It appears that the president s task force is ready to recommend that all americans now wear a mask, a scarf, bandanna or some other protective Face Covering in order to protect against the virus. Here is doctor Anthony Fauci this morning stressing that Face Covering does not mean using the same much needed n95 mask that are in such critical need for our doctors, nurses, healthcare workers who are fighting on the front lines. When you are out, and you cannot maintain the 6foot distance to where some sort of facial covering. The important point to emphasize is that that should in no way ever take away from the availability of masks that are needed for the Healthcare Providers. Lou incredibly, much of Corporate America is working with the president and working for the American People. Acting in the National Interest in the worsening crisis. One firm tonight stands out. The president first requesting and now ordering that 3m stop altogether its export of much needed, critically needed n95 mask that are in such demand in this country. And he ordered them to manufacture enough masks to meet the need of our American Healthcare workers. This is the president s tweet today. We hit 3m hard after seeing what they were doing with their masks. Referring to the National Defense production act, a big surprise to many in government is to what they were doing referring to 3m. We will have a big price to pay. Facing the wrath the President Trump, 3m in a statement said they will comply with the president ial order but then went on to say this, ccing all export of respirators produced in the United States would likely cause other countries to retaliate and do the same. Some have already done. The companys chief executive officer mike roman added more in an interview with fox business. We are up in the sole provider for healthcare workers in many countries and that is the way that we build this capability around the world to support them. So there will be consequences, they will not have access because theyre in the middle of the covid19 fight too. We are happy to do that we will comply with the bpa. Lou mike roman, america currently has the highest number of cases and the deadly wuhan virus around the globe. Yet he, the child unto chief executive officer headquartered in the midwest in st. Paul minnesota, americas heartland, essentially telling healthcare workers that those in other countries matter more to the 3m global strategy. I want to take this to say as far as im concerned right now, 3ms board of directors without question should remove their ceo. And i mean forthwith. That is the kind of nonsense and direct defiance of a president and an absolute disregard for the National Interest of their home market if you will, it requires nothing less then his firing as far as im concerned. The pandemic that is crushing Small Business in the American Workers is driving all of us to points that we did not think possible just months ago. The Labor Department reporting staggering job losses last month, 701,000 jobs lost, an increase in the unappointed rate to 4. 4 . And today, the relief package, the 2 trillion really package signed last week by the president began offering the much needed assistance. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin saying almost 10000 Small Businesses have already received more than 3 billion in relief loans, 803 banks are now participating. The relief will allocates 350 billion for Small Business loans. Moments ago President Trump thanked those banks for approving loans and getting their websites up so quickly. Bank of america has been unbelievable and i want to thank them, i want to thank all of the Community Banks in the Smaller Banks that have been using the money. Its all about the paycheck, nobody wouldve believe we couldve done so well. Its a number of hours but the numbers are far greater than what we wouldve anticipated. Lou breaking news at the wuhan virus has already claimed an American Bank the insurance incorporation Just Announced West Virginias First State Bank has failed as a result of a longstanding capital and asset quality issue and joining us tonight by phone treasuries who could enter secondary Steven Mnuchin. Good to have you with us. I want to say straightforwardly if i may, what you have done in working with the Federal Reserve running your department, the sba has been nothing less than extraordinary, congratulations in getting this loan program up so quickly and preparing to get the checks and money out too so many millions of americans who are now in desperate need. With that, let me ask you this question. We heard from a number of large banks that they would not be ready, bank of america at the forefront, they were ready. J. P. Morgan chase, did they make it . Lou, face o first of all, itt to be with you. We announced we would create an entire new loan program with the sba so we could get up and running with the Paycheck Protection Program quickly. We needed to make sure that we put money into the pockets of Small Businesses quickly. This will do no good if we waited three or four months. Earlier in the week banks were very concerned, we made changes, i was very excited this morning that the first banks that made the loans at 830 this morning was the Community Banks. As you said we had over 800 banks participate today mostly Community Banks. We cannot be more excited. By the way i know there is a lot of hardworking Small Businesses that could not get the applications process this week, they should not worry about it, theres plenty of time and plenty of money left. This is a great opportunity for Small Businesses to make sure that they keep everyone employed and bring people who they laid off back to work. Lou as i said is is extraordinary what you have accomplished. I dont know that the treasury has ever been so quickly or been forced to do so so, so quickly. I know the banks are not exactly the most energized institutions in all of Corporate America and our business world. But for them to move this quickly to accommodate those in such desperately need is remarkable. So turning to if we may, in the money center banks, the big banks, and j. P. Morgan chase saying they cannot possibly be ready. Do you have a sense of when all the major the big banks if you will will be able to come online . Im understanding from j. P. Morgan, they were very worried about whether they would be ready today, my understanding they did take applications, they were able to service their customers. Our expectation starting next week, all the big banks and let me just say also, a lot of this is done electronically so Small Business does not have to come into branches. Again we cannot be more excited, if we run out of money we will go back to congress and get more money for Small Business. This is a great, Great Program with big bipartisan support. Lou the secretary of the treasury knows where to look for that money indeed. It is unfortunately for so many they have lost their jobs, we are looking at millions of people who will lose their jobs in the course of the weeks ahead. The money that you are moving out to them, separate from obviously the sba lending and keeping jobs, the specific purpose is to keep the jobs and people in those jobs through the crisis, how soon do you think that money will be available to the unemployed and how quickly they will have that money. The president just made very clear, we have to be fast fast fast, it does not do anybody any good if these programs take too long. So the employer retention credit, we already have the up and running, that is 5000 per person for any company that has retained people and able to get a refundable credit immediately. I have committed that the Economic Impact payments which are going to be direct deposit within two weeks, hardworking americans who we have their information will get the direct deposit into weeks and we will have a process to collect the rest of the information. We are working with the states unemployment to make sure that that money gets out quickly, as you said, this is a unique situation. We shut down the u. S. Economy because of the virus and we need to make sure that we protect the workers. Lou there is no question that you and the entire administration is working on trump time. There is no better expression of how quickly and broadly you all were comprehensively, it is truly a stunning feet. I want to turn if i may do one other aspect, i know you are pressed for time, but looking at the Balance Sheet of the Federal Reserve and looking at 6 trillion on the Balance Sheet, that also is an awesome source of liquidity into the system and you and Jerome Powell obviously are working handinhand to beat the crisis and your thoughts on that relationship and the effectiveness of the fed and your judgment so far . I think the fed is doing an extraordinary job. We just literally got off our daily call with the fed for our two working teams that chair powell and i are on every day and we are in the process of designing programs with them very quickly. We are very focused on the main Street Lending program for those businesses that are above the sba program and below the corporate program. We want to make sure that mainstreet companies have access and we are very focused on providing, as you said, and additional up to 4 trillion of liquidity to support American Business and American Workers. Lou mr. Secretary, i want to congratulate yo you on an unprecedented and impressive performance to give all of this assistance and all of this money into the system so quickly. I am in all that you and the administration have gotten and done so quickly. My congratulations to you and President Trump are moving at trumps speed in the face of all of the challenges that you face. Thank you very much. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin. Great to be with you. Lou thank you very much mr. Secretary. As the wuhan virus is ravaging this country, much has been made about the shortage of ventilators available to treat patients who require critical care. According to the Analytics Company global data, the United States will require another 75000 ventilators beyond those that are in the healthcare system. Although the president has invoked the defense production act to increase the production of ventilators and has done so already. The pace of production has risen dramatically. It looks like that those ventilators will be still the preponderance will be weeks away, for example General Motors invented tech trying to produce as many as 10000 ventilators a month, ford and Ge Healthcare are going to produce 50000 by july. Companies belonging to the healthcare trade group avenue ed are producing 2 3000 ventilators a week already, theyre trying to raise that to 5 7000 a week. So will this be in time, according to the university of washington deaths from the wuhan virus are expected to peak in the next 2 3 weeks and those ventilators will be critically important. Joining us now the host of the doctor oz show, director of Columbia University Integrative Medicine center, great to have you with us doctor oz and i want to start with the discussion about how many ventilators will be needed in the president has made it clear that he is doing everything that he can to bring online the needed ventilators. Your assessment, your personal assessment, your professional assessment of how we will do in meeting the surging demand for them. We have some of the grassroots folks in new york that go to the hospital and count of the number of ventilators we will need in the city and came up with 8000. The key here is new york, if you can get new york past the crisis which will happen over the next ten days 2 weeks then you have some ventilators that will get freed up that can be shared elsewhere, one big item thats been identified as supply chain issues, its not as easy as it sounds because people arent used to sharing ventilators in hospitals with more capacity looking for places to give away the extra ventilators and theres not a lot of hospitals with extra capacity. The crisis as it passes will free up ventilators, the production line will produce the devices. I want to point out something important, you can make more ventilators, its easy to train respiratory technicians to take care of them. Theyre like airplane cockpits, you have to get folks to learn how to run the ventilator so you have enough people to take care of the people. Lou very important point. The other development we are expecting with the president and the Corona Task Force step out today at the white house, they will be talking about the new approach that is Face Covering masks, whatever scars it may be as a way to avoid contact with the virus, your reaction . I think its a wise move. Masks work, thats why we wear them in the hospital, we dont have enough everyone at home. What the task force is saying you spatial covering. There has been a lot around scarves and bandannas, if you look at the data, often times giving maybe half the benefit of a surgical mask, that is better than nothing. The other thing we did not realize as much as i did not realize, how this virus actually gets into our bodies. We knew it was aerosolized, i assume the virus particle going into your lungs, the n95 mask helps a lot for that but it turns out a lot of the time his big droplets like you say the word health, a little spit comes out, that is m why 60 matters, t those jobs get into your nose and it takes place in their more receptors in older people then younger people and thats why folks get that infection more aggressively. So the masks shut that down, most important 50 of people who get the virus probably dont know who that they have and they are contagious. If you put a mask on my face and im contagious, i cannot infect you anymore or at least its reduced, as long as its not as good as social decision, it will help. Lou terrific. 3m, i have to ask you about the reticence of the ceo and stubborn refusal. He was going to ignore the president altogether in the request for respirators because he had other clients around the world, your reaction to forgetting what country corporation is based in, your thoughts . My loyalty my tribe, i dont know why he is making those decisions. I have to suspect there is something going on that we dont appreciate or feel. That would not be a wise decision in this setting. Every couple can you problem is an easy answer and usually the wrong one, there is Something Else going on that we dont readily appreciate and he is sitting there approving his mind trying to figure out people the story the right way. Lou i personally believe for his first instinct to not act in the National Interest to follow the leadership of the president of the United States is just about all that needs to be said about his prospects of long jevity if i had anything to say about it. Let me turned to the peak. Working discussion about the peak for new york and new jersey and parts of connecticut that are the epicenter right now of this crisis in your thoughts about the peak and how reliable is such a forecast and the brightest people we have working on it and they have to have a model that is telling them this, how comfortable are you with that outlook and that perspective and that projection. Ultimately the virus decides when the peak is but i think we have done everything that we could to socially distance and the lockdown in the region of the country has been difficult but we have done it. History does tend to repeat itself. When china lockdown on generally the 20th and wuhan, it took them 24 days before they reached their peak and began to descend. If you do the math for us it takes us to about the 14th of april which is the what the models predict. Other parts of the country because ucl over the place will be about a week later but in this part of the country it will be around that date. I am hopeful we are seeing a slowing of the speed which we are getting more hospital admissions and incubations and high spittle beds filled. Right capacity so theyre not as reliable anymore but i suspect im not sure we will be ready if not by the first of may, thats a whole separate discussion but perhaps if we know enough about the testing and how well we can contain infection if theres brought up in West Virginia or nebraska then we can begin to open up states were hasnt been as aggressive yet. Lou doctor oz, as always, thank you for being with us. We appreciate it stay safe. Thank you. The wuhan virus thank you doctor. It may have moved the senate out of washington but one senator has not stopped his work, a spokesperson for senator ron johnson says the committee continues to push ahead with their investigation of hunter biden and his role on the board of burisma it is out until the 20th of april. And President Trump putting Chuck Schumer in his place over his criticism of the president and the governments response to this pandemic. President trump sent schumer a letter last night. Lets share part of it with you for atoning impact, if you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, the president tweeted, wrote rather. It ended up going nowhere except increasing my poll numbers and instead focused on helping the people of new york. New york would not been so complete and prepared for the invisible enemy. No wonder aoc and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win. Joining us tonight to take up all the radical dems in washington are doing is devin nunes, congressman nunes is a Ranking Member in the house intelligence committee, the house ways and Means Committee and congressman, great to have you with us. This nonsense from senator schumer, adam schiff not wantinn done, he thinks it would be very wise to have a commission on the response to the wuhan virus pandemic in this country and the governments response. Your speaker think that would be a wonderful idea to have a select committee with subpoena power already to go after the president once again on the response to this crisis. Your reaction . First off, i almost started laughing out loud, i was not aware what the president sent to schumer. I do love that because there is a problem between the extreme left, aoc and the old establishment democrats like Chuck Schumer. But the president always knows how to exactly put that to drive a wedge in between the two. I almost started laughing. It is no laughing matter over whawhat hello nancy pelosi inchm schiff trained to do. We had no hearings at the House Committee until february 10 on the will hand virus. So why is that, it was because the democrats were fully engaged, doing their walks across the capital, handing out pins playing their impeachment games. That is what was happening. Totally unacceptable. So we have many issues on the forefront, we need to figure out still where did the virus begin, what do the chinese know and when did they know it, we dont need a select committee for that prethats the job of the house intelligence committee. Thats what we should be doing but instead we were too busy being the house impeachment committee. There is a whole lot of other work that needs to get done which we can maybe go through and talk about some of that with the latest fisa that issues that came out with the fisa court. The ruling in horowitz new report with fisa. So the last thing that we need is another commission of any kind, we just need to do our job. Lou i think those are the wisest words that can be spoken at this moment given all that this country faces now and in economy into great difficulty as a result of the unprecedented not entirely unprecedented we have to go back a century to find anything of us like but to have this partisan nonsense going on is stunning. I would just like to get your reaction to Lindsey Graham who is sitting here watching this as the chair of the Judiciary Committee in the senate doing absolutely nothing. He has absolutely be betrayed the president because he has not responded and investigated the origin of the investigation, the investigators themselves who have obviously politically corrupt whether were talking about many of the leaders of obama era intelligence agencies or whether were talking about the politically corrupt fbi and the justice department. I just received word, i am sorry, here is the president of the United States. Speaker of the house i hope. And he has done a fantastic job for the people of california and the people of california have done a fantastic job when you look at the bump, you take a look at the bump and how they are doing out there, i congratulate everybody out there but i will have kevin say a few words. Kevin, please. Thank you mr. President and i would like to thank you, gavin newsom says the work youre doing together has been working very closely and been effective in california and the Vice President and the president. Today mr. President i want to thank you especially for the work that secretary mnuchin has done especially for Small Businesses. Just today alone, i saw bank of america had more than 10000 loans in two hours. For anybody who is in Small Business, i was in Small Business what i was 20 years old, you dont have income coming in right now, you get a loan but for your rent, paying your employees and your utilities as a grant, thats part of the cares act. I think youll find a lot of Small Businesses will hire people back, keep them afloat to the next two months and get this economy moving again as we get through the virus. I want to thank you for all that work. Great job youre doing. Thank you. I will talk to you later. Thank you very much everybody and i want to start by saying our hearts go out to the people of new york as they bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic in america. That seems to be the hot spot right now but you have some others as you know that are very bad, louisiana is getting hit very hard, parts of michigan are getting hit very, very hard, new jersey is surprisingly much greater than anybody wouldve ever thought. Theyre doing a really good job, the governor is doing a really good job out there. New yorks First Responders, emts, doctors, nurses, or showing incredible courage under pressure. Did the best in the world. We will take every action and spare no resource, financial, medical, scientific, we will not spare anything. We will get it back into shape, the empire state, the governor is doing an excellent job, theyre all working very hard together at the request of the governor as you know, the javits center, we have 2500 beds and we are going to allow that to be a system where this horrible disease can be looked after, the patients can be looked after, that was going to be for a regular medical problem such as accidents its very interesting, we dont have too many accidents, we dont have too many people driving. We are going to put that facility into play which is a big facility. The ship will be staying the way it is but we are putting a facility into play to help them. Today also the cdc is announcing additional steps that americans can take to defend against the transmission of the virus from a recent study, we know that the transmission from individuals without symptoms. We dont seem to have symptoms and it still gets transferred in light of the studies, the cdc is advising the use of nonmedical Face Covering as an additional voluntary Public Health measure. It is voluntary, you do not have to do it, they suggested for a period of time. But this is voluntary. I dont think im going to be doing it. But we have a lot of ways you can look at it as follows, the cdc is recommending that americans wear a basic cloth or fabric mask, it can be purchased online or simply made at home, probably material you have at home. These Face Coverings can be easily washed or reused, i want to emphasize that the cdc is not recommending the use of medical grade or surgical grade masks and we want that to be used for our grade medical people working so hard. Medical protective gear must be reserved for the frontline healthcare workers who are performing the vital services, the no masks guidelines also do not replace cdc guidance on social distancing. Including staying in your home when possible, standing at least 6 feet apart for a period of time. We welcome back together here, we will all come back together. And practice hand hygiene which we should do anyway. A lot of things i think will spill over, shaking hands, maybe we will stay with our country for a long time beyond this one of our great doctors was telling me as you know, we have lose every year in the number of People Killed by the flu is very substantial, he said if they did not shake hands, that number would be substantially lower. Maybe some of these things long term will be good but the guidelines are still the best in the safest way to avoid the infection. So with the masks, its going to be a really voluntary thing, you can do it but im choosing not to do, some people may want to do it and that is okay. It may be good, probably will, theyre making recommendations, only voluntary, we are also taking action to ensure the cost of no bear to any american seeking testing or treatment of the coronavirus, the largest insurer nationwide, the Blue Cross Blue Shield system has now announced it will not require any copays which is really something, that is a tremendous statement from patients of the virus treatment for the next 60 days, similar to the commitment of stigma, humana, anthem, those are Great Companies and they are doing the same thing. Copays for them to do that is a big statement. We appreciate it. Today i came so proudly to announce the hospitals and Healthcare Providers treating uninsured coronavirus patients will be reimbursed by the federal government using funds from the Economic Relief package Congress Passed last month. That was as per the question yesterday and the day before yesterday, they should alleviate any concern uninsured americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatments. That answers the question pretty well and pretty much in the favor of her great people. I am also signing a directive and then invoke prohibited export of scarce health and medical supplies buy ins cumulus actors and profiteers, the security and secretary, the secretary of Homeland Security will work with fema to prevent the n95 masks and other personal protective equipment, we need these items immediately for domestic use, we have to have them. But we have done really well with the purchase of items and you will be hearing about that shortly. We have already leveraged the hoarding and price gouging of crucial supplies under the authority, this week the department of health and Human Services working with the department of justice took custody of nearly 200,000 n95 respirators, 130,000 surgical masks, 600,000 gloves as well as bottles, many, many, many bottles and disinfectant sprays that were being hoarded, all of this material is now being given to healthcare workers and most has already been given out. And we have given a lot to new york, lawton new jersey and a lot of other places. In addition to ensure the healthcare workers in ne new yok have the protective equipment the cleaning, the federal government in the name of the department of defense is providing about 8. 195 million respirators, the department of defense and we ready given 200,000 of them to new york city. Mayor de blasio needed them very badly so we gave them to mayor to bosnia new york city, they were very grateful. 8. 1 million and we will be increasing that number to a a lot more. Today my team spoke with the ceo of osher health and lc mc, the two Largest Health systems in new orleans, they said that they feel that they currently have enough ventilators i think a lot of people have enough ventilators and masks to appreciate what we did in all of the things that we have been doing with them and working with them in the ceo of auction or, Warner Thomas who has been very fantastic i have to say indicated a need for 230,000 surgical gowns and i instructed fema to deliver them tomorrow so they will have 230,000, that is louisiana, new orleans, 230,000 surgical gowns, they will have them by tomorrow. We are expanding the role of the armed forces and our response effort because no one is better prepared to win a war than the United States military and we are in a war, the visible enemy, over 9000 retired Army Medical Personnel have answered their nations call and supporting field hospitals and medical facilities all across the country like what i just told you, that Governor Cuomo requested that we do something in javits where we take it over and we are going to have that manned by the military. Because it is very tough to get people, more people in the new york area. We will have it manned by the military, javits center, National Guard members have been activated to help to build new Treatment Centers and assist in the distribution of medical supplies that include National Guard, the National Guard is assisting very strongly because the states were in many cases unable to have the delivery capability of warehouses and other places that we put the supply so i have given approval to use the National Guard, the various National Guard in the different states and they are doing a fantastic job of not only protecting people but delivering material. The army corps of engineers has assessed more than 100 facilities in all 50 states and rapidly building temporary hospitals and alternative care sites in many states in new york, new jersey, michigan, pennsylvania, arizona, california, colorado, florida, illinois, new mexico, oregon, washington, wisconsin, ohio, theyre doing a lot of work in just those states plus additional that will be announced probably tomorrow. They are doing some job, the army corps of engineers, what a job they are doing and fema what a job they are doing. As we deploy the power of our military we are also deploying the skill of our doctors, scientists and medical researchers, we continue to study the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and other therapies in the treatment and prevention of the virus and we will keep the American People fully informed in our findings. Hydroxychloroquine, it is looking like it is having some good results. I that would be a phenomenal thing. But we have it right now, and approximately now its increase to 1500 people i spoke with doctor zucker in new york, terrific guy by the way, doing a good job and i spoke to Governor Cuomo last evening and this morning about it so it is been there for about three and half days but i think many other places it is being tested and we have a tremendous supply, we ordered it. It could have some pretty big impacts, we will see what happens. My administration is also working to get relief to American Workers and businesses in day one of the Paycheck Protection Program, as kevin said, more than 3. 5 billion in guaranteed loans have been processed to help Small Businesses keep their workers employed during the unprecedented times, this unprecedented time. Bank of america has been incredible, the big banks, bank of america has really supported done a great job. Then you have the Community Banks, the Smaller Banks and we are already at 3. 5 billion going out to incredible people. But that is way ahead of schedule. The sba and the treasury are working around the clock in our banking partners are really incredible, they are insured that the money gets a Small Businesses as quickly as possible in the Small Business intern take care of employees that they wouldve had to let go and now they will keep them. That is good and they can open for business and have their employees and we will try to get back to where we were. Eventually we will supersede where we were. The Energy Industry has been especially hardhit in the crisis this afternoon. I met with greg garland of phillips 66, dave hager of devon energy, harold hamm of content resources, Jeff Hildebrand of Hill Corporation energy, vicki holub of petroleum. Mike sommers of the American Petroleum institute, Kelsey Warren of Energy Transfer partners, mike worth a chevron and darren woods of exxon mobil. I informed them that we will be making Space Available in the Strategic Petroleum reserve to let americans producers served surplus oil that can be served at a later time. There is a tremendous abundance of oil primarily because the virus, the virus has stopped demand including oil. We are working with our great energy companies, these are Great Companies, they employees hundreds of thousands of people and they have kept america really going for a long time and no big price hikes or no big anything. They kept it going and now they got hit. With all the jobs in all of the good that they do we will make sure that they stay in good shape, america is engaged in a historic battle to safeguard the lives of our citizens, or future society in her greatest weapon is a discipline and determination of every citizen to stay at home and stay healthy for a long time. We want them to stay healthy for a long time. So stay at home, this is ending, this will end, you you will see some bad things and then you will see some really good things. It is not going to be too long. We will heal our citizens and we will care for our neighbors and we will unleash the United States of america to vanquish the virus. With that i would like to ask mike pence to come up, Vice President , say a few words and we will have a couple of other quick talks on a couple of subjects, we will take questions and it is a beautiful friday in washington, d. C. And our country is a great place. We are Getting Better very quickly. This is artificially induced. They said close it down, you have to close it down, we closed it down and we are healing and we will get a better fast. Mike if you can come up and say a few words. Thank you mr. President , the president outlined a number of the decisions that he made today on the unanimous recommendation of the White House Coronavirus task force. In addition, some good news, dr. Birx will reflect on and woman. Some areas where we see evidence that the mitigation efforts, the American People putting into practice on the president s coronavirus guidelines are having a positive effect. Today, california and Washington State where the coronavirus first emerged in our country remain the cases remain at a steady but low rate. We know as Governor Newsom said yesterday, they are not out of the woods yet and continue to flow resources. We want to commend people in those states and all across the country for putting in the practice, the social distancing and all the measures the state and local leaders are advising and that the president has been advising in the coronavirus guidelines for america. We are also continuing to track new york state, new orleans, chicago and boston and is the president indicated we are prioritizing resources tubes support healthcare workers and to support those dealing with the coronavirus in those communities. On the subject of testing now more than 1. 4 million tests have been performed across the country and as you all are aware, 266,000 americans have tested positive for the coronavirus. Abbott instruments which now can perform a 15 minute test across the country have literally 18000 of their machines across the nation today but at the president s direction fema is acquiring 1200 more machines to distribute to every state Public Health lab in america and also to our indian healthcare service. In the big news over the few days the fda once again and near record time has approved an Antibody Test developed and we are continuing on the White House Coronavirus task force to examine ways that we can scale up on the rapid test in the Innovative New test, not just in need of this moment but to lay a foundation for testing across the nation in the months ahead. As the president mentioned, he met with Energy Executives today and continues to engage with leaders and businesses all across the nation, we also held a teleconference with commercial retailers, the president s behalf we think them for the way that people to operate malls and Shopping Centers around the country have embraced and enacted the coronavirus guidelines for america. Its headed no more missed impact on their businesses and industries but i heard from them that their patriotic commitment with the help of their associates and customers first, it was deeply inspiring, on the subject of supplies, the president detailed our work in that space continues to stay part of the air bridge, we had a flight arrive from china today to columbus, ohio, we continue to work each and every day watching the data of the cases to ensure that in particular not just the personal protective equipment is available for the healthcare workers that are on the front lines but also the ventilators are available as this epidemic makes its way through regions and communities, we are literally working hour by hour, day by day to make sure that patients, families and Healthcare Providers have the equipment and support that they need. As the president mentioned, we have seen over a billion and a half dollars of loans going out to the paycheck protection act. We have available for questions the head of the cdc to speak about the new guidance on cloth Face Coverings and secretary azar are in a few moments will explain just how the president s decision to make sure no american will ever have to worry about paying for testing or coronavirus treatment. Im pleased to report that the president s direction, medicaid and medicare already expanded to coronavirus treatment and testing early on. Of course a president indicated how Major Insurance Companies across the country are not just waiving copays on testing but they are waiving copays for at least 60 days on any coronavirus treatment. Now secretary azar are will enumerate and we will make sure any american even has no insurance will be able to receive treatment in the hospital and never have to worry about a bill. I just gave a gentle reminder to every american if there is evidence across the country that you are putting into practice. The coronavirus guidelines for america. Every american has a role to play and im going to thank you on behalf of the president and all of the American People for the way that you are stepping forward and engaging on social distancing and doing things and slow the spread. We encourage you to keep on keeping on, we will get through this america. We will get through the coronavirus through the day of renewed health and renewed prosperity that the president always describes. But we will get through there sooner and we will get through their when wework together. Thank you mr. Vice president. And mr. President. Thank you for your words of discipline and determination. That really describes what we are asking every american to really be disciplined about the guidelines and really determined to stay in the space of execution. You know we are just in week three of the full guidance measure. We really do appreciate the work of the citizens of california and Washington State because we do see that the curve is different, there curve is different from new york, new jersey and connecticut. And we really believe that the work that every citizen is doing in those states is making a difference and it will make a difference from the frontline Healthcare Providers. We also are deeply grateful despite the way the curve looks today, they continue to get ready for a different potential so they can ensure patients if they do get sick have options and availability. Two other frontline healthcare workers to what we refer to as hot zone areas where the number of cases are quite significant, the new orleans, the new york city metro area including new jersey and connecticut, the incredible work that the frontline healthcare workers are providing, we are really working now on a much more granule level talking directly with hospitals to ensure that they have the supplies that they need and coordination with state and local government and to work we discussed yesterday but it was quite clear and we reiterated by Governor Cuomo today. That we have to support one another as each of the different metro areas and other areas move through their peak of new infections. When we talked about at the beginning of this week we talked about this week and next week being incredibly difficult. We want to recognize the number of americans who have lost their lives to this virus. In recognize the sacrifice the Healthcare Providers are making both in their care but i think im very uplifted by hearing their messages to families in their compassion for others to provide the support to the individual and the hospitals. We continue to watch in addition the chicago area, the detroit area and have developing concerns around colorado, the District Of Columbia and pennsylvania. As you can see, each of these will follow their own curves, we will be getting more and more of the cases over time information in a very granular way to each and every one of you so we can follow the epidemiologic curves as each of these states, counties and communities move through this together in solidarity. And really ensuring that we can misapply creatively around the country to meet the needs of the frontline Healthcare Providers but also to every american who needs our support right now. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President for your continued leadership as we battle the coronavirus. First i want to think all of the members of the hhs team in the frontline healthcare workers across america. Including those Service Workers who serve in hospitals and healthcare facilities, those who clean and deliver in stock the shelves, all of those who are going into battle every day against the virus. Your country has asked you to serve as never before in your responded heroically. I am going to provide a brief update on the Administration Plan to cover the testing and treatment for the uninsured. Getting the uninsured access to the care that they need is a top priority for President Trump. We are already rolling out the 1 billion in funding from the Families First Coronavirus Response act to cover providers expenses for testing and diagnosing uninsured. The cares act signed by the president includes another 100 billion for Healthcare Providers. Under the president s direction we will use a portion of that funding to cover providers cost of delivering covid19 care for the uninsured. Sending the money to providers to the same mechanism used for testing. As a condition of receiving funds under this Program Providers will be forbidden from balance billing the uninsured for the cost of their care. Providers will be reimbursed at medicare rates. We will soon have more specifics on how the rest of the 100 billion will go to providers. We are working to ensure that this funding is distributed in a way that is fast, fair, simple and transparent. I would also like to remind people that if you have lost employer insurance coverage, you have Insurance Options that you should look into. You would be eligible for a special enrollment. On the healthcare exchanges and depending on your state you may be eligible for medicaid. Just as President Trump is working to ensure that covid19 treatment is paid for he is working to support a new treatment option for patients. Thanks to the president s leadership, and many providers are trying different experimental therapies and we need as much data as we can collect as quickly as possible on how these treatments are working. Today oracle has developed in donating to the government and the American People a web portal and platform together crowd sourced realtime information from providers about how patients respond to potential therapeutics. While this does not replace the important work of clinical trials, it gives us data rapidly, if you are a doctor or Healthcare Provider and you would like to help us, you can sign up today to begin reporting on your work, there is a special registration page four providers at covid19. Oracle. Com. Thank you very much. Lets go steve. The advice on facemask, what would people gain from wearing a mask and why are you opposed to wearing one yourself. I dont want to wear one myself, its a recommendation, they recommended. I am feeling good, i just dont somehow sitting in the oval Office Behind the beautiful resolute desk, the Great Resolute desk, i think wearing the facemask as i agree, president s prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, i dont know somehow i dont see it for myself. , maybe i will change my mind but this will pass and hopefully itll pass very quickly. With that being said if somebody wants to most people can make something out of a certain material, so is very well designated and very simple to do. I will not be doing it personally. It is a recommendation. Okay. Surgeon general. Thank you, mr. President and mr. Vice president mr. Secretary and cdc director, i especially want to thank the folks at the cdc and its a great question that you asked, every question that you asked and i want to unpack the evolution of our guidance on masks because it has been confusing to the American People. First of all i want people to understand that the cdc, the world health organization, my office in most Public Health and help organizations and professionals originally recommended against the general public Wearing Masks because based on the best evidence available at the time it was not deemed that that would have a Significant Impact on whether or not a healthy person wearing a mask would contract covid19. We have always recommended that symptomatic people wear a mask because if you are coughing and if you have a fever or symptomatic you can transmit the disease to other people. What has changed in a recommendation, it is important to know that we now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus black symptoms. They are called asymptomatic. Even those who eventually become presymptomatic meaning that they will develop symptoms in the future can transmit the virus to others before they show symptoms. This means the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity. For example, coughing, speaking or sneezing, even if those people were not exhibiting symptoms. In light of the new evidence, cdc recommends in the Task Force Recommends wearing cloth Face Coverings in public settings for other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. These include places like Grocery Stores and pharmacies. We especially recommend that is an area of significant communitybased transmission. It is critical in the president mentioned this, the Vice President mentioned this, its critical to emphasize that maintaining 60 of social distancing remains key to slowing the spread of the virus. The cdc has advised the use of simple cloth coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know what from transmitting it to others. The cloth Face Coverings are recommended, not surgical or n95 respirators. The critical supplies and must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical First Responders as recommended by the current cdc guidance. As the president also mentioned cloth Face Covering from Household Items remain at home from, materials at low cost can be used as an additional voluntary Public Health measure. These recommendation compliments and does not replace the president s coronavirus guidelines for america 30 days to slow the spread which remains the cornerstone of our natural effort to slow the spread of the virus. Cdc has always looked at the data, we told you that from the beginning, dr. Birx said everything a press conference were looking at the data and involving the recommendations and new recommendations will come as evidence dictates. I want to say if you do choose to wear facemask, very important, washer hands first because you do not want to put on a Face Covering with a dirty hand, do not touch her face while you are wearing the Face Coverings because again you can take materials from the surface, germs from the surface and bring it to your face. If you choose to wear face coming, please leave the and 95 mask, the medical supplies for the medical professional healthcare workers and frontline workers, know that this is not a substitute for social distancing. Remember. Lou concluding the week with another Corona Task Force press conference with the president and Vice President. That is it for us, tonight joining us monday tom fenton and jason among with our guests, we hope you will be with us please follow me on twitter at alou dobbs, like me on facebook and follow man insta grandma lou dobbs tonight. We look forward to seeing you monday, good night from sussex. Every state should have stayed Home Quarters right now. Do you agree . We see places like washington. The government know what they are doing, they been doing a great job. Close to 90 anywhere. States we are talking about are not in jeopardy. I would leave it to the governors, i like that from the standpoint of governing and from even our constitution. Could we address the food and drug