On the coronavirus response, this took place in delaware it is about 20 minutes. Good afternoon my fellow americans, today across the nation people are feeling anxious about the spread of the cove at 19, known as the coronavirus. And the threat that it poses to our health, loved ones, livelihoods, i know people worry my thoughts are with those who are directly fighting this virus. Those infected, staleys have suffered a loss, First Responders and theyre putting themselves on the line as i speak for others. Id like to thank those who are already making sacrifices to protect us. Whether that self quarantine, or canceling events or closing campuses. Because whether or not you are affected are know someone who is affected, or have been in contact with an infected person, this is going to require a national response. Not just from our elected leaders or Public Health officials, but from all of us. We must always follow the guidelines of Health Officials and take appropriate protections to protect ourselves. And critically to protect others, especially those who are most at risk for this disease. It may mean making some radical changes in our behaviors, more frequent and thorough hand washing, staying home from work if you are ill, also all trading deeply ingrained habits inner Committee Like handshakes and hugs. Avoiding large gatherings and thats why earlier this week on the recommendation of officials my campaign canceled rallies and we are reformatting the format for large events we had in coming days. We will continue to assess and adjust how we conduct our campaign as we move forward. And finding new ways to share our message to the public while finding that health and safety of the public above everything else. Yesterday we announced a Public HealthAdvisory Committee of experts will continue to counsel my campaign and me, help guide our decisions on the steps to minimize further risks. We will also lead by science. The World Health Organization now has officially declared covid19 pandemic. Downplaying it, being overly dismissive, or spreading misinformation is going to hurt us and for their the spread of the disease. But neither should be panic or fall back on jennifer ob a. Labeling covid19 a foreign virus does not displace accountability for the misjudgments that have been taken thus far by the trump administration. Let me be crystal clear. The coronavirus does not have a political affiliation, it will affect republicans, independence and work democrats alike. It will not discriminate based on national origin, race, gender, or zip code. It will touch people in positions of power as well as the most vulnerable in our society. It will not stop. Today we need banning from travel in any of the world may slow it, but as we have seen, it will not stop it. And travel restrictions based on favoritism and politics rather than risk will be counterproductive. This disease that impact every nation and any person on the planet. We need a plan about how we are going to aggressively manage here at home. You know, we all do know the American People have the capacity to meet this moment. Were going to face this in the same spirit that has guided us through previous crises. And we will come together as a nation, we will look out for one another, and do our part as citizens. We have to be we have to harness the ingenuity of our scientists and resourcefulness of our people. We have to help the world, help the world to drive coordinated global strategy. Not shut ourselves off from the world. Protecting the health and safety of the American People is the most important job of any president. And unfortunately, this virus laid bare the severe shortcomings of the current administration. Public fears are being compounded by a pervasive lack of trust in this president. Fueled by adversarial relationships with the truth, that it continues to have. Our governments ability to respond effectively has been undermined by hollowing out our agencies and disparagement of science. And our ability to drive a Global Response is dramatically, dramatically undercut by the damage trump is done to our credibility and our relationships around the world. We have to get to work immediately to dig ourselves out of this hole. And thats why today, i am releasing a plan to combat and overcome the coronavirus. The full details of the plan, if you want to see them go to joe biden. Com, for a layout the immediate steps we have to take to deliver one, decisive Public Health response to curb the spread of the disease. And to provide treatment to those who need it. And a decisive economic response that delivers real relief to american workers, families, and Small Businesses. And to protect the economy as a whole. I offer it as a roadmap, not for what i will do as president ten months from now, but for the leadership i believe is needed and required at this very moment. President trump is welcome to adopt all of it today. The core principle is simple, Public Health professionals must be the ones making our Public Health decisions. In communicating with the American People, Public Health professionals. It would be a step toward reclaiming public trust and confidence in the United States government as well. Toward stopping the fear and chaos that can overtake communities faster than this pandemic can overtake them. It is critical to monitor an Effective National response that will save lives, protect our frontline healthcare workers, slow the spread of the virus. First, anyone, anyone who needs to be tested based on medical guidance should be tested at no charge. At no charge. The administrations failure on testing is colossal. And its a failure of planning, leadership, and execution. The white house should measure and report each day, each and every day, how many tests have been ordered, how many tests have been completed, and how many have tested positive. By next week, the number of test should be in the millions not the thousands. We should make every person in the nursing home available for testing. Every Senior Center or vulnerable population has to have easy access to the test and we should establish hundreds of mobile testing sites, at least ten. State. And drive through Testing Centers to speed testing and protect the health of our workers. The cdc, private labs, universities, and manufacturers should be working lock step to get this done and get it done correctly. No effort should be spared, none. No excuses should be made, tests should be available to all who need them. And the government, the government should stop at nothing to make that happen. We must know the true extent of this outbreak so we can map it, teresa, and contain it. Nor should we hide the true number of infections in hopes of protecting political interest or stock market. The markets will respond strong to strong steady and capable leadership. That addresses the root of the problem, not efforts to covered up. Secondly, we need to search our capacity to both prevent and treat the coronavirus. And prepare our hospitals to deal with this influx of those needing care, as ive been saying for weeks. This means not just getting out the testing kits and processing them quickly, but making sure communities have the hospital beds available. The staff, the medical supplies the personal protective equipment necessary to treat the patients. The president should order fema to prepare the capacity with local authorities to establish temporary hospitals with hundreds of beds and serve notice. The department of defense should be planning now, should have Event Planning to prepare for the potential deployment of the resources provided, medical facility capacity of Logistics Support that only they can do. A week from now, month from now, we can even have 500 bed hospital to isolate and treat patients in any city in this country. We can do that. But we are not ready yet and the clock is ticking. As we take the steps, states, federal and local authorities need to ensure that there is accurate, uptodate Information Available to every american citizen. To everyone, so everyone can make an informed decision about when to get tested, went to self quarantine, when to seek medical treatment, and the federal government should provide state and municipalities with clear guidance of when to trigger more aggressive mitigation policies such as closing schools. Third, we need to accelerate the development and treatment of the vaccine. Science takes time, it will still be many months before we have a vaccine that can be proven safe for public use. And produced in sufficient quantities to make a difference. But therapeutics can and should come sooner. This will save lives. When we when i put together the cures active 20166 seller rate the work, at the national and state of health, but now has to be made available, make available resources speed up speed that process along. We have to fast track Clinical Trials with the nih while closely coordinating with the fda, the food and drug administration, on trial approvals. So that science is not hindered by the bureaucracy. And when vaccine is ready to go, it should also be made widely available. And again, free of charge. We should also immediately restore the White House NationalSecurity Council director for Global Health security and bio defense. With a fulltime dedicated coordinator to oversee that response. Our administration, our last administration, we created that office to better respond to future Global Threats after the ebola crisis of 2014. It was designed for exactly this scenario. But for some reason, i still did understand, President Trump eliminated that office two years ago. Look, heres the bottom line, we have to do what is necessary to beat the challenge, beat this challenge sooner rather than later. We will beat it. My issue, that if we wait for it to worsen and then scramble to catch up, the human and economic toll will grow faster, larger, and more dangerous. Congress gave this administration 8 billion last week to fight the virus. We need to know exactly what that money is going to be used for. How quickly its going out the door, and exactly how it is being spent. This brings me the second half of this challenge in terms of economic dislocation. The coronavirus is going to cause in our country. We must do whatever it takes, spend whatever it takes, to deliver for our families and ensure the stability of our economy. Taking immediate bold measures to help americans who are hurting economically right this minute. It means well need bigger and broader measures to shore up the economic demands, protect jobs, keep credit flowing to our job creators, and make sure we have the economic firepower we need to do weather the storm and get the people in this economy back to full strength as soon as possible. This crisis will hit everyone, but it will hit folks who live paycheck to paycheck the hardest. Including working people and seniors, and other tax cuts to google or goldman and millionaires wont get the job done. Another tax cut to these folks will not get the job done. Indiscriminate Corporate Tax subsidies one effectively target those who really need the help now. We need to place our focus on those who are struggling just to get by. People are already losing jobs. We need to replace their wages. That includes workers in the gid economy, whose lack of unemployment insurance, parents who are arty struggling with childcare costs. We need to give them relief. Children who illini on school lunches, we need to provide food for them. Schools will need to help ensure children who dont have easy access to computers can still learn at their school is shut down. People who have difficulty paying their rent or mortgage because they have been laid off or had their hours cut back need to help to stay in their apartments and homes. Small businesses will be devastated as customers stay home. And events are canceled. We need to make sure they have access to interestfree loans. Not loans with interest, interestfree loans. Its a National Disgrace that millions of our fellow citizens dont have a single day of paid sick leave available to them. We need both a permanent plan for paid sick leave, and an emergency plan for everyone who needs it due to the outbreak now. Jan these national measures, my plan also calls for the creation of estate local Emergency Fund to make sure governors, mayors, local leaders, who are battling the coronavirus on the ground as i speak, have the resources necessary to meet this crisis headon now. These funds can be used at the discretion of local leaders for whatever they need most. From expanding Critical Health infrastructure, hiring additional healthcare and Emergency Service personnel, or questioning the wider economic blows this buyout is going to create in their communities. We need smart, bold, compassionate leadership thats going to help contain the crisis, reduce the hardship to our people, and help our economy rebound. Let me be very clear. Unfortunately this will just be the start, we must prepare now to take further decisive action. Including relief that will be large in scale, focused on Broader Health instability of our economy. Look, we can only protect the health of our economy if we do everything in our power to protect the health of our people. The last point i want to make is this, we will never fully solve this problem if we are unwilling to look to be on our own borders and engage fully with the rest of the world. A disease that starts any place on the planet can get on a plane to any city on earth within a few hours. We have to confront the coronavirus everywhere. We should be leading a coordinated Global Response, just as we did for the mobile crisis. That draws on the incredible capability of u. S. Agency for International Development and our state department to assist vulnerable nations and detecting and treating the coronavirus wherever it spreads. We should be investing in the rebuilding and strengthening the Global Health security agenda, which we launch during our administration. Specifically to mobilize the world against threats of new infectious diseases. Look, it can be hard to see the concrete value of this work when everything seems to be going wellin the world. But by cutting our investment Global Health, this administration has left us woefully unprepared for the exec crisis we now face. No president can promise to prevent future outbreaks. But i can promise you this, when im president , we will be better prepared, respond better, and recover better. We will lead with science, we will listen to the experts, we will heed their advice and we will build American Leadership and rebuild it to rally the world to meet at Global Threats that we are likely to face again. You know, and i will always say the truth, this is the responsibility of a president. Thats what is owed to the American People. Now, and the difficult days ahead, i know that this country will some of the spirit, the empathy, the decency, and the unity needed because in times of crisis the American People always, always stand as one if told the truth. Volunteers raise their hands to help, neighbors look out for neighbors, businesses take care of their workers. So we will meet this challenge together. Im confident of it. But we have to move and move now. Thank you all for taking the time to be here and god bless our troops. Thank you. Realtime closed captioning provided by u. S. Captioning companyto the license anytime at cspan. Org coronavirus. Cspans washington journal live, every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming on friday morning, we will discuss the latest on coronavirus and the u. S. Response with julie fisher, associate professor at Georgetown University center for Global Health, science and security. Watch c spans washington journal live at seven eastern on friday morning. Join the discussion. Coming up tonight on cspan2, the u. S. Comptroller, testifying on the physical state of the nation. Then a hearing on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the Small Business supply chain. After that, senators booker, Julie Brandon harris holding a briefing on paid sick leave. And later senator speak on the senate floor about the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak. [inaudible]