Transcripts For CSPAN White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing 20240713

Are interesting and going down and going in the right direction. Cases in the boston area are now declining. The chicago curve appears to have flat yepped and detroit has past its peak. These trends demonstrate our strategy to battle the virus is working and more states will oon be in a position to safely reopen. Very exciting, watching what is happening and people are getting ready and all excited. Robertnt to mention, dr. Redfield was totally misquoted in the media about the fall season and the virus. Totally misquoted. I spoke to him and he said it was ridiculous. He was talking about the flu and coronavirus coming together at the at the same time. And we will knock it out. Well knock it out fast. Thats what he was referring to. Coming together at the same time. And rather than waiting, i would ask dr. Redfield to to straighten out. He didnt say it was a big explosion. The headline in the Washington Post was ridiculous, which is, as i say, fake news and crmp nn is fake news, which they new. They were asked to containing it and they wouldnt do it. And it was false. I will ask dr. Redfield who is a real professional to come up and xplain, thank you. Dr. Redfield thank you, mr. President. I think it is important to clarify this as we build the confidence of the American People. When i commented yesterday there was a possible bigot of a fallwinter to be more difficult, more complicated and we had two respiratory illnesses circulating, flu and the coronavirus 19. But it is important to emphasize. I didnt say this was going to be worse. I said it was going to be more difficult. And potentially complicated because we will have flu and coronavirus circulating at the same time. I want to emphasize we build the Public Health infrastructure to ensure that we have the capacity to stay in the containment mode. Those of you who heard me before, january and february, up to february 27, february 28, we had 14 cases, we were in the containment mode and the virus overwhelmed. We are building that Public Health Care Capacity to patriotic sure we stay in the containment mode for the upcoming fall and winter season so we will not need to resort to the kind of hit depation we had through this spring. I have confidence in early case recognition, isolation and Contact Tracing combined with our plans for increases surveillance particularly for the most vulnerable will be an effective Public Health strategy so our nation will be able to maintain itself in the containment mode. Again, that will be supported by the American Publics continued cooperation. Obviously in the areas of personal hygiene and the types of social distancing strategies that may be appropriate. The key to my comments and the reason that i really wanted to stress them was to appeal to the American Public to embrace the flu vaccine with confidence. One of the debatest tools we have going through the fallwinter season is to get the American Public to embrace the influenza vaccine and minimize the impact of flu to be the corespiratory disease ta we confront. Indiscernible] President Trump he was misquoted. He said they could come together. And his whole purpose in make inthe statement was to get a flu shot so that next fall, you dont have such a big season of flu. And we possibly wont. Its possible if the coronavirus will come back and he doesnt know if it will come back. And he spoke at great length and the doctor will continue, we will have embers of corona. Flu is very different from coronavirus. Reporter dr. Redfield, the Washington Post, which we did an interview they quoted you that the possibility of the assault of this will be even more difficult than the one we just went through and when i said to this others and they didnt understand what i mean. We are going to have the flu ep demic and coronavirus epidemic at the same time, is that what you said to the Washington Post . Red reasonable degree the issue i was saying to you about being more difficult, we will have two viruses circulating at the same time. This spring that we just went through, february, we had the benefit of having the flu season ended so we could use our Surveillance Systems to say this is coronavirus. Next fall and winter, we are going to have viruses irculating and we will have to distinctish which is flu and what is the coronavirus. It will be more impossible. Doesnt mean its going to be more as people have said worse, it means more difficult because we have to distinctish between the two. And what i want to do here is appeal to the American Public they can help with mitigation. I need them to help prepare us to get the flu vaccine and get it out of the picture. Reporter you were accurately quoted in the Washington Post . Dr. Redfield i was accurately quoted in the Washington Post. Reporter second wave of coronavirus is likely to be more devastating, is that what you said . [indiscernible] dr. Redfield i think the American Public is going to heed the request to relook at their Vaccine Hesitancy and im confident that the Public Health infrastructure that we are putting together now across this country so we can early case site diagnose and contact trace, olympic and tackle, block and tackle, that system is going to be there and we are going to be able to contain this virus. Indiscernible] reporter we talked about this yesterday. Dr. Birx someone used the word devastating and i want to emphasize to the American Public when we interacted with this virus for the first time in february and maritime frame, we didnt have an understanding of he transmission and all of its symptoms. We do now and what we are building together and when we talk about the Public Health infrastructure, it is working on the surveillance piece. But we also know the strength of the American People and their ability to immediately understand how to protect themselves with not touching their face, making sure they are washing their hands but the other piece i wanted to talk about and we mentioned, that we have the summer and we have flu surveillance and utilize, we have all of that time to prepare clearly the testing that you would need in a flu if covid came back, foningsly. So we are preparing for that popings right now. And we spoke to you all about that and talked about how we are not only preparing for today and tomorrow but six months from now, three months from now and making sure all of these pieces are in place. What dr. Redfield was asking tore just like we asked for every american to follow the guidelines, he is saying add to that guideline getting a flu shot. [indiscernible question] dr. Birx we could prevent and decrease both of those things. We are assured that the c. D. C. Is putting in place today what we are going to need in the fall so that we can stay in containment if potentially the virus comes back. If it comes back, it wont be coming back in the form that it was, it will be coming back in smaller doses that we contain. What the doctor was saying, he was saying if it should come back. Now you have the flu and the corona. It can not be anything like anything we have seen right now. What we have just gone through, we will not gone through. You could have embers and have a big flu system and if they combine and come together, its not great, but we will not go through what we went through the last two months, is that correct . I understand the United States will be more prepared in the fall but how can you say it wont come back in the same level that it has today . President trump it President Trump it may not come back at all, you may have a flu and if it does come back and i have spoken to 10 different people, not like what it was. We have much better containment. Nobody knew anything about it. We understand it. Now if we have pockets, a Little Pocket here, it will be put out and going to put out fast. It is also possible it doesnt come back at all. Reporter i dont understand how you know it wont come back . President trump it wont come back on anything near what we went through. But you could have a mess when they come at the same time. If they come at the same time, the flu is not the greatest thing in the world. If you have them both. If we have embers of corona coupled with the flu, that is not going to be pleasant but not going to be what we have gone through in any way shape or form. [indiscernible] why are you still taxpayer dollars going through ventilators . President trump Something Else could come. We didnt know about corona and now we know about corona. N1 swine flu e h1 and other things that happened. Nothing like what we have had here with the virus. But something could happen. I think that the stockpiles, we are making hundreds of thousands of ventilators. Nobody writes about that. All they talk was ventilators because you didnt think it was possible for me to solve that problem and i solved that. And nobody believed it. I talked to World Leaders who need veapts and said the job and we are sending 500 to mexico and another 500 to france and sending some to spain and italy and being made by the thousands. World leaders, i spoke to the Prime Minister i went through a lot of different calls today, i wont even tell. I went go through, i spoke to pakistan. We are go tg to get them some ventilators and they said, it was incredible you solved the ventilator problem. The testing problem, you have done more than any other nation in the world. If you add up the testing of every nation in the world, we have done substantially more than that. You people arent satisfied. Lets say we have 350 Million People in the United States and gave every one of those people a test 10 times and 350 people a test 10 times, the Fake News Media would say, he didnt do his job. Trump didnt do his job. You have a lot of bad reporting. Its not true. Its not true. President trump lets get to another subject. We can get to it later. But i want the Vice President. You want to get the news accurately. If you look at what you wrote about the ventilators and when we became the king of veapts and making different factories, by the thousands. Mike got back from wisconsin, i said hows it going . He said you arent going to believe. He saw a plant, a factory where they are making ventilators. He said it was unbelievable when he saw the quality of the equipment and professionalism, a tremendous number of workers . Vice president pence over 500. Doubled production. President trump nobody thought this could be done. The fake news is unhappy. But you dont ask me about ventilators. You never mention it. What a great job we have done with veapts. We are supplying ventilators all over the wolved, because no other country could have done. You say trump was slow. We were so fast and we put the ban on so much earlier when nancy pelosi, when she is having er rally in San Francisco in chinatown, nobody wants to say that. If we didnt close our country to china, we would have been so infected like nobody has ever seen. When you saw the chart and we were at the top of the list in terms of success, nobody wrote it. I said is anybody going to use that chart. Nobody read it. Germany and our country, the most successful. Nobody read it. It would be great if you wrote the truth. Lets get on with it and i want mike to speak on the assumption and i think you probably will. Been encouraging to watch states to open up. Its a beautiful thing to see as restrictions are lifted. We must maintain vigilance and continue practicing social distancing. I thank the governors and i want to remind americans to adhere to our guidelines, very important. The governors are going to adhere or going to do what they think is best. I want them to think what is best but i think they will. Wash your hands and avoid physical contact and wear a Face Covering and social distancing. There are cases. We have flattened the curve but we must guard against a rebound. We dont want a rebound. The doctor doesnt want a rebound. These people dont want a rebound. You, especially. We dont want rebounds. After all this death, death that we have suffered. Death that was unnecessary. Should have never happened. Should have never left that little area where it started. You know it, i know it and they know it. In our war against the virus, we continue to make Great Strides on testing. Famous testing. More than anybody else. Nothing funny about that, john. Most of the governors have never faced a situation like this before. But we are helping them find unused Testing Capacity. Tremendous testing capacities and additional capabilities are coming online every day. Are coming up with new labt aquifment, onsite, five minutes, great success. Everyone wants it. But you can make so many of those machines. We have many forms of testing and many machines that do it quickly and by the millions, by the millions. Our task force issued its reopening guidelines earlier to give governors the time they needed to develop testing capability and capacity and customized plans nor their states. We have had governors who have done a fantastic job on testing. I spoke Governor Cuomo was here and we had a great conversation on testing and they are doing a great job in new york. And we are working with each of the states to help them succeed. I spoke earlier today with governor new some from california and that was all about testing. He has been scaling up really well. And i agreed to help him get some of the critical supplies to make use of the tremendous capacity that they found. A tremendous Testing Capacity and im going to do it very quickly. We are going to get imquickly. He understands that. And he has done a great job. We will have it to him over the next two days and beef it up the following week. Done a terrific job in california. Some of the governors have done a fantastic job. I told the governor of georgia that i disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities which are in violation of the phase one guidelines for the incribble people of georgia. They are incredible people. I love those people. They are great. They have been strong, resolute, but at the same time, he must do what he thinks is right. I want him to do what he thinks is right, but i disagree what he is doing. I see something egregious but spas and beauty salons and tattoo parallel oost and barber shops in phase one its just too soon. I think it is too soon. I love the people. I love those people that use those spass and the beauty parlors and barber shops and tattoo parallel oost. They can wait a little bit longer because safety has to predominate. We have to have that. So i told the governor that i disagree with his decision, but he has to do what he thinks is right. In the coming weeks, the air force thunderbirds are incredible and the Navy Blue Angels equally incredible, will be performing air shows over americas major cities and some of the cities that arent major cities. They will be doing a work. Dangerous flying. Its dangerous when you start going at massive speeds and you are 18 inches away from each other and that is dangerous work. Your son is a great pilot and i dont know could he be a thunderbird . I think he probably could. I dont know if i would want him to be. It is incredible and the sacrifice on our front line and paying tribute to our front line. Health care workers confronting covid and signal for all americans to remain vigilant is a tribute to our warriors and the pilots and the fighters that we have for the more traditional fights that we win and we win. We want to win, we always win. Sometimes we want to win and just go to a field. But thats also not the way this country works. Operation america strong was the idea of our great military men and women. The thunderbirds and blue angel crews wanted to show support to our Health Care Workers in the time of war are racing toward the fight. I want to see those shows. I want to see those shows. On july 4, we will be doing what we had at the mall and last year was a tremendous success and i would imagine and use the term forever as a great success. Even it was pouring and raining so hard, it was raining it was about as hard as i have seen in a while. Amazing success. Didnt bother the pilots or the military or the crews. We will be doing that again on july 4. Our great military is operating at 100 during this crisis and thousands of troops are deployed along side civilians and the covid hot spots when i spoke ith Governor Cuomo and gavin newsom, they wanted to know if we could have medical help with the military and every case, they said fantastic. I mean, just fantastic. Mayor de blasio said he was inspiring to watch. He said it gave everybody spirit when he saw the professionalism and spirit. They walk in and help a lot of people, doctors, nurses, respiratory technicians and professionals. It was an incredible thing. Everybody that saw them going to work said it was something special. We willville tremendous air shows throughout our country and thats an honor of what we are all going through together ap the people helping us all so much and unfortunately the people who have passed away from something that should never have been allowed to happen. Following around the clock negotiations, the senate reflen issued the Paycheck Program so additional workers can keep getting a paycheck. We increased it by 310 billion. I urge the house to pass the bill without delay. In our first round of funding we provided 350 billion and went at record speed to American Workers and Small Businesses. And its really been an incredible success. I want to thank the banks, big banks, little banks, community banks, who were fantastic. And as you know, this was an interesting story in recent days. I called for harvad, harvad university, which has a 40 billion Endowment Fund to return the money that was allocated under the cares act and harvard has announced that they will not accept the funds nor will Stanford University or many of he others that were involved and some of the companies were bigger than people had represented or bigger than people had thought and Strong Enough that they didnt need the money. There is a certain amount of money that we are not sending. As soon as i heard it, i said stop funds and for the most part, i guess they stopped it, right, mike . They are not accepting the money and thats great. I want to thank and stanford and the other companies. I have spoken differently between colleges and companies, but i want to thank the companies and the other great universities. The legislation passed by the senate yesterday also reserves 30 billion in loans for small Financial Institutions such as minority and distressed communities. We are determined to protect our africanamerican, hispanicamerican who have been hit so hard by this hidden enemy. A administration is pursuing strategy in these communities supporting both health and economic revite lization. My administration is providing the testing that needed to fight the virus in distressed communities. In the last month we have sent 1. 4 billion to 13,000 Community Health centers to increase testing and treatment in the underserved areas. We are expanding access to telehealth. Telehealth has become a big deal. Because of this, it has become a big thing. People cant leave their houses and didnt want to leave their houses including wanting to follow the guidelines. The legislation passed by the senate and i want to thank everybody great, great. As you know, it was a unanimous vote, but the legislation passed by the senate yesterday includes 25 billion to further expand testing and provides even more funding for Community Health centers in various forms of epidemics and pandemics and we will be working on that because as i took your questions before, we want to work on that in the future and hope it doesnt happen again every ever. 1917 is a long time ago. So we want to be prepared and we are prepared. We are building up hospitals, not only our stockpiles but also hospital stockpiles. We are getting them what they need. We are working out cost arrangements with them and getting them the ventilators which is the hardest thing for them to get. Orking closely with governors to ensure they have the testing, infrastructure in place to reduce further spread of the virus if they are so inclined to use the testing apparatus and strategies for older individuals, lowincome americans, minorities and native americans. As part of the effort, the White House Task force set up by mike who has been incredible. Mike pence has done an incredible job. Really an incredible job. He is providing Technical Assistance to all 50 states through phone calls as they implement their plans. My administration is committed to restoringing black and hispanic communities to full economic health. Want to be healthy economicly and physically. Im directing the white house opportunity and revitalization community to refocus its effort to supporting underserved opportunities impacted. Ben carson is working on that with mike and myself and a lot of other people. I will ask tim scott who was helpful with the opportunity zones and tim scott is fantastic and i will ask him to get involved with you and im sure he would be willing to do it from south carolina. I ask the counsel what additional funding will be required from congress beyond what has been provided. We are building a strong base and building ourselves a wall that is very different from the wall you have been hearing me talking about. It performs the same function and hopefully it will perform it equally as well. Furthermore, the council will seek input how we can help distressed communities. Im determined to deliver a great future for americans of every race, religion, color and creed. Before our nation was attacked by this horrible enemy, our africanamerican and hispanicamerican citizens were prospering like never before. Best employment numbers ever. Not only africanamerican, asia ianamerican and hispanicamerican were breaking records with over 160 million employed. And we are breaking a higher stock markets, highest numbers of every kind and i think we will be back there and it will be much sooner than later and we will surpass those numbers. But i will not rest until that prosperity is fully restored and again, i really believe we are going to lift those numbers than higher before. A lot of very smart people are looking at that and betting. We have to look at whats going on with the stock market. In order to protect our great American Workers, i suspended immigration into the United States. This will ensure that unemployed americans of all backgrounds will be first in line for jobs as our economy ryopens. We will also preserve our Health Care Resources for american patients. We have to take care of our patients and our great American Workers and thats what we are doing. I just signed it just before coming into the room and very important. Very important. And as to amending it or extending it, that we can do at the appropriate time, but its now signed. Earlier today, the first lady and i planted a tree on the first lawn of the white house on the 50th anniversary of the earth day. Will rereopen our national parks. We want america cabs to be satisfied and safe. We want them to satisfy their families that safety will happen and will happen and maybe at a level not like before. We want them to enjoy these Great National treasures as we take reasonable precautions and hopefully it will be reasonable. My administration has directed more than 7 billion in federal funding to support the development of treatments, diagnostics and therapies and that is something, doctors, i hope you can work on, something so powerful and so important. The f. D. A. And n. I. H. And Industry Leaders are establishing protocols to test promising new drugs at the same time. And we are doing a lot of testing. 1,600 locations have signed up to administer convalescent plasma to patients to infuse them with antibodies and when they recover, practically they say, i want to give my blood so i can help other people. They are laying in blood and still in pretty weakened conditions and they say, i want to give my blood and that is happening all the time. If you recovered from the coronavirus, i ask you to contact your local Donation Center to arrange a donation that potentially save many lives. With love to our nation and loyalty to our fellow citizens, we will care for our fabes, heal for the sick and protect our workers and build the future for a country that is the greatest country anywhere in the world and om going to get greater. Mike pence, please. Vice president pence thank you, mr. President. White House Coronavirus Task force met today and despite the fact there have been more than 843,000 who have contracted the coronavirus and we grieve the loss of 47,000 of our countrymen, according to dr. Irx, we continue tos an encouraging sign the American People have put into practice the guidance in a has been should by the president and its task force and taken to heart. And this president , as we learned today, we are continuing to see declines in all the major metro areas around the country that have been most impacted. Numbers remain low in the state. New york metro area, numing, connecticut, already appear to be past their peak. And we have seen the positive rate going down, which is actually even as encouraging as the declining cases. The Detroit Metro area is past their peak. And Seattle Metro is stable and louisiana is most stable of the most metro outbreaks. We are continuing to see a stabilization and declines in houston and atlanta and nashville, baltimore and indianapolis and elsewhere. This is a tribute to the American People, to the fact that the American People have taken to heart the guidelines. The social distancing. The personal hygiene, the recommendation that you use the drivethrough at a restaurant and avoiding groups more than 10. On behalf of our entire white House Coronavirus Task force we urge the American People to continue onward. We all want to reopen and and we want to reopen as soon as it is safe and response i will to do so. The safest way to reopen america is to continue to do what you have been doing. Fastest way as President Trump said, to get our country working together is put our coronavirus in the past and we are on our way to doing just that. For early on, the president called for full power of the federal government and the full weight of the American Economy and i traveled to Madison Wisconsin and seep american industry and American Workers at their very best and i thank the Ge Health Care team in wisconsin as well the union machinists. Extraordinary. And earlier this month, you used the defense production act to ensure that supplies could flow toge, germ motors and others repurpose manufacturing lines and hire new workers to construct ventilators and at this particular plant, they literally, the union sat down, Machinists Union sat down and negotiated a new contract with Ge Health Care to allow them to bring in workers from across the country and they doubled their work line in one week. They are about to triple it and 24 hours a day, three shifts, seven days a week. By harnessing the power of the American Economy, we would have 100,000 ventilators in 100 days. Thanks to the ingenuity and other companies, we will have 110,000 ventilators in 100 days. I broughtal teeshirt back to you, Union Machinists Save lives and i just want to say all of america is proud of you and grateful for you. We are grateful for all of our Health Care Workers and all the work they are doing and our National Guard and American Military is at their side. 1 1,000 National Guard have stood up and the havent extended whats called title 2 authorization for all National Guard personnel through may 31. We will continue to partner with states as the National Guard plays a vital role in testing and cleaning Nursing Homes and standing up states response. 5,500 military personnel and 964 medical professionals in the uniform of the United States working in 17 hospitals in seven states around the country and we are proud of our team at the v. A. And the. A. Has addressed its capacity issues. Has not seen cases in the veterans increase, so they are deploying teams to focus on Nursing Homes. In massachusetts, they deployed toe Nursing Homes and deployed 90 doctors and nurses and in florida, 16 teams to assist in nursing home operations. As the president mentioned, in addition to what i saw yesterday in madison, wisconsin, we continue to build our Strategic National stockpile that is growing again with ventilators with 11,000 in supply, 901 new ventilators will be added, transitioned in the near future and every american can be confident should the need arise for your Family Member facing serious consequences to need that equipment to help them breathe that equipment will be there. As we said yesterday, it should be a great source of comfort to every american that no american who is requiring a ventilator is denied a ventilator. That is testament to every american putting mitigation principles into practice and test ta metropolitan to all these Great Companies. April 1 that i traveled to Walmart Distribution Center and the president reached out to the president and c. E. O. Of walmart to get in the gowns business. And mr. President , we heard the task force at walmart is producing 8. 4 million gowns and will be delivered into our commercial facilities by the end of june. Honda is producing 500,000 face shields. New balance is making 100,000 masks a week in a very real sense. The American People have stepped up to make sacrifices and endure the hardship that social distancing is required. American businesses every size and every means has come together to respond to the president s call. It has been a whole of america approach. Our message from the Coronavirus Task force is to tell the American People, its working and we can see light at the end of the tunnel and see the data and put america back to work, but its going to take all of us to make the sacrifices to practice those disciplines to get us to a place where we can confidently. Nd i will ask dr. Fauci to come up. Dr. Fauci thank you, mr. Vice president. Im going to take off where i was at this podium a few days ago to reiterate what the Vice President said and connect the dots where we are now and where we are going to be. If you remember a couple of weeks ago, the fact that we are going to have a bad week because the deaths are driven by the situation in new york are going to get worse and worse and yet as that was happening, we are seeing some flattening and coming down. What has happened is that the mitigation that we put in the first 15 days and then the 0day Mitigation Program of physical distancing worked. So we got us to where we are today. It is a successful formula. It is the basis for our being able to say we can now think seriously about reopening america and for that reason, we put together a carefully thought out and well delineated and described program for opening up america again. You know what it is . It is the guidelines we announced a few days ago. Those very guidelines are based on the version of the successful formula that got us to where we are. The what im trying to say program is president going to be turn the lights on in america, were finished. We are not. We have to proceed in a careful and measured way. If you look at the guidelines, they are careful and measured. There are certain check points before you think going into phase one and tippings are relaxed a little when you go into phase two and phase three. We live in a big country. And different dynamics in different parts of the couvent try. The speed one can go and the point which you can begin to think about the phase is different. The urge we all have is to get out there and let hes get back to normal and there is a lot of suffering because of that, as i pleaded on weeks ago, i plead with the American Public, with the governors, the mayors with people with responsibility, one has the need, dont do it. Do it in a measured way. This is a successful formula. The problem is if we dont do it, there is a likelihood, we will have a rebound. One way not to reopen the economy is not a rebound not to take care of the economy. Let me plead with the American Public, carefully consider how we get back to normal. Reporter can you talk about your expectations from fall. What do you think for the fall . Going to be embers or possibly no return of the virus at all . Dr. Fauci as i dr. Fauci when you look at the outbreak its two Dynamic Forces opposing each other. If you leave the virus to its own devices, itll take off if you do nothing to stop it. If you put in place the kinds of things we talk about, first containment and then hopefully you never get to mitigation, but containment is important. Those two forces are going to determine whether youre going to have a big outbreak. So what dr. Redfield is saying, first of all, is that we will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that. Because of the degree of transmissability that it has, the global nature. What happens with that will depend on how were able to contain it when it occurs. What were saying is that in the fall, we within much, much better prepared to do the kind of captainment, compared to what happened to us this winter. Now, the complicating issue is that unlike the syndromic and influenza like observances that we have that you could pick it up by clinically whats happening, its going to get complicated by influenza season. I believe thats what dr. Redfield was saying, that it is going to be complicated. So whether or not its going to be big or small is going to depend on our response and thats what i think people sometimes misunderstand. Nobody can predict what is going to happen with anout break. But you can predict how youre going to respond to it. Thats really very important. Reporter so you would caution against people thinking that in the fall theres not going to be coronavirus anymore and we wont have to cory about it or that if there is itll be spotty and we wont have to worry about it. Dr. Fauci there will be coronavirus in the fall. If we we wont, but if we said were not going to do anything about it, it would take off. Thats what viruses do. But were going to respond to it to not allow it to do that. Reporter what ps when governors like coverpbor kemp are not following this careful, measured plan and moving forward even without meeting the gating criteria . Dr. Fauci you know, if i were advising the governor, i would tell him he should be careful. And i would advise him not to just turn the switch on and go. Because there is a danger of a rebound. I know theres a desire to move ahead quickly. Thats a natural, human nature desire. But going ahead and leapfrogging into phases where you should not be i would advise him as a Health Official and as a hysician not to do that. Reporter can you give some details about the executive order . I know you havent had a chance President Trump we can talk about that later. Its an executive order on immigration. We want to take care of our citizens first. We have to. Its a very powerful order. Its for 60 days. At the end of 0 days or maybe during 60 days ill extend it or not. And maybe change it. I might modify it. Reporter what about immigrants already here . Immigrants who are already here in the country or imgrants abroad, if you have a green card trying to get into the country. President trump were talking about immigrants trying to get in and were talking about people, also by the way, people that are coming in illegally. Now as you know because youve seen the numbers our border, our southern border is very, very tight pt hasnt been this tight in years. Its been helped by 116, more than that, miles of wall going up. Im trying to get to 450 by the end of the year. 450 miles. Well have 530 miles early next year. And thats really great. Its fully funded. We have all the funds. The army corps of engineers is doing a fantastic job. Same people who did javits center, as you know. Our southern border is very, very tight. For good reason. For very good reason. Were also being helped by 27,000 very good soldiers from mexico. I want to thank the president of mexico. Hes been terrific in many way, including on what were doing with covid an as you know we have a very good trade arrangement with mexico now which we didnt have before. I want to thank the president of mexico, particularly for the 27,000 soldiers. Theyre doing a fantastic job. Reporter Health Care Workers, extensions for Health Care Workers . President trump we want to protect Health Care Workers, thats another reason were doing. This reporter i want to ask you about the head of the federal agency in charge of getting a vaccine out to americans once its ready. He said he has been pushed out of his job because he raised questions about hydroxychloroquine. Some of your directives on that. Was he pushed out of that job in President Trump i never heard of im. When did this happen in reporter it happened today. President trump maybe he was, maybe he wasnt. Id have to hear the other side. I dont know who he. Is reporter when you said by fourth of july, you expect people to be on the National Mall and having a celebration. Given that doctors are saying coronavirus is still going to be out there might not be as bad as it is now, is that going to be safe . To have that many people on the mall . President trump were going to probably have 25 of what we had last year. Last year was maxed out. Maxed out. I saw a magnificent picture of dr. Martin luther king. And i saw a magnificent picture of our event last year. And both of them were maxed out. It was beautiful to see. Beautiful. Very similar. This year, most likely, well be standing six feet apart. Well have to do that in a very interesting way. Maybe well even do it greater. Leave a little extra distance. But if we do that, wed certainly do that. I dont see maybe the purpose, if we cant do that, we have to have people, thousand we had tens of thousands, most of you were there, tens of thousands of people last year, it was incredible. It was, an extent, an air show. We had air force one flying over. So ideally it would be wonderful if we could have it as it was last year. Eventually we will have that. I think its important to know, eventually we are going to have that the stadiums are going to be the way they have been for the last 100 years. Your stadium, sports will be the way they used to be. I told one of the owners, he said do you think i should take out seats . I said no, you shouldnt take out seats. Were going to have it the way it was. Were going to be back. This virus will eventually be gone. If it should show up in the fall well put it out very fast. We have great people, well put it out very fast. We have learned a lot. Learned a lot about how to deal with this. Ell put it out very fast. Reporter you talk a lot about Testing Capacity and governors agree it exists, but thats different for testing implementation and theyre begging you to use your full authority to help them get reagents. What do you have to lose by helping them do that . And becoming the king of testing . President trump we are the king of test no country in the world has done more. Reporter . 2 of the population has been tested, is that good enough . President trump no country that the world has done more. We have test that was come out that will be out shortly that will do more my problem is this. Its very much of a media trap. Whether we did 2 , 5 , 50 or 100 itll never be enough no we didwhafment with what because of our expertise an tremendous talent at manufacturing, what we did with the ventilators, that wasnt a trap. We got them done, shockingly to everybody, because of the incredible talent like mike pence saw yesterday in wisconsin. But we have numerous of those sites all over the country doing the same thing. So that when the governor were complain, some of the governors, it was very much along party lines for the most part, but except for one. When the governors were complaining, we said no, no. How many do you need . We need 50, we need 100. One governor asked for many, many, many thousands. It turned out they didnt need that and thats good. We got them. Nobody that needed a ventilator, you know this, we went through this with the governor, that needed a ventilator didnt get a ventilator. That was an incredible achievement. For testing its a little different. Its easier than ventilators. Its like . But for instance, the swabs are coming in by the millions. Theyre coming in literally by the millions. Totally ordered. We wanted the highest quality. We could have gotten a much lesser quality. We didnt want to do that. Got the highest quality. But testing, its like, no matter how well you do you can always say more. The ventilators they either have them or they dont. We went to one meet, who wants a ventilator . One governor said wed like 25. 25. He got them. Who else . Nobody spoke up. That was four weeks ago. That was great. The problem with the testing is, and i said if we test if we test 350 Million People, youll say, we want them to have a second test or a third test or fourth test. Not everybody believes as strongly as some people in testing. Some people want to do testing because they think its impossible for us to fulfill the goal. Thats easy compared to ventilators, as i said. But we have a tremendous testing capability. Better than anybody in the world right now. And every day its growing. And its growing substantially. These doctors are talented people. Theyve seen testing all their lives. Theyve never seen anything like weve been able to do. Were going to give everybody what they want with the testing but again testing and ive said from the beginning, the actual test has to be administered locally. You cant do from washington or far away locations federal testing nearly as well as you can where you have a governor, he has mayors and they have representatives and they know the back of the walmart, put it in the parking lot in the back of a walmart. Or put it in a certain location and different states. Theyre doing it beautifully its working beautifully. The relationship i have with the governors and mike has and we all have with the governors, i would say other than one or two but even them they dont complain. Theyre not complaining. Were doing tremendous testing. And ultimately were doing more testing, i think, than probably any of the governors even want. Back on imgation. Sit just for green cards . Green cardholders . Seeking temporary work visas . President trump its subject to change. We have some coming in helping farmers. We want to have the farmers take care. Theyve been coming years and years. Theyve been coming in for years. We dont want the boarder is being turned off a number of times over the years. You know what happened . Our farmers all went out of business. They were out of business. Couldnt farm. Were taking care of our farmers. Nobody ever took care of farmers like i take care of farmers. Including the 19 billion were disbursing to farmers because of some very good things that happened. Reporter subject to change because advisors are saying there could be a problem . President trump it could be modified. Could be mod fid next week. In two weeks. In two months. We may modify phi as we go along. Right now we have a very powerful immigration ban but it could be modified. Meaning made tougher or made less tough. We dont want to hurt our business. We dont want to hurt our farmers. Ery important. Reporter what did Governor Kemp say to you . And for gym owners, Tattoo Parlor artists, in georgia and generally do, you advise them to listen to you and not their governor . President trump id like them to listen to their governors, i have the right to do, if i want to clamp it down but i have respect for governors. They know what theyre doing. Brian kemp, governor of georgia, worked very hard for his election. He beat their superstar. He beat the superstar of their party. I think you could say i helped a lot. Michelle obama, barack obama, oprah winfrey, all went in, campaigned for him very, very hard. And he lost. He also was way down in the primary and ended up winning the primary after i came out and endorsed him. So a lot of good things and theres a lot of good feeling between myself and brian kemp, i like him a lot. I happen to disagree with him, only in timing. I disagree. When you have spas, beauty parlors, i love these people. I know the people from spas and beauty parlors Tattoo Parlors. Bikers for trump, a lot of tattoos, i love them. Love these people. And barbershops. These are great people. But maybe you wait a little longer until you get into a phase two. Do i agree with him . No. But i respect him. And i will let him make his decision. Would i do that in no. Id keep them a little longer, i want to protect peoples lives. But ill let him make his decision. I told him i totally disagree. Reporter the Vice President in his remarks was talking about the federal effort upside taken as it relates to nursing facilities. As you both know they have been incredibly hard hit. Over 10,000 covid19 deaths so far. The industry says theyre struggling as it relates to testing. Can you commit to increasing testing at the nursing facilities . President trump were doing that automatically. Thats almost common sense you look at the state of washington, that was our first look at it. They got hit so horribly in that nursing home. Seems like everybody was from a particular nursing home. We knew immediately it would be a problem. Wie taking special care of our Nursing Homes and our seniors, other than me. Other than me. Nobody wants to take care of me. Other than me were taking care of our seniors. Eporter in other areas Vice President pence its an enormously important question. We want to thank the American People who have been putting off visits to their grandmothers an grandfathers, moms and dads. Its tough. Im going to be in indiana next week and not going to go see my mom. She lives in her own home but people get it, risk of serious illness for healthy american of the coronavirus. Is fairly low. Youll either have flulike symptoms or no symptoms at all. But as we said so many times at this podium, and the American People get it, a healthy american could inadvertently convey the coronavirus to a senior with an Underlying Health condition and have the kind of heartbreaking results that weve seen in Nursing Homes around the country. Its the reason why from early on, the president took Decisive Action to raise the Infectious Disease standards at every nursing home in america. He deployed all 8,000 of our inspectors, center for medicare and Medicaid Services to dedicate all of their time to ensuring compliance with those new hire new higher standards. Weve spoken about nursing home issues with governors around the country and frankly there are governors around the country that have done remarkable work with Nursing Homes. You mentioned governor brian kemp, he used the National Guard in georgia. He deployed them to Nursing Homes to do cleaning. And to disinfect areas of those Nursing Homes. Its a tremendous service. But to your point about testing. If you look carefully at the guidelines, open up america again, youll see that in phase one, the level of testing that we contemplate is first that we want to be able to test anyone who has the symptoms that may be coronavirus. And be able to test them quickly. Secondly we want to do the kind of Contact Tracing and dr. Redfield and his team are deploying c. D. C. Teams in every state in america to be able to find out everyone that that person has been in contact with and test them. If you look right underneath that, what were directing states to do is be prepared to deploy testing resources first and foremost in Nursing Homes and longterm care facilities. So that we can monitor any potential outbreak of the coronavirus among the most vulnerable populations. Our s to the leadership of Surgeon General, as the president announced today, were also going to be deploying testing resources to vulnerable communities. To underserved communities. The c. D. C. Released new preliminary data on the impact particularly on africanamerican communities in this country and its the reason why part of our phase one recommendation is that we deploy test regular sources into those communities that are described by the doctors as socially vulnerable and even as we speak well announce next week that were already in the process of deploying testing. Its a Good Opportunity to remind every american to be especially careful around our seniors, to heed the guidance about avoiding visitations. To protect the health of those who are most vulnerable. But the American People can be assured that from phase one forward, all the way through phase three and reopening, were going to be helping to guide the states to focus on the most vulnerable, beginning with our seniors with serious Underlying Health conditions. Say ter commercial labs they need new diagnostic machines. Your administration said theres enough Testing Capacity. How do you square that difference . President trump they can get new machines if they want. Even if they didnt we have tremendous testing capability. You take a look at whats happening in california and new york. Governor cuomo told us very strongly, he said we have a lot of labs, Research Center of the world. They have tremendous. In california too. Long conversations. They have tremendous testing capability there too. If they want to increase it, kay can increase it yusm saw the maps when we put up the different sites in various states. Virtually all states are like that. How about you with the mask . Reporter a followup on the masks from the other day, on monday a reporter for a local television station in miami sent me a question asking if it was possible to get the information on those masks distributed to the media so that local tv stations and newspapers can check on that information. If that could be done. President trump do you want to Say Something . Dr. Birx thank you for talking about testing and Testing Capacity, we have been talking about that for weeks. We can see, we did a full inventory of every single state and every single laboratory. I also appreciate you talking about the implementation piece of the laboratory. Its complicated. We have a team calling every lab and working through the American Society of microbiology, as i mentioned before. To really work with every lab director to see what the issues are in each laboratory. I just want to thank administrator verma who really worked on increasing the funding for this test. Uniquely doubling the funding for the coronavirus nucleic acid test. From 50 to 100. To address some of the issues about laboratory technicians. Because sometimes we think these tests run themselves. They dont. They actually need people to help with the machines we were talking about purchasing more machines. We need to have Additional Laboratory technicians to be able to work all those machines. So its labbylab, statebystate, thats a dialogue going on now to unlock the full potential of the United States. Maybe the testing would not be needed at this moment an maybe it is but we want it also totally available in the fall if it comes to an issue where we have to distinguish peen flu and covid19. So were Building Infrastructure and capacity not only for today but for tomorrow and really showing a new way to really deal with pandemics and bring testing to scale. The country has never had to do this before. If you look at some of the other countries, theyre struggling with some of the issues from p. P. E. To testing. So this is a universal issue but were working on it as a collective to really have a very innovative and integrated way to approach testing. President trump they have tremendous capability. Dr. Birx and the masks, i will ask the companies because obviously its proprietary where every single machine is. You know if you have that machine and five others, maybe you dont want to let that person know you have five others, its like coke and pepsi. So i think were working very deliberately to really be able to share those maps. The governors, i can tell you all the state and local governors and mayors have those maps. And the addresses and the type of machines for every single laboratory in their jurisdiction. President trump governors were not aware that those laboratories were available. Reporter on the state of california is now partially broken with c. D. C. Restriction on who would get guidance on who should get testing because they want to test people without any symptom at all in high risk environments like a nursing home. Do you agree with this . Dr. Birx not only do we agree with it, it was in our guidelines. That was fundamental to our guidelines. I think we were the first group that said testing asymptom mat ins will be key. Weve always said we think thats a significant contribution to infections. And we went to the places where we thought it was most critical to find cases the earliest and so that is where we have asked states in the guidelines to start with Nursing Homes, indigenous peoples, and people in underserved areas and cities to really ensure that were monitoring for any type, we know that asymptomatic piece may be the tip of the iceberg. In fact, the iceberg underneath the surface. If youre only seeing cases, but in parallel were working with states and lo kohl governments to define what that population is by doing, in collaboration with states, working with them together to really reinforce this Antibody Testing. But in a careful way where you do two Antibody Testing to increase sensitivity and specificity into the 99pluspercent range because its important to have a high quality test, but a high quality test you can really tell someone theyve had this before. Were waiting to have those two tests that we can do in series to really ensure people. But that was in the guidelines from the very beginning and we think its fundamental both for right now and going through the fall. That will be our early alert if any of the covid virus reappears. President trump those guidelines the c. D. C. Guidelines. Reporter dr. Birx President Trump would you like o Say Something . Thank you, mr. President. I want to reiterate that the task force and the president have a commitment to protecting Vulnerable People and that includes in the area of testing. Weve had the opportunity to talk to many different groups and we hear that testing is absolutely a concern and well be giving you more details in the coming days but i want you to know that were building on the Publicprivate Partnership that the president rolled out with pharmacy and retail companies. Like c. V. S. , Walgreens Rite Aid and croger to accelerate testing for more americans in more communities across the nation. Were going to be increasing access to testing for undertested, underserved and minority communities. Were working closely with partners and states to establish sites and areas most in need of increased access to testing. Were using data, c. D. C. Provided data to locate sites and counties that are undertested and socially vulnerable especially with high populations of black, hispanic, rural and native americans. Year use were using the c. D. C. s Vulnerability Index to select sites and it measures the resiliency of communities when con fronted by stressors along four main themes. Sose yo economic status. Household composition. Disability. Minority status. And housing type. Our goal is to have about 2 3s of these initial sites located in counties with moderate to high social vulnerability and about a quarter of these sites in counties with high social vulnerability. So again i want communities that are vulnerable to understand that we are strategically and intentionally making sure were deploying testing in those areas so that people can get identified if they have symptoms, can get iidentified this they are asymptomatic and we would be able to deploy resources appropriately. President trump our Surgeon General is doing a great job. Thank you. Great job. Really good. Reporter mr. President , thank you. Can we talk about iran . You put out a message this morning, a rather big announcement for our military when it comes to iranian aggression. Are you going to change formally rules of engagement for our u. S. Military so they can engage . President trump we dont want their gunboats surrounding our boats and traveling around our boats and having a good time. We dont want them anywhere near our boats. So you know the order i gave. I dont think i have to say it again. Ive given that order. Under the Obama Administration it was taking place all the time. Under my administration i gave this order early on and nothing happened, they were very nice. No problem. But then i noticed yesterday they did that in a much lighter form but they did that again. I said were not going to stand for it. So if they do that, thats putting our ships in danger and our great crews an sailors in danger. Im not going to let that happen. And we will. Theyll shoot them out of the water. Reporter u. S. Military doesnt have to change rules of engagement to follow the order . President trump its a threat when they get that close to our boat. They have guns, very substantial weapons on those boats, well shoot them out of the water. Reporter id like to ask a question to dr. Fauci and then a very different one to you. Today the c. D. C. Said the first tests in america have tested positive for coronavirus, what oes that mean . Pets. Dr. Fauci that question was asked before. Certainly animals, pets, can get infected. Big cats in zoos have been reported to be infected with coronavirus. Theres no evidence that the virus is transmitted from a pet to a human. Now obviously, is that impossible . I mean, biologically no. Anything is possible. But theres no evidence whatsoever that weve seen from an epidemiological standpoint that pets can be transmitters within a household. Its not surprising. When you have viruses that can infect multiple species, isolating it from an animal doesnt necessarily mean the animal is transmitting it. Reporter what about the lion in the new york a zoo . How does that happen . Dr. Fauci thats the lie cron in the new york zoo. I dont know how that happens, i imagine one of the zoo keepers probably had an asymptomatic infection, took care of the animal, gave him food, touched him, whatever. Reporter and my question for you, President Trump. My question for you is earlier in the briefings you talked a lot about giving americans help, wanted to focus on that but now that the crisis is lessening, i want to ask about ccountability. Millions of americans talk about firing people. There was a report from reuters the secretary [inaudible] reuters reported today that alex azar, secretary breeder, former dog his most recent job prior to being. And the second one is facemasks. Taiwan has a bigger population than new york state but has universal facemasks. President trump the governors want to do that, they can. We ordered 500 million facemasks. We have hundreds of millions right now. If people want to wear them thats up to the governors. If the governors want that. Its more appropriate in some states obviously than others. You have the big big claims and in some places its more necessary. Its up to the governors. We have hundreds of millions of facemasks and we have at least 500 million, thats a lot, well have them shortly. Reporter less than a month ago our Surgeon General said that, im quoting here, the quote not effective in preventing the general public from catching coronavirus. If somebody wants to wear them m all for it. Reporter President Trump if somebody wants to wear them all for it. I think the comments we made, when we came out with the c. D. C. Guidance about facemasks, what we called Face Coverings, was in recognition of the growing understanding of asymptomatic infection or presymptomatic infection was the recognition that we could use a barrier and the reason, you know, i have mine here that i use. This barrier in case i was in fact infected, if i didnt know, is a barrier to prevent me, to protect you. In case im i happen to be asymptommatically infected. Ery good data to show that the ability of virlte particles to go through a barrier is substantially diminished. Thats why we recommended the face covers when we came out with the recommendations. Some people may think its to protect them from getting infected, no. It was to protect you from potentially getting infected by e when i go out in public. I appreciate you asking that question. Its one we had to clarify several times. I understand why the American Public has been confused. Over time. As dr. Redfield mentioned, initially we said based on c. D. C. , World Health Organization and most other major Health Organizations that the public immediated to know that these masks were not effective or shown to be effective in preventing you if you wear a mask from catching coronavirus. Another important thing to remember is the context of those statements was a run on medical masks, on n95 masks, and our Health Care Workers were at risk. Whats chaminged . Whats changed is we found out that unlike past viruses that are spread through the respiratory route, a significant portion of coronavirus cases can be traced back to asymptomatic threat. So spread. So the task force deliberated this. We said wed look at the facts and give recommendations based on the best Available Evidence at the time. Once we saw asymptomatic spread. Masks still not effective in preventing you from catching coronavirus but weve always told people they should wear masks if they know they have symptoms to prevent them from spreading to other people. Well now that we know about 25 to 50 of people are spreading asymptommatically we suggest that people wear cloth facial coverings to protect prevent asymptomatic spread. You wear your mask to protect me. I wear my mask, i carry mine around with me too, i wear my mask to protect you. Were six feet away which is why im not wearing my mask to protect you now and weve been tested. President trump but im right next to you. Ill put mine on if you want me. To but again, important to know if youre going to wear a mask its not a substitute for social distancing. Still social distancing is the number one thing you can do. Number two, its important to know that you should practice good hand hygiene and not touch your face because you still could touch a surface an bring disease to your face. Number three, this is the most important its just as important, please save the medical masks, the n95s, for the Health Care Workers because the klatt facial coverings are effective as far as we know right now based on the best Available Evidence at preventing you spreading disease to other people. People. Its no inconsistency, the recommendation changed because the information change. Thats what you want from Public Health leaders. Reporter could the argument be made you knew about asymptomatic spread when you made that recommendation. No we did not. That was the recommendation of the World Health Organization and the c. D. C. We gave you the best information we could at the time. I actually a little bit resent that implication because i work hard to try to protect the American People. And we are always going to give the American People the best information we have available at the time. Were humble enough to say look if we dont know were going to change. Well change that recommendation. Reporter mr. President , i want to ask you about the laufpblg of the military satellite by iran and wanted to get your response. Is this an advancement of the Missile Program . President trump you mean the shot they took . They say no. Ok. They say also its television. Does anybody really believe that . They want Better Television in iran. So they say that. Were watching iran very closely. Very closely. We know more about iran than they do. Right now. We know more than they do. So we know all about it. We watched it. We knew it was going up. We followed it very closely. Hey say it was for television. Reporter are you concerned that they see this as a potential vulnerability on the part of the United States . President trump what as a vulnerability . Reporter military readiness, the outbreak, the fact that youre dealing with the outbreak. President trump various navies have had outbreaks. Outbreaks. We have a problem, that just shows you how rapidly it spreads. It was two say horse, then 10, now i hear its 540. One has died, a few are very sick but most of them are back, you know, in great shape. But we did lose one. And it attacked the lungs of that young person and then we also had a number that were quite sick but theyre all either better or getting better. Most of them are better for a long time already. Reporter as you know over the course of the past few weeks, there have been closures of several Meat Processing Companies Across the country. Several states. Is this a concern to you . Are you going to increase testing in these facilities . President trump look at south dakota how well the governor is there, then all of a sudden you have a big spike in one location. Shes got that very much under control as you know. Nevertheless that was surprising. They had a big one right near where you were yesterday as i understand it. So youre concerned about that theyre closing one or two of the plants actually. Reporter is the food supply secure in President Trump its in great shape. Reporter the attorney general accusedtate of missouri china of accusing it of lying an covering up. President trump i know about the case. File the case against china. I love missouri as you know. Its great. But im going to take a look at it. I actually know about it very much. I have to take a look at it. I have not seen the case in terms of reading it but i will be doing that. Reporter its an international investigation. President trump were doing investigations, doing our own. I do want to see and review that lawsuit. Im sure that wont be the last one. Reporter i have a followup for dr. Fauci if you dont mind. John asked the president about reich bright, he wasnt sure who that was. Im sure you know who he. Is the concern or accusation he raised he wasry moved from his job because he protested widespread use of hydroxychloroquine. Are you familiar with the situation . Do you feel like Public Health experts feel they are able to speak publicly or to speak out n opposition to dr. Fauci i am. Reporter you dont feel theres any concern among people at n. I. H. . Dr. Fauci absolutely not. Reporter knowing dr. Bright and what his gifts are as one of the countrys leading experts on vaccines, are those gifts best ited at n. I. H. Rather than barda . Whats he going to be doing with you . Dr. Fauci what will he be doing at n. I. H. . Reporter are his gifts best suited to working there than dr. Fauci i dont think i can comment on somebodys relative gifts. Hell be at n. I. H. And hell be responsible, from what i hear, this is what i heard that hes going to be response initial development of diagnostics which is very, very important. The n. I. H. Is going to be involved in trying to develop new generation diagnostic, which we feel is going to be very important for the future of being able to facilitate the kinds of things that now are sometimes problematic. President trump you say he has great gifts, do you know him . Have you studied him . Have you reported on him . You said his gifts. His gifts. Reporter his entire career President Trump gifts . I know a lot of people who play baseball but cant hit. 1506789 you talk about his great gifts. Go ahead, please. Please. Reporter thank you, sir. I have two questions, one from myself and one for a colleague of ours who cant be here because of social distancing. President trump from where . Im with usa today. First executive director of the National Association of counties said today the white house did not want to see money for state and local governments in the latest covid package. President trump what does that mean . Reporter im sorry. President trump what does that mean . Reporter the executive director of the National Association of counties said the white house objected to putting funding for state and local governments into the latest covid bill. President trump is he a democrat . Reporter i dont know. President trump check it out, youll find. Reporter his question was President Trump do you know the number , the money we put into state and local governments . They have to be responsible for their own finances. But you check it out. Go ahead. Reporter you said you felt like that this was this would somehow be a disincentive for states to open their economy. Is he correct about that . President trump how would he know how i felt . I dont know who he is. Ok. Reporter mr. President. President trump oh he took questions all night long, ok. Ready . Good. How many questions can you ask . We all have fun. Were talking about something very important. The main thing is, i think were getting to a lot of solutions. We never want this to happen again. We never want this to happen again. What happened. And if it should come back in some form we want to snuff it out quickly before anything can happen. And i personally hope it doesnt come back. In the fall. As a combination of the flu or not as a combination of the flu. I think we learn a lot. Some of these questions are good. Some of them are ridiculous, frankly but some of them are really good. I think some of them are important questions. Very important. You know when you ask dr. Fauci about the right to speak. If i let him speak, i let anybody speak. We love him. Lets go. Reporter mr. President , senator mcconnell said today that he would prefer the states that have high public tension declare bankruptcy. President trump i heard he said i dont know what he said. Ill have to call him and ask him. Reporter thats what he said. President trump ok im going to have to look at it directly. Reporter would you iagree on that . President trump i have to see, i want to base it on fact and reason. I want to see what he said. Why he said it and how he said it. Id have to watch him say it. But some of the states are not doing well. Lets face it. Some are doing phenomenally well. The state where mike was governor, indiana, i looked at their you were ins. They have, its incredible what theyre doing. Some states are doing fantastically well. Iowa is doing great. You have states doing well and you have some states not doing well. You do have states that are in trouble. And certainly theyre coming back to talk to us. Well see what happens. Reporter are you concerned, sir, about the growing u. S. National debt as a result of this . President trump do we have a choice . Yeah, im always concerned about everything. We got to fix this problem. We were attacked. This was an attack. This wasnt just oh, gee. This wasnt the flu, by the way. They like to say the flu. Nobody has ever seen anything like this. 1917 was the last time. We were attacked. We had the greatest economy in the history of the world. Had the greatest economy better than china, better than any place. Theyll tell you that. I dealt with them for a long time. Theyll tell you the greatest economy, we built it, in last three years, 3 1 2 year we built it. And then one day they came and said you have to close it. You got these people right here they said you have to, came they came into the oval office and said, we have to close the economy. I said, lets explain. This explain this to me. The greatest ever in history, we had to close it. Now were going to open it again. Were going to be just as strong or stronger. But you have to spend some money to get it back open. We saved our airlines. We just as you know finished up with the airlines. We saved Numerous Companies that are Great Companies that two months ago were having the best year theyve ever had. Now all of a sudden theyre totally shut out of markets. There was a great spirit today. You know the fact is some of the governors are opening up their states. And i said, i feel it, yop if you felt it. I feel it. It was a great spirit today. I dont know the stock market was up today, i guess. It was up quite a bit. When i just walked out here. I will say, i feel much different today than i did two or three days ago. And i think the world does. We spoke to a lot of leaders. The world feels were leading a path of optimism. European union having a lot of difficulty here when you look at whats going on with the european union. Its having tremendous difficulty. But were going to be back and were going to be back stronger than ever. Were going to be at a level, i think that everybody is going to be look and they do. They look up to us. They want to know what are we doing . What are we doing with therapeutics . Well have those answers too. Just like we took care of ventilators. Just like were taking care of, and already as we said 100 times, we had more test thang any nation in the world. We had more testing than all those nations put together, we mentioned the other day, all of them put together. Were going to be within two weeks at a level nobody has ever even seen before. Weve never seen where we are right now. You dont have to build new machines. We dont have to build new labs, we have them. Some labs are upgrading to be able to double and triple capacity in one case. A level that nobody has ever been. Were going to be bigger and better and stronger than ever before. So im not concerned about that thank you very much. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] reporter can i ask you about the first confirmed death being three weeks earlier than we thought . Cspan has roundtheclock coverage of the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. And its all available on demand at cspan. Org coronavirus. Watch white house briefings. Updates from governors and state officials. Track the spread through the the u. S. And the world with interactive maps. Watch on demand, any time, unfiltered at span. Org coronavirus. Tonight, a special edition of washington journal on the federal response to coronavirus. Our guests include former Republican Senate majority leader bill frist, now cochair of the Bipartisan Policy Centers Health Project on Public Health policy and the coronavirus pandemic. Then vanter built universitys professor schaffne of Infectious Diseases and Public Health policy. Join the conversation tonight at k p. M. Eastern on c span. For the first time in four weeks, the u. S. House meets for legislative work on thursday. To debate and vote on nearly 500 billion more for coronavirus pandemic response. This fourth round of funding would go to the Small Business loan program. Hospitals. And virus testing. Watch live gaveltogavel coverage of the house beginning at 10 00 eastern on cspan