Transcripts For CSPAN White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing 20240713

Force made several announcements on the federal response to the pandemic including extending the nationwide social distancing guidelines until april 30. Pres. Trump thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate everybody being here. Beautiful day in the rose garden. Tremendous distance between chairs. Social distancing, you practice it very well. We appreciate it. Thats great. I want to start today by highlighting several critical developments on both the testing and treatment that will help us win our war against the coronavirus. On friday, the fda authorized a new test developed by abbott labs that delivers lightning fast results, in as little as five minutes. That is a whole new ballgame. I want to thank abbott labs for the incredible work they have done. They have been working around the clock. Normally, this approval process from the fda would take 10 months, even longer, but we did it in four weeks. Abbott stated they will begin delivering 50,000 tests each day, starting this week. Even before this development, we have been doing more tests than any other country anywhere in the world. Its one of the reasons we have more cases than other countries, because we have been testing. Its also one of the reasons we are just about the lowest in terms of mortality rate, as weve been doing more testing, so we have bigger numbers to look at. I want to also thank general semonite of the army corps of engineers, and the general who is here with us will say a few words in a little while. What the army corps of engineers did along with fema in new york is incredible. They built 2,900 beds worth of hospital, an incredible hospital in the javits center, which i know well. I just want to say, that was unreal. They did it in less than four days. People have never seen anything like that, and its an incredible, complex, top of the line hospital. They did it so quickly. Everyone is trying to figure out how they did it, including me. I was a good builder, but they did it very quickly, so we are very happy. I want to thank army corps of engineers, fema. The incredible job they have done. Now they are moving to other locations throughout the country where they already have people building hospitals. They are doing them in louisiana, in new jersey, in many other places. But these are incredible men and women, and they worked aroundtheclock. The people of new york are very happy. Governor cuomo expressed his thanks, which we appreciate. But these are, i mean, nobody could have done a job like that. Most people have never seen anything like it. The deployment of Rapid Testing will vastly accelerate our ability to monitor, track, contain and ultimately defeat the virus. We will defeat the virus. We will also be able to test doctors, nurses and Health Care Workers immediately, enable us to act quickly and aggressively to shut down the spread of the virus. So important, in critical facilities like hospitals and nursing homes. And we will ensure we can give cities and states the best information to kind local decisionmakers. I want to point out, the hydroxychloroquine is being administered to 1,100 patients, people in new york, along with zipac, azithromycin. And its very early yet. It started two days ago. But we will see what happens. I want to thank stephen hahn, who is a great doctor, left one of the best jobs in our country running an incredible hospital in texas. Hes the head of the fda, and stephen got approval for that so fast. Lets see how it works. It may, it may not. But we may have incredible news. We will know soon. Its being tested on 1100 people in new york. The fda is also allowing emergency use of a blood related therapy called convalescent plasma as an experimental treatment for seriously ill patients. This treatment involves taking blood plasma from patients who have already recovered from the virus. So they recovered, they are strong. Something was good in them that worked, and so we take the plasma from those people that have recovered so well, meaning their plasma is rich in antibodies against the virus, and transfusing it into sick patients, very powerfully. So sick patients will be transfused with the blood taken to boost their immune system. We will see what happens. Were having some early results that are good, but we will see. Thats going i think very rapidly. Again, we got approvals in very quick time. Were also looking at an approval for the sterilization of masks. I kept saying, i see some of the masks are very complex. We are delivering millions, by the way. I kept saying, why arent they able to use the mask a second, third, fourth time . Mike dewine, the great governor of ohio, called me. They have a company in the final process of getting approval for sterilization of masks, and in some cases depending on the mask, some of these are very strong, very powerful, very strong materials. Theyre able to sterilize the mask up to 20 times, so i guess like getting 20 masks. So we worked on that, as soon as i heard from mike today, i got involved and the fda is now involved, and we are trying to get fast approval for the sterilization of masks. That would be a tremendous difference, would be really helpful. Much of the research has to be done. We have a lot of research left to do, obviously. This treatment on plasma has shown promising results in other countries. Were in communication with other countries, and very strong communication. We have the greatest people in the world. They are very, very anxious to find out how we are doing on our Different Things, whether its a cure or really anything having to do with getting people better. We have some interesting things we will be announcing i think over the next few weeks. But we will see what happens. They are being tested right now. The vaccines are moving along very rapidly. The vaccines are an answer, but id like to see if we can do something therapeutically so that we can take care of the people who are already sick, and we are working on that at a level that people would be amazed. These are incredible people. They dont stop. This method has also been used for more than a century, and thats the bloodrelated therapy. More than a century, to fight off infectious diseases. So its not unusual. Our level of complexity has changed, but its a concept that has been used a long time, including during the spanish flu epidemic, and that was really a pandemic of proportions like frankly nobody has seen until what we are facing now. That was in 1918. You know what the result of that was. Probably from 75 million to 100 Million People were killed. And also, other viruses like the one in this outbreak, this is a tough one because it spreads so quickly, like nothing we have seen. It spreads so easily, so quickly. Were unleashing everything in our nations vast arsenal. Economic, medical, scientific. Military, Homeland Security is working very hard with all of them in order to vanquish the virus. As you know, every level of government is working nonstop to a chain or personal protective equipment per from mineworkers for front mineworkers. Were delivering vast orders of this material. I will ask a couple of the people here to join me that make it and deliver it. Joining us are leaders of americas largest distributors of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, including mckesson, cardinal health, medline, fedex, ups. We just concluded a very productive meeting about ways to keep our supply chains and Delivery Systems moving at top speed, and maybe i just like to ask for a couple minutes for mike coffman to come up and maybe ed. Mike is with cardinal and ed is with owen and minor. I appreciate, and if anyone else has anything, please come up. If you could come up, mike and ed, for a second and maybe tell them what you told me before when we had the meeting. Thank you, mr. President , and thank you for your leadership on this. Because of that leadership, we have really seen the Government Agencies working with industry like no time before. Weve seen hhs, fema, the cdc, work incredibly effectively with all of the distributors, and all of the distributors working together for the good of the people. All of us have been so focused on making sure we take care of our customers, because our customers are the ones taking care of patients every day, and we need to do every thing we can to make things good for them. So it has been great to see how well all these Government Agencies have been coordinating with us. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. Let me start by thanking the administration for the support you have provided to the industry. Now, one of the things we did, we did hear the challenge, and starting in january we ramped up productions in the americas, including our facility in north carolina, where we are manufacturing an additional 40 million to 50 Million Masks per month to get into the u. S. Health care system. We talked about this, one issue we are struggling with is the demand increase. An anecdotal example, one hospital in new york that traditionally uses roughly 10,000 to 20,000 masks a week are now using 200,000 300,000 masks per week, so multiply that times the entire u. S. , let alone demand outside the u. S. , and thats part of the issue we are running into. Even with the significant rampup in supply, there is still the demand. Pres. Trump thank you. I bring that up because when we discussed back in the room, the conference room, a very nice one, actually, it is called the cabinet room, that they have been delivering for years 10,000 to 20,000 masks. Ok. Its a new york hospital, packed all the time. How do you go from 10,000 to 20,000, to 300,000 . 10,000 to 20,000 masks, to 300,000 . Even though this is different . Something is going on. You want to look into it, as reporters. Where are the masks going . Are they going out the back door . How do you go from 10,000 to 300,000 . We have that in a lot of different places. So, somebody should probably look into that, because i just dont see from a practical standpoint how that is possible to go from that to that, and we have that happening in numerous places. Not to that extent. That was the highest number we have heard, the highest number you have seen, right . But he delivers them to a lot of hospitals, he knows the system better than anyone and you were more surprised than i was when you saw that number. Thank you very much. I hope i didnt get any of your clients in trouble. Frankly, they are in trouble. So they have to look at that in new york. Fema is working with these companies, to expedite the movement of critical supplies, from other countries to the United States. The first flight arrived at jfk airport this morning filled with 80 tons of personal protective equipment, including 130,000 n95 respirators. Those are the ones we were talking about before. 1. 8 million facemasks and gowns. 10. 3 million gloves, and many other things. Millions and millions of different items. Fema has scheduled 19 additional flights, and is adding more daily. We hope to have about 50 flights, including the one today we are at 51 flights with these massive planes from the Different Companies that were so nice to be here today. Would you like to Say Something . Please, come up. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President , for the incredible leadership. I will share that ups is really proud to be part of this effort. Vice president pence and i had the opportunity to speak before. The way we will win this war is with great logistics, and ups is going to be part of that effort. We have a big, brown army, 495,000 upsers around the country whos are ready to deliver. Bringing supplies as fast as we can to serve communities that need them most. We are proud to partner with states as well, because we know in partnership with the states we can deliver what is needed everywhere, so thank you, mr. President. Pres. Trump please. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. President. I would certainly echo my colleagues comments, that collaboration among many of the Government Agencies and the private market distributors represented here today has been incredible, has been increasing and ramping up over the past week. Todays first delivery i think is the first evidence it is working. 51 flights that you referenced. We are excited and we look to build upon that, so i would echo my thanks for your leadership and certainly to the staff, for the terrific partnership and the commitment to protect the people we think about most often, which are the people on the front lines providing care. Maybe just a quick word of thanks on behalf of all the ceos here to our teams that continue to show up in warehouses across the country, pharmacies across the country, and do their jobs keeping the supply chain going. The supply chain is working. It is resilient. Supply is a challenge. We are tackling that. Pres. Trump thank you very much. Thank you, mr. President , and thanks to fema and hhs. I think great leadership, and it is really working well. The demand has skyrocketed, and we are doing a lot of things to bring in more masks, more other protective apparel. We are involved in reprocessing masks, and have started about 100,000 masks per day and hope to expand from there, so we are quite optimistic about it. Pres. Trump anybody else, if you want . Yes, please. Youre doing such a great job. We have to have everybody, if they want. Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity to work with your administration on a lot of fronts. Ppe products are critical, not just for hospitals but all Health Care Providers on the front lines, so our commitment is there to get it to the hotspots and care providers taking care of patients. Thats key. Second, talking about getting resources back here and manufacturing in america, that is critical, a lesson we learned from where we are. Were proud we introduced a test. We need more tests out there in rapid form. We are excited about that. We worked with your ministration closely and the fda, and are grateful for that. A rapid Antibody Test is needed as well. Thanks so much. Pres. Trump so thank you all very much, and for the great job you are doing. Its really incredible, frankly. Many of the states are stocked up. Some dont admit it. But we have sent so much, so many things to them, including ventilators. You know, theres a question as to hoarding of ventilators. Some hospitals and independent hospitals, and some hospital chains as we call them, they are holding ventilators. We need them for certain areas where theres big problems. They cant hold them, if they think there might be a problem weeks down the road. So we have delivered a lot. This group has been really fantastic. We want to thank you, and ups and fedex in particular, you have gone absolutely out of your way, so we appreciate everything you have done and delivered. The federal government continues to mobilize every resource to make sure front line doctors and nurses have equipment needed to save american lives. Yesterday, i visited naval station norfolk as the usns comfort departed for new york, three weeks ahead of schedule, fully loaded with 12 operating rooms, 1000 hospital beds and hundreds of the best doctors, nurses and medical professionals anywhere in the United States navy, frankly anywhere in the United States. Incredible thing to see. Most of you saw that on television as it was leaving. It left literally three weeks early. It was under maintenance, and they got the maintenance done very quickly. They worked around the clock, as many people have. It was a great sight. Additionally, two of the Largest Health insurers, humana and cigna, are announcing they will waive copays, which is a big deal for anyone who understands insurance. They dont waive copays easily, but we asked them to do it. Coinsurance and deductibles for the coronavirus treatments, to help ease the financial burden on American Families during this pandemic. So, theyre waiving copays, coinsurance and deductibles. I dont think anybody has heard of that one before. Have you heard of that . I want to thank them. Great companies. Today i spoke with wolfgang puck. Wolfgang puck is a great restauranteur, as is thomas keller, other leaders of the Restaurant Business, which has been probably one of the hardesthit industries. Ive directed my staff to use any and all Authority Available to give restaurants, bars and clubs incentives to stay open. You will lose all these restaurants, and they will not get them back. So what im doing, im going to tell secretary mnuchin and also our great secretary of labor, who you know very well, to immediately start looking into the restoring of deductibility of meal and entertainment costs for corporations. That set the Restaurant Business back a lot when it was done originally, and then done not so long ago, and were going to go to deductibility so companies can send people to restaurants. I think you will have a tremendous impact, and maybe keep them open. Dont forget, some are closing right now despite the fact they could be open in the not too distant future, we expect that, but there are some that arent going to be able to get open and we want to make sure they do, so we are going to look at the restoration, restoring the deductibility of meal and entertainment costs for corporations so corporations can send people to restaurants and take a deduction on it like they did in the old days. That was when restaurants were doing really well. The Financial Relief bill i signed on friday provided historic relief for American Workers and Small Businesses, and includes 350 billion in job restoration and retention. So if you look at Job Retention loans for Small Businesses, thats a big deal, with loan forgiveness available for businesses who continue paying workers. 350 billion, Job Retention loans for Small Businesses with loan forgiveness available for businesses that continue paying workers. I mean, how about that . 300 billion in direct cash payments, being sent to every american citizen earning less than 99,000 per year. 3400 for the typical family of four, so they will be getting a check for 3400 for the typical family of four. Approximately 250 billion in expanded unemployment benefits. Under this plan the average worker who lost his or her job will receive up to 100 of their salary for months. This requires checks to be distributed to existing state unemployment systems. I was opposed to this, because many states have very antiquated Computer Systems that are 45 years old and are not prepared to handle this kind of distribution, this kind of money coming in so quickly. Theyre not set up for that, and uh, i didnt want to do it, but our opponents wanted it, so we did it, and if they dont get their money fast i will ask that we convene the federal government, that we come back to congress and we will do something where we take care of it. Because we can take care of it very easily and quickly, and i said that. A lot the systems are so old, so antiquated at the state level, they will get the money very quickly but they will not be able to distribute it. So remember what i said. If we have to Call Congress back or find some other way of delivering the money throughout this Great National struggle. The American People have embodied the unrivaled patriotism and willpower that has led america to conquer every challenge, every single one in our nations history. More than 90 of americans say they are staying home is much as possible, putting their lives, their careers, their educations and their dreams on hold out of devotion to their fellow citizens, and to their country. Social distancing. Thats the way you win. These shared sacrifices are pulling our nation together like never before. Family bonds are strengthening. Neighbors are looking after neighbors. Its incredible. Im seeing, you are seeing, everybody seeing whats happening. Communities are rallying, and all divisions are fading away. Americans of every background are uniting to help our nation in this hour of need. Its up to 151 countries, so our nation and the world. Think of it. 151 countries. Someone said to me today, there was not, in this particular world, they didnt know we had that many countries. 151 countries. That is something. Some are struggling at a level nobody thought possible. If you look at italy, france having big problems, spain is having incredible problems. Something we did very well as when we stopped the inflow from china at a very early level. That was a good thing to do. Great thing to do. We would have had thousands and thousands of more deaths. We also stopped the inflow from europe at a very early level. But those things were very important, especially the initial one, because we had never done anything like that, where we closed our borders to a country like that. The modeling put together by dr. The modeling put together by fauci, and our. Other Top Health Care experts these people are amazing Health Care Experts who, in this ,ountry and around the world are the best in the world. They demonstrate that the mitigation measures we are putting in place may significant the reduce the number of new infections and ultimately the number of fatalities. I want the American People to know, your selfless, inspiring, and valiant efforts are saving countless lives. You are making a difference. The modeling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks. So, i will say it again. The peak, the highest point of death rates, remember this, is likely to hit in two weeks. Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all. Therefore, the next two weeks, and during this period, its very important everyone strongly follow the guidelines. Have to follow the guidelines that our great Vice President holds up a lot. Hes holding that up a lot. He believes in it so strongly. The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end. Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to april 30, to slow the spread. On tuesday, we will be finalizing these plans and providing a summary of our findings, supporting data and strategy to the American People. So we will be having lots of meetings in between, but we will be having a very important statement made on tuesday, probably tuesday evening. On all of the findings, all of the data, and the reasons we are doing things the way we are doing them. We can expect that by june 1, we will be well on the way to recovery. We think by june 1, a lot of great things will be happening. I want every citizen in our country to take heart and confidence in the fact that we have the best medical minds in the world tackling this disease. We have the best science, the best researchers, the best talent anywhere, working night and day to protect your family and loved ones and to overcome this pandemic. With the grace of god, we are rising to the occasion. We are proving that no darkness can overshadow the eternal light of american courage. We will win, and when we do, we will rebound with astonishing force and speed. We will be stronger than ever, and we will have learned so much, where Something Like this can never hurt us to the extent it has, and the world, again. In our present crisis, the strength of our people is our single most important asset, and together, we will defeat this invisible curse, this invisible enemy, and rise to incredible new heights. So, i just want to thank you all for being here, and we will take some questions if you like. Please. Kelly . Reporter dr. Fauci said he could expect one million cases in the United States and deaths could exceed 100,000. Do you accept that assessment , and has that formed your thinking about extending these guidelines . You also talked about new york. Were you suggesting there has been inappropriate use of masks . Or Improper Conduct with supplies . Pres. Trump no, i want the people in new york to check governor cuomo, mayor de blasio that when a hospital getting 10,000 masks goes to 300,000 masks during the same period, a rapid period, i would like them to check about. Because i hear stories like that all the time. We are delivering millions and millions of different products, and all we do is hear, can we get some more . When you hear that, and i heard that from one of the Great Companies of the world are doing. His it is a client they are going from, you heard it 10,000 to 20,000 tops, to , 300,000 . And that is a hospital that is always full. I think people should check that, because there is something going on. I dont think it is hoarding. I think it is maybe worse than hoarding. Check it out. Check it out. I dont know. I dont know. I think thats for other people to figure out. But you dont go from numbers like that. Other equipment, likewise. Because, we are delivering a lot of ventilators. And by the way, we are building and buying and we have a lot of ventilators were going to be sending out very soon. We also have right now in the stockpile almost 10,000 , ventilators that we have to hold in case of emergency. We dont want them going out and then louisiana has a tremendous problem which we now know they sudden ow, all of a it came very quickly. Louisiana was doing so fantastic, and all of a sudden there is a big rash of cases. So we have to be prepared to move the ventilators. They are very important pieces of equipment. They are very expensive, and they are very complex. It is like building a car. These are expensive, complicated, very complicated pieces of equipment. So we now have 10,000, and we inherited a system that was a system which was broken. Never forgeti will the day when a general came and said sir, my first week in , office, we have no ammunition. That was in the military. Now we have built our military stronger than it has ever been. We have so much ammunition. You wouldnt believe how much ammunition we have. Same thing here. We had a stockpile that was deficient, we had testing that was no good. We had a testing situation that was just not right. It was ok for very small cases, but it was obsolete and it was broken, and it was only good for a very small situation. What i would like to do is, id like to ask dr. Fauci to come forward and discuss the number. Because i think the number is going to be a very Different Number than the numbers you talked about previously. Please, doctor. Your mind talking about that . Dr. Fauci thank you, mr. President. The number i gave out is based on modeling, and i think its entirely conceivable that if we do not mitigate to the extent we are trying to do, that you could reach that number. Yeah. Its possible. I mean, you could make a big soundbite about it, but the fact is, it is possible. What we are trying to do is not let that happen. So instead of concentrating on the upper and the lower, we are trying to push it down. The second part of your question was yes, we feel that the mitigation we are doing right now is having an effect. It is very difficult to quantify it, because you have two dynamic things going on at the same time. You have the virus going out, and the mitigation trying to push it down. But the decision to extend this mitigation process until the end of april, i think, was a wise and prudent decision. Birx and eyes spent a lot of time going over all the data, and we felt this was the best choice, and the president accepted it. In direct answer to your question, the idea we may have this many cases played a role in our decision in trying to make sure we will not do something prematurely and pull back when we should be pushing. [inaudible] reporter can you explain the 2. 2 million if we did nothing . Dr. Birx thank you. You have seen the models. You have seen the models from imperial. You have seen the models from columbia. We reviewed 12 different models and then went back to the drawing board over the last week or two, working from the ground up, utilizing actual reporting of cases. Thats the way we built the hiv model, the malaria model. When we finished, the other group that was working in parallel, which we did not know about, h. I. M. E. , and chris murray, ended up with the same numbers. So if you go on his website, you can see the concern he had with the growing number of potential fertilitys. All of the flow models predicted anywhere from 1. 6 million to 2. 2 million fatalities if we didnt mitigate. I think you all knew those numbers. Some of them predicted half the United States would get infected and have that level of mortality. So, we worked very hard together to really look at all of the impacts of the different mitigations that have been utilized around the world, and used that Evidence Base to really bring that data and that evidence to the president to consider extending, which is not a simple situation, when you ask people to stay home for another 30 days. So they have to know that we really built this on scientific evidence, and the potential to save really hundreds of , thousands of american lives. We know that is a huge sacrifice for everyone. We know it is a sacrifice for every mother and child and father who is selfisolating. There are people that have to go out to work, and we know the compromises that they are making. But it is all to protect not only americans, but healthcare on the frontt are lines. You have seen them. You have seen how difficult this has been. And so, were really working. There will be a comprehensive piece presented on tuesday that really talks about not only diagnosing individuals, it also increasing our surveillance and now that we have more test kits. So that we can really stop and contain new infections. At the same time, we are really dedicating test kits to critical diagnosis so people can get treatment that they want, and we can ensure that when people come to the hospital, that they know that the nurses and doctors and equipment they need will be there to serve them. Because together, as americans, we are going to bring down the number of infections so we dont have 2. 2 million or 1. 6 million deaths, and work really hard to keep this as low as we possibly can. Mr. President . Pres. Trump i just want to reiterate. A lot of people were asking, what would have happened if we did nothing, did nothing just , rode it out . I have been asking that to tony and deborah, and they have been talking to me about it for a long time. Other people have been asking that question. I think we got our most accurate study today, or certainly the most comprehensive. Think of the number, potentially 2. 2 Million People if we did nothing, if we didnt do the distancing, didnt do all the things we are doing. When you hear those numbers, you start to realize that with the kind of what we went through last week, with the 2. 2 trillion, it no longer sounds like a lot, right . So, youre talking about, when i heard the number today, first time i have heard that number because ive been asking the same question to some people i felt even better about what we did last week with the 2. 2 trillion. Because you are talking about a potential of up to 2. 2 million, and some said it could be even higher than that. So you are talking about 2. 2 million deaths, 2. 2 Million People from this. And so, if we can hold that down, as we are saying, to 100,000, it is a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000 so we have between 1002 hundred thousand, we all together have done a very good job. But 2. 2, up to 2. 2 million deaths, maybe even beyond that . I am feeling very good about what we did last week. Go ahead, please. Reporter mr. President , given that you are announcing that you are extending these guidelines, was floating easter a mistake, you think . Pres. Trump no. Reporter tell us why . Pres. Trump it was just an aspiration. We actually will be hitting was in our, this meeting before on easter that , could be a peak period. Sadly to say, that could be the peak number of deaths before it starts coming down. No. That was aspirational. We had an aspiration of easter, but when you hear these numbers and the potential, we dont want to do anything where, you know, we dont want to have it spike up, all of a sudden coming down, and then start coming up again. Because we discussed, that can happen, and we dont want that to happen. Weve gone through too much. So, that was an aspirational number. I didnt say easter. I said it would be a great thing if we could do it by easter. We know much more now than we did two or three weeks ago. Easter should be the peak number, and it should start coming down and hopefully very substantially. From that thank you. Point. [reporters asking questions] pres. Trump please. Reporter thank you. With o. A. N. , your Approval Rating has been the highest it has ever been, as well as your rating on the handling of the virus. Yet there are some networks were saying that they are debating whether or not to carry these briefings live. Do you think there is a link between the two . Pres. Trump no. I dont know, i know that boy, thats a nice question. Thank you very much. I dont want high Approval Ratings for this. I wish we could have our old life back. We had the greatest economy we ever had, and we didnt have death. We didnt have this horrible scourge, this plague, call it whatever you want. The virus. But were working very hard. Thats all i know. I see things. I see numbers. They dont matter to me. What matters to me is that we have a victory over this as soon as possible. When you hear that 2. 2 Million People could have died if we didnt go through all of this, and now, the number will be much lower, hopefully it is going to be, the numbers we are talking about. So, i appreciate it very much, but what i want is our life back again. I want our country back. I want the world back. I want the world to get rid of this. This, again 151 countries. , we will have a great victory. We are going to have a great victory. Go ahead, please. Reporter you mentioned i just want to make sure i was right humana, cigna will waive all costs for anyone who has the coronavirus . They will take care of everything . Pres. Trump i told you. Copays in particular, that is a big deal. Insurance companies dont do that. And i appreciate it. Humana and cigna, they should be getting credit for that. Reporter other companies . Pres. Trump those two are getting a lot of credit for it right now, and they should, because it is a lot of money they are waiving. So we thank them. Will there be other companies . I wouldnt be surprised. Reporter are you calling on them pres. Trump i would love to have them do it. Let them waive those copays. There is a great spirit in this country right now. I know Insurance Companies better than anybody. They just dont do that. But now theres a spirit like i have never seen. Even the media is much more fair. I wouldnt say all of it, but thats ok. They should be fair, because they should want this to end. This is about death. So i want to thank cigna, humana. Reporter will the federal government reimburse those companies, or is this something they are doing outofpocket . Pres. Trump they have not asked for reimbursement. They said they will waive. It doesnt mean they get reimbursed, no. Reporter question for you, sir. Treasury secretary mnuchin said today that in three weeks, they should get the cash payment. For people who are worried about paying rent, what should people be doing . Pres. Trump they will be getting the money. I will tell you, i think landlords are going to take it easy. We may put out a statement on that. I think a lot of people owed money are going to take it easy. They dont sort of have a choice. But a lot of concessions, like are made, just like the Insurance Companies, a lot of concessions are being made that wouldnt have even been thought of three weeks ago. Not even thought of. A lot of really positive things are happening. Please, behind you. Reporter thank you, mr. President. Yesterday, why did you publicly threaten quarantine on new york, new jersey . Pres. Trump i didnt. I didnt do that at all. Read the statement. Read the statement. Read what i said. I said we will look into possibly quarantine. I didnt say we would quarantine. I looked at it as a possibility, because a lot of our professionals suggested quarantine. I said we would look at it. We then looked at it, who are you, with bloomberg . I cant imagine that. I didnt threaten. I dont go around threatening. What happened is people professionals, very good , professionals, loved the idea of doing that, because that is the ultimate in distancing. They didnt want new yorkers where they are having a problem necessarily go down to florida, where they have less of a problem. So the concept of quarantine was thrown out to me, really, they would love to do it, and i thought it was too much to do. Because people are doing a great job. Also, it is very hard to enforce. Reporter speaking about it publicly, letting it be known that is a consideration, do you think you may be frightening pres. Trump no, we made people aware to stay in their houses and do good. Now we have an advisory, a strong advisory. The governors are running the advisory, the three governors of new york, new jersey, connecticut. I think we did a great thing. All i did yesterday, as you know, and you can see it, you can read it, very simply, i said that we are looking into it. Then, before the end of the evening, substantially, we decided to go with the advisory, which frankly i liked from the beginning. Go ahead. Reporter thank you, mr. President. I have two questions. You have said repeatedly using you think that some of the equipment governors are requesting they dont actually , need. You said new york might not need 30,000 pres. Trump i didnt say that. Reporter you set it on sean hannity, fox news. Pres. Trump why dont you act in a little more positive . It is always trying to get you. Get you. Get you. Reporter my question to you. Pres. Trump thats why no one trusts the media anymore. Reporter my question. Pres. Trump thats why you used to work for the times and now you work for somebody else. Let me tell you. Be nice. Reporter mr. President. Pres. Trump dont be threatening. Be nice. Reporter my question, how will that impact how you fill orders for ventilators and masks . Pres. Trump theres a tremendous number of ventilators. We are producing a tremendous number of ventilators. We are doing a great job on it. Mike pence has headed up the task force. It has been incredible, the job they have done. We have everybody, the white house working on it, everybody in the country is working on this in one way or the other. The fact is, weve done a great job of delivering. You have seen the biggest people in the business we had a meeting at 3 00 that lasted for a long time. It was a great meeting. With the generals and everybody else. They have done a fantastic job. Im just saying this. If theyre holding, let me give you one example. We sent thousands of generators to new york. They were put into a warehouse, a new york warehouse that happened to be operated, interestingly, in edison, new jersey. They were given to new york, and then we went to other places also giving thousands of ventilators. The people in new york never distributed the generators. We said, why didnt you distribute them . Now, you have to understand, they had new york people working at the warehouses. We said, why didnt you distribute them . I hope they distributed them now, but maybe they didnt need them so badly. But just so you know, we are all me, everybody, we are all on the same team. When journalists get up, and you are a journalist, a fine journalist reporter sean hannity. Pres. Trump when journalists ask questions that are so threatening . Reporter i was quoting your interview with sean hannity. Pres. Trump take a look at the interview. What i want to do is, if there is something wrong, we have to get to the bottom of it. When i hear facemasks go from 10,000 to 300,000, and they constantly need more, and the biggest man in the business is allke, shocked he knows about the virus, by the way. He is not surprised that. He knows all about it. He shouldnt be surprised. He should say this is standard because this is a very tough disease, a tough virus to handle. Reporter mr. President , my second question pres. Trump thank you very much. Please, that is enough. That is not fair to your other reporters. It is not fair. You had a long time, a long question if we have time, i will get back to you for your second question. Reporter to follow up on previous questions, you said the peak will hit in to that weeks. Pres. Trump we dont know that. We think it will. Reporter you are saying it will hit in to that of weeks. Can you share with us your understanding of how bad it will be so the American People will be prepared for it . Pres. Trump i think i will ask doctor, and doctor, maybe they can come up and give their opinion on it reporter i have another question dr. Birx i have great concerns when you look at the chris murray model, where he shows a rapid escalation. You can see it happening. That the people we are losing every day throughout america. You can see it going up just like cases. We are starting to lose people at the same rate, and we deep concerns about that. We are meeting and we have had calls with clinicians, and that has been extraordinarily helpful. I think you are watching the alerts. We have a different population than italy or spain. Because of that, our doctors and our nurses are getting information back really quickly, so they can talk to each other about how to really combat this. We are seeing things here that werent reported in other countries. So i really want to appreciate i know doctors and nurses are going full out. But they are also taking the time in their two hours of sleep to read us about what might be happening. In the model, there is a large confidence interval. So, it is any were in the model, between 80,000 and 160,000, maybe even potentially 200,000 people succumbing to this, that is with litigation. In that model, they make full assumption that we continue doing exactly what youre doing but even better in every metro area, with a level of intensity, because we are hoping that the are not completely right, that we can do better than what the predictions are. We are tracking it very closely. There are people around the United States really helping us. Scientists across the country have given freely of their time to really help us not only model this but assure the American Public knows how important it is that they stay doing this. You could see from the recent data and i will have dr. Fauci talk about young people that are being impacted here. We did not see that the same way in europe. But our population is about eight or nine years younger. So we have to be attentive to all aspects of this, to children, young people, and adults. We know still, that people with preexisting conditions and the elderly are particularly at high risk. But we dont want to lose any american. That is why the president said at a minimum we have to continue doing what we have been doing , but even better. To every metro area out there, we have to do better. We have to ensure we are protecting each other. Dr. Fauci so, at the risk of offending my modeling colleagues, models are good but they generate the anxious question that you asked, how bad could this possibly got . Have said many, many times, a model is as good as the assumptions you put into the model. Many of these, assumptions are based on a complexity of issues that are not necessarily the same as dr. Birx said from one country to the other. When you give a model, you have the worst extreme, you have the best extreme. Often the worst extreme means that you dont do anything, as you said, you let it rip and let it go. If you go to the low end, you that means you have actually mitigated to the utmost. What i like to do as a scientist, physician, Public Health official is to not ignore models, but say, look at the data as it is evolving and do everything you possibly can to mitigate that, instead of getting over the anxious about the extremes of the model. ,gain, not to push them aside but the reason the president made the announcement today about going to the end of april is because we want to make sure we dont prematurely think we are doing so great. We might be, but we dont want to push it to the extreme. Take that with you and maybe you will be less anxious. Reporter on behalf of different pools, you mentioned italy. Pres. Trump just to finish, so, what both were saying, and what dr. Fauci brought up, we dont want to do well and to end end a little bit early and then have it start going up again because that would be a disaster. Reporter you mentioned italy. Italy is a close ally. They are facing catastrophic times. Pres. Trump yes. Reporter they have been receiving help from countries like russia, china and even cuba. Cuban doctors have been sent to italy. Is the United States stepping in to help . Pres. Trump yes we are. In fact, i met last night with our people. We are sending them a lot of Different Things that we are not needing, because we are obviously in need of a lot also, and we are also helping them monetarily. We are helping italy a lot. We are working closely with italy and spain. Which is really hit hard. We are working with everybody. I spoke with Angela Merkel the other day, germany is hit hard. Their mortality rate is different because they do more testing. Their mortality rate is much different. Italys mortality rate is very high. So is spain. We had a big meeting on it last week. Admiral giroir, would you talk a little bit about the tremendous success that has been made on testing from where we started . Adm. Giroir thank you, mr. President. As of close of business yesterday, we have been able to perform in the United States over 894,000 tests. So, highly significantly increased every single day. Those tests are performed at a number of places, in hospitals in your neighborhood, in public in stateboratories, Public Health laboratories, and as well as large reference laboratories. They have done 650,000 tests including 840,000 yesterday. I met with all of their ceos. They are fully committed to increasing testing to meet the requests and the demands of the president and Vice President. A couple of words on the point ofcare test. That means you stop and you get the result right there. Approved in record time by dr. Stephen hahn and the fda. This is a point of care test meaning from the time to swab, to the time you get a positive result, at most 15 minutes for a negative results. So just think of it as a 50 minute test. This is not an esoteric test. There are 18,000 of these little toaster sized machines all over the country and doctors offices and hospitals. And avid will be providing abbott will be providing 50,000 or more tests per day starting april 2 with first shipments out already. This complements other point of care testing like one we announced a week ago. The point of care. We have moderate platforms in hospitals and academic centers. We have very large tests. You heard about the roche tests and platforms in these big reference laboratories. So it is not just about the number, it is about painting this very complex system so that everybody who needs a test can get a test. On priorities, we are still prioritizing those in most need, those who are in hospital or in icus, because those tests make all the difference to how they are being treated. Symptomatic first responders, healthcare workers and administrator verma will always say, those in longterm care facilities who are at high risk. One last point, i have learned more about nasal swabs than i ever thought i would learn in my entire life, but it was a very big thing that the fda approved last week and it will now be in implemented this week. Instead of having a provider stick this into the back of your nose, that is uncomfortable but requires ppe changes every time it is done, the fda approved with a lot of data supporting it, self swab of your nose. So literally, put a swab in your plastic bag, in a give it in and drop it. This not only increases the speed but it eliminates all of the challenges of ppe. We will be implementing that which will increase speed but save our precious resources as we build them up in the stockpiles in our hospitals. Pres. Trump thank you, very much. Go ahead. Reporter mr. President , you mentioned that the peak could come in two weeks. Could you ensure that everyone that needs a ventilator, every single patient that needs one will get one . Will it get there in time . You said there are a couple of problem children that may require using your authority again. What are those companies . And what are they not needing . Pres. Trump those companies have come into line. They are working hard 24 hours around the clock so i dont want to give their names now because they have been great. And by the way General Motors is , doing a fantastic job. I dont think we have to worry about General Motors now. They have done a job. And what the admiral said also this,ink we can add admiral, the reason were showing more cases is because we are doing more testing than anybody in the world. We have more cases because we are doing far more testing than anybody in the world. Remember, we are starting with a system that was broken for many years. For many years, it was broken. Im not blaming the last administration. Im saying other administrations and our pipeline had little in it. Just like we had no ammunition. We had very little medical, in our pipeline. Now we have ammunition or that now we have ammunition, more than hopefully we will ever need. We also have a pipeline that is packed three and now we have those 10,000 ventilators we can use. This goes quickly from place to place. I would love to give them all i dont want, but to give them out and then we take them back to move them somewhere else. So we are very much prepared. Please. Reporter mr. President , states like florida have reportedly had 100 of their requests for supplies from the National Strategic stockpile filled but others like massachusetts have not. How is that assessment being made and why has florida gotten its request . Pres. Trump a think you will find that almost all states look, i was on a call yesterday with the governors, and they were very happy with the job we are doing. If you had a different administration, they would not have been. These are people that speak their mind. It was falsely reported by a ,ouple of people that, oh, gee they werent they were happy. They were thrilled. Florida has been taken care of and michigan has been taken care of. It is important because im proud of what we have done bringing Car Companies into michigan. Now we are dealing with the governor, and i think, i can say that a lot of good things are happening in michigan. Dealingsetts, we are with the governor strongly and we are trying to get things to massachusetts as rapidly as possible. Reporter why has florida received 100 of its request compared to other states . Pres. Trump florida, look. They are very aggressive and they are doing a good job. I think i can say all of the governors are very committed. We are very committed and working together. We are doing things at a level no one has ever seen before. You can speak to fedex, you can week to ups, they have never done anything like this like what they are doing right now. Nobody in the world has been able to match what these Great Companies have been able to do. If we left that to government, it would have been a tough thing. We have mobilized private enterprise, mobilized the greatest companies in the world. And what is happening is incredible. That includes abbott. Where abbott comes out out of nowhere, comes up with this incredible test that simplifies and makes it so easy. So i think most states are very happy. Im dealing with the governor of louisiana. Ohn bel edwards he is a democrat if that is what youre getting at i think user happy. Is amazed by what he was able to get. We were forward thinking. I suggested we send additional ventilators and other things. We are building a hospital in louisiana. We are building hospitals in new jersey. Governor murphy of new jersey is a terrific guy, and he wants the best you know, he has got a pretty hot spot near new york. We are doing hospitals. We are doing ventilators. We are getting a lot to governor murphy. That is new jersey. Reporter may i ask pres. Trump last night i spoke to the governor of connecticut. We are really doing a job. Ofk, Governor Newsom california has been terrific. We sent him a boat ahead of schedule. The hospital ship. The mercy. With 1000 beds, operating rooms. It has been in l. A. For three days already. I think they are really happy. When you think about it, in new york, we built 2900 hospital rooms and beds. No one has ever seen that before. The government has never done anything like that before. This was done by federal government, not state government. They are opening it tomorrow. I wanted to be there so badly but secret service and all of the people involved wont let me. They wont. I would love to be there, but they wont lets me, for obvious reasons. I would have loved to have been at the opening of the hospital tomorrow in new york, at javits center. We are very proud of the job we have done. We mobilized, Getting Better and better every day. The task force headed by your Vice President. The job they have done and they dont even sleep. Ok, any questions . Reporter may i follow up on the letter you sent to governors . You sent a letter saying you guys were going to be developing criteria to be able to classify counties based on, whether they were hotspots or whatnot. I wanted to know, if you have enough test currency to be able to accurately rank those counties. Pres. Trump yeah. We are ranking counties. We are ranking states. A lot of people put out false information because they dont know what they are talking about. We took over a dead, barren system. We took over a system that was obsolete. It was good for a tiny little sample of people. And even that did not work. Because when the c. D. C. First looked at their test, the biggest problem they had was the test didnt work. That wasnt from us. That has been there a long time. Now we have the best tests in the world. Nobody has they are calling, can we get the quick test . We call it the quick test. By the way, probably more accurate, and it takes a few minutes. I think it is Pretty Amazing what we have done. We are getting along great with the governors. Go ahead. Reporter thank you so much. I wanted to ask you more specifically about the strategy you plan to unveil on tuesday. What factors are you taking into consideration . What can the American People expect . And is it possible that these april 30 guidelines could be extended . Pres. Trump we hope not, but we think it is going to we have aspirational thoughts and we would have loved to have been a little bit sooner. We have to do it right. We could have done it on easter. But there was a good chance that if it is coming down or going up, maybe it will be coming down by a, but we felt it was too soon. We cannot take a chance. Again, because of what we have done and the fact that we have stopped the flow from china so early because the question is, from a lot of our friends, why dont we just wing it . I kept asking. And we did models now. Finally we got these in. You hear about the 2. 2 Million People would have died. I dont mean he would have had 2. 2 million cases. 2. 2 Million People would have died. 2. 2 Million People look. We are going to have a meeting, speech, press conference or something on tuesday. I thought what i would do, i was going to announce the end of april on tuesday, but i said, lets do it now, because somewhere along the line, it is going to leak. We might as well do it now. It is nice and clean. We have to really do a great job for another couple of weeks. And i think we are going to be in great shape. We are going to be in position even with what were trying to restaurants, we have to get these restaurants back in. We have to get our business is open. We have to get our planes flying. We have to get the crew ships getse ships we have to those cruise ships moving along. We had the greatest economy in the history of the world three weeks ago and now we have said , please dont work anymore. Were actually paying people not to work. Nobody has ever heard of that. At the same time, i am so glad fauci and dr. Brooks give us a number. Dont know, but the number is 2. 2 Million People would have died if we didnt do what we are doing. Now we are looking at numbers that will be much lower than that. It makes everything we are doing feel much better to me. Please, go ahead. Reporter thank you. I have a question for you but i would let to let my colleague yamiche finish what she was asking. Mr. President , you have said more people would die from the economic tragedies and problems in america due to the coronavirus outbreak. What Health Officials are telling you that, and dr. Fauci, could you speak to the idea that there might be mentalhealth and thatde related to this might outpace the impact of the virus on the society . Pres. Trump i will ask dr. Fauci to come up, but it is common sense. You will have depression in the economy, but you will have mental depression for people, you will have large numbers of suicides. Take a look at what happens in a really horrible recession or worse. So you are going to have tremendous suicides. But you know what you will have more than anything else drug addiction. You will see drugs being used like nobody has ever used them before. People will be dying all over the place from drug addiction, because you have people that had a wonderful job at a restaurant, or even owned a restaurant i spoke to rate people today that it in a great job but one day , at the top of the business, andbrity chefs at the top, one day they have nothing. They got wiped out one day, from this invisible, horrible scourge. When he ask me that, it is so easy to figure that. I mean, massive drug use or did massive mental depression, massive numbers of suicide. Anxiety causes disease they say. A lot of people you are going to have tremendous. And hopefully we are not going to have that, because hopefully, what were doing, we get the best of both worlds. We dont have 2. 2 million deaths. We have a number that is much , much less. And at the same time, we get a country running again. Please. Thank you. Reporter you were next. He was very nice in doing it, nonetheless. Which is unusual for cnn. Reporter two quick questions. First of all, during this 30day additional period, do you anticipate relaxing it by region . Pres. Trump i dont think so. It is a great question, actually. I asked that the same. I said how about nebraska . How about idaho . How about iowa qui . . You know what, those people are so great. In the midwest. They dont want to be in that position. And i was getting pretty strong look by these two people. They said, we dont like that idea. We are relying on them. They are the best in their profession and they didnt like the idea. Reporter secondly sir, i would like to ask you about rter and we pres. Trump and we could do it, but i dont think it would be good. Reporter i want to ask about comments on friday. You said i want them to be appreciative. You said, if they dont treat you right these are direct quotes. Pres. Trump ready . Take a look at what i said. I want them to be appreciative of me. And then you cut it off because it is fake news let me finish. You said it again. You know the answer is a lie. Reporter i could read you your full comment, sir. Pres. Trump let me finish. Your statement and your whole answer is a lie. Here is the story. You ready . I said, i want you to be appreciative of me and you go on and i go on and you cut it off. Reporter you said, i dont want of them to say things that are not true, i want them to be appreciative. We have done a great job. Im not talking about me, im talking about mike pence, the army corps of engineers. Pres. Trump thank you. Reporter that then he went on to say, if they dont treat you right, i dont call pres. Trump i dont call the governor of washington mike pence calls, the head of f. E. M. A. Calls, i dont stop them. Did i ever ask you to do anything negative . Michigan, i love that state. That is one of my Favorite Places in the world, michigan. Im so proud of what has happened with the auto industry. It is coming back to michigan. I dont have to call, because i am probably better off, because he is a failed president ial candidate. He is a nasty person. So i get mike pence to call. So i get the head of f. E. M. A. To call. The admiral to call. What you didnt say you talked about, i have to be appreciated. But then, when you read the rest, it said, because if you dont appreciate, youre not respecting these incredible people, the two admirals, you are not appreciating f. E. M. A. And the army corps of engineers who built 2900 beds in 3. 5 days. You are not appreciating these incredible people from private enterprise that are delivering things in numbers nobody has ever seen. See . And that is why people are not watching cnn very much anymore. That is why they dont like it. That is why your ratings are not good. You even, after knowing the truth for days now, you bring up the old lie. Read the rest of your question, the rest of your statement, you did not put in. You have to put that in. And it said in there, f. E. M. A. Re, the armye corps of engineers. When they disrespect me, they are disrespecting our government. And you know what . I dont mind if i am disrespected, but they cant disrespect the army corps of engineers and f. E. M. A. Reporter why is a lack of pres. Trump i want them to appreciate it. We are doing a job the likes of which has never been done before. There are a couple of people that know that. But for political reasons lets , say they are democrats. They dont want to give this administration credit. But that is ok. But i dont have to deal with them, that is why our Vice President deals with them. But that is why cnn is not trusted anymore. They are fake news. Remember that. Yes, you are. Go ahead. Reporter thank you. I wanted to ask about the extension of the c. D. C. Guidelines you enough today through the nex end of next month. You know there have been shelter shelter in place orders that have been imposed by governors and mayors throughout the country. When you take that into account, it sounds like an seems like you have knowledge about america will be shut down for the next few weeks and maybe the next two months. You mentioned june 1 as a date in which pres. Trump no, we think it will really start to open up. We think that will be the bottom of the hill, that is what we are looking at, june 1. If we had done nothing, the hill would be up here. We did a lot. We did just about maximum. And we got lucky because we stopped china from coming in, then later, we stopped europe. We got lucky. We got very lucky. The people that were coming in here, they went to italy and spain had other countries. We got lucky. They got unlucky. To be honest with you. You look at what is going on in italy and spain in particular. So i dont want that. June 1, we think we can reach the bottom of that hill in that june 1. Would be a great thing. I have confidence in the two doctors. Day that could be a it could be sooner, could be later, that it could be sooner. That i think people would be very happy if we did a job and saved potentially millions of lives, i think people would be very happy with that date. Go ahead. Reporter my question has to do with the 2. 2 trillion relief bill you signed into law. In your view, do you think that another relief bill, another bill may be necessary, and are you prepared to support that . Pres. Trump im prepared to do numberr is necessary to, one, save lives, number two, bring our economy back strong as it was before. Our economy has a chance to be just as good and even better. A lot of the money you read , that is all coming back. These are loans to Great Companies that got stopped from doing business. They will be back very soon. Much of the money where talking about, that money is coming back. And we will take warrants, that means we will take pieces of the company for the taxpayers of our nation. I expect we will make a lot of money with that money. I dont even want to talk about making money. I want to talk about two things. Number one is saving lives and number two is bringing our economy back. I think we are going to do very well. A lot of the money is coming back. Please. Reporter thank you. Earlier this afternoon, you had tweeted, there are an average 8. 5 million americans tuned in to these daily press briefings, but some networks are concerned about taking these these briefings. Pres. Trump i know what you are saying. I have read that cnn doesnt want to cover them. Except they cant help it because their ratings are so high. If the ratings were low, they wouldnt be here. This man wouldnt be here. In 100 years you can bet he would never be here. With cnn and all of their cameras, if because we help their ratings. We lift up their ratings because they are so low. For the most part i have not heard that. The Washington Post has a drive on to not go to the president of the United States News Conference because so many people are watching. We are getting the word out. We are getting the accurate word out. And a lot of people are happy about it. And a lot of people arent. But they should be happy. When i have the general, when i have f. E. M. A. , and when i have tony, and when i have our , myedible these are all people that have become big stars. Ok . They have done a great job. Deborah has done a fantastic all these people. They dont want to be stars. They want to win the battle. They have been fighting this their whole life between ebola , and swine flu, and i dont know i am not sure i would love your life, but that is what they like. That is what they do. They fight disease. There is nobody that does it better. I think the American Public ultimately they should be the decider. Its like, if they dont want to watch, they shouldnt watch. We should not have bigger ratings than the bachelor the New York Times said, we have monday night football type ratings. I dont know what they are, but i know that the times, they say it is all the news that is fit to print. I say it is all the news that is not fit to print. Because i think they are not honest people. But thats ok. But they cant help it. Even they said that the ratings are like monday night football ratings, that these are like bachelor finales. When the big deal happened, i have no idea. Because i am too busy working on this. Someday you will tell me what happened. But i think it is terrible. When they dont want the president of the United States to have a voice, you are talking about democracy any longer. Please read and you very much. Reporter you talk a lot about [indiscernible] thanks, mr. President. You have talked a lot about concerns about leaving for so long. Was there any dissent from your top economic advisers in your decision to leave the guidelines in place until the end of april . Pres. Trump no. This is before we heard the 2. 2 Million People. We heard people who were saying that maybe we shouldnt do anything, just ride it. They say ride it like a cowboy. , ride that sucker right through. That is where the 2. 2 Million People come in. Would have died, 1. 6 million to 2. 2 million. That is not acceptable. People said i thought about it. We should ride through. You know, you always hear about the flu. I talk about it all the time. We had a bad flu season. We are in the midst of a bad flu season this year. We had a bad season last year, a bad flu season. 35,000, 36,000, 37,000 people die, sometimes more, sometimes less. Part of this is the unknown. Part of it also is the viciousness of it. I had a friend who went to a hospital the other day. He is a little older and he is heavy. But he is a tough person. He went to a hospital, and a day later, he is in a coma. I ask, how is he doing . Ir, he is in a coma he is not doing well. And the viciousness, especially if it gets the right person, it is horrible. It is really horrible. Yes, please. Reporter mr. President , we have heard some rumors louisiana is going to get hard hit next because of the possibility of that mardi gras have you seen any data to back that up and whether it is contributing to the spike pres. Trump i do think it is a rumor, i think it is a fact. Louisiana has been hit hard. It is an example, it started so long ago. I spoke to the governor. But deborah or tony, any either of you would like to talk . Dr. Birx you know, i think you heard us talk about a week ago that we were very worried about the numbers and how they were increasing in louisiana, how they were increasing in dearborn and detroit, and i think those are areas that we are still watching very carefully. Like the president said, when people get this virus, some of them do very poorly. When certain metro areas get exposed to the various, we see this really very rapid expansion of the virus. We think it may have been circulating therefore a couple of weeks. We dont like to i dont like to look backwards, i only like to look forwards. We are putting all of our efforts into ensuring that the people of new orleans and of the detroit region, and frankly the people of new york, some of the fastestgrowing counties are not new york itself. New york city, when you look at the par 100,000, it is rockland, it is bergen. Places are all of thes transitedt have through cities. That is why we wanted the travel advisory to warn people, watch out for their own health, to take their temperatures. 50, 100, 500from cases, and the next thing you know, it is 2000, 4000, 10,000. Because it then gets across all communities people get very , sick. Fauci you know, you made the comment about new orleans. This can happen anywhere. That is really one of the issues that we are concerned about, and why we were so reluctant to pull back in the time we need to put a foot on the gas as opposed to on the brake. And this is exactly what you see. There are a number of communities, cities and states in which they are trickling along like that. Dont get complacent about that , because that is exactly the way the virus works. It goes like this then like this , then it goes up like that. That is exactly what happened in new orleans, and that is exactly what happened in a terrible way in new york. This is what we are trying to avoid in multiple locations. We should not take any solace when we see the levels in different areas, because they are very vulnerable to an explosion. Reporter mr. President , real quick, i asked the Vice President of week ago and i think we talked about it as well, you took the test. Did you have a chance to take it again . Does it get easier the next time around . Pres. Trump i think i am waiting for that little 45 minute test, now down to five minutes i understand. No, i havent. But i think i will take it again. If it is appropriate. I dont feel there is any symptoms. Have you noticed any sniffles . Nothing, right . So. So far, i havent felt that way. But there was a big point made recently i think it still holds, take the test if you need it. If you have the symptoms. If you dont, dont take it. That is put out by the professionals. I would take it. I wanted to say one thing about what tony had mentioned. I grew up in queens, new york , and right next to a place called elmhurst, cleaned. They have a hospital that is a very good hospital. I have known it, i know where it is. I can tell you the color on the outside, the size of the windows. I know it very well. Near my community, where i lived. I have been watching that for the last week on television, body bags all over. In hallways. I have been watching them bring in trailer trucks, freezer trucks. Freezer trucks, because they cant handle the bodies, there are so many of them. , essentially in my community, in queens, new york. I have seen things i have never seen before. I mean, have seen them on television in faraway lands. I have never seen them in our country. Elmhurst hospital, unbelievable , people. I mean, when they see the trucks up to take out bodies, trucks as long as the rose garden, pulling up to take out bodies and you look inside and see the black body bags, you say , whats in there . Must we supplies it is not supplies, it is people. I have never seen anything like it. These people are doing a fantastic job. And somebody else who is doing a fantastic job is sitting here, who is the head of the task force. I would like to ask mike, what do you think about what we have done, and where do you think we are going, and how do you feel also . You have studied this so closely, how do you feel about . He curve and the june 1 date that is very aspirational, but i think it is really modified aspirational. I think they are going to hit it and maybe even beat it. Mike, please. Vp pence thank you, mr. President. Let me join you in thanking the American People. For the efforts the people in this nation have made over the past 15 days, and that we know they will continue to make over the next 30. You heard the president speak today about the modeling. On tuesday, he will share with the nation in full range of counsel of the team he assembled , now months ago at the White House Coronavirus task force. They will lay out to the country what could have been or what we are continuing to work to make a reality. But in the meantime, every american, i think every american should have a grateful heart. First and foremost, to all of the incredible Health Care Workers that are on the front lines in places like elmhurst and elsewhere, every single day, irks said, getting a few hours of sleep in getting right back to work. They are the hands and feet of american compassion. I want to say on behalf of your president , on behalf of a grateful nation, that we are with you. We will continue to work tirelessly with these outstanding leaders and f. E. M. A. , to make sure you have the protective equipment to be able to do your job safely and go home to your family, we will continue to work with these incredible distributors. Literally, the aircraft that landed at jfk this morning is the first of 51 aircraft that are going to be coming in from around the world, all heading to support Health Care Workers and people on the front lines. Our Health Care Workers and people on the front lines. I want to say thank you to american businesses whose generosity is shining forth every day. The two Insurance Companies you mentioned have waived copays and are writing full coronavirus for people americans who are enduring this virus are experiencing. American businesses like those so well represented are stepping up every day with a spirit the likes of which we havent seen for quite a while in this country. It is truly inspiring. You said you wanted to make sure that we are working with local officials and to all of you managing your states and government in those Health Care Policies on the local level, you had our admiration and our commitment to be with you. With the president laid out while i am is sure for Many Americans we were hoping we would be with this sooner, there may be a modest sense of frustration and disappointment, but what i hear speaking to these l care experts is that there is light at the end of the tunnel and as the American People continue to put in the coronavirus guidelines from the president , each one of us continues to do our part, social distancing, avoiding groups of more than 10, using a drivethrough, avoiding unnecessary travel. As every american listens to leaders to heat the travel advisory from the cdc , we will hasten the day we got to the other side of this, as the president said and we truly that is every american continues to put these guidelines into practice as everyone continues to do our part, that we will get through this. The American People know how tall the hill is. We have never failed to get over it. Thisyour leadership and Extraordinary Team and the great leadership at state and local levels and partnerships with american businesses and the cando spirit with the American People, we will get through this and we will get through this together. Pres. Trump thank you very much, like. Want mike. I just want to end by saying we are all in this together, all of us. Ive never seen anything like it, the unity, the spirit, i have never seen anything like it. It is a beautiful thing to watch. Unfortunately the enemys death. A lot of people are dying. It is a very unpleasant thing to go through. But the level of competence and caring and love i just think it is brilliant. It is possibly happening in other countries, i dont know. I cant speak to other countries but i can speak to the United States of america. I said it before and i will say it again, i am very proud to be your president thank you very much. I am wondering if i should remove myself from just to carry out orders that we have at work and stay safe and be home. Do you believe that a leftwing National Healthcare system like they have in the United Kingdom and cuba, for example, could have helped get everybody on the same page . Could you get that from money, being the money goes to so many ends. Questions. Perts your join our live conversation every orning on washington journal that starts at 7 00 a. M. Eastern and more conversations weeknights at 8 00 p. M. Eastern for washington journal primetime. Television has changed since topan began but we continue provide an unfiltered view of government. We brought your primary election coverage, the president ial impeachment process and now the coronavirus. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs on television, online, or listen on our free app and be part of the national or througho social media cspan, created by private industry, americas Television Company and brought to you by your television provider. Pres. Trump going big, we can do it two ways. We can keep going back every day, every week. We are going big. That is where mitch mcconnell,