On friday, President Trump declared a National Emergency to deal with the coronavirus. Members of the White House Coronavirus task force and Industry Leaders joined the president for the press conference in the rose garden. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States accompanied by the Vice President of the United States. Trump thank you very much, everyone. 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 new actions we are taking in our very vigilant effort to combat and ultimately defeat the coronavirus, weve been working very hard on this. We have made tremendous progress. When you compare what we have done to other areas of the world, its pretty incredible. Thet of that had to do with early designation and the closing of the borders. As you know, europe was just designated as the hotspot right now and we closed that border it a while ago. So, that was lucky or through talent or through luck, call it whatever you want. But through our collective action and shared sacrifice, national determination, we will overcome the threat of the virus. I also announced wednesday night following the advice of our medical professionals, were we are tremendous job, suspending the entry of foreign nationals who have been to europe in the last 14 days from entering the United States. , primary residence, and their families, any of the families returning from europe will be subject to extra screening as well as self isolation for 14 days as the World Health Organization confirmed today. Many of the things that what we said were 100 correct including our designation before them of europe. Like our earlier, very aggressive actions with china, this measure will save countless lives. I appreciate the number of folks behind me, the number of people behind me said that saved a lot of lives, the early designation. But it is only the beginning of what we are really doing, and now we are in a different phase. We had some very old and obsolete that we had to live with under certain circumstances, but not under they were inances, place for a long time and we are breaking them down now. They are very usable for certain instances, but not for this. To unleash the full power of the federal government today, i am officially declaring a National Emergency. Two very big words. Will open i am taking ,p access to up to 50 billion large amountt, a of money for states and territories and localities in our shared fight against this i am urging every state to set up Emergency Operation centers effective immediately. You are going to be hearing from some of the Largest Companies and greatest retailers and medical companies in the world, standing right behind me and decide me. Also asking every hospital directory Emergency Preparedness plans so that they can meet the needs of americans everywhere. Work and various other places are also engaged. I just spoke with governor cuomo, we had a very good conversation, and we are working very strongly with many states including new york. The emergency orders i am issuing today will also confirm authority to the secretary of health and services. The secretary of hhs will be able to immediately waive provisions of applicable laws ,nd regulations to give doctors hospitals, and Health Care Providers maximum stability to his on to the virus and to care for patients. This includes the following critical authorities. The ability to waive laws to h, a fairly newt and incredible thing that has happened in the not so distant past. What they have done is incredible. It gives remote doctor visits and hospital checkins the certain federal license requirements so that doctors from other states can provide services in states with the greatest need. Number two, the ability to waive requirements to limit the number of beds to 25 and the length of stay to 96 hours. The ability to waive the requirements of a threeday hospital stay prior to admission to a nursing home, big thing. ,he authority to waive rules they can do what they have to do, they know what they have to do. They dont have any problem getting it done. The authority to waive rules that severely restrict where hospitals can care for patients within the hospital itself, ensuring that the emergency capacity can be quickly established. We will remove or eliminate every obstacle necessary to deliver our people the care that they need and that they are entitled to. No resource will be spared, nothing whatsoever. 10 days ago, i brought together commercial labs, the white house had directed them to immediately begin working on a solution to dramatically increase the availability of tests. Other countries have called us and worked with us and they are doing similar things or will be doing similar things as a result of that action. Today we are announcing a new partnership with private sector to vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus. We want to make sure that those who did a test can get a test safely, quickly, and conveniently, but we dont want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldnt be doing it. And we dont want everyone running out and taking it. Only if you have certain symptoms. Using federal emergency authorities, the fda approved a new test for the virus. We did this within hours after receiving the application. A process that would normally therefore to we expect up to a half a million additional tests will be available early next week. Housing location probably on sunday night. We will be announcing locations probably on sunday night. Hopefully to authorize the application within 24 hours, it is going very quickly. Which will bring, additionally, 1. 4 million test on board next week and 5 million within a month. I doubt we will need anywhere near that. At the same time, weve been in discussions with pharmacies and retailers to make drivethrough tests available in the critical locations identified by Public Health professionals. The goal is for individuals to be able to drive off and the swabbed without having to leave your car. I want to thank google, google is helping to develop a website that will be very quickly done, past, tobsites of the determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location. We have many locations behind us, by the way. We covered this country and large parts of the world, we are not going to be talking about the world right now, but we cover very, very strongly our country and virtually every location. Google has 1700 engineers working on this right now. They have made tremendous progress. Our overriding goal is to stop the spread of the virus and to help all americans who have been impacted by this. Again, we dont want everybody taking this test, it is totally unnecessary. And this will pass. Wes will pass through and are going to be Even Stronger for it. We have learned a lot. A tremendous amount has been learned. I want to thank Deborah Birks and i want to ask her may be to come up and say a few words as to what is happening. Dr. Birks is a highly respected person. I have gotten to know her very well over the last six days and what we have done is rebuild something that was very old, very oldfashioned, somewhat obsolete, certainly obsolete when it comes to the kind of numbers we are talking about. Dr. Birks, please. Thank you, mr. President. It is a pleasure to be here with all of you. I think you know at the beginning of this epidemic, hhs for cdc proactively develop an asset build on existing flu Surveillance Systems. That Surveillance System was then converted to diagnostic systems. Last tuesday, seeing the spread of the virus around the globe, the president realized that our current approach to testing was inadequate to meet the needs of the American Public. Overhaulfor an entire of the testing approach. He immediately called the private sector laboratories to the white house and charge them with developing a high throughput quality platform that can meet the needs of the American Public. Labcorp andful to hours,nd within 72 bringing additional testing access, particularly to the outbreak areas of Washington State and california and now across the country. We are also very grateful to the universities and large Hospital Systems that took up the charge to develop their own quality test made available by new fda guidance. This has resulted in expanded testing across new york, california, washington, colorado, and sometimes those drivethrough options have been made available through these high throughput options. Following the meeting last week, major commercial laboratory and diagnostic companies to immediate action to adopt and develop new testing systems. Last night, the initial Company Received fda approval moving from request to development to approval in record time. This innovative approach centered fully on unleashing the power of the private sector. On providing convenient testing to hundreds of thousands of americans within short turnaround times. Together,an two weeks we have developed a solution that we believe will meet future needs of americans. I understand how difficult this has been, i was part of the hiv aids response in the 80s. We knew from first findings, cases in 1981, it took us to 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 were able to mobilize and bring those individuals that were key to the hiv response to this response. Thiserstand that a lot of time the scenes action over the last couple of weeks was invisible to the press and the American People. Effort has note only resulted in innovative solutions. Automated, high throughput systems, bringing the availability of these quality coronavirus testings to the American People at unprecedented speed. Finally, i want you to know in south korea, they did have a large number of tests available over the last several weeks. The Positivity Rate is between 3 and 4 . And questore expanding testing, there Positivity Rate is between 1 and 2 . So we want to also announce this new approach to testing which will start in the screening website up here, facilitated by google, where clients and patients and people of interest can go, fill out a screening questionnaire, move down for symptoms or risk factors, they would move down this and be told where the drivethrough options would be for them to receive this test. The labs will then moved to the high throughput automated revises to be able to results in 24 to 36 hours. That is the intent of this workach, we have seen it in her own United States and we want to bring this across the continent. Thank you very much. Trump thank you. Comeike to maybe have tony up, i think everybody out here knows you very well, tony has been doing a tremendous job working long hours and you seen a lot happened. It has been a great experience and working with you has been terrific. Thank you very much. This is an example of, another example of what ive been referring to in my discussions with many of you in the audience as a proactive, leaningforward aggressive, trying to stay ahead of the curve. When you have seen now is that we are going to be able to remove the constraints so that the people at the state, the local levels, the individual positions all the way up through the federal government will have as many constraints as possible remove for them to do everything they possibly can so that we can implement the things we been talking about. Mitigation,ent, the so that as i said many times, that curve that i or two that goes up, we dont want to have that curve, we want to suppress it down to a small amount and i think what weve done today is some and is going to be a very important element in having us be successful in doing that. We still have a long way to go, there will be many more cases that we will take care of that and this will end. But what is going on is going to help it to end sooner than it would have. Thank you. If i could, some of these folks we know our celebrities in their own right, the biggest business people, the greatest retailers anywhere in the world. I would like to have dug, if you would, say a few words. We got the call yesterday from the white house, we were eager to do our part to help serve the country and given what we are facing, that is certainly important to do, should all be doing that. We have been asked to make portions of our parking lot available in select locations so that people can experience the drivethrough experience that the president described. We will stay involved and do everything we can to give assistance. Iump thank you very much, will just stay right over here. Richard, if you could come up. Walgreens, thank you. And walmart, doug we are happy to stand in and help committees all across america because a lot of times we have natural disasters, our stores are a deacon in the community and this situation is no different. We look forward to partnering with the cdc, the , we areration, and hhs ready to engage and help. Trump brian cornell, target. Thank you for inviting us here today. Along with our colleagues from walmart and walgreens and our we ares at cvs, normally competitors, but today we are focused on a common competitor, and that is defeating the spread of the coronavirus and we look forward to working with the administration to do our fair share 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 essentials, food and beverage items that they need during this time, making sure we run safe stores, and creating an environment that is safe for our team members, making sure they feel supported during this critical time. Thank you for including me. Thank you very much, great job. Is tom here . Please. Leadinge one of the providers of medical devices as well as collection products for testing of coronavirus. We are wrapping up our manufacturing capacity to ensure that the right collection devices and testing equipment are ready to address the issue. Thank you. Trump you are doing a great job. Stephen . Quest diagnostics. Please. Great job, thank you. Thank you, mr. President. As mentioned, we were called last week to come together as an industry and we took advantage of that opportunity to work with we are uphe cdc, and and running with test in a number of our facilities. As the president mentioned, we now have capabilities from Roche Diagnostics that we will bring into our facilities this weekend and i know myself and my colleagues will be doing the same. The capacity available to the American Public to support this action with consumers will be considerably increased over the next few weeks. Trump thank you very much, i appreciate it. Of roche. From roche, we want to thank the fda for their rapid approval of our coronavirus tests. We really 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 working 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 date. So, thank you. Trump and you can do it. Great company. Health david of zignify health. We are the largest house call provider in the u. S. And we go to the homes of the most vulnerable elderly and throughout network and our logistics, we stand ready to help and provide our clinicians to be where they are needed, whether they are in retail clinics or in the home, and we are here to assist. Thank you very much. Trump and we will be changing a lot of the rules and regulations for the future should this happen in the future, which we hope it never does, but it will somewhere out there, some bad ones over the years. I guess that will continue to an extent, but we hope it never happens, but we are going to be changing a lot of the old and specifications and regulations. Adam schefter who has been a tremendous help, labcorp, please. We are working every second of every day, working with academic medical centers, with our colleagues at west, with other hospitals and other laboratories to ensure that we do everything we can to increase the testing as we move forward and i can tell you that we understand how important the testing is and we are committed to doing everything possible. Trump thank you. Thomas moriarty, cvs. We all know cvs. That you, mr. President. We have been focused since the start making sure our patients and the customers we serve have the information they need, the safety video as well. We are committed to working with the administration and local Public Health officials to make his work as well, and thank you for the honor. Trump great job. Thanks. And bruce, lhc group, tremendously talented people. Mr. President , thank you for the honor of being here. The Home Health Industry has been treating patients and seniors from the safety and comfort of their own homes for decades. We are very proud to be part of the equation for testing in their own homes. For americans who cant get to a test site for live in rural here to help come up to partner with our hospitals and physicians as well as people be have here today who will be doing testing around the country. Thank you. Trump i like that, thats good. We are also announcing the following emergency executive action today. To help her students and their i have waived interest in all Student Loans held by federal Government Agencies and net will be until further notice. That is a big thing for a lot of students that are left in the middle right now, many of those schools have been closed. Oil, ivehe price of also instructed the secretary of energy to purchase, for a good price, large quantities of crude oil for storage in the u. S. , strategic reserve. We are going to fill it right up to the top, saving the american taxpayer billions and billions of dollars, making us even further toward that wonderful goal which we have achieved which nobody thought was possible on energy independence. That puts us in a position that is very strong and we are buying it at the right price and that is something that would have not even been possible a week ago. The price of oil went down quite a bit, so we are going to let up. I would like to ask mike pence to say a few words, please. Vp. Thank you, mr. President. This day should be an inspiration to every american. Because exterior leadership from early on, not only are we governmente whole approach to confronting the coronavirus, we are bringing all of americas approach. Mr. President , from early on, you took decisive action, suspended all travel from china, you created travel advisories. Fromreened all travelers all airports in both of those countries. And on the unanimous recommendation of your health experts, at midnight tonight, you 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 help of america first. But you brought the best of america to address it. This is not just at the federal level, we have been working with states across the country, we for everydelines american, but this week at your direction we tailored specific recommendations from the cdc, new york, Washington State, california, massachusetts and laura and we have been and florida and we have been in continuous contact with governors around the country. Seamlessreached a partnership with every territory in this country to put the health of our nation first. But today, i trust that people around the country who are looking on at this extraordinary public and private partnership will address the issue of testing with particular inspiration. Ad theyou tapped me to le White House Corona 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 partnership, we have laid the foundation to meet that need. , by theicans looking on sunday evening, we will be able to get a specific guidance on when the website will be available. Website, typethe in your symptoms and be given direction whether or not a test is indicated. And 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 that people can come by and do a driveby test. I want to join you in thanking all marked on the cvs, target and walgreens. These are companies synonymous with communities large and small where people come together and now they are going to come together to meet the needs of the American Public. These commercial laboratories, labcorp and quest, roche, have done an incredible job stepping forward and they are going to 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 with bringing together not just government resources, which all state labs can now test across the country, but you said that we wanted to bring all the resources of the country together and thats what this partnership really means. That we have coronavirus cases now in 46 american states, and while the risk of serious illness of the coronavirus means low, we want to encourage every american to practice common sense, practice good hygiene, go to the cdc website to see what the guidance is for your community, or for the American People. And as the president has said, it is especially important now that we look after Senior Citizens with chronic Underlying Health conditions. Last week, the president directed the center for medicaid and Medicare Services 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. They helped us with our homework, taught us in at night, cheer this on as we pursued educations. Now it is time for us to be there for them and recognize that seniors with Chronic Health conditions are the most vulnerable and americans can make a difference. So, wash your hands, use common sense, look after the most vulnerable. Mr. President , i know i join you in saying every american should be proud of this incredible Public Private partnership which will be speeding access of testing to millions of americans in the weeks ahead. Together, we will get through this. Together we will put the health of america first. I would like you to take that a step further, please. On Nursing Homes. Thank you to the president for the declaration. Cms, whichy agency, overseas and suspending regulation is which would get in the way of treating patients during this time. These represent a massive mobilization of our countrys resources to combat this terrible virus. The flexibilities we are offering will be a godsend to the providers, clinicians, and facilities on the front lines of this fight. Later, cms is going to be issuing guidance temporarily restricting all visitors and nonessential personnel with a few exceptions. We fully appreciate that this measure represents a severe trial for residents of Nursing Homes and those who love them. We are doing what we must to protect our vulnerable elderly. Said in my as i address to the nation the other night, all americans have a role to play. 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 for 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. Very heavily used right now. To enable every american to respond to this epidemic and protect themselves. Low werisk remains have learned a lot about this 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 you have a Health Problem they have not done well. And bet take up cautions 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 sports, what is happening with the sporting world, where so many of the great sports weve gotten so used to at this time of the year, they 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 by 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 limits to spread the virus. It is the same whether it is spreading in cities, towns, the tools and tactics are attacking are similarking it no matter where you go. You have sons some hotspots throughout the world now that people would have never thought possible and are being seriously affected. These measures have been adopted by many companies, universities , and schools. We want to protect the safety and 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 gatherings, postpone assemblies, social functions, and sporting events. To stagger recess for schools that are not canceled. Limit in person meetings, cancel work sponsored 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. 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 could learn, and we will. Turn a corner on this virus. Some of the doctors say it will wash through, it will flow through. Interesting terms. And very accurate. I think you are going to find it is going to 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 the most inspiring citizens anywhere in the world. We want to take care of our people. We want to draw on the strength of our history, 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. Frankly, the numbers, are at a level thatll that a lot of people are surprised. Especially when you compare them with other places. With far smaller populations. The spirit and will of our nation is unbreakable. We will defeat this threat. Tested, america rises to the occasion. And to those families and citizens who are worried for their loved ones, i want you to know that your federal government will unleash every authority, resource, and tool at its disposal to safeguard the lives of our people. 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 operated number one in the world, 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. We are working with a lot of groups of people and 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. If you have any questions, we can take some. If you would like to ask some of the folks up here, that would be fine. Where are you with the house bill . Yesterday we talked to you and you were opposed to it. What has happened since then and what is the holdup . Pres. Trump we 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 that 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. He just mentioned waving interest for Student Loans, from theout buying oil spr. What other specific measures is your administration thinking of taking . This entry secretary said you are in the second inning. Pres. Trump we are going to be releasing a paper in about two hours stating quite a few other steps, very important ones. Please, go ahead. Thank you so much. 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 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 . Pres. Trump no. We have no symptoms whatsoever. And we had a great meeting with the president of brazil, bolsonaro, great guy. Very tremendous. He is doing a fantastic job for brazil. As you know, he tested meaning negative. Nothing wrong this morning. We did have dinner. We were sitting next are you to each other. Are you in contact with him over the Coronavirus Crisis . Pres. Trump we are talking about it country to country but we did discuss if he had a problem. It was reported that he may have it, and he doesnt, fortunately. Thank you so much. Dr. Fauci said earlier the lag in testing was in fact a failing. Do you take responsibility for that and when can you guarantee that every single american who needs a test will be able to have one . What is the date of that. Pres. 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 an 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 strong shape. I think will we will be announcing sunday night, and this will start quickly. We will have the ability to do in the millions over a very quick. Of time. 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 but not for these kind of numbers. Tony, maybe you would like to Say Something . Sunday night, will every american be able to get a test . To read it right, it is a difference of the system. The system was not designed, for what it was designed for it worked very well. The cdc designed a good system. If you want to get the kind of blanket testing and availability that anybody can get it or you could even do surveillance to find what 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 is not designed for what we need. Now, the system will take care of it. Mr. President pres. 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 the testing when it was too late. People are respecting what we have done. We have gotten it very early and we have kept a lot of people out. Please, go ahead. The last administration said they tested one Million People at this point. Pres. Trump ask them how they did with the swine. It was a disaster. They had a very big failure with swine flu. Very big failure. I want to ask you about the european travel ban that goes into effect tonight and the exemption you have offered to the u. K. There are 17 countries that are in the socalled schengen zone that have fewer coronavirus cases than in the u. K. And the u. K. Has added 208 coronaviruses to their total. Why did they deserve an exemption and would you consider adding them to this travel ban list . Pres. Trump that was recommended to me by a group of professionals. We are looking at it based on the new numbers that are coming out. We may have to include them in the list of countries that we will, you could say ban or , whatever it is. The numbers have gone up precipitously over the last we four hours. Could be adding a couple of others, and we may start thinking about taking some off. Thank you, mr. President. I am a correspondent with hong kong tv. You have mentioned the numbers and china have been decreasing. China has made tremendous progress in the past weeks. I am wondering how much give you tooes this control the virus in the united dates . Do you see the data china has been sharing has been helpful . Pres. Trump i think it has been helpful. We have been working very much with china. I have spoken with president xi. They went through hell. Their numbers are starting to look very good. They are really looking 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. Canadian Prime Minister trudeau yesterday. Did you discuss the potential closing of the border between canada and the u. S. . By extension, are you considering ways to salvage the 2 billion daily trade between the countries . Pres. Trump we didnt discuss the border. We have had a good relationship, just about finished with the usmca, as you know. He called me, his wife had not. Een diagnosed she is a wonderful lady, great lady. Since then i have read that the result was that she has it. And that i was a little surprised. Did discuss it. She is going to be fine. He thought that she would not, most likely, have the virus. Unfortunately, she does. But we didnt discuss the border yesterday, no. If you have any questions for these great geniuses up here, you should, even a business question related to what we are talking about. 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, what is your message to them, that they shouldnt be . Pres. Trump i dont know if i have exposure. We dont have any of the symptoms. We have many white house doctors, frankly, and i asked them that 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. Cruise line business was obviously hit very hard. We have had tremendous success president , where vice pentz that a good job with that. We worked with canada. They took their people back. Approximately 600 people. The u. K. Likewise took a large number back to the united kingdom. We have people quarantined. It was a big operation and it out you dont hear about it it worked out really you might want to Say Something about that, because it was really done properly. Thank you, mr. President. That program, with the grand princess, is continuing to be administered at the highest standards, orderly way as the president directed. Americans that needed treatment have received them. I spoke to the governor of iowa today and some of those who have been cleared are able in proper supervision to be returning to iowa. They are making arrangements for them to do that. Others in texas, others in georgia. It is another example of the extraordinary cooperation Governor Abbott and Governor Newsom and 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 doing that. The unique Health Challenges presented to seniors with underlying conditions. We have a proposal from the cruise line industry, but they are currently considering what other steps they might take. Perhaps similar to what those other lines have taken. We are anticipating some response on that in the next 24 hours. As the president said, the american men and women cherish our cruise line industry. The men and women who work on the shore, the economy which is so benefited by a vibrant cruise line industry. What the president has directed us to do is, whether there is a pause in the moment as some cruise lines are doing and as we all continue to discuss, we want to work with the industry to ensure that we come through this that cruise lines and the medical services that are available and for the passengers and all of the crew, the cruise lines are safer than ever before and can prosper for years to come. Pres. Trump go ahead, please. This question is for dr. Fauci and dr. Birx. Based on what you know, what is the trajectory for when this outbreak will peak . How long will the American People remain on emergency footing . As the administration tries to get its arms around this test, test kit shortage issue, the next need could be respirators and hospital equipment. What is the administration doing right now to ramp up production of respirators and that kind of equipment . So, when you have an outbreak like this, particularly if 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 going to go down. If you look at the situation where countries really did not get to the point of trying to contain and mitigate very well, you see a pico for several weeks, and then down over several other weeks. What we are trying to do with the efforts we are doing is to blunt that peak. I mentioned that, and i think its important for me to mention it again. You talk about preventing infections from without, in which is the kind of travel restrictions we are talking about how do you handle what you already have in your country . You also do mitigation. You try to proportionate to the areas where there are the most infections. Muchuccess of that and how you make this turn into this, is going to give you the amount of time. If we are successful is going to be less, if we are not successful at is going to be more. These things generally run out in a few months. Hopefully it will make it several weeks. 8, 9 weeks. I cant give you a number because it depends on how successful we are. Dr. Birx it is a privilege to work with him every day. You can learn i appreciate there was some graphics done over the last several days. If you align the data from china with the data from south korea, you can start to see almost a complete overlay of that data. That is what we are tracking closely, as well as italy. , inst want to make note south korea i want to repeat, only 4 of those tests were positive. That means 96 of the people had a different respiratory disease. Because we are in the middle of flu season, cold season, and all of the other respiratory diseases we get every day. They are running about 1 to 2 positive. That means we have a lot of other respiratory disease out there. That is why screening is critical. Even with the screening we are going to run very low rates. Takings to say, we are it extraordinarily seriously to plan for what could come. Not with dr. Prout you talked about, blunting the curve. We are in full inventory of all of our assets by the president unlocking this emergency order. And the secretary of hhs, it unlocks all of those stockpiles of needs. Dad the v. A. Has, what the dod has, when every hospital has. Deferan allows them to elective issues to keep those hospitals open. We are in full planning mode for each of those things. Pres. Trump i might add we are in the process and in some cases have already done it, ordered a large number of respirators just in case. We hope we dont need them, but we have ordered a large number. Go ahead, please. Thank you very much, mr. President. In your speech you mentioned the situation in china and south korea has improved and you are thinking about removing the restrictions, also the warning in place right now. When can we expect that announcement and how do you see the overall progress that Asian Countries make . Pres. Trump some are making progress, some are not, as you know. As they get down to the number we all think is right, that they know is right, we will be opening it up. Some are really moving along rapidly. We hope to be able to open it up as quickly as possible. We, please. Ask sec. Azore to thousand dr. Fauci. This effects the elderly, primarily, and in that sense it 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. When you talk about anything that requires a robust immune system, as you get older your immune system is not as potent. That is the reason why, when you talk about even influenza, which we have extraordinary experience who aree people vulnerable are the elderly and those with underlying conditions. The same thing holds true for the a variety of other disease. Why cancer is or prevalent in older individuals. The immune system that screens for it is less robust. It is something that is well known over a lot of studies. Oan, please. The chinese officials are expressing some tons of discontent with how, where the source of this virus has come from. They are spinning odd narratives. What are your response to the chinese officials and have they signaled any kind of resistance inupcoming trade talks response to how we are handling the virus . Pres. Trump no. We 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. Phase two will start negotiating. I did read one article but it my not representatives of conversations with president xi. We all know where it came from. Thank you, mr. President. Pbs newshour. Takeid that you dont responsibility, but you did disband the White House Pandemic Office and the officials that were working in that office left abruptly. What responsibility do you take to that . The officials said that the white house lost valuable time because that office was disbanded. What do you make of that . Aes. Trump i think it is nasty question because what we have done and tony has said numerous times, we saved thousands of lives because of the quick closing. When you say me, i didnt do it. We have a group of people. I can ask, perhaps, the administration, i could ask tony about that because i dont know anything about it. You we did that. He dont know about the reorganization . Pres. Trump perhaps they do that. You used to be with a different newspaper, things like that happen. We are doing a great job. Let me tell you. These professionals behind me, these great, incredible doctors and businesspeople, the best in the world. I can say that, whether it is retailers or labs or whatever anything you want to say. These are the best in the world. We have 40 people right now, compare that with other countries that have many times that amount. One of the reasons we have 40 that number is going up, so you understand. The number of cases which are small relatively speaking is going up but we have done a great job because we acted quickly, we acted early. There is Nothing Better than closing our borders to highly infected areas. Thank you you, mr. President. I would like to ask you two very brief questions. For how long are we going to have the emergency, dimensional the National Emergency . Pres. Trump i hope not for long. It gives us tremendous power. The stafford act and various other things that we are involved with and have studied and memorized in so many ways and forums, it gives us the power we need to get rid of virus. This virus. We are going to do it quickly and i hope we wont need it very long but whatever it takes. So we still dont know for how long . And how do you think do you think it is essential coordinating with other countries and learning from the lessons that they already suffered an same situation . Countries like china and south korea, but now italy and spain . Thank you so much. Pres. Trump we are in touch with italy. It is a country that we love. You have tremendous millions and millions of people originally, origins from italy. We are working with them. They are in a very, probably, relatively speaking, the toughest position of all. We are in touch with everybody. Are insay everybody, we touch with many of the countries that you know about, that you are writing about, and they are for advice. 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 really, they have really clamped down. I think they are going to see some good results. They took their medicine. They are going to see some much better results. Yeah, jeff. You, sir. With regard to domestic travel, should americans be traveling to state such as Washington State, new york, and other hotspots within this country . 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 has coronavirus from brazil at maralago. How is that different . Pres. Trump i will tell you, first of all, i am not coming back from someplace. But you are exposed. Pres. Trump there was somebody, i have no idea who he is. I take pictures and it lasts for literally seconds. I dont know the gentleman. I have no idea who he is. I have not seen the picture. I take, sometimes, hundreds of pictures a day. That guy was taking hundreds of pictures, so i dont know. I did sit with president for probably he has tested negative. Two hours. Go ahead, please. [indiscernible] pres. Trump i would say if you stay home, it is not bad. It is not bad. There are certain parts of the country that have zero problem. Washington has been very tough. In particular, a nursing home. Washington, the state of washington has been very tough. It has been a big percentage of , when you talk about the 40 deaths, it has been a big percentage. As you know, very well. They all came from a very , a certain area, unfortunately. Go ahead. Thank you very much. Sky news. You talk this week about the u. K. Doing a good job in tackling coronavirus. In light of the rising cases, are you changing your mind . You also just spoke about possible travel restrictions. Have you discussed when they might be put in place . Pres. Trump in light of the results, 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. We will be taking another look at that. Yes, absolutely. Go ahead, please. Mr. President , thank you. I want to follow up on jeffs question because the person you to, whetherg next you know for coronavirus. Him or not, tested positive dr. Fauci said this morning if you stand next to somebody who has tested positive you should selfisolate and get a test. You say your white house doctor is telling you something different. Who should americans listen to . And my second question pres. Trump i think they have to listen to the doctors. And they should not be jumping to get the test unless it is necessary. They have to listen to doctors. I have not seen the picture. Somebody said there is a picture with somebody taking a picture with me, but i havent seen it. Bucks doctors have said you might have it even if you dont have it. Are you being selfish by not hitting tested . Pres. Trump i didnt say i wasnt going to be tested. Are you going to be . Pres. Trump most likely. Not for that reason, but because i think i will do it anyway. Fairly soon, we are working out a schedule. Second question pres. Trump go ahead. I know there has been a lot of talk about testing. I want to make sure we are clear. We have been hearing from doctors who say as of today they still cant get patients tested who need a test. As of today, can anyone who a doctor wants tested get tested . And if not, when . Pres. Trump that has been true for a while, but why dont you answer that mike . Mr. Pence as the president said, and dr. Fauci has articulated, the nature of our current system, where the cdc has samples sent and tests are performd, or state labs tests, or in some cases university and hospital labs, it is generally adequate for an Infectious Disease or people getting diagnostic work done. But given the sheer scale of this, the president asked us tasked us with bringing together this public and private partnership. When, by some estimates, you add all of the labs together, and today the president made it possible for every state in the country and their state labs to authorize labs to do coronavirus testing. We are estimating somewhere between 15,000 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 on the website, if they are symptomatic, if the questionnaire indicates it, have a test there and these incredible companies will process the test and they will receive that information. Cannow, the best advice we get for people is to speak to their doctor. As the president just said. If a doctor indicates that physician, if it is not a University Hospital or otherwise authorized lab, they can contact again, every state can perform tests today. What the president charged us with, when i was tasked to take over the Coronavirus Task force, was, open up tests all across the country. The president said that we made it clear that anyone who wanted to get a test would be able to get a test. Heard from the governor of Washington State who said, doctors in Washington State were saying if you are only mildly symptomatic, they would not order a test. Fortunately, the president directed cdc to clarify that. Now anyone in consultation with their physician can request a and a test. And the doctors will contact those agencies and labs. Very soon americans will be able to go to these drivein sites and be able to obtain and participate in a test. Birx . Dr. Birx . Dr. Birx that is perfectly said. To review one more time, with lab corp and quest, many of you have been to dr. Sachs assange seen the boxes outside. What they do is deliver both the specimen collection piece remember, it is a nasal swab. They deliver that to doctors offices and hospitals and then they will arrange to pick that up. The important piece is that they have gone from a machine that may have a lower throughput, to the potential to have automated extraction. I know you dont want all of these details. It is key for the laboratory people. It is an automated extraction of the rna that runs in an automated way on the machine with no one touching it and the result comes out the other end. Sample, to machine, to results. That cuts out a lot of the manual pieces that were happening, that were delaying the test results. So with that, what is the timeline like from when you are tested to when you get results . Dr. Birx with prior testing it was taking several days because the test is slower. We believe with this test , because of its throughput, that the testing can be from start remember, it has to nsport come transport to the laboratory that will run it. Then we are hoping it can be finished within 24 hours which is similar to other tests. These are not point of care tests. We are working on point of care tests, but we have to realize that pointofcare tests take six months or more to develop. We are not waiting for those. We are still diagnosing this on nucleic acid. It is an antibody. This is actually the antigen, the actual virus in your nose we are amplifying. Pres. Trump i think you have to remember we are working very closely with state. If you have a smaller form and more targeted form of government, going in like new york, where the relationship is good, like kevin newsom, where complimentaryery 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. Really, the relationship that we have i cant think of a bad relationship. We are helping them, funding some cases, depending on what it is you are talking about. And we are all working together very closely. We have done a tremendous job of teamwork with the different states. One or two more. If you have questions for these folks does anybody have a question for the folks up here . Who has a question appear . If you have a question, go ahead. I have one for you as well. Pres. Trump i thought. I know you well. I was waiting for that. Go ahead. Ask them first, please. Ceos, cangards to the you tell us when you expect to see items like Hand Sanitizer that have been going out of stock quickly back on the shelves . There have been a lot of reports about that. For you, could you talk about a potential bailout for the cruise industry . That could happen. You had suggestedthat could happen. Is that something youre are still looking at . Pres. Trump i did not suggest a could happen, but i can tell you it was an industry that was badly impacted with what is going on with the virus. It is a great industry and very important industry. We will be helping them and helping the Airline Industry if we have to. So far people have not been asking. But if they should be asking, we want to make sure our airlines are strong. And then one day all of a sudden, wasnt looking so good. Interestingly, i was talking to doug, and the numbers they are doing from the retailing standpoint because of this, you r business is all of you have like the opposite. All of you have been selling a lot of stuff. Do you want to answer the question . The areas where we are seeing pressure on the supply chain, serpas cleaners, cleaning supplies, Hand Sanitizers. Hand sanitizer is going to be difficult to have stock for some time. The same thing is true for the categories i just mentioned. All the retailers are working handinhand with suppliers to bring metamarket as quick as possible. What is your advice for those americans seeking those items . They are selling out online, they are selling out on stores. Doug the team has given you examples of what people can do to fight back against this virus and you should look at the entire list. Pres. Trump please. It sounds very simplistic, but wash your hands as often as you possibly can. I know you are not always in a position to wash her hands him a watch them as much as you can. If you dont have the alcohol wipes, try to get them. Just trynt get them, as best as possible. 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, just keep away from them. Basic Public Health. You want to give some guidance that toilet paper is not an effective protection . Soap and water. Hot water, soap, 20 seconds. That is how you do it. Pres. Trump one more, go ahead. Behind you. Thank you my very much. Happy from, are you the chinese response . What really happened . Modi hase minister closed borders until april 15. Finally, any message for the Small Businesses, because they are losing some businesses because of this . Pres. Trump on Small Businesses, the Small Business administration is now stacked with money to help them and we are going to make the money readily available. We had a great time in india. It was an incredible two days. He is a friend of mine and his people because he was greeted incredibly warmly, as was i. It was an incredible event. I loved being with him. Just, say hello to him. We talked about everything. We talked about far more than just borders. And as far as president xi, he is a friend of mine. I believe we are dealing in good faith. That we just worked, as you know, and as i just said, we worked an incredible deal, one of the biggest deals ever made of any kind, even by the standards of some of the people here, the deal with china. I think they want to get to the bottom of things also. Our drug companies, our pharmaceutical companies are working every closely with china and india, as you know. And all over the world. They are all over the world. These are magnificent companies, that are very knowledgeable. We are very lucky to have them. Whether it is therapeutic or whether it is just help, helping getting better, and ultimately, a vaccine, which takes a little bit longer because of the test. And because of other reasons. You will have it quickly because of the great knowledge. They will have they made a it very quickly. They made a tremendous amount of progress. Thank you all very much. Thank you very much. Can you explain why that did not happen