Transcripts For CSPAN2 White House Coronavirus Task Force Briefing 20240713

Never seen it like that. Oh, boy. Oh, how the world has changed. How the world has changed, right . But its going to end up being than ever. I like to thank you very much for being here and i would like to update you on the steps were taking on her ongoing fight to defeat the virus. This morning at 7 55 i spoke to spoke to the leaders of the g20. Had a great meeting. And we have a lot of different ideas, a lot of good ideas. Were working together. The leaders gathered virtually around the world tor to discusse whole subject of the problem that right now 151 nations have got. We had president Alberto Fernandez of argentina, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of australia, president of brazil, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of canada, president xi of china, president Emmanuel Macron of france, chancellor Angela Merkel of germany, Prime Minister modi of india, president of indonesi indonesia, the Prime Minister of italy, Prime Minister shinzo abe of japan. Congratulations on japan t unmaking of great decision on olympics. Going to make it next year, 2021. President Manuel Lopez Obrador of mexico. Of what youre thank the presidet of mexico are having done such a great job with respect to the middle jigger with 27,000 27,000 exiting soldiers on our southern border, andnd very few people ae getting through, i can tell you that. Weve got to keep it that way. We have a great relationship with mexico no. President putin of russia. King solomon of saudi arabia. President of south africa. President moon of, as you know, a country that we spent a lot of time in, south korea. We are working very hard on that. Prime minister sanchez of spain, president erdogan of turkey, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of united kingdom, president of the european commission, president of the european council, United Nations secretarygeneral gutierrez, World Health Organization director, dr. Tedros. World Bank President david malpass, the International Monetary Fund Managing director krista lina. So thats of the group but its a great group. They were all there, every t one of them and we talked about the problem and hopefully it wont be a problem for too much longer. The United States is working with our friends and partners around the world to stop the fibers andhe courtney our efforts. We discussed how vitally important it is for all of our nations to immediately share information and data, and we to a largethat extent but we will do even more so, and to inform our come i guess you could say, inform each of us on the fight that weve got going onene way or the othe. Its a lot bit different but were handling it a little bit different ways. But that is great uniformity i think. It was a terrific meeting. Tremendous spirit among all of those countries. U. S. 20 m countries plus the otr people that imagine, and tremendous spirit to get this over with. After the meeting with the World Leaders i spoke with the governors of our 50 states and territories. Our team has been in constant communication with the governors, and we had a terrific meeting. Somebody in the fake i news said that one of the governor said, oh, we need tom brady. I said, yeah. He meant that in a positive way. He said we need tom brady. Were going to do great. He minted very positively but they took it differently. They think tom brady should be leading the effort. Thats only fake news here and i like tom brady. Spoke to in the other day. Hes a great guy. But i wish the news could be real. I wish it to be honest. I wish it were not corrupted, but so much of it is. Its so sad to see. Just so sad to see. We had a great meeting. Ie tell you what, im sure you have tapes of the needy. Im sure that you able to get tapes are easily. So you 50 governors plus, and you had tapes, you would see it was really, i mean, there was no contingent or i would say virtually none. I would say maybe one person i was a little tiny bit of a raising of the voice, a little wiseguy, a little bit. But hes usually a big wiseguy. Not so much anymore. We saw to it that he wouldnt be so much anymore. But he is, we had up, i mean, i would rate, mike was there. A lot of the folks in the back were there. It was p a great meeting. It took place at about 12 00. So we went from the g20 to the governors. Spoke about the Economic Relief with the governors and the package that were moving through congress to deliver muchneeded Financial Assistance to hardworking families andsi small businesses. I want to thank democrats and republicans in the senate for unanimously passing the largest Financial Relief package in american history, 960. And have to s say, the largest y far, and im profoundly grateful that both parties came together to provide relief for American Workers and families in this hour of need. The house of representatives must now pass this bill, hopefully without delay. I think its got tremendous support. Whennd youre at 960, and as yu know a couple of those people are quarantined, and one, rand paul, hes actually got it. But he will be better. Hes been a great guy. Hes been a great friend of mine actually. The massive 2. 2 trillion relief package includes Job Retention loans for smallr businesses with loan forgiveness available for businesses that keep the workers on the payroll. Its pretty good. Loan forgiveness, keepan the workers on the payroll. Thats pretty good. Direct cash games will be available to american citizens earning less than 99,000 per year, 3400 for the typical family of four. Expanded unemployment benefits. The average worker who has lost his or her job will receive 100 of their salary up to four fold months. These are things that, by the way, we are plenty more to go, but they are things that nobody has ever hadck any package like this done. And i just want to thank them. Hopefully, itll get approved equally easily in the house, really. I think it will go through pretty well. From what iua hear, virtually everybody. It could be one vote, one foot. One grandstand maybe. You might have one grandstand or. For that will have to come back and take more time and in the past and it would take a little longer. But lets see whether or not we have a grandstand or. Critical support for the hardest hit industries with a ban on corporate stock buybacks and tough new safeguards to prevent executive compensation abuse. Over 100 billion for our amazing doctors, nurses, and hospitals. 45 billion for the Disaster Relief fund, more than doubling the amount available. This is tremendous stuff. 27 billion for the coronavirus response, including 16 billion to build up the Strategic National stockpile with medical supplies including masks, respirators, and all sorts of pharmaceuticals. 3. 5 billion to expand assistance to childcare providers and childcare benefits to health care workers, First Responders, and others on the frontlines of the crisis. And these are really brave, incredible people, i have to say. And some of them are getting sick, and some of them are getting very sick, and some of them dont even recover. They are incredible people. 1 billion for defense production act procurement. We are as you using the act but we use it only when necessary. We use it as leverage. We generally dont have to use it to accomplish what we want to accomplish. As of today fema a shipped over 9 million n95 mask, 20 million facemasks and 3. 1 million face shields, nearly 6000 ventilators, 2. 6 million gallons, 14. 6 million gloves and were sending moreor every day and wee got tremendous amount of equipment coming in. A lot of Great Companies are making equipment right now. The ventilators obvious as they take a longer to make open of a lot of Companies Making them ample going to be in great shape. We took over an empty shelf. We took over a very depleted place, in a a lot of ways. As youti know, the test is going very, very well. And that wase obsolete and broken, and we fixed it and its been going really good. And i think very importantly, the stockpile, we are really filling it up, and we fill it up rapidly, but we get it out. Sometimes we have it sent directly to the states instead. And again the state has to be doing this kind of a thing also. Were sort of, we look, look from behind a little bit and look at how are they doing anything need up we do it. But its their first responsibility. Sometimes they just cant get it, but we vote it up and we sent it out. But if wete cant we have it set directly to the state. We wanted to go directly to the point where we want it. I cannot pronounce them that i think is incredible, what theyve done in the navy, because the incredible Navy Hospital ship, the usns comfort, which is incredible, actually, when you sit inside, will be underway in new york city on saturday. So its going tong be leaving on saturday rather than three weeks from now. They did the maintenance quickly, and itce was going to e there for quitefo a while longe, another three or four weeks. It should be arriving, i told thego catheter 20 minutes ago, governor cuomo, that the ship will be arriving in new york harbor on monday. I think im going to go out and ill kiss it goodbye. Ill go, ill go to, its in virginia as you know. And i will go and well be waiting together because i suspect the media will be following. John, are you going to be following . Maybe. You never know. [inaudible] at thes great ship. Its a great vessel, is right. If you want to go, ill see you there, and if you dont thats okay. After being fully little with medical supplies, its loaded up to the top and its over at the Norfolk Naval base. Thats where it departs. It is expected into, i mean, were saving about three to four weeks by the incredible work done by the navy. And actually look forward to saturday to see it go. The ship will arrive, and i believe its going to get a little bit of a ceremony. Theres something very beautiful about it. Its an incredible piece of work. Going to be landing at your 90 in minette to provide hospital Surge Capacity for the new york metropolitan area. So its a surgeac capacity. They may use for this or that mayom have of the people comingn from hospitals unrelated to the virus and then theyll use of those hospitals on land. Theyll use those hospitals for the virus. But well see how they do it. They could do it either way, one way or the other, whichever one is best. It could be, because it set up so well for regular hospital that they may take people out of hospitals and then use those rooms for the virus. The National Institute of health and the private sector, working closely with the fda, continue to collaborate to discover and test treatments e and therapies that can effectively reduce the duration and symptoms of the virus and help, very much a people to recover. And im firmly committed to bringing these treatments to market very quickly. We have, we have a lot of tests going on with regard to different medicines. And i hope, i hope we get lucky. I hope we hit. A lot of talented scientists and doctors are working on therapeutics, iq were, a vaccine. I think were doing very well. Tony may speak to that little bit later but i think were doing very well with regard to the vaccines. I think were doing well with regard to a lot of the things i just s mentioned, but well have to see what happens. Were going to know fairly soon about a lot of them. But its very advanced in the vaccines are very advanced. Prior to come as you know, a fairly reasonable long test. Of, in that case, over a year. Every american should be proud of the incredible spirit our country has brought to this effort, been credible. Citizens from all walks of lifel have come together to turn the tide in this battle. We arein witnessing the extraordinary power of american unity like a lot of people have never seen. Even getting a vote, youre talking about trillions of dollars, and you get a vote of 960. We are waging war on this virus using every financial, scientific, medical, pharmaceutical, and military resources to halt its spread and protect our citizens. I want to express our tremendous thanks to the American People for continuing to practice social distancing, like you people practicing reiki. I dont know, who may never be the same, maintaining good hygiene and follow government guidelines. Vice president pence lifts up that card every time. And its not very but hopefully you can do that. And your commitment will make all the difference in the world. And thats one of the big ones will be, for a while stay home. Just relax. Home. Were making a lot of progress. As we continue to gather more information and excitement the testing, where we are doing Record Number of tests now, far more than any other country is done. I told you yesterday, eight days here, because youre so much about south korea. The media kept talking, south korea, southko korea. We have a great relationship with president moon in south korea. Si but when i hear so much about south korea, so in eight days, in eight dayshe we do more testg than they did in eight weeks. And its a very highly sophisticated test. We will be able to the point even more datadriven and targeted approaches to slow, ultimately, you know, its a very devastating thing, but we will vanquish this virus. And its, a lot of progress has been made. Thats what earlier today i sent a letter to americas governors describing how we will be using the data to update existing distancing social which will be developed in close coordination with our nations Public Health officials and scientists. Because of the sacrifices of our great doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals, the brilliance of our scientists and researchers, and the goodness and generosity of our people, i know that we will achieve victory and quickly returned to the path of exceptional health, safety, and prosperity for all of our citizens. We have to get back to work. Our people want to work. You want to go back. They have to go back. And were going to be talking about dates. Were going to be talking with a lot of great professionals. But this is a country that was built on getting it done, and our people want to go back to work. Im hearing, im hearing a loud and clear from everybody. So well see what happens. Were going to have a lot more information early next week, and will be reporting that back. But i just want to leave it with you, we have to go back. This is the trend of america. They dont want to sit around and wait. They will be practicing, and by the way, ahe lot of people misinterpret when i say go back. They are going to be practicing as much as you can social distancing and washing your hands and not shaking hands and all of the things we talk about so much. But they have to go back to work. Our country has to go back. Our country is based on that. And i think its going to happen pretty quickly. I think its going to happen pretty quickly. A lot of progress is made, but we have to go back to work. We may take sections of her country. Y. We may take a large sections of a country that are not so seriously affected, and we may do it that way. But we got to start the process pretty soon. So we will be talking to you all bit more about that next week. And with that, if you have any questions you can ask. And then im going to have Vice President stay behind, and hes going to take questions and also introduce some of the a people. You can ask them some questions. John, please. Mr. President , if i could go unpunished numbers out today, 3. 3 million. I think it had a surprise. No, not at all. But still ata staggering number. Im wondering about your perspective on this. Well, its nobodys fault. Certainly not in this country. Nobody sold. We got very lucky woodman made a decision not to love people infringe on at the very early date. I say that because some people dont want to accept it. That this was a great decision made by our country, or the numbers that yous talk about. Where they country. E they would be far greater, far bigger. When i heard the number, i heard it could be 6 million, 7 million. It is 3. 3 or 3. 2 but its a lot of jobs. I think well come back very strong. The sooner we get back to work, everyday we step out it gets harder to bring back very quickly. Our people dont want to stay out. I know those numbers, john, but i think youll see a very fast turnaround once with a victory over the hidden enemy, as i say. Its a hidden enemy. Sometimes a hidden enemy as lot tougher than somebody that stirs your interface, right . So well see what happens. But, i mean, they are fully expected numbers, at least. I mean, at least. Theres a proposal to deploy troops along the canadian border. Prime minister trudeau iss completing about that. Why is w that necessary . We have very strong southernt on the border as you know with mexico. We had some troops up in canada but ill find out about that. I guess its equal justice, to a certain extent. Canada we do have troops along the border. You know, we have a lot of things come in from canada. We had trade, some illegal trade that we dont like. We have very strong sanctions on some. We have very stoneneav terrace n dumping steel strong terrace. I charge a lot of tariff for steel and its been great for our still comes because now they can really go. Look whats happened with stupid its been pretty incredible will be taken and billions and billions of dollars on steel. Much of the comes in from china but they can come to the alwaysn border so were watching for that. If im reading the number scrape the trend is the best china as a country with the highest number of virus cases. Thats a surprise you at all . Is it following a predictable trajectory . Hi no, i think its a tribute to our testing. Number one, you dont know whath the numbers are in china. China tells you numbers. Im speaking to president xi tonight, i believe, and will have a good conversation. I think its a tribute to the testing. Testing tremendous numbers of people and everyday, the way the system works. And i want to thank especially, roche has been fantastic. Great company. Tremendous amount to deborah with salt before that they really stepped up to the plate and then great, as of other of the companies it seems they are really doing it particularly well. Well see what happens there. But its a tribute to the amount of testing that were doing. Were doing tremendous testing. Im sure youre not able to tell what china is testing or not testing. I think thats a little hard. Mr. President , on the 3. 3 jobless claims, you just suggested it could get to six per 7 million. I didnt say that. Youre wrong. I did say that. I said some people were projecting that would be six or seven, and its i believe 3. 3. Millions of americans out of work. Some of them will be losing their insurance. What you plan to make sure through no fault of your own, you just mentioned, they stay insured . Are you willing to plusup the subsidies for some exchanges under obamacare, spend medicaid . The things i just read your being considered and other things are being considered. People are going to be getting the checks. Its not their fault. What happened then is not the fault. But for the health insurance. Were doing a lot of Different Things and health insurance. We have meetings on it today. Taking care of our people. This is not their fault what happened and were taking care of it were starting out by send them. The checks. I think for a family about 3000. Were taking care of our people. Were taking care of our workers. N as i say this is not a financial crisis. This was a health crisis, a medical crisis. Were going to take care of her people. The National Restaurant association came out National Restauranthi association came up with the survey this morning saying that 3 of all restaurants in this country have shuttered for good in the past three weeks, and the projection is that 11 more are going to close in the next 30 days. Say to a Restaurant Owner who is looking at he sheets and thinks he has to close within the next 30 days . Ry well, i hate to come under the business very well. I understand the restaurant business. Its a very delicate business. Its a business that is not easy. I always say, in a restaurant business, you can serve 30 great meals to a person or family and 11. One bad deal, number 31, they never come back again. Its a very tough business. But there are great people that run restaurants and effort 3 could be lost and you could go as high as ten or 11 . Theyve all come back in one form or another. It might be a different restaurant but its going to be a great business for a lot of people. When making it easy for people to looklo what were doing and what were doing in terms of loans, what were doing in terms of salaries. Theyll all come back. And may not be the same restaurant. And may not be the same ownership but they will all be back. You mentioned the pledges ple American Companies to provide supplies, but as we top 81,000 cases and the u. S. , does it make sense to relook at using the defense production act . U well, i talked about the defense production act a lot. I enacted it. I have it. I can do it with a pen. We have actually used it on to my occasions and then we could withdraw it. But for the most part the companies we dont need. We say we need this and they say, dont bother, were going to do it. We are dealing with, general motors, three and. Were dealing with great company. They want to do this. They want to do this. They are doing things that frankly dont dont need someone to walk over with a hammer and say do it. They are getting it done. They are making tremendous amounts of equipment. Tremendous amounts when this is over where going to be fully stockpiled which they never would of been except for a circumstance. This was something that nobody has ever thought could happen to this country. Im not even blaming look, we inherited a broken situation but i dont totally blame the people that were before me and this administration. Nobody wouldve ever thought nothing like this could happen. But the production act, defense production act, is a wonderful thing but i but i just havento use. They know its activated. They know i c can use it. Maybe that frightens them a little bit. Its got tremendous power but i havent had to. A question for me and in another question, if youll will let me, for some of my colleagues or social distancing. Go ahead. What w other . Theyre all outside time to get in. I know. First question is to do with cruise liners like carnival and wrote ribbing. They want this relief aid that the worried because the offshore to places like panama and liberia they might not qualify. Senator hawley has said they should move back to the United States before they get a check. Do you agree . Should they pay u. S. Taxes to get u. S. Taxpayer r relief . Im a big fan of senator hawley, and ie also the idea. There were some senators the did want to do anything like carnival, great company, but they are based in different places. I will tell you where. I could tell you exactly where their base body willl do that. But theyre based in actually more than one place, as you know. Ships are registered in differentio locations. I do like the concept of perhaps come in and registering here, come into the United States. Its very tough to make a loan to a company when theyre based in a different country. But with that being said, they have thousands and thousands of people that work there and, maybe almost ass important, that work on shore filling the ships with goods and products, and the cruise line business is very important. I know carnival, what a great job they do. I would think that we could stick with senator hawley and maybe look at that very seriously look, its a big business. Great business. If the business that employs tremendous of number of people, outside of the ship itself i mean, you look at these ports. Its loaded up with shops and people that are involved with the ship. Work very hardo on the cruise line business and are going to work something out. But i like the concept. The senate bill includes a that is directly tied to the airlines. Since before the pandemic boeing was already suffering from the losses of 737 max airplanes. Do you think its appropriate to use this legislation to provide them with 17 billion of aid on top of 25 billion that they could qualify for as a Passenger Airline and then another 4 billion that they could qualify for as a cargo airline, is is that fair . So that everyone business is very tough business. Over many years, its been very, veryry tough. Its got everything. Its got labor. Its a very strong powerful, you look at the cost of these airliners. Everything is tough, very highly technological. You look at our complicated, how complex. Its got unions. Its got. Everything. The Airline Business generally speaking, as unions. Its a very tough business, has long been a very tough business. With that being said, we have to keep our airlines going. Were going to be using some, now maybe well take a piece of the airlines for the country, for our country where we loan money and we take the piece. Its all fully ready. Were ready to go. But if we didnt do that we would end up with the airlines and we cant do that. The Airline Business is very vital to a country. Its a tough business. We have to understand that. I mean, i could show you other businesses that are different kinds of business. They are very good businesses airlines havee always been very, very tough. Please. To my question for you, mr. President. No, please. I didnt call you. I called of this judgment. Thank you, mr. President. [inaudible] mr. President , on monday did you speak with chinese president xi before you urged americans to not blame asianamericans for the coronavirus . We noticed that youve backed off of that language. I know youre sticking with him againstp an expert to come i didnt. And them tonight. Its scheduled to go to die. Ill have a call with president xi of china. I have a great relationship. No, didnt like they came up. It wasnt him. Some would add a lower level, midlevel, found a pretty much. But they made the statement that our soldiers brought it into china. No, it came from china. And you know, we just signed a very big deal with china. They are paying us a lot of money in tariffs and other things. They never paid as tense and. Look, chinas taken advantage of the United States. Until i came here, with Sleepy Joe Biden and obama and bush and anybody else. Im not blaming them. Im blaming everybody. They were allowed to, 500 billion a year it would take out. We had trade deficits that were so large nobody has ever seen anything like it. And weve changed it. Look, never taking in billions of dollars. We gave some to our farmers because china, you know, they targeted our farmers and our farmers are very happy and our farmers cut through a very rough. Because of what i was able to do. Took the money from china and the farmers, and with plenty left over after that. That were going into phase two negotiationot with china but wee getting 25 on 250 billion and then dollars and then were getting a lot money after that. So would never have to deal with china. China took advantage of the t United States. And you knowe it . I dont blame china for that. I blame the people that were right you because they should have never allowed it to happen. But the relationship with the china has been a very good one. John. Did president xi ask you to calm down and which doubt or do not use language . He never asked me to calm it down, no. Somebody might a spoken to somebody but nobody spoke to me about it. Y i think it was time felt because you know, i talk about the chinese virus. And they made. Thats what came from. If you look at ebola, look ate, line. Right . Lyme connecticut. You look at all these different horrible diseases, they seem o come with the name with the location. This was a chinese virus. What i dont have to say it, if they feel so strong about it. Well see. But you know we just made a great deal with china, great, hopefully for both parties but weve made a deal with china ever going to do another one, looks like. They want to do it very badly. Maybe you want to wait like iran. Iran. Want to wait to see whether trump gets beaten in election because with a love to negotiate with bide some else other than me. A would love it. Thats their best dream in the world. So many others. There are some that may be are waiting until after november 3, the election day. But i think were doing pretty well. Sad if we do all of the advantages that we have right now because weve made unbelievable trade deals. Whether its mexico, canada, japan, south korea, china,na and others. We have changed the whole thing around. Please. Mr. President , earlier today you sent a notification letter to the nations governors saying that you will soon come out with new guidelines about social distancing and other items. Do you have any data yet to suggest which specific areas of the country may have guidelines relaxed . Yeah. Which airs of the coach amanda guidelines tighten . I think debra will talk you about that, and tony come in a few minutes. We have to open up. We cant say lets close. The people dontop want to clos, john. I i see again and again. The reason i do because i want you to reported eventually. Go ahead, steve. How would that work without widespread go ahead, steve. What you want to hear from president xi tonight . What you want to talk to about . Its his call. Ill talk to them whenever he wants to. Is about the virus though. Was q will be talked about that. Well be talking about the virus. In the back first. Thank you, mr. President. Despite the jobless claim numbers today the market will begin. Its up over 4000 points the last three days. Records. The largest charge since 1931. Do you do you think the Economic Uncertainty is passed given the market . No, not yet. It has in past but its come a long way. I think they think were doing a really good job in terms of running this whole situation, having to do with the virus. I think they feel the administration, myself and the administration, are doing a good job with people, keeping, freeport, people informed. Because it was a great fear. A lot of good things are happening. The mortality rate is at, in my opinion, the have to speak to deborah, tony, all of the others, and in my opinion its way, way down. That takes a lot a few out. Its one thing to have it. Its another thing to die. When i first got involved i was being told numbers that were much, much higher than the numbers that seems to be. And remember the people that have, many people have. I just booked a two people. They had it. They never went to a doctor. They added, actually had a bit of aey way to a doctor, they didnt report it. You have thousands and hundreds of thousands of cases like that. So you have to add that to the caseload also. The people that actually die, that percentage is a much lower percentage than ever thought. Thats when the priest i say look, were going to beat this and were going to get back to work. One more question from your administration today. The doj announced charges against Nicolas Maduro for drug trafficking. They designate him as a narco terrorists. Its also expected venezuela is going to get it but hard by the coronavirus. Does the administration see this as a a weak point for the maduro regime . We dont look at a weak point. This is it is problem for over one of 50 nations, the virus. I would this. Maduro and venezuela were watching watching it very closely. You see what happens. That is correct, those charges were made. Please. You said a moment ago used the defense production act on two minor occasions. What were those . We we will give that notification. Will let you know. Okay . A followup about the classifying for counties. A lot of these areas have not done testing yet. Ot is it safe to say that the current guidelines will be extended into next week . What you wait to change those guidelines in chile have the data . I want those guidelines to go, even when we are open and operational. And, frankly, much of the guidelines, like shaking hands, maybe people are not going to be shaking hands anymore. Tony had mentioned to me, tony fauci, the otherak day that, i dont think he was, would be too upset with the concept of not shaking hands. He was saying that the flu would cut down, the regular flu would be cut down by quite a bit if we didnt doe that, if we didnt shake hands. The regular flu, which, we have a lot of deaths and a lot of problems with that too succinct a lot of great things are going to when were open, just to finish. When were open, as soon as we open, that doesnt mean youre going to stop with the guidelines. You will still trying to set yourself. Maybe not to the same extent because you have to lead a life but i think the time is coming. How about one more question . In the back please. I have two questions because of massive behalf of Foreign Press as well. One domestic question, one international. Domestically, you just tweeted the other day saying that its very important that we totally protect asianamericans. Yes, i do. Very important to me. But still millions its very important to me. We have to protect our asianamericans. Its a very important that was a very important tweet to me because i didnt like think im in. Please go ahead. Whats the concrete measure your taking to combat the hate crimes against speeders i dont know. Ill do know is this. Asianamericans in a country doing fantastically well. Im very close to them as you know. Theyre doing fantastically well. I think the appreciate the job are doing but it did want to but the statement, the social media statement, he comes to me asianamericans are great part of a country. Thank you all very much. Well see you soon. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. [inaudible question] good afternoon, everyone. The White House Coronavirus task force met today. Weav continue to move out on president trumps directive dio slow the spread with medication, to advance and expand testing across the country, and to work on the critical supplies that our healthcare workers and our nation needs. Today, the president convened thene nations governors, all of the states and territories, and reiterated to them that, with fema in the lead, our approach, our response to the coronavirus in this country is locally executed, healthcare workers, local Public Health officials. It is state managed and it is federallyly supported. The opportunity to thank all of the governors across the country, our states and territories for their incredible leadership and the partnership they have forged with this administration. We were able to confirm that ten major disaster declarations have been issued, most recently to new jersey, north carolina, florida, texas, and illinois. We spoke to them about the importance of the economic recovery legislation that will come before the house of representatives, we believe, tomorrow midday. And were grateful for the efforts in working for the unanimous bipartisan vote in the United States senate last night. In addition to direct payments for american families, the average family of four will receive a direct payment of some 3400. They will also receive payroll report pick many of the small businesses, even those restaurants that you just spoke about, will now be able to keep people on the payroll for a period of months, even if the restaurant or the business is not open. With the governors though, we talked about the 150 billion in direct aid to the states, 100 billion in direct assistance the hospitals and, of course, the expansion of unemploymenten benefits to make sure that our states have the resources to meet the challenges that was evident in those unemployment numbers this morning. On the subject of testing, im pleased to report that testing is available in all 50 states. And in partnership with commercial labs across america, this morning we received word that 552,000 tests have been performed and completed all across the United States. We want to thank the American Hospital association and hospitals across the country that are juston beginning to report in a full some way the results of those tests. And when the president signs aloft a more it will be required by law. But as dr. Birx and dr. Fauci have explained many times at this podium, its so important that any hospital or any lab thats doing testing report back to the cdc in femas with full visibility to provide the president with the very best counsel. Good news today onn testing. Abbott laboratories submitted to the fda today a request for approval of a point of care test. This would be the kind of test where you could go to doctor, you could get the test done there after doctor, and have resulted in no more than 15 minutes. Dr. Steve hahn will be a tomorrow to talk about progress in evaluating Abbott Laboratories point of care test. And it is already begun across the country. It relieves the burden on healthcare protection and saves personal protective equipment and they can administer the test themselves and doctors to think about the importance and availability of swabs. With regard to swabs you have the president speak about what we already shipped out from the National Strategic stockpile. More than 100 million n masks, 6000 ventilators, surgical masks, millions of towns and face shields. In addition to that we are working with a number of suppliers for manufactured ventilators. Even while we work with state leaders to assess not just what ventilators are available in state hospitals but what are available in private hospitals across the state and governors across the country are doing great work evaluating the supply of tens of thousands of ventilators that are available but we also say thank you to the American Society of anesthesiologists and doctor mary peterson. The American Society of anesthesiologists produced a video and tomorrow will host a webinar to demonstrate how the devices anesthesiologists use can be very easily converted into a ventilator that is appropriate for a patient struggling with respiratory illness like the coronavirus. We are grateful this adds tens of thousands of devices and we are grateful to doctor peterson and the whole association for their full cooperation. With five of ten counties in the country being top counties for coronavirus being in the new york city metropolitan area let us reiterate our recommendation that any resident of the Greater New York city area who has traveled elsewhere in the United States, to self isolate for 14 days. What we dont want, again, 5 of the top 10 counties for coronavirus being in the Greater New York city area, we dont want anyone and no one would want to inadvertently carry the coronavirus to a community or Family Member inadvertently because they come out of that community. If you come out of new york over the last several weeks before the mitigation began, check your temperature, mind your health and self isolate for 14 days. It is inspiring to talk about the data, we are monitoring on a regular basis and doctor f fauci to talk about mitigation and im inspired by how the america people are responding. We are working with record unemployment numbers. Not unexpected during a time of National Crisis but what you may not know is there were some 3 million plus new unemployment claims, walmart announced they are hiring 150,000 new associates through the end of may. Amazon who a few weeks back announced they are wanting additional warehouse employees to meet a growing demand at amazon for online purchases, cvs health will provide bonuses to employees working with patients and higher 50,000 workers and pizza hut is planning on hiring 30,000 permanent employees. That is just a short summary of a list the totals half 1 million jobs that have been announced by businesses around america and it is not just about jobs but generosity. Anheuserbusch is making a 500 million donation to the American Red Cross to support First Responders. Oh i o hotels is offering doctors, nurses and First Responders free rooms at their Hotels Across america and the Pharmaceutical Company add6 is donating to the International Medical corps into feeding america. American businesses are partnering with us to meet this moment but they are being incredibly generous to all those stepping in and will lead and provide Healthcare Services and to those most in need. We can do this but it will take all of us, the president says we are all in this together but as millions of americans do their part, 15 days to slow the spread putting into practice the president s guidelines for combating the coronavirus and it spread we are more confident every day this too shall pass with the cooperation, generosity and prayers of the American People. I just know that we will slow the spread, and protect our most vulnerable and heal our land. For information on the latest on data and what we are seeing, dock road doctor deborah burkes. This is a summary where it looks domestically. Not talking so much about global issues at this time. We have 19 of our 50 states that had early cases but have persistently low level of cases in less than 200 cases. That is almost 40 of the country with extraordinarily low numbers. We are going to leave this White House Briefing from yesterday. You can watch all our programs online, cspan. Org. Live picture from boston, massachusetts where Governor Charlie Baker is briefing reporters about the coronavirus outbreak. Live coverage on cspan2. We have new travel recommendations