Transcripts For CSPAN2 White House Coronavirus Task Force Holds Briefing 20240712

Generally vaccines that put the nail in the coffin of these types. We are now mounting a major effort. Washington journal live everyday at 7 a. M. Eastern and all of todays Program Available at cspan. Org. Here on cspan2 we will take you live to the health and Human Services department for live coverage of the White House Coronavirus task force. It is their first briefing in nearly two months. Good afternoon, and to our fellow americans at wes, good morning. We just completed todays meeting of the White House Coronavirus task force come and am pleased to be joined by many members of the task force with us for this briefing. I want to thank secretary azar, dr. Birx and dr. Fauci, dr. Redfield at the cdc as well as our attorney general, admiral giroir of the u. S. Public Health Service and dr. Hahn and seema verma. We will make a series of presentations to update the American People on the status of the coronavirus pandemic in the country and then be available to take questions, but we very much appreciate the attendance of all who are here and all of you who have made time to tune in. As we reported today we have now more than 2,500,000 americans that of contracted the coronavirus, and sadly we have lost more than 126,000 of our countrymen to this disease. And i know i speak for the president and for every american when we express our sympathies and our deepest condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones. Despite of those losses, since the end of our 45 days to slow the spread and the beginning of efforts to open up america, thanks to the cooperation of the American People, the efforts of governors and state Health Officials, efforts i want to proudly say the entire federal team under the leadership of President Trump, we have made truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward. We have all seen the encouraging news of the open up america again, more than 3 million jobs in the last job report. Retail sales are rolling and, of course, the extraordinary progress in new york, new jersey, connecticut and new orleans areas that just a matter of the month ago were struggling under the weight of this pandemic. And now have a right at a very, very different place. As we stand today all 50 states and territories across this country are opening up safely and responsibly. But with cases rising, take over the past week throughout the south particularly over President Trump directed our task force to brief the American People on several topics. First, we want to share with you as dr. Birx will what we are seeing in the rise of new cases that today surmounted 40,000 new cases in a single day. Secondly, we want to speak about what we have done and what we are doing at the federal level to support the state effort, particularly in the states will be see rising cases. Well talk today about how this moment in the coronavirus pandemic is different than what we saw two months ago to better equip the American People to respond and ultimately we will speak about what every american can do to play the part in reducing the spread and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. For our part, also ive spoken to governors in arizona, in florida, in texas in the last 12 hours, and dr. Birx and i will be traveling on sunday the texas, on tuesday to arizona and i will be traveling to florida on thursday of next week to get a grant report. And, of course, on monday we will conduct what would be our 26 weekly call with the entire White House Coronavirus task force and all of the nations governors as we meet this moment. As i mentioned, its important gathering today i think that we take, take a step back and think about how far we have, as a country how far we have come as a country. When the tapped me to lead the test for season with one mission, that was to save lives. President trumps decision to suspend all travel from china in january to stand at the White House Coronavirus task force, in february to halt travel from europe and amanda traveled tram other places around the country all contributed to giving our nation time to stand up a broadbased response. The whole of government response that we spoke about so many times at the podium throughout this pandemic. We at the state Department Also coordinated the repatriation of some 95,000 americans and then came the moment when we brought this chart to the president of the United States on the council of our very best scientists. The president was presented with a decision that if we did nothing, no intervention, the possibility existed at that moment in time that we could lose between 1. 52. 2 million americans. But with intervention 1. 5 1. 5 million, and 2. 2 million americans. What with the call to the American People to embrace the mitigation efforts, social distancing that were called upon first in the 15 days to slow the spread that would be, 45 days to slow the spread, our best scientists believed that we could reduce the number of american fatalities to a number ranging between 100,000240,000. The president made that decision, and we unveiled the 15 days that became the 45 days to slow the spread. In arguably as we see where we are today as a nation, because of what the American People have done, because of the incredible work of her healthcare workers, because of our partnership with governors in every state we did just that. We slowed the spread. We flattened the curve. We saved lives. In the midst of that we exponentially scaled Testing Capacity partner with private sector commercial laboratories. We now reached some 30 million tests across the country conducting some 500,000 tests a day. In that partnership with governors also the president directed us to make sure that states had what they needed and when they needed it. And at this point i am pleased to report that the federal government both delivered and facilitated the delivery of billions of supplies of face shields and gowns and gloves and masks, and we continue to be on track to construct more than 100,000 ventilators in 100 days. And as i spoke to governors last night they can from to me again what fema has reported. We have no outstanding requests from any state at this time for personal protective equipment or medical supplies. Let me say that again. In the affected areas, particularly the states down south that are seeing rising cases we have no outstanding requests. But as a till the governors and we are ready at a moment noticed to expand capacity and to support their healthcare response. In the midst of all of that i think it always bears saying that because of the great work of our healthcare workers and because of american manufacturing, no american who required a ventilator has ever been denied a ventilator in the United States. And i consider that nothing short of a national accomplishment. We also surged Hospital Capacity in areas of the greatest anticipated need and we send military and National Guard personnel. And these charts showing the progress that we made in new york and new jersey and new orleans all demonstrate that the efforts of the people of those states in cooperation with the federal government and all the great healthcare workers to show the progress that we made in areas that were once deeply impacted, and we extend our thanks. We extend our thanks to the people at each of those states for the sacrifices that they made during those great and challenging times. But at the close of the 45 days to slow the spread we unveiled a plan to safely reopen america again. Now all 50 states and territories are moving forward. And as i said we are seeing america go back to work, and in much of the country we are seeing jobs expanding and Economic Activity expanding. But our focus today is very much on the advent of rising series of new cases across the american south. But where our First Mission was to save lives, once we came out of the 45 days to slow the spread, what are task force has been focused on over the course of the past two months is to partner with states to save lives and safely reopen. In fact, we have had some 70 meetings of the White House Coronavirus task force in the intervening days since we began the process of opening up america again, and we have been working very closely with states to move that agenda forward. But as the president has made clear we want to open our economy up and we want to move america forward, even while we take and continue to take steps necessary to protect lives and the health of the American People. We standard today with the rising cases among Southern States President Trump asked us to brief the American People to give details on what we are seeing, what we are doing, and how its different from two months ago. As you may recall, after seeing over all cases drop from a a 30,000 a day average in april the 25,000 the 25,000 a day average in may, first few weeks in june actually saw cases averaging roughly 20,000 new cases a day. We now have seen cases begin to rise precipitously across the south. In fact, 34 states, 34 let me make sure i got my numbers exactly right here. As we reported early on, 34 states across the country though are experiencing a measure of stability that is a credit to all the people of those states. When we speak about stability we are talking about not necessary states where there are no new cases but these would be states where there are either no new cases and no rising percentage, or no combination of those two things. There may be states across the country that are seeing a modest increase in cases but their percentage of positive race is remaining very stable, and but nevertheless, there are 16 states with rising cases and rising percentages. And we will be focusing on those states today. The first thing we would share with the American People is that while there is a penchant in the National Debate to use a broad brush and to paint an entire state one color if there are rising cases in the state, this is actually a better picture of the data that we literally analyzed every single day. Dr. Birx will take a few moments to unpack the specific outbreaks in texas, florida, arizona and california. But the first thing we would convey to the American People is that from this new positive results in the last three days you can see the concentration of new cases in specific parts of states and, of course, very specifically in parts of the country. Secondly, we want the American People to understand that its almost inarguable that more testing is generating more cases. Cases. To one extent or another, the volume of new cases coming in is a reflection of a Great Success in expanding testing across the country. As a set at the top, we are testing more than ever before, some 500,000 people a day and perhaps we could go to that testing chart if it is a bear just to show you the acceleration of testing that has taken place over the course of this pandemic if it is a bear. It has truly been a remarkable and it is that a public and private partnership from the very outset. One of the things were seeing among the cases of your disk in florida and we had this in texas and elsewhere is that roughly half of the new cases are americans under the age of 35. Which is at a certain level very encouraging news as the experts tell us because as we know so far in this pandemic that younger americans are less susceptible to serious outcomes of the coronavirus. And the fact that we are finding more younger americans who have contracted the coronavirus is a good thing. And so we will speak about the testing and admiral giroir is here and can detail any questions that you might have about testing going forward. Thirdly, we will talk about what these new numbers mean, how we can address them. Dr. Fauci will speak about that in just a moment, particularly in the affected areas. And the other area that we spend a great deal of time thinking about is, is hospitalization. Not only do we track new cases every day on a county by county basis but we also track hospitalization. And the map on the left of your screen represents how shows you how we look at it and how we ensure that hospital and healthcare test resource and support they need. Again as in the matter of new cases come you can also see with hospitalization it is highly focused highly detailed and highly specific. Secretary azar will speak about hospitalization, the work of hhs to make sure that our hospitals around the country have the capacity to meet this moment. But as dr. Birx may well reflect as well we are encouraged that we are where as two months ago we were seeing some 15 of new cases being hospitalized. Now that number is averaging roughly 5 around the country, which is also encouraging news to say the least. And so while we have 16 states that we are focusing on, again i would just reiterate to the American People the most useful thing to note is where it is happening seeking take the steps necessary to do your part. But rest assured in our conversation with the governors in all of the most impacted states, we continue to be assured that Hospital Capacity remains strong and they know the federal government stands ready to provide them with the personal protective equipment or supplies or even expanded capacity in personnel to meet any moment. But at this point in time we are told that it all of the states most deeply impacted that hospitalization remains very, very broadly available. Finally i want to speak about the progress that weve made as a country on the most difficult aspect of this. I said at the beginning that our hearts and our prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones in the course of the coronavirus pandemic, and i know i speak on behalf of everyone in this country when i extend our sympathies to the more than 126,000 families that have lost loved ones. As president has said many times, one life lost is too many, but nevertheless, i believe at this point in the course of the pandemic we can still take some comfort in the fact that the counties are declining all across the country. There literally was a day two months ago this week where we lost 2500 americans in a single day. This week, because of the extraordinary work of our healthcare workers, because of the availability of a new medicines like remdesivir and because of the cooperation of the American People heeding the guidance that we gave at the federal level and state and local officials gave, this week there were two days were lost less than 300 americans. You can see from this chart what has been a precipitous decline from some of the worst moments of this pandemic as it impacted areas of new york and new jersey and the northeast. Again, i have a heavy heart anytime i recite these numbers, but the fact that we are making progress, reducing the number of americans that we have lost and are losing, i hope, and encouragement, because as we see new cases rising, and were tracking them very carefully, there may be a tendency among the American People to think that we are back to the place that we were two months ago, that we are in a time of great losses and great hardship on the American People. The reality is we are in a much better place with the efforts President Trump mobilized at the federal level, with the efforts of this team, this whole of government approach, the efforts of governors across the country, are incredible healthcare workers and the cooperation of the American People. We are in a much stronger place. The truth is we did slow the spread. We flattened the curve. We were able to stand up the resources and the capacities and our Healthcare System to be able to meet this coronavirus in a way that would put the health of all our country first. We have also, we care for the most foldable and continue to focus resource and testing and supplies on the most vulnerable seniors with serious underlying conditions and i believe with all my heart that we have continued to save lives. We created a Solid Foundation for whatever challenges, either in the days ahead or in the months ahead here thats a credit. Thats a credit i believe to our president , to our federal team and state partners. But mostly it is a credit to the American People and our healthcare workers. And so we stand today. We believe we have made progress, what as we reminded as we see cases rising across the south, that we still have work to do and so we say to every american, particularly those in counties and in states that are being impacted by rising cases, that now is the time for everybody to continue to do their part. And i think youll hear from this podium today a particular message to younger americans, younger americans across the sunbelt and the role that you can play in protecting the vulnerable and making sure that why the coronavirus doesnt represent as significant a threat for serious outcomes to a younger american, none of us would want to bring the disease back to our parents or grandparents, moms and dads and elderly friend or a friend who has an immunodeficiency and cause a serious outcome as well and so we leave you just with the guidelines for all of the phases. When we put out the guidelines to open up america again, we laid out, and at the outset, guidance for responsible reopening. States across the country are doing just that. 34 states are reopening safely and responsibly and seeing low and steady cases, not seen a rise in the percentage of positives here and in the 16 states that are being impacted, particularly those that will focus on your today, we would just encourage every american to follow the guidelines for all the faces. Continue to practice good hygiene, wash your hands, avoid touching your face, disinfect frequently. People who feel sick should stay home, and when it comes to businesses, social distancing, protective equipment, temperature checks, testing and isolation. These are the guidelines for all of the phases and they are good practices to implement if youre in a community that is affected or even if you are not. We encourage you to continue to do that. At home and at work and in your community but for those in the areas most affected, we want to encourage you. Listen to and respect the guidance of your state and local authorities. This is different than two months ago both in our ability to respond and in the nature of those being infected and younger americans have the particular responsibility to make sure they are not carrying the coronavirus to where they would expose the most vulnerable. Last as i prepare to bring doctor brooks to the podium, i encourage you to continue to pray. Pray for the families who lost their loved ones, pray for the healthcare workers on the front lines. Continue to pray. By gods grace, everyday but each of us do our part to heal our land. Doctor deborah brooks. Thank you. Thank you for that great introduction. Just to remind everybody where we come from the last four months, we had a great deal of understanding about the differential disease, differential infections. Everybody is susceptible to infection. We know it leads to a spectrum of disease and we have much better detail about whos vulnerable and why. As the Vice President said, at one time, we were diagnosing people in the icu after they came into the emergency room. Thanks to the millennials heating our guidance, theyve been coming forward and getting tested. Before told him to say now we are telling them to change because it allows us to find the asymptomatic and mild diseases find before. From the serology test, we have a great understanding of what was happening in march and the number of asymptomatic and mild conditions that led to individuals that have antibody never come forward with significant disease. We now know whos at risk for significant disease. We now know and particularly the elderly and those over 80 and individuals with comorbidity and they stand the entire age group. We do know we have people in the Younger Age Group with significant type one diabetes and they also have individuals with significant obesity. We note the risk victors so they go with comorbidity not necessarily sure age. As we call on individuals to protect one another by passing someone on the street, dont know what they have. We can trying to focus on protecting one another. No that is for the highest mortality and weve been able to, Clinical Care has dramatically improved and want to thank nih working on updating the clinical guidelines around the u. S. And around the world using this must updated information improve disease force for those in the hospital. Treatment in the hospital that we didnt have in march and april. Oxygenation which is quite important and individuals on the latest, we know now, they respond well to steroids and research thats ongoing often in the later stage when people are on ventilators, the seriously ill may need steroids and other items and thats been researched and being done on clotting research. Have new therapeutics with us compassionate use and now brenda severe that we just reallocated an insured is available to states facing increased hospitalization as well as monthly allocations weve been sending out. We can go start where the Vice President left off and this disease tackled community the community, testing of the Community Level and working with Community Groups to understand the spread in those communities. Weve been trying to map the epidemic and new positives down to the level of communities under spread to match prevention interventions to those areas. As we discussed this, its difficult to see because the top line is new york and we should remember where we were and the slope, the early slope you can see in the case of the new york cases, the rapid acceleration. On the same side, you can see california, that is the blue line thats passing the orange line and also texas in green, florida and orange. Arizona at the bottom. As dramatic as the slopes are, they are not equivalent to the original acceleration we saw in new york. That doesnt mean we arent absolutely focused on working with the governors in those communities to stop the spread of the virus in those states. This shows through the entire country, we are tracking statebystate, obviously this is vastly different than the one on the prior slide because that slide included all cases in new york city but you can see weve been tracking closely North Carolina, working with the state and local Public Health authorities to respond to the changes there as well as South Carolina at the bottom. Ill just go quickly through these so you can see oklahoma at the bottom of the slide and next slide, you can see idaho and oregon. Those are the ones in the light blue and dark green for you see inflection in those slopes. These inflection points and understanding when they occur and why are critical for understanding how to prevent the spread. The Vice President talked about as we created an alert system that brings together what we just talked about, rising cases with an understanding of test positivity. Chart which is difficult to see, those states on the far side of the highest test positive that you can see a higher level of the craft. Those of the states we have concerns about because of the rising number of cases and rising test positive. This explains the extent of Community Spread. States have increasing cases falling test positive, it tells us there getting into the communities defining a symptomatic cases. These are things we put together to understand the full picture. This puts on one slide the states we have that weve been talking about across the south where we have our greatest concern. The two top states with the largest increase in test positives are texas and arizona followed by florida, mississippi, South Carolina, alabama, georgia, louisiana, and utah. There under still 10 so we are tracking them closely as we look at that individually. Finally, next slide. You can see we are tracking, this is when you hear about 2 or 3 of counties under specific alerts, it doesnt matter the size of the county. We are tracking the increase in rate of increase of new cases of the county level. We currently have about 130 counties out of the 3100 in the u. S. In that category. This shows you case positivity by the metros and the number of tests that have been done. This shows you specifically the change over time of test positivity and the largest metro where we have concerns and this is often phoenix, houston, dallas, san antonio, orlando, Riverside California and then to at the bottom. This is how we continue to integrate data cases, data on testing and on hospitalization so we can work with the states for comprehensive integrative response. I know many of you would be interested in seeing how high test positivity great became. April march and april, the top line is new york city metro and you can see it reach over 50 on a series of days for almost two weeks. 50 of the tests were positive for covid19. Under that, you see new jersey and minnesota and a series of individuals. Detroit is the second motion. To show you how you look at the state level and work with the governors and health authorities, this is florida. We tracked testing, the number of test positives in the blue line, total number of cases in the black bar and what we call syndromic presentation of early respiratory diseases and pneumonia. This then, we look at the county level to look for changes in the slope from the number of new cases. You can see the top county with the largest increase in scope and cases is miami, followed by broward. All of the counties are much lower in the daily case increases. This allows us to focus resources and testing along with the state and these specific specific sites. Now comes together to create this graphic so individuals can understand and we can understand precisely the rate of growth and where it is occurring. By the shading of the boxes. Why to quickly take you through texas because its the same story. This shows you the same graphic, now shown for texas showing a continued rise in daily tests performed but also a rise in the test positivity, the blue line. You can see throughout may after opening, the test positivity continued to decline as the testing increased. It is in the last 2. 5 weeks we saw this inflection of rise and test positivity along with rising testing but it was the increase in test positivity that alerted us along with the increase in cases that this was becoming an alert. You can see in the right boxes, everything is mapped so you can tell two boxes in the middle that are red, its a heat map showing of rise in cases and rising test positivity. But even in texas, next slide this gives you a map of texas, it shows you where the cases are and where they are rising most rapidly. Finally, im going to go through arizona quickly along with california. Next. Same situation we are showing here with arizona, rising number of testing but also rising test positivity rise and cases. Arizona is unique and they have essentially one county primarily represented by the death of the new cases and this was in the phoenix area. Next slide. This is california. Can see california over the last week has had that increase in test positivity, you can see the dramatic increase at the end in the blue line along with increasing test that has been done and we want to thank the governors and the work and laboratories that has allowed us along with hhs to ensure the supplies whether to increase these. You can see in each cases, they have dramatically gone up over the last four weeks. Like new mexico, the primary infections right now in california, at the highest level are in the l. A. Area but because l. A. Is a large metropolitan area, you really need this kind of more specific and local graphic to show that is increasing in the central valley. This gives us the ability to focus resources among Agricultural Workers to improve testing and isolation for those who become positive. I want to take you through how weve been looking at data, how we can consolidate the data and report out to the government monday. We help over the next week to be able to have this Data Available in real time on the white house website so everybody across the country can see where the cases are because in the end, we want to call to action, when we started talking about what can be done, we said the most important thing that would change the spread, i know tony is going to talk about it, is individual behavior and respect for one another social distancing, wearing a mask and ensuring we are protecting the most vulnerable that may be in multigenerational households and i want to end by thinking millennials who have come forward and i know during the protest we asked a lot of them to go forward to get testing in bc testing rates improving and the under 40 age group. Its important to continue to accelerate testing among the under 40 age group because thats the age group most likely to have a symptomatic spread and be spreading the virus unbeknownst to them. No one is intentionally spreading the virus but they dont know they are positive, they dont have symptoms and need to be tested to have that awareness so we want to thank them for coming forward and enriching the amount of testing done in the under 40yearold age group. Our older population, you know if you have comorbidity, if youre over 80, we ask you in these states having expansion in cases to continue to take shelter as much as you can use your grandchildren to do your shopping. In. Thank you very much. I want to extend some of the comments made by the Vice President and doctor birx. It has to do with the situation you find ourselves facing right now. Its very clear that there are certain areas in the country, states, towns, cities and regions doing well, they will follow the guidelines and open up in a prudent way thats been effective. However, we are facing a serious problem in certain areas. When you look at the map, you see some dark parts of the map and like part of the map. We have a heterogeneous country but that does not mean we have not intimately interconnected with each other so it goes on in one area of the country, ultimately, it could have an effect on other areas of the country. Lets look at this problem we are facing now, this resurgence of cases. I dont think theres time to try to analyze and figure out the multi faceted elements, everything from opening a little too early on some, to open at the right time but not actually following the steps in an orderly fashion to actually trying to follow the steps in an orderly fashion but the citizenry did not feel they wanted to do that for number of reasons likely because everyone feels the common feeling of being pent up for a long period of time. Were not going to say lame, were not going to try to analyze but theres something important about it that i like to get a message to the country in general. When you have an outbreak of Infectious Disease, its a dynamic process that is global so remember what happened in china, it affected us. What happened in europe affected us. What happened here is affecting us. We cant get away from it, is interconnected so we are interconnected, got to look at the fact of what our role is in trying to put an end to this. Everybody wants to end it and get back to normal. Everybody wants the economy to recover. I think we are all pretty common and that. Death is a given. So what can we do . What i think upon talking to people and reflecting on it, they are such an unusual situation because in all the decades ive been involved in chasing Infectious Diseases, ive never seen anything so protean in its ability to make people sick or not. Theres no other Infectious Disease that goes from 40 of the people having no symptoms to some having mild symptoms to some having severe, some requiring staying home for weeks, something to the hospital, some getting intensive care, some getting intubated, some ventilated and some going so depending on where you are and that, you have a different attitude to this particular thing but anyone who get infected is at risk of getting infected to a greater or less degree is part of the dynamic process of the outbreak and i know because i can understand when i was in a stage in my life when i said im invulnerable from good to take a risk, i think what we are missing is something weve never faced before. A risk for you is not just isolated to you because if you get infected, you are part, innocently or inadvertently, propagating the dynamic process of the pandemic because chances are, if you get infected, youre going to infect someone else. Although you may feel well and if you look at the numbers, the overwhelming majority of people getting infected our young people, likely the people you see are out in crowds and drink themselves, understandably, no claim there. But the thing you need to realize, when you do that, youre part of the process. If you get infected, you will infect someone else. We know if that happens because the reproduction element of the virus is not less than one so people are infecting other people. Ultimately, you will infect someone who is vulnerable and it may be somebodys grandmother or grandfather, uncle was on chemotherapy, aunt whos on radiation or a child who has leukemia. I want to bring this out without making it seem anybody is at fault, we have an individual responsibility to ourselves but you have a societal responsibility because if we want to end his outbreak, really and it and hopefully when a vaccine comes, we got to realize that we are part of the process when the Vice President went back, pulling back a couple of months ago, when we showed about the guidelines to safely reopen the country, weve got to make sure we drop back a few yards and think about that, this is part of a process that we can be either part of the solution or part of the problem. As we try to capital not only those states but the lightcolored part of the country, even though theyve done well, they may have gotten hit badly like new york or they may not have got hit badly of, vulnerable. We dont extinguish the outbreak, sooner or later, even ones doing well are going to be honorable to the spread so we need to take that into account because we are all in it together and the only way we will and it is by ending it together. Thank you all for joining us to update the American People. I want to begin by thanking everyone around the country working to defeat the virus. Healthcare providers on the front lines, those working to reopen our economy safely, the American People who have sacrificed so much and the incredible numbers of our hhs team who have been working tirelessly to protect the health and wellbeing of all americans. Before covering todays topic, not to mention a major milestone for Global Health yesterday. The end of the secondlargest people outbreak in history in the eastern democratic republic of the congo, we congratulate the government and healthcare workers and Community Members involved some of whom ive had the chance to meet and thank. Under President Trump, the u. S. Was proud to play a bigger role in this major victory in any other single nation. Thanks to the president and Vice President of leadership and hard work of our team, america has never been readier to combat covid19. Develop a readiness under the strategy we developed to address searches and defeat the bars. We are in a much stronger position to support hospitals and individuals as they fight back. There are six parts to the strategy. Surveillance, containment, healthcare capacity, therapeutics and vaccines. The and strengthen surveillance so we can be aware of and respond to searches. Being able to track more cases among younger americans we never would have caught earlier in the pandemic. We have the worlds greatest testing capabilities enabling us to confirm the presence of the virus when it crops up and we are confident the capacity will continue to rise in the coming months. Third, states are building the capacity to track and contain outbreaks of the virus with federal help, many states have substantially expanded the capabilitys and deploying knowledgeable experienced cdc and hhs Public Health teams to the areas now seeing increases with a focus on Community Testing and Community Based interventions. Healthcare systems secure supplies. Dramatic expanding manufacturing of ppe and the fda authorized new technologies to sterilize equipment for reuse. Weve spoken with hospitals and states building up their own ppe reserves, meaning getting up to 60 or 90 days of supplies. The national stockpile, for more visibility and supply needs across the country. Including centralized coordination capabilities that we lacked a few short months ago. Using Healthcare Providers around the country and seeing how they are adapting to bring patients back while taking appropriate precautions. Americas hospitals are ready to get back to business while maintaining their readiness for covid19. The fifth and sixth elements of thanks to the present operation warp speed. We have promising therapeutics benefiting tens of thousands of american patients and in all likelihood have already saved thousands of lives. We identified two promising pharmaceutical treatments, and the severe. As of today, with allocated 120,000 horses from death severe to all 50 states. Weve added a low cost steroid to our treatment guidelines and we believe its reasonable to assume other steroids, which may be more readily accessible in some places, but have similar effects. Another promising therapeutic, convalescent plasma has treated more than 25000 americans and 3000 sites across the country. There are no certainties in science but with more than 140 Clinical Trials underway in the u. S. , it is a safe bet more good news on therapeutics is on the way soon. Finally, with enough large investment to support three different candidates through to manufacturing. These are now in human Clinical Trials, some with potential to deliver safe and effective low doses before the end of the year end will add support for several more candidates. There expanding manufacturing capacity and already making the files, needles and syringes we may need. Our capabilities have grown exponentially in the time allowed by the patriotic sacrifices of the American People. Give a much better grasp the virus and much more data to model it. We can focus from local trends with that. We have concerning hotspots and we can track when other hotspots emerge as we expect they may. We are focused on the states and counties within the state, 3 of counties that represent hotspots. Its important for the American People to be aware of this variation across the country. American to understand local trends because we want to help people make the right decisions for themselves. Making decisions for yourself has to be based on three axes of wrist. You want to assess where you are, who you are and who you live with and what activity you are thinking about doing. There are great patients at risk with each of these. Going to an outdoor restaurant montana is a great deal different from a crowded indoor bar in houston. When you interact with fewer people, you interact with them for shorter period of time, your risk is reduced and individuals can balance these kinds of doctors. Ive laid out today is remarkable progress by the president S Administration and a particular credit to the team here at hhs. Got a lot of work ahead of us but americans can be confident we have a rock Solid Foundation to help us get safely back to work, back to school, back to worship and back to healthcare while we tackle surges of the buyers where they occur. Thanks to President Trump leadership, who got capabilities, knowledge and strategy to protect americans livelihoods at the same time and every american should feel proud of that. Thank you. Thank you. I wanted to add some comments, once again, i want to thank all americans to embrace the importance of social distancing recommendations to slow the spread of covid. We are not defenseless, these are very powerful weapons and is our collective response ability to recommit ourselves to put them into routine practice. Stay 6 feet apart from each other as much as possible, where face coverings in public and practice figures hand hygiene. As we heard today, do our part to protect the vulnerable. I also want to appeal to the millennials and those under 40, it is important that this group commit themselves to these practices to protect those at risk and its not just the elderly at risk, many of us may have friends and colleagues who are younger and made some advertise their underlying comorbidities. As the case would be with type one diabetes or an underlying immune deficiency. Again, asking this team, millennials and younger people in this country to commit themselves. I agree with ambassador brooks, we are thankful for the group is coming forward to get tested but i also want this group to put into practice the importance of our social distancing. One thing i want to stress is there are differences in what we are expanding today and what we all experience in march and april and may. One of the things i want to focus on is not the case is what the consequences. The impact of those cases. It was a while ago, probably within two months ago, hard to believe, i dont think many people realize that 27 of all deaths that occurred in the u. S. Died of pneumonia actually. Could have been influenza, could have been covid, 27 . One in four of all deaths in the u. S. Two months ago was caused by pneumonia. Im happy to say today the deaths of pneumonia is about 7 . Thats a big difference. A lot of the pneumonia they were dying were actually covid infected individuals that were the elderly, Nursing Homes and individuals with comorbidities. We are seeing progressive decline in deaths from the last two week average deaths in the u. S. Is around 650 and as you heard the Vice President , it wasnt long ago were losing 25000 individuals a day. Its critical that we continue to focus on the consequences. And why its important that we continue to look forward to how we deal with and contain an control the Covid Infection but as we also change the consequences of the impact its had on education in this count country. So as i close, i want to reemphasize how important, for now, for individuals to think seriously as tony said about the responsibility of others we have because this infection pathogens does have the capacity to cause serious illness in individuals at high risk and embrace our nations recommendations the Vice President put up again that we have for all phases of reopening america. What do you think the younger groups for stepping forward and getting tested, clearly what we are seeing is this age group is much more likely to be asymptomatic and to make that commitment, to do their part to protect those of us whether we are going world public comorbidity and are more vulnerable to a more serious virus. Thank you. Questions. Social distancing and also the campaign [inaudible] [inaudible question] freedom of speech has the right to peaceably assemble. We have an election coming up this fall and President Trump and i believe taking proper steps has created screening at recent events giving people the very best counsel we have. We want to give people the freedom to participate in political process. We respect that. I was pleased to see the better part of the week, since we were in oklahoma, the Positivity Rate is declining as of today. Thats great testament to the fact that people are using common sense, they are being responsible. They know and understand what is happening in the community in which they live. Our emphasis today is to say we think it is most helpful if the American People understand what we are seeing across the south today is really outbreaks. Outbreaks in specific counties and in some cases, outbreaks and specific communities and weve searched cdc personnel, hhs personnel, i didnt mention before but three weeks ago when we were seeing some activity, North Carolina and alabama, we sent personnel into those states and we have seen declining numbers beginning in both of those states. The important thing is not one size fits all. The overall guidance to every american to practice good hygiene, the measures recommended at home and at work, stand but our focus today is to make sure in those areas of the country will receive a significant on the increase in cases but in positivity level that the American People know how important it is to listen to what their state and local Health Officials are directing them to do. Its kind of become a political statement, to would not wear a mask. Are you concerned about that . Is there a message you would like to send to people about the importance of wearing a mask . We think the first principle is people are to listen to their state and local authorities. President trump and i couldnt be more grateful for the partnership we forged with governors around the country. I spoke to the governor of florida, arizona, texas in the last 12 hours. I told them from this podium today, we would remind the citizens to heed the guidance and direction of state and local officials. In some cases, statewide guidance in regard to facial coverings and events and gatherings and in other cases, specific countywide or city wide directives and we just believe whats most important here is the leadership their state and adhere to the guidance. It has to do with facial coverings or the size of gatherings and we will continue to reinforce that message. [inaudible question] was the correlation between the spike in cases we are seeing in states like texas what is too much, too soon . Also, he said in an interview that something is not working. What isnt working . Did you today come up with a plan to fix whatever isnt working . A me respond first and then i will let doctor patchy address it as well. Doctor birx may as well. I think there will be a temptation for people to look at the sunbelt state that have been reopening and putting people back to work. Suggest the reopening has to do with what we are seeing in the last week or so but in the case of each of these states, the reopened almost two months ago in some cases. There test cases, new cases from testing was low and steady, Positivity Rate was low. What we are observing today, and ive heard this from florida, texas and some other states along the sunbelt, we are seeing more and more young people under the age of 35 who are testing positive. In many cases, they have no symptoms but they are coming forward and confirming they have contracted the coronavirus. We are working with the state, he speak about our plan, we got cdc personnel embedded in every state in the union. They are searching for cdc personnel as requested to each state to help them unpack what the data is suggesting. The government of texas announced new measures this morning which we fully support but what we are going to continue to do is give our state leadership the very best information and counsel that we have and if theres one message that comes through, i hope it is saying to younger americans in these states and counties in particular that they are a big part of the numbers we are seeing and while there may not be a significant threat of a serious outcome to them, i know of no young person, i got three twentysomethings in my immediate family, no young person whatever want to inadvertently expose a mom, dad, grandmother, grandfather or somebody so alerting them theres been spread among the age group, urging them to take measures and heed whether local officials are directing is the continued strategy. What he meant by not working, this is not anybody else or any institutions fault, what we are dealing with right now is Community Spread in the context of a substantial proportion of the people getting infected, do not know they are infected, they are not symptomatic, they are a some dramatic individuals. The classic paradigm of identification isolation and Contact Tracing to contain that is very difficult to make that work under those circumstances. You superimpose upon that, the fact that even with identification, isolation and Contact Tracing, often the dots are not connected. Get on the phone and talk to people in these communities, you find a lot of it is done by phone. A behalf of the people dont even want to talk to one who they think is a government representative. If you live in the community mostly from a block, youre in a different situation that may be 70 dont really want to talk to you. You can identify a contact but you dont isolate them because you dont have the facility to isolate them. That is whats not working. So what we are doing and you will hear about this, flooding the area of the community to get a feel for the author, particularly among the a systematic. So its a paradigm shift because we are dealing with young people, people who are asymptomatic people getting infected in the Community Setting outbreaks setting for you know who identify isolated Contact Tracing. Thats what i meant. I just want to finish, say im his boss. Three months ago we talked about how important it was Jeff Community at the center. When you talk about whats going to be different and part of the reason why the president and Vice President have asked me to go out to texas, new mexico and arizona is to not only meet with the state and local Health Officials but meet with Community Groups. So they can help us support communities messaging. Public health messaging, you keep saying the same thing over and over and people get tone deaf to it because its not tailored to their specific circumstances they dont see it resonating in their life. Weve had to do this across the world. In this over and over for hiv, and malaria. Community will help us identify which households have the most vulnerability and how we can really go into those communities and support that response the local and ground level. We started this, we were facility based and we know facilities carry us a long way if we want to change the transition great these measures in specific communities in specific areas of the mattress, we got to work sidebyside with Community Leaders and groups that know how to translate our scientific dogma and information down to a level four people were understand here and act on it. I know when they hear and understand, they will act on it. When you ask whats different, its already started and is already going to be different. Thats exactly what we do with hiv 30 years ago. To get the Community Involved in helping us outreach. Its important to underscore what she said. Thats exactly whats planned to do, people to get to know the community who live in the community and for the community to trust. The next three or four weeks like we are seeing the rate of infection coming up now . Our hope and prayer is that not the case. Weve seen, as you know, weve seen a precipitous decline in fatalities. Again, one is too many. Will two months ago we lost 2500 in a single day and two days this week, we lost less than 300, its a testament to our healthcare workers, to all the medicines a secretary is are described being available in all 50 states and its testament to the efforts of the American People, help us to continue to engage and see the numbers decline. The other reason is because when we look at our losses, roughly 2. 5 of all of our losses took place in people under the age of 25. Younger americans, and in each case or least 90 of the cases, there were people with preexisting conditions, underlying conditions that contributed to the said outcome. As we see in florida and texas, they reported to us that have or even more than half of the new cases showing up every day are people under the age of 35 or younger americans who are in most cases, a some dramatic. Our hope is the younger healthy americans like most have already, will continue to go through the coronavirus and will recover but our message today, as weve spent so much energy in the last four months protecting the most vulnerable, weve deployed testing resources and supported states efforts, states across the country in the last month have answered our call to test all residents of Nursing Homes to set up a plan to test all staff on a regular basis. We need to protect the mold vulnerable and we will to message going out to younger americans particularly those along the sunbelt in these counties will receive new cases on the rise, positivity of the rise to know we need them to do their part and make sure and protect the most vulnerable so we dont see those losses rise but its in the hands of the American People and particularly young people in this country. Your saying do as we say, not as we do. By telling them to listen to local officials but you defied local officials. In life you say it didnt reschedule in a spy, dozens of Campaign Staffers in quarantine after positive test and in arizona in the hardest hit states, people were Wearing Masks how can you say the campaign is not part of the problem doctor fauci laid out . I want to remind you again freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble is in the constitution of the u. S. Even in a health crisis, the American People dont forfeit our Constitutional Rights and working with state officials as we did in oklahoma and as we did in arizona, we are creating settings where people can choose to participate in the political process. We will continue to do that. I think it is really important that we recognize how important freedom and personal responsibility are to this entire equation but allowing younger americans to understand, particularly in the counties most impacted by the you make challenges we are facing. Their age group, we think is important but it is so important that we recognize that as we issue guidance to reopen america two months ago and has all 50 states are opening up our country again, people are going back to work, everyday life is being restored one step, one day at a time. Its important that we remind ourselves this is not a choice between the health of the American People and a strong economy. There found Health Implications to the lockdowns through which we just past. I heard a statistic not long ago at a Task Force Briefing that in one jurisdiction, a 50 increase in a number of people presenting an emergency room have attempted suicide. Profound to health issues, profound economic issues, people needing to be back to work so our objective today is to make sure the American People know in 34 states, the cases are largely stable and theres no combination of rise in cases and rising Positivity Rates. The 16 states we are focused on today, we simply want to equip particularly young people with the knowledge of the part they can play in sending the rise and tied in new cases not because the coronavirus is a risk to them, in most cases its not if youre younger americans cut because it influences the coronavirus to someone would have a serious outcome but im grateful for the time today. We hope this has been helpful. Well be back with more information as time goes on. [inaudible] live to a u. S. Conference of mayors meeting were doctor anthony bounty and cdc Principal Deputy director are addressing the conference. Thank you so much. I appreciate the chance to speak with this afternoon. I want to have regrets from our director, he was looking forward to participating live in this session and unfortunately, was pulled into something last minute so wasnt able to do that for you but im pleased to get to talk with you and to go after doctor fauci, hes done a nice overview about what we know about the virus and what we are learning because this is a new virus, its a very challenging pandemic. Its something we are trying to have a rapid learning cycle around. I want to say will know politics of local and