Gov. Abbott do i press that to unmute it . Good afternoon. This is governor greg abbott. Im going to be joined today by the chief of the Texas Division of emergency management. You can come on in. I want to express my gratitude to all of the hospital ceos from across the entire state of texas who are on the line. I think we have ceos from either every or almost every Major Hospital system in the state of texas. Before we begin our discussion with the hospital leaders, let me just say a few things concerning updates. First, i realize we are dealing with a situation that a lot of texans are extremely concerned about. And we want to make sure that our fellow texans understand that the state of texas has been prepared, we continue to be prepared, we are having this meeting today to ensure that we remain ahead of the curve as it concerns putting together everything that must be done for us to be able to robustly respond to ensure that your health and safety is going to be fully protected. Now, i also want to make sure that you understand where we are with current information. As of today, texas has confirmed 64 cases of covid19. The cases are spread across 19 counties now. They include bell, brazoria, dallas, denton, el paso, fort bend, galveston, greg, harris, hayes, montgomery, smith, matagorda, travis, etc. We also now have our first covid19 related death in the state of texas. That was the death of a man in his 90s who was residing in matagorda county. As of this moment, more than 1,250 texans, to be precise, 1,264 texans, have been tested across the state for covid19. And that number will continue to increase dramatically in the coming days. For example, this week, texas will be receiving 15,000 test kits from fema alone. Testing will be conducted in part by fema, in part by hospitals, in part by Public Health authorities, in part by these drivethru facilities you may see from some private providers. It could be cvs, walmart, it could be other organizations. My estimation is that by the end of this week, texas will be capable of testing about 10,000 people per week, with the goal being that that number will increase in the coming weeks. To make sure that we in the state of texas are taking every step possible to make sure that we are going to be capable of responding to what is going on, i am at this moment activating the Texas National guard to assist in our response to covid19. Now understand this, and that is from the very beginning, we have been working in collaboration is ineneral norris, who charge of the Texas National guard, and that dates back to january. So the National Guard has been involved in this process from the beginning, its just at this particular point in time, i want to fully activate the National Guard, but no National Guard need to be deployed at this time. We just want to make sure that we have activated them, they know that they are going to be activated, the general of the National Guard, general norris, can be in charge of getting them ready. We do want to exempt from anybody who may be called up First Responders or anybody involved in the healthcare profession, because they need to be on the front lines making sure that we are providing all the health care that is needed for those who may contract covid19. With that said, i do want to open up our discussion with both doctors as well as ceos of these hospitals in the state of texas. And we will be asking the cameras to leave the room at this time. We will be talking to you shortly. Announcer it is easy to follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at cspan. Org coronavirus. Track the spread throughout the u. S. And the world with interactive maps and charts. Watch briefings and hearings with Public Health specialists anytime unfiltered. Announcer President Trump met toh tourism executives discuss the coronavirus response. We hear about the loss of business around the world and what can be done financially to help support employees. This is 25 minutes. Pres. Trump thank you very much. We have the Tourism Industry executivese
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