could, some of these folks, theyre the biggest business people, the greatest retailers in the world and one of them is Doug Mcmillan from walmart. If you would say a few words. Doug when we got the call from the white house, we were eager to do our part to help serve the country. Given what we are facing, we should all be doing that. We have been asked to make portions of our parking lot available and scaling over time as supply increases. We will stay involved and do everything we can from a supplychain point of view to give assistance. Thank you, sir. President trump i will just stay over here and richard, if you could come up. Hard similar to doug and walmart, we are happy to help communities all across america because a lot of times when we have natural disasters, our stores are a beacon in the community so we look forward to partnering. The Vice President is doing a fantastic job. We are ready to engage and help. President trump brian cornell, target. Thank you. Thank you for inviting us here today along with our colleagues from all marked, walgreens walmart, walgreens, and cvs. Today, we are focused on a common competitor and that is defeating the spread of the coronavirus. We look forward to working with the administration to alleviate this growing threat. Thank you for including us today. In the near term, we are all committed to making sure we are keeping our stores open to serve the American Consumer who is rapidly stocking up on household essentials, key food and beverage items and making an environment safe for our team members and making sure they feel supported during this current time. President trump is tom here . Leaders inone of the medical devices. We are making sure testing equipment is ready to address to this issue. Stephen, quest diagnostics. , we were called by the leadership of the Vice President last week and we took advantage of the opportunity to work with the fda and the center of Disease Control and we are running with tests in a number of facilities. We have capabilities in Roche Diagnostics we will bring into our facilities this weekend. I know myself and my colleagues at lab corp will be doing the same. So the capacity to support consumers will be increased. President trump matt of roche . Thank you, matt. Thank you, mr. President. From roche, we want to thank the fda for the rapid approval of our coronavirus test. We appreciate the partnership to get that to market as fast as possible because it is critical for us to make that available to help patients in need and work with laboratories to get it up and going in the near future, which will bring hundreds of thousands of tests available to patients in need in the United States. President trump and you can do it. Great company. David of signify health. We are the largest house call provider in the u. S. And go to the homes of the most vulnerable and elderly and through our network and logistics engine, we stand ready to help and provide our clinicians to be where they are needed. We are here to assist. Thank you very much. President trump we will be changing a lot of the rules and regulations should this happen in the future, which we hope it never does. There are some bad ones over the years and i guess that will continue to an extent. But we hope it never happens. We will be changing a lot of the old rules and specifications and regulations. Adam, who has been a tremendous help, lab corp. We are working every second of every day to increase the number of tests we can run. We are working with our colleagues and hospitals and other laboratories to ensure we do everything we can to increase testing as we move forward. We understand how important testing is and are committed to doing everything possible. Cvs. Dent trump thomas, thank you, mr. President. We have been focused since the start of making sure patients and customers we serve have the information they need, the safety they need as well. We are committed to working with the administration and local Public Health officials to make this work as well. Thank you for the honor. President trump bruce, lhc group. Tremendously talented people. Thank you for the honor of being here. The Home Health Industry has been treating patients and seniors in the safety of their own home for decades. We are proud to be part of the testing. For americans that cant get to a test site or live in rural areas, we are here to help to partner with hospitals and physicians and people we have here today doing testing around the country. President trump also announcing the following actions. To help students and families, i have waived interest of all Student Loans until further notice. That is a big thing for those left in the middle. Based on the price of oil, i have instructed the secretary of large to produce quantities of crude oil for reserve in the u. S. The topfill it up to and save the american taxpayer billions, making us even further toward the wonderful goal which no one thought was possible of energy independence. It puts us in a position that is very strong. We are buying it at the right price. That is something that would not have been possible a week ago, the price of oil went down a bit so it is a good time to fill it up. I would like to ask mike pence to say a few words. You, mr. E thank president. This day should be an inspiration to every american because thanks to your leadership from early on, not only are we bringing a whole government approach to fighting the coronavirus, we are bringing in all of america approach. From early on, you took decisive action. You created travel advisories in south korea and italy. You at midnight tonight will effectively suspend all travel from europe and americans returning will be screened and asked to voluntarily participate in a 14 day quarantine. Process, mr. Is president , you put the health of america first. As you said, we issued broad guidelines from the cdc for every american. This week we tailored specific recommendations from cdc from new york, california, massachusetts, florida, and we have been in continuous contact with governors around the country. Mr. President , you have forged a Seamless Partnership with every state and every territory in this country to put the health of our nation first. But today i trust people around the country that are looking at this extraordinary public and private partnership to address the issue of testing with particular inspiration. After you tapped me to lead the Coronavirus Task force, you said this is all hands on deck, and you directed us to immediately reach out to the American Business sector, commercial labs to meet what we knew would be the need for testing across the spectrum. And today with this historic Publicprivate Partnership, we have laid the foundation to meet that need. For americans looking on, by this sunday evening we will be able to give specific guidance on a on when the website will be available. You can go to the website. As the president said, you will type in your symptoms and be given direction whether or not a test is indicated. And then at the same website, you will be directed to one of these incredible companies that are going to give a little bit of their parking lot so the people can come by and do a driveby test. Mr. President , i want to join you in thanking cvs and target and walgreens. These are companies which are synonymous with communities large and small. People come together and now they will come together to meet the needs of the american public. These commercial laboratories, lab corp, quest, roche, they will literally make hundreds of thousands of tests available and being processed with results to patients in the very near future, but it is all the result of you tasking us bringing together not just Government Resources which all state labs can now test across the country. Cdc is testing. You said, mr. President , we wanted to bring all of the resources together, and that is what this partnership really means. The truth is we have coronavirus cases now in 46 american states. While the risk of serious illness of the coronavirus remains low, we want to encourage every american to practice common sense, practice good hygiene, go to the cdcs website to see what the guidance is for your community or for the American People broadly. As the president had said, it is especially important now we look after Senior Citizens with chronic Underlying Health conditions. Last week the president directed the center for medicaid and Medicare Services to raise standards at Nursing Homes, increase inspections at our Nursing Homes. Today we are offering specific guidance which will articulate about visitations at Nursing Homes. It is important to remember that they were there for us when we were growing up, mr. President. They helped us with homework, they tucked us in at night, they cheered us on as we pursued education and in our careers and now it is time for us to be there for them and recognize seniors with Chronic Health conditions are the most vulnerable, and americans can make a difference. Wash your hands, use common sense, look after the most vulnerable, and mr. President , i know i join you in saying every american should be proud of this incredible Publicprivate Partnership which will be speeding access of testing to millions of americans in the weeks ahead. And together as you have said many times, together we will get through this. Together we will put the health of america first. Mr. Trump thank you. I would like you to maybe take that a step further, please, on Nursing Homes. Thank you to the president for the declaration. It allows my agency, cms, that has oversight of all of the Nations Health care facilities to suspend regulations that could get in the way of treating patients during this time. This temporary National Blanket waivers are reserved for the rarest of circumstances and they represent a massive mobilization of our countrys resources to combat this terrible virus, and the flexibilities we are offering will be a godsend to the providers, clinicians and facilities on the front lines of this fight. And later cms is going to be issuing guidance directing Nursing Homes to temporarily restrict all visitors and nonessential personnel with a few exceptions such as endoflife situations. We fully appreciate that this measure represents a severe trial for residents of Nursing Homes and those who love them, but we are doing what we must to protect our vulnerable elderly. Thank you. Mr. Trump as i said in my address to the nation the other night, all americans have a role to play in defeating this virus. Our most effective weapon right now is to limit the damage to our people and our country and slow the spread of the virus itself. The choice we make, the precautions we put into place are critical to overcoming the virus, reducing its spread and shortening the duration of the pandemic, which is what it is. The cdc has published guidelines on the coronavirus. Gov to enable its coronavirus. Gov, and its very heavily used right now i will say, to enable every american to respond to this epidemic and to protect themselves, their families and communities. While the risks to young and healthy americans remain low, we have 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. It is incredible what is happening with the sporting world where so many of the great sports that weve gotten used to at this time of the year are not going to be meeting. They have done a Great Service but that would be another way it could be, problems could be caused. This is why i outlined on wednesday night my administrations, the fact that we have issued a requirement suspending all medically unnecessary visits to various places, but in particular Nursing Homes. We should all be working off of 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 it is spreading in cities, towns or Rural Communities the tools and tactics are attacking it are similar no matter where you go. You have some hotspots throughout the world now that people would have never thought possible and are being seriously affected. The key efforts in breaking these chains of transmission, 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 students. I encourage everyone to follow the guidelines we have issued by the cdc and these commonsense 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, postpone assemblies, social functions and sporting events, stagger recess for schools that are not canceled, limit in person meetings, increase scheduled cleanings and cancel worksponsored travel among numerous other steps that could 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 shortterm sacrifices will produce longterm gain, and again i have said we are learning a lot for the future and future problems like this, or worse. Or worse. It 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, flow through. Interesting terms. And very accurate. I think you are going to find in a number of weeks it will be a very accurate term. In terms of hardship, the true character of america always shines through. We live in the company of the greatest heroes and 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. Altogether 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 a lot of people are surprised, especially when you compare them with other places. With far smaller populations. The spirit and the will of our nation is unbreakable. We will defeat this threat. When tested, america rises to the occasion, and to those families and citizens who are concerned for themselves, i want you to know that your federal government will unleash every authority, resource and tool 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, we are rated number one in the world and we are also helping other nations, many other nations, we are helping them a lot, and they are doing ok. In some cases they are not doing well at all. But we are 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 we will learn for the future. Thank you, all, very much. If you have questions, we can take some. If you would like to ask some of the folks up here, it would be fine. Mr. President , where are you with the house bill . Yesterday when we talked to you in the oval office, you were opposed to it. What has happened since then and what is the holdup . Mr. Trump well, we just dont think they are giving enough. We dont think the democrats are giving enough. We are negotiating. We thought we had something, but all of a sudden they didnt agree to certain things they agreed to. So we could have something, but we dont think they are giving enough. They are not doing what is right for the country. If i could ask dr. Fauci. Mr. Trump go ahead, please. Thank you, mr. President. You just mentioned waiving interest for Student Loans, talked about buying oil. What other specific targeted measures is your administration thinking about taking . The treasury secretary said you are in the second inning. Mr. Trump we are looking at many different things. Some of them have been written about widely, but we are going to be releasing a paper in about two hours stating quite a few other steps, very important ones. Please, go ahead. Please, go ahead. Thank you, 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 you will let me. Senator Lindsey Graham and senator rick scott are self isolating. Are you planning to take any kind of precautionary measure to protect you and your test with him . Mr. Trump no. We have no symptoms whatsoever. And we have, we had a great meeting with the president of brazil, bolsonaro, great guy, he is doing a fantastic job for brazil. As you know, he tested negative meaning nothing wrong this morning. We got that word. We did have dinner with him. We were sitting next to each other for a long time. Are you in contact with him over the Coronavirus Crisis . President trump we are talking about it country to country, but we did discuss it was reported that he may have it, and he doesnt fortunately. Thank you so much, mr. President. Dr. Fauci said earlier the lag in testing was in fact a failing. Do you take responsibility for that and when can you guarantee every single american who needs a test will be able to have a test . What is the date of that . President trump no, i dont take responsibility at all because we were given 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 we are talking about. What we have done is redesigned it very quickly with the help of the people behind me and we are now in very, very strong shape. We will be announcing sunday night, and this will start quickly. We will have the ability to do in the millions over a very, very quick period of time. What we have done and what we are going to be leaving a very indelible print for the future in case Something Like this happens again. That is not the fault of anybody and frankly the old system worked very well for smaller numbers, much smaller numbers but not for these numbers. Tony . Maybe you would like to say something. Sunday night, will every american be able to get a test . Dr. Fauci to reiterate like i said multiple times, 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 could get it, or you could do surveillance to find that with the penetrance is. You have to embrace the private sector and this is what you are seeing. You cant do it without it. When i said that, i meant the system was not designed for what we need. President trump if you go back to the swine flu, it was nothing like this. They didnt do testing like this, and they lost approximately 14,000 people, and they didnt do the testing. They started thinking about testing when it was too late. What we have done and one of the reasons people are respecting what we have done, we have gotten it very early. We have kept a lot of people out. Mr. President , the last administration said they tested one Million People at this point. President trump ask them how they did with the swine flu. It was a disaster. Next, please. Next, please. They had a very big failure with swine flu. Very big failure. I want to ask you about the european travel ban and the exemption you have offered to the u. K. There are 17 countries that are in the zone that have fewer coronavirus cases than in the u. K. In the past 24 hours, the u. K. Has added 208 coronaviruses to their total. Why do they, mr. President , deserve an exemption and would you consider adding them to this travel ban list . President trump 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, you could say ban or whatever it is, during this period of time. But the numbers have gone up fairly precipitously over the last 24 hours. We may be adding a couple of others and we may frankly start thinking of taking some off. Thank you, mr. President. I am a correspondent with hong kong phoenix tv. You have mentioned the numbers in china have been decreasing in china has made tremendous progress in the past weeks. I am 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 . President trump i think it has been helpful. We are working very much with china. I have spoken, as you know, with president xi. They went through hell. Their numbers are starting to look very good. They look very good. We are happy about that. We are sharing data. We are sharing quite a bit of data, including the fact that some of our pharmaceutical companies are working over there with large groups of people. Go ahead, please. Thank you, mr. President. You spoke with canadian Prime Minister trudeau yesterday. Did you discuss the potential closing of the border between the canada and the u. S. . And by extension, are you considering ways to salvage the 2 billion daily trade between the two countries . Mr. Trump we didnt discuss the border. We have had a good relationship, just about finished with the usmca as you know. He called, actually he called me to tell me that. I think it was the primary reason for the call. At the time his wife had not been diagnosed. She is a wonderful lady. Great lady. Since then i have heard the result was she has it and there and i was a little surprised. She is going to be fine, but he thought that she would most likely not have the virus. Unfortunately she does. But we did not 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, relate it to what we are talking about. From abc news miami. As a relatively new floridian, what is your message to the cruise line industry and travel industry that florida depends upon . Since senator rick scott and miamidade mayor Carlos Jimenez have the same exposure as you and they are selfisolating, what is your message to them, that they should not be . Mr. Trump i dont know if i had exposure. I dont have any symptoms. We do have a white house doctor, i should say many white House Doctors and i asked them the same question. They said you dont have any symptoms whatsoever. We dont want people without symptoms to go and do the test. The test is not insignificant. As far as the cruise line business, we are with them all the way. It is a great business. It is a great u. S. Business frankly. I know how important they are to the country. That includes airlines, but the cruise line business was hit hard. We had tremendous success in oakland where we moved Vice President depends did a aantastic pence did fantastic job with that. We worked with the u. K. And canada. They took their people back. Canada is approximately 600 people. The u. K. Likewise took a large number of people back to the united kingdom. We had people quarantined. It was a big operation and it worked out you dont hear about it anymore. It worked out really well. Might want to say something. That was really done properly. V. P. Pence thank you, mr. President. That program with the ship the grand princess is continuing to be administered at the highest standards, an orderly way as the president directed. Americans in need of treatment have received them. I spoke to the governor of iowa today, and some of those who have been cleared are able and proper supervision to be returning to iowa. They are making arrangements for them to do that. Others in texas, others in georgia, it is an example of the cooperation of Governor Abbott and governor gavin newsom, Governor Brian Kemp of georgia. To add to that, the president directed me last saturday to travel down to miami. We met with all of the leaders of the cruise line industry. Several cruise lines have announced a 60 day pause in operations. Our department of Homeland Security has praised them for we have a proposal from the cruise line industry, that they are currently considering other steps that they might take, perhaps similar to what other lines have taken. We are 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 who work on the ships, the men and women who work on the shore. All the economies that are so benefited by a vibrant cruise line industry. And 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 discussed, we want to work with the cruise line industry to ensure that when we come through this, cruise lines and medical services that are available, and for the passengers and all of the crew, that cruise lines are safer than ever before and can prosper for many years to come. Reporter dr. Fauci, what is the trajectory for when this outbreak will peak . How long will the American People have to remain on this emergency footing . Dr. Birx, as the administration gets its arms around the test kit issue, the next glaring need could be respirators and related hospital equipment. What is the administration doing right now to ramp up reduction ramp up production of respirators and that kind of equipment . When you have an outbreak like this, when you are trying to interfere with it, it is impossible to predict the time element of when it is going to peak and when it is naturally going to go down. If you look at the situation where countries 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 another several weeks. What we are trying to do with the efforts we are doing is too blunt that peak. I mentioned it many times and it is appropriate and important for me to mention and again, because it enters your question. When you talk about preventing infections from without, which is the travel restrictions we are talking about, then how do you handle what you have in your own country . You do mitigation and do try to apportion it to 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 we are successful, it will be less. If we are not successful, it is going to be more. But these kinds of things generally run out in a few months. Hopefully, we will make it several weeks 8, 9, whatever , weeks. But i cannot give you a number because it depends on how successful we are. It is a great question. Dr. Fauci have worked together for a very long time. It is a privilege to work with him every day. And i appreciate there were graphics done by some reporting over the last several days. If you align data from china with data from south korea, you see almost a complete overlay of that data. That is what we are tracking closely, as well as italy. But you have an excellent question. I want to make one note. In south korea, i want to repeat that only 4 of tests were positive. That means 96 of people had a different respiratory disease, because we are in the middle of flu season, cold season and the other respiratory diseases that we get every day. In the lab core data, they are running about 1 to 2 positive. That means we have a lot more other respiratory disease out there besides the coronavirus. That is why screening is critical. But even with screening, we are going to run what we think are very low rates. Needless to say though, we are taking it extraordinarily seriously to plan for what could come. When dr. Fauci talked about blunting the curve, it makes it much less high need at the peak of the curve we are planning for. So we are in full inventory of all of our assets and by the president unlocking this emergency order, and the president and the secretary of hhs ability, it unlocks all those stockpiles, with the dod what the dod has, the national guard, and every hospital has. The National HospitalEmergency Preparedness plan allows them to defer elective issues to keep hospital beds open for those who might need them. So we are in full planning mode for each of those things. President trump we are in the some cases have already done it, we have ordered a large number of respirators just in case. We hope we dont need them, but we have ordered a large number. Go ahead, please. Reporter thank you, mr. President. In your speech to the nation, you mentioned the situation in china and south korea have improved, and you are thinking about removing restrictions and also the warning in place now. When can we expect that announcement, and how do you see the overall progress in Asian Countries . President trump some are making progress and some are not, but some are making progress and as they get down to the number we all think is right, that they know is right, that we know is right, we will be opening it up. Some are really moving along rapidly. We hope to be able to open things up as quickly as possible. Go ahead, please. Go ahead. Reporter i would like to ask secretary as are that secretary azar and dr. Fauci, this affects the elderly primarily, and in that sense is an unusual disease. Is any specific research being done as to why it affects our Senior Citizens more than others . Dr. Fauci i dont mean to diminish your question, but we already know why it would affect Senior Citizens more. Because when you talk about anything that requires a robust immune system, as you get older, your immune system is not as potent as it is when you are young. And that is the reason why when you talk about even influenza, which we have extraordinary experience with over decades and decades, the people who are very vulnerable are the elderly and those with underlying conditions. The same thing holds true for a variety of other disease, why cancer is more prevalent in mostly older individuals. Because the immune system that screens for it is less robust. So it really is something that is kind of wellknown over a lot of studies. President trump oan, please. Oan. Reporter mr. President chinese , officials are expressing tones or where the how source of the virus has come spending ey are spinning odd narratives. What is your response to chinese officials who are arguing that, and have they signaled any kind of resistance to upcoming trade talks in response to how we are handling the virus . President trump under my deal with china they are going to be buying 250 billion worth of goods and 50 billion from our farmers. It is a great deal for our country. It is about time somebody did that. And frankly, phase two will start negotiating. I did read one article, but it think thei did not article was representative, certainly not of my conversations with president xi. And they know where it came from. We all know where it came from. Reporter pbs newshour. You said you dont take responsibility, but you did disband the white house pandemic office, and the officials working in that office left the administration abruptly. What responsibility you take for that . And officials that worked in the office said the white house lost valuable time . What do you make of that . President trump it is a nasty question. What we have done is we have saved thousands of lives because of the quick closing. And when you say me, i didnt do it. We have a group of people. I could ask, perhaps my administration, but i could ask tony about that, because i dont know anything about it. You say we did that. I dont know anything about it. Reporter you dont know about the reorganization about , the administration . President trump you used to be with a different newspaper than you are now. Things happen. We are doing a great job. Let me tell you these , professionals behind me, and these great, incredible doctors and businesspeople, the best in the world, and i can say that, whether it is retailers or labs or anything you want to say, these are the best in the world. We are doing a great job. And we are 40 people right now. 40. Compare that to other countries that have many, many times that amount. And one of the reasons we have 40 and others have and that up, just and the just sorstand, you understand and the number of , cases which are very small relatively speaking, it is going up but we have done a great job because we acted quickly, we acted early, and we close the borders. Reporter for how long are going to have the emergency, the National Emergency . President i hope not long, but it is there and gives us tremendous powers for things we need. Tremendous power, actually. The stafford act and very other various other things we are involved with and have studied and memorized in so many different ways and forms, it gives the kind of power we need to get rid of this virus. And we are going to do it very quickly. And i hope we wont need it very long, but whatever it takes. Reporter right now we still do not know for how long. And something very important i wanted to ask, do you think it is essential coordinating with other countries and learning from the lessons they already suffered, like china and south korea and italy and spain . And how is that coordination done . Thank you so much. President trump we are in touch with italy. It is a country we love. We have tremendous, millions and millions of people originally from italy, their origins from italy, and we are working with them. Relatively speaking, they are in the toughest position of all. We are in touch with everybody. When i say everybody, we are in touch with many of the countries that you know about, that you are writing about, and they are calling us asking for advice. They are asking for the advice of the people behind me. Italy has got a tough situation, but they are, they have really clamped down and i think they are going to see some very good results. It is tough with they did. They really took their medicine. But theyre going to see some much better results. Jeff. Reporter with regard to Domestic Travel should americans , feel safe, or should americans be traveling at all to Washington State, new york and other hotspots in this country . And a followup on brazil, you are asking people who come back from europe, americans coming back from europe, to selfquarantine for a couple of weeks. You were in a picture with somebody who now has coronavirus from brazil. How is that different . President trump im not coming back from someplace. Reporter but you were exposed. President trump we there is somebody they say has it. But i have no idea who he is and i take pictures that last for literally seconds and i dont know the gentlemen we are talking about, i have no idea who he is, i havent seen the picture but i take a picture with somebody and i take sometimes hundreds of pictures a day and that night i was taking hundreds of pictures, so i dont know. Now i did sit with the president for probably two hours, but he has tested negative. So that is good. Reporter an Domestic Travel . And Domestic Travel . President trump i would say that if you stay home, its not bad. There are certain parts of the country that essentially have zero problem. Washington has been very tough, in particular a nursing home, and the state of washington has been very tough. It has been a big percentage of, when you talk about the 40 deaths it is a big percentage of , the deaths, as you know very well. And they all came from a very certain area, unfortunately. Go ahead. Reporter thank you, sky news. You talked this week about the u. K. Doing a good job tackling coronavirus. In light of the rise in cases, are you changing your mind . You also just spoke about travel restrictions have you discussed , when they might be put in place . President trump in light of the discussed before, we are going to be looking at it. I know the task force is looking at it very strongly, the Vice President , everybody. It was looking good but the results have been building up pretty rapidly, so we will be taking another look at that, yes, absolutely. Go ahead, please. Reporter i want to follow up on jeffs question, because the person you were standing next to, whether you know who he is or not, tested positive for coronavirus. Dr. Fauci said this morning, if you stand next to somebody who tested positive, you should selfisolate and get a test. You say youre white house doctor is telling you something different. Who should americans listen to . And second question. President trump they have to listen to their doctors and they shouldnt be jumping to get the test unless it is necessary. But i think they have to listen to their doctors. I do not know i havent seen the , picture. Somebody said there is a picture of somebody, taking a picture with me. I havent seen it. Reporter but you might have it if you are not having symptoms. Are you being selfish by not getting tested . President trump i didnt say i wasnt going to be tested. Reporter are you going to be . President trump most likely. Fairly soon. We are working on a schedule. Go ahead. Reporter my second question. That was a followup. Reporter i know there has been a lot of talk about testing. I want to make sure we are clear though, because we have been hearing from doctors who say as of today, they still cant get patients tested who need a test. So as of today, can everyone who a doctor wants to have tested get tested . If not, when . President trump that has been true for a while, but i will let mike answer. Vice president pence as the president said and dr. Fauci has articulated, the nature of our current system, where the cdc had samples sent and tests are performed or state labs perform tests, or in some cases university and hospital labs perform tests, is generally adequate for an Infectious Disease or for people getting diagnostic work done. But given the sheer scale of this, the president tasked us with bringing together this extraordinary public and private partnership. Today, by some estimates, when you add all the labs together, the president made it possible for every state in the country and their state labs to authorize labs across their state to do coronavirus testing. We are estimating somewhere between 15000 and 20,000 tests a day are able to be performed. But very soon, with the Program Announced today, americans will be able to visit one of the sites closest to them, as described the website, if they are symptomatic, if this questionnaire indicates it, to be able to have a test there. And these incredible companies will process the tests and they will receive that information. But for now, the best advice is to speak to their doctor, as the president just said. And if the doctor indicates, that physician, if it is not at a University Hospital or otherwise authorized lab, to contact the state lab, and again, every state lab in the country can perform tests today. What the president charged us with when i was tasked to take over the white house Coronavirus Task force was, open up tests all across the country. The president said a few days ago that we made it clear that any american that wanted to get a test would be able clinically to get a test. Because i literally heard from the governor of Washington State who said doctors in Washington State were saying if you were only mildly symptomatic, they would not order a test. And fortunately, the president directed cdc to clarify that. Now, anyone in consultation with their physician, regardless of their symptoms, can request a test, and their doctors will contact those agencies, those labs in their state. Very soon, americans will be able to go to these drive in sites and be able to obtain a test. Is there more to amplify that . Dr. Birx just to review one more time about the testing, labcorps and quest i think , you have seen little boxes outside doctors offices. They deliver both the specimen collection piece, because remember it is a nasal swab they , deliver that to doctors offices and hospitals and will arrange to pick that up. The important piece in this all is that they have gone from a machine that may have a lower through put, to have the potential for automated extraction, i know you dont want all these details, but it key it is automatic extraction of the rna that runs in an automated way on a machine with no one touching it and the result comes out the other end. That cuts out a lot of manual pieces that were delaying the results. Reporter what is the timeline light . Like . It was taking several days, but we believe that testing can be from start remember it must transport, to the laboratory that will run it, and we are hoping it can be finished within 24 hours, similar to other tests you receive today. These are not pointofcare tests. We are working on pointofcare tests, but we have to realize pointofcare tests take six months or more to develop. So we are not waiting for those. We are still diagnosing this on nucleic acid. , theis an antibody antigen the actual virus in your , nose that we are amplifying. President trump you have to remember we are working very closely with states. Where you have a smaller form and more targeted form of government going in and doing it, like in new york, where the relationship is very good, like gavin newsom, the governor of california he made really complementary comments the other day about how we are working together. We worked on the ship together but we worked on a lot of other things together having to do with this. The relationship we have, i cant think of a bad relationship. We are helping them. We are funding them in some cases, depending on what youre talking about, and we are all working together very closely. So we have done really a tremendous job of teamwork with different states. One or two more, and if you have questions for these folks, does anybody have a question for the folks up here . Go ahead. Reporter i have one for you as well President Trump i thought. [laughter] reporter i do have one for them. President trump ask them first, please. Reporter with regards to ceos, when do you expect to see items like hand sanitizer, that has been going out of stock very quickly, back on shelves . There have been a lot of reports about that. Mr. President could you talk , about a potential bailout for the cruise industry . You suggested that could happen. Is that something you are looking at, and how much would that be . President trump i didnt suggest it would happen, but it is an industry that was very badly impacted by what is going on with the virus. And it is a great industry. It is a very important industry, and we will be helping them and helping the Airline Industry if we have to, assuming we have to. So far people havent been asking, but if they should be asking, we want to make sure our airlines are very strong and then one day, all of a sudden it wasnt looking so good. Interestingly, we were just dougng, i was talking to and in the numbers they are doing from the retail sample because of this, your business is the opposite, you have been selling a lot of stuff. Do you want to answer the question as to hand sanitizers . Specifically the areas where we are seeing pressure in the supply chain are surface cleaners, cleaning supplies, paper goods. Hand sanitizers, it will be difficult to have 100 stock for some time. We are replenishing it but as soon as it hits stores, it is going. The same thing in categories i just mentioned. Retailers will be working with suppliers to bring that to the market as fast as we can. Reporter what is your advice for americans seeking those items . What is your advice . They are selling out online and in the stores. The team has given you other examples of what people can do to fight back against this virus. You should look at the entire list. Obviously, it sounds simplistic, but wash your hands as often as you can. I know that you are not always in the position to be able to wash your hands, but wash them as much as you can. If you dont have alcohol wipes, try to get them. If you cannot, try best as possible to do it. You have to do the best you can. Just general preparedness. You want to wash your hands. You want to keep distance from people. If you are around someone sick, keep away from them. Basic basic Public Health. , tony, toilet paper isnt a n effective protection against being the coronavirus. But they are selling out. Soap and hot water, 20 seconds. That is how you do it. Reporter mr. President , you have a great team. President trump that is true. Thank you. Reporter are you happy with the chinese response . You . Hat they told Prime Minister modi of india has closed borders until april 15. Have you spoken with the Prime Minister of india . Finally, any message to Small Businesses losing business because of this . President trump on Small Businesses, the Small Business administration is now stacked with money to help them, and we will make the money readily available if they need it, the Small Business. We had an incredible time in india, great two days, and he is a great friend of mine and a friend of his people, because he was greeted incredibly warmly, as was i, in that stadium. It was an incredible event. I loved being with him. So just say hello to him. But we talked about everything. We talked about far more than just borders. And as far as president xi, likewise, he is a friend of mine. I believe we are dealing in good faith. We just worked, as you know, we just worked on an incredible deal, big deal, one of the biggest deals made of any kind, even big by the standards of some of the people here, the that deal with china. But i think they want to get to the bottom of things also. Our Drug Companies and pharmaceutical companies are working very closely with china , and with india, and all over the world. And if they are all over the world. These are magnificent companies that are very knowledgeable. And we are lucky to have them. Because i think you are going to come up with, whether it is therapeutic or just help, help in getting better, and then ultimately a vaccine, which takes longer because of the test periods and a couple other reasons, but you are going to have it very quickly because of the great knowledge, and they will have it very quickly. They have made a tremendous amount of progress. Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. Reporter you said cases were going down to zero. Can you explain why that didnt happen . [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] announcer it is easy to follow the federal response to the outbreak at cspan. Org coronavirus. Check the spread throughout the u. S. And the world through interactive maps, watch briefings and hearings with Public Health specialists, anytime, unfiltered at cspan. Org coronavirus. Tweeting heump supports the coronavirus economic aid package that will be voted on in the house. He says the bill follows his direction for free tests and paid sick leave for those impacted. The package also includes enhanced Unemployment Insurance and increased federal funds for medicaid. When the bill is ready for debate on the house floor, we will bring you live coverage here on cspan. Host she is a Research Professor at georgetown university. Here to help us better understand the coronavirus and the federal response to it. When it comes to the virus itself, what do we know and how much remains unknown . Guest we have a lot of data from what unfolded in china. Kly. We are trying to understand some of the basic biology of the virus but we have a grasp of who is at moderate risk and who is at severe risk. Understanding who needs to be most protected of