American doctors and nurses and all of the medical people, weve kept our fatality rate very very low compared to other countries. My administrations closely monitoring the data on the viruss impact on our cherished africanamerican communities because theyve been hit hard. And the Surgeon General will be sharing more of that information, right after were finished here. He will be coming up and saying exactly whats happening because its really its very troublesome, i will tell you that. Id also like to provide clarity on the important point for Many Americans on elective surgeries. While weve asked the hospitals to cancel surgeries and procedures that do not take place at this time, just not to do them now, the choice to delay any treatment still remains between the patient and their doctor. We are not advising americans to postpone medical treatment that their doctor believes should occur now. Diff obviously, but were really getting to the point where you can start to think about doing that surgery, if necessary, pretty soon, i think pretty soon. Yesterday i directed secretary of agriculture sonny perdue to expedite aid to american farmers, and secretary perdue will be using all of the tools at his disposal to develop a program, very quickly, of at least 16 billion dollars to provide relief for farmers, ranchers, and producers impacted by the coronavirus. In this time of crisis, we must keep our supply chains moving from the beginning to the end. Were committed to supporting the amazing men and women who produce supply. I did last night a statement on social media, and i said i have directed secretary sonny perdue to expedite help to our farmers, especially to the smaller farmers who are very very badly hurting right now. I expect secretary perdue to use all of the funds and authorities at his disposal to make sure our food supply is stable and safe and our great farmers are prosperous and continue to be prosperous. Were working very hard to make sure our Food Supply Chain is sound and plentiful, but we all know that that begins with our farmers, cattlemen, ranchers and producers, so were going to be working with the small farmers, the big farmers, the cattlemen, the ranchers, all of the producers, were going to take care of them. Were working with them right now. We have a lot of money that was put there through our use of tariffs and other means, and were going to help out our farmers. And i dont think i tell you, been helping our farmers for a couple of years because they were targeted as you know by china and others, and i think theyre grateful for what we have done. On the medical front, the fda has issued 47 emergency use authorizations for advancements in testing, new ventilator designs, innovations and personal protective equipment and experimental medicines. Dr. Hahn will talk about that. Weve cut through the red tape to give doctors and patients unprecedented freedom to make their own healthcare decisions, granting access to potential therapies and drugs. Since monday weve deployed two major shipments of hydroxychloroquine from our National Stockpile and it is going to various cities. We are also disposing and getting as quickly as we can portions of it to the department of Veterans Affairs and the department of defense. Speaking of the department of defense, they will be sending us 10 million n 95 masks that they had, and were in great shape in every way. Were in great shape with ventilators, in great shape with protective clothing. We have additional plane loads coming in, but were not getting any calls from governors at this moment. I can speak i think for Vice President pence who will be talking in a little while. Were getting very few calls from governors or anybody else needing anything. Theyre in great shape for the surge thats coming in certain areas in particular, and thats a good job. Done a great job on that, really a great job. I appreciate it. The whole country appreciates it. More than 2 million coronavirus tests have now been completed, and were conducting approximately 100,000 more every day. Were also working to bring bloodbased tests to the market as quickly as possible so that americans can determine whether or not they have already had the virus and potentially have immunity. They have immunity if they have had the virus. A lot of them dont even know if they have had it. Sometimes it is brutal. The Prime Minister seems to be doing well now, i hope. He had a rough go of it and still is, but he is doing better. Then some people dont even know they had it. It could be sniffles. It could be they dont feel perfect, but theyve had it. They are the lucky ones. The nih, cdc, and fda are currently validating these Antibody Tests to ensure that they are accurate and theyre doing that at breakneck speed. I think we can say that, doctor. We will get them proved very quickly, dr. Hahn. When validated, were confident that the production will scale up to tens of millions of tests very quickly. Were leading the world now in testing, by far. And were going to keep it that way. Other countries are coming to us, and they are wanting to know about our tests and can they buy the tests and can they do whatever they have to do to get the tests, and were going to make that very soon we will be in a position to make that possible because it is important for them to have it. And were going to have an announcement on the World Health Organization sometime next week. As you know, weve given them approximately 500 Million Dollars a year, and were going to be talking about that subject next week. We will have a lot to say about it. Well hold it. Every american should be proud of what our country has achieved in just a short period of time. The u. S. Military has deployed thousands of personnel to build 23 temporary hospitals, with more than 16,000 beds. And we have the potential to build many more if we needed them. Were all ready to go, but i dont think were going to need them, which is great news. And we built those hospitals in 12 states and the district of columbia, using the defense production act, and we used it like a hammer. A lot of the media said oh, we werent using it. We used it like a hammer, to a point where all we had to do was say the words and everybody gave us max, and they have done a good job, really done a good job with few exceptions. Rn harnessed the full power of american industry to produce ventilators and other essential supplies. Right now were making thousands of ventilators, many of which we wont need but we will use them in our stockpile. Well build that up. Well also help build up the stockpiles which they should have had in the states, and so were working with governors on that. We will also help other countries, countries that are calling us for help, they need ventilators, and they are in no position to build ventilators. We are. We have ford, general motors, many Many Companies are building the ventilators. So were going to be helping at a not too distant point, we will be helping quite a few of the countries. Weve launched project air bridge to deliver nearly 300 million pieces of personal protective equipment from and around the globe. Were also shipping out 60 sterilization systems to ten different cities that can each sterilize up to 80,000 masks each day. Im even hearing it can go up to 120,000 masks a day, certain equipment with certain additions. Its a company in ohio that makes it, a great company. I hear it is a great product, works very well. I asked that question i asked why cant we sterilize the masks that are being used . The answer was we can. In this case they say up to 20 times. We can take certain types of masks, the n 95s in particular and we can sterilize them, make then very clean, up to 20 times. Thats a great thing. In addition, we passed the largest emergency Economic Relief package in American History to save the u. S. Economy and protect the american worker. As you know, this past week, which was four active days on the stock market, good friday today is not included. The markets are closed. In four days, we had the biggest market increase, stock market increase that weve had in 50 years. That tells you that theres a pentup demand. That tells you they want to get back. Theres something good going to happen. I really believe that. Theres something very good going to happen. We have to get back. So think of it, in this horrible period, this horrible dark period where this monster came and worked its horrible horrible spell over the world, 184 countries as of this morning, 184 countries. Weve done well, and i guess the market thinks we have done well because we had the biggest stock market increase without one day were talking four days instead of five day that weve had in 50 years, 50 years. Think of that. More than 50 years actually. In short, the American People have launched the greatest mobilization of our Society Since world war ii, deploying every science, governmental, medical and military resource to defeat the virus. So i want to just start then with were going to answer questions later. We will have time. We have a lot of time today. A lot of people are off as they should be, good friday. But so i will stick around. We will answer questions. I want to start with deborah birx, please, dr. Birx, and you can go over some of the numbers we just looked at. That would be great. Thank you very much, deborah. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you for outlining how well we are doing in a series of metro areas. What also has been encouraging for those of you who are watching epidemic curves every day, and im sure you are and watching them, how epidemiologists like to look at the curves, for the first time in the United States, were starting to level on the log rhythmic phase, like italy did about a week ago. And so this gives us great heart that not only in specific places, but were starting to see that change. Obviously a lot of that is driven by the improvement in new york city. Remember, for a long time, they were over 50 of our cases and 50 of our new cases. That has dramatically changed because of the impact of what the citizens of new york and new jersey and across connecticut and now rhode island are doing to really change the course of this pandemic and really change the trajectory of new cases. Were seeing that what many states and metro areas were experiencing as twofold and four fold. Four fold increases that went to twofold, but now those are going to eight days between the doubling rates, watching this every day gives us hope across these metro areas from new york and new jersey and all through denver and of course through new orleans. We still see cases occurring in the boston area and in chicago, but their rate of increase seems to be stabilizing. We really want to call out the work of the mayors of baltimore and the district and philadelphia who have really brought all of their Health Experts together and working with their communities are starting to really change the curve in those areas. What were seeing is were united in social distancing. And thats been very encouraging to all of us. It should be encouraging to the Healthcare Providers that are on the front lines, many of which are serving our americans with such dignity and respect and ensuring that everybody gets optimal care. As the president noted, our mortality in the United States is significantly less than many of the other countries when you correct them for our population. Thats really solely the work of our health our front line Healthcare Providers. So working with you can really hopefully you get the theme today that were incredibly proud of our Public Health leaders at the city level, at the state level, at the federal level, who are working together to really change the course of this pandemic, working with their citizens and their communities to make these changes. And the American Public who has really taken all of this to heart and stayed home. I know last week we really asked a lot of people in the washington and Baltimore Area to consolidate, not go out frequently to Grocery Stores or pharmacies. You can really see that thats having a huge impact. So its really about the encouraging signs that we see, but as encouraging as they are, we have not reached the peak. And so every day we need to continue to do what we did yesterday and the week before and the week before that because thats what in the end is going to take us up across the peak and down the other side. We continue to really applaud the work of california and Washington State and oregon. We are learning from all three of those states from their Public Health officials about how they were able to keep the virus from ever becoming log rhythmic. Thats an important lesson for all of us, how they did that, what the timing was, in case we ever have to face this issue in the future. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you very much, mr. President. So again, just keeping on the theme that dr. Birx had mentioned, this is the end of the week, that famous week that we spoke about last weekend, in which we was what was predicted to happen, happened, we are starting to see the levelling off and coming down that dr. Birx mentioned. It is important to remember that this is not the time to feel that since we have made such important advances of success in the mitigation, that we need to be pulling back at all. I was actually harkened by the fact that we have been talking about the new york, new jersey, new orleans and other areas where they have really big spikes, but theres other parts of the country, middle parts of the country where they are concerned to make sure they dont get those spikes i really want to salute the governors of states throughout the entire United States, but particularly in the central part of the country because the governors out there see us in the press conference, i have had calls over the last several days from several of the governors, you know, from nebraska, iowa, south dakota, utah, just about an hour and a half ago i spoke with the governors of arkansas and wyoming who are really committed to make sure that they dont get into the situation where they are going to have spikes in their state, and theyre doing the kinds of things that they dont get recognized because people dont talk about them much, but we have a big country. We have 50 states, and its not only the big cities. So if were going to pull out of this, were going to pull out of it in the big cities and were going to pull out of it in those areas that arent as densely populated. I want to give a shoutout to them. They are doing an extraordinary job. I wouldnt say i was surprised because i expected of this country, but to hear what they are doing and the commitment that theyre putting in to making sure that we dont have the kinds of situations that weve experienced unfortunately in other areas, this is very important. I just want to close by one other thing, something i mentioned yesterday and the day before, that there are a lot of candidate interventions that are going into Clinical Trials, for those of you who are interested in this. I recommend you go to Clinical Trials. Gov and you will see the design of the Clinical Trial and you will see many of them are the randomized controlled trials that are the Gold Standard on how you find out whether something is really safe and effective. In the weeks and months, probably will be months, sometime in summer we will start to see which are working, which are not and to focus on those that are working. I will be happy to answer questions later. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. The White House Task force has been very focused on increasing the supply of personal protective equipment for our great providers. I was one of those providers a few months, and i can tell you nothing is more important than making sure that they have what they need. In order to increase the supply of n 95 masks, fda has worked with industry and has now authorized two companies who will supply machines to sterilize n 95 masks. Fema are purchasing on behalf of the u. S. Government 60 sterilization machines as mentioned by the president. They will be positioned around the country to increase the amount of supply of n 95 masks. Each machine will be able to sterilize, 80,000 n 95 masks per day and hoping to increase that further. The Vice President and White House Task force challenged us yesterday and we have responded as a team. Fda issued revised guidance regarding the laundering of gowns because gowns are not issue in terms of supply that were looking forward on. This is not something that normally happens around the country, but issued this guidance. It is on our website now at fda. Theres information about how hospitals can do that to increase the supply. Weve heard concerns that maybe hospitals may not want to do because of regulations. Im happy to tell you that the administrator and i have worked on this, certified providers and suppliers who follow fda guidance as posted on the website will be compliant with medicare and medicaid requirements. And then finally, last week, fda provided guidance to manufacturers on manufacturing specifications for cloth gowns. This is another attempt to increase the number of gowns. Typically it is plastic or other types of materials. And this guidance, if followed can be used by manufacturers to make these gowns and no further regulatory red tape will be necessary. They can go into circulation. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. Good afternoon, everybody. I started off the week talking about the challenges that lie ahead. I want to finish the week just by reiterating what you have heard. Mitigation works. It is working quantitatively. I want to say thank you to america for your efforts to help flatten the curve and save lives. But at the president s direction, yesterday i met with 2,000 hispanic leaders from their communities, and today, the Vice President led a phone call that i was on with hundreds of africanamerican leaders, including the reverend jesse jackson, including Derek Johnson of the naacp, the National Medical association and the black Nurses Association to talk about some of the Alarming Trends we are observing regarding the impact of covid19 on communities of color. You have heard the stats in new york city, hispanics represent the majority of deaths. In milwaukee county, blacks are 25 of the population, but almost 50 of the cases and 75 of the deaths. So whats going on . Well, its alarming, but its not surprising that people of color have a greater burden of Chronic Health conditions. Africanamericans and native americans develop high Blood Pressure at much younger ages. And so thats likely to be under control and does greater harm to their organs. Puerto ricans have higher rates of asthma and black boys are three times as likely to die of asthma as their white counterparts. As a matter of fact, ive been carrying around an inhaler in my pocket for 40 years, out of fear of having a fatal asthma attack. And i hope that showing you this inhaler shows a little kids with asthma across the country that they can grow up to be the Surgeon General one day, but i more immediately share it so that everyone knows it doesnt matter if you look fit, if you look young, you are still at risk for getting and spreading and dying from coronavirus. The chronic burden of medical ills is likely to make people of color especially less resilient to the ravages of covid19 and possibly in fact likely that the burden of social ills is also contributing. Social distancing and teleworking are critical. You have heard the doctors talk about how they prevent the spread of coronavirus. Yet only one in five of africanamericans and one in six hispanics have a job that let them work from home. People of color more likely to live in densely packed areas and multigeneration housing which create higher risk of spread of highly contagious disease like covid19. Study shows 30 of the homes on Navajo Nation dont have running water. How do they wash their hands . People of color experience both more likely exposure to covid19 and increased complications from it. Let me be clear. We dont think people of color are genetically predisposed to get covid19. Theres nothing inherently wrong with you, but they are socially predisposed to coronavirus exposure and have higher incidence of diseases that put you at risk for severe complications of coronavirus. As the Vice President shared on the call this morning, this history and i want you to hear me say this, this history doesnt need to be our nations future. We are taking steps now to reach, protect and strengthen all communities impacted by this disease and especially our communities of color. More details will be forthcoming. But we are actively working as the Vice President and cdc director laid out today, data collection, targeted outreach to communities of color, and increasing financial, employment, education, housing, social and Health Supports so that everybody has an equal chance to be healthy. And i want to close by saying that while your state and local Health Departments and those of us in Public Service are working day and night to help stop the spread of covid19 and to protect you regardless of your color, creed or geography, i need you to know, you are not helpless and it is even more important than in communities of color that we adhere to the Task Force Guidelines to slow the spread. Stay at home, if possible. If you must go out, maintain 6 feet of distance between you and everyone else. Wear a mask, if youre going to be within 6 feet of others. Wash your hands more often than you ever dreamed possible. Avoid alcohol, tobacco and drugs. And call your friends and family, check on your mother. She wants to hear from you right now. And speaking of mothers, we need you to do this if not for yourself, then for your abuela. Do it for your granddaddy. Do it for your poppop. We need you to understand especially in communities of color, we need you to step up and help stop the spread so we can protect those who are most vulnerable. This epidemic is a tragedy but it will be more tragic if we feel to recognize and address the disproportionate impact of covid19 and array of other diseases and risk factors on communities of color. The task force and this administration are determined not to let that happen. The president , the Vice President have said we will not let that happen. We cant fix these issues overnight but we will work with your communities to quickly and meaningfully move the needle in right direction. Nothing less than the fate of our families and friends, my family and friends, depends on it. Thank you, mr. President. Today the White House Coronavirus task force met and heard from the president , the gratitude that he and i and i know all of the American People feel for all of the dedicated workers at fema, hhs, u. S. Public health service, fda, and all those that are literally working on your behalf around the clock to partner with states, to partner with local Health Officials and mr. President allow me to add my thanks and admiration to all of the entire team here at the federal level. On this good friday, we remember those who have lost their lives to the coronavirus. We remember their families, our dedicated healthcare workers and our first responders. We do well on this special day for christians across this country too to remember them in our prayers, but as you just heard from dr. Birx and from the experts, also a good day to remember that good friday is always followed by easter sunday. And there is hope. Theres hope in this moment that thanks to what the American People are doing every day. Adhering to the president s coronavirus guidelines for america. Thanks to the fact that the americans are listening to state and local leaders and putting the health of their family members and neighbors first. Were getting there, america. Were making progress. But its imperative that we all continue to implement all the guidance in 30 days to slow the spread. As the Surgeon General just attested, at the president s direction, we engaged more than 400 leaders in the Africanamerican Community today. Allow me to express my appreciation for their leadership and their efforts in communicating to africanamericans and other minority populations some of the unique challenges that those communities face, in the midst of this epidemic. And the cdc as the Surgeon General said is working on not only studying the issue but very rapidly issuing new guidance, and well be communicating that new guidance to all those great leaders. On the subject of testing and o than 2. 1 million tests have been performed, and we continue to work very very closely with fda and suppliers around the country to expand the ability of testing, and you just heard dr. Hahn reflect on the fact that very soon, we will have an Antibody Test that americans will be able to take to determine whether they ever had the coronavirus. I spoke today to the governor of colorado, jared polis, we have been in contact with Senator Cory Gardner about an outbreak at a particular meat packing facility in the colorado area. At this time, our team is working with the governor and working with the senator to ensure that we flow testing resources. At this point there are some 14 people hospitalized, maybe 2 to 300 of the workforce have been impacted, and we spoke about providing those resources this week, and i want to encourage people in colorado that we will work to support that every, but i also want to emphasize that all the people that are working in food supply, from farmers to meat packers to distributors to truckers, to grocers, continue to have our gratitude as President Trump said just a few moments ago. On supplies, more than 5 billion have been obligated to the states, 29,600 National Guard have been activated. And at the president s direction, more than 400 4700 active duty military personnel have been deployed, medical military personnel in nine states focusing on the areas of the most significant epidemic. Air bridge, 26 flights have been completed. Four flights are scheduled to arrive today bringing a quarter of a million of gowns, 25 million pairs of gloves, 54 more flights are scheduled literally bringing in supplies from around the world. Finally, let me say as we go into this very special weekend and to easter services, i know i speak on behalf of the president , when i say how grateful we are to all of the churches that have been there and their ministries have been working under great difficulty, continue to provide for the needs of your members. There have been food drives. There have been phone calls and ministry has continued, and were grateful for the role on this holy week that our churches, our synagogues, and all of our houses of worship have played. On their behalf, allow me to remind you that even if youre not in the pew this easter sunday, if you are able, its still a good idea to give because those ministries continue to go forward, and we encourage you. We encourage you to continue to support them. We also want to say very respectfully to all of the Church Communities around this country, and all the places of worship, to continue to heed the guidelines issued in the president s coronavirus guidelines for america. We know its difficult in this time of year particularly, mr. President , to avoid gatherings of more than ten, but were grateful that so many churches, synagogues and places of worship have done just that, and we urge you to continue to do it, and to my Christian Brothers and sisters across the country, let me encourage you with the words we should all remember that jesus said wherever two or more are gathered, there he is also. So you can worship, you can celebrate easter and know that you will be blessed in so doing, and you will be saving the nation. Thank you, mr. President. Great job, thank you. Okay. Its good friday. Lets be nice. Okay, lets be real nice. Yeah, please, go ahead. Thank you, mr. President. Can you clarify a little bit what the u. S. Offered to mexico in order [inaudible] the oil deal and also go into detail all of the opec nations met and others, and theyre all agreeing to cut back because theres a tremendous glut. Were filling up our strategic reserves. We dont have room to store it. They are using ships to store oil. Theres never been anything like this. It was being overproduced to start off with and then you had the virus and that took off 40 right there. So theres a lot of oil like nobodys ever seen before. Thats good in many ways and depending on where you are, who you are, it is bad. We have a Tremendous Energy business with hundreds of thousands of jobs, doing great. Number one in the world. So they all got together and they said were going to cut because we have to get rid of this tremendous supply. You know, the good news is, gasoline prices im seeing 90 cents, 85 cents, different parts of the country, a gallon, nobodys ever seen that. I guess you have to go back to the 1950s for that. You remember . You dont remember. Youre too young. But the fact that you have to go back a long ways to see it. So theres some good. The airlines are trying to come back, having low fuel costs is good for them. Other reasons, steel manufacturing, but a lot of the steel goes to building what we do for the oil and engineering firms. So, you know, thats a doubleedged sword. But its we want to keep our energy. We want to remain independent. We will remain independent i think regardless but want to get rid of the tremendous overflow. Theres no place to even store it. So the opec nations met. They have been meeting. You know, ive hated opec over the years, absolutely hated them, but obviously it broke down and we potentially have years worth of supply, long time before ever can catch up, even if they do reduce it. They agreed, but mexico didnt agree. It was one of the few countries that didnt agree. This is opec plus. These are opec plus countries outside, you understand. And mexico didnt agree. I understand the president very well. He has a level when he came in and wanted to keep it at that level. Oil is important for mexico. The problem is and i explained it very strongly you are going to be selling it for 5 or 10 a barrel so the end it is bad in the end it is bad. He did have some political difficulty with it frankly and i understand that too. It is a small amount for us. Its a large amount for mexico. But its a very small amount for the United States, being the biggest producer. So i agreed to pick up some of the slack, so he was going to reduce it by 100,000 barrels, reduce his output by 100,000 barrels, and i was going to pick up the slack, and they would make it up to us at a later date. They would make up what were doing at a later date. It could be at a different form. And i dont know whether or not thats going for mexico it was acceptable. I dont know whether or not thats going to be acceptable to the other oilproducing nations. We will find out. But it is something that would certainly be acceptable to me, to get it over the back. So mexico is going to reduce by 100,000 barrels, and that would mean that their we would make up the difference. They would reimburse us at a later date. By cutting production . By cutting some u. S. Production. Now, the u. S. Production has already been cut because were a marketdriven economy, and oil is very market driven. They have been cutting oil all over the place. Were cutting it back. And what does it mean really . It means we have it in the ground. We can use it. We have a lot of ground with a lot of oil in it. I think were number one in that too. Were probably number one especially with the one in alaska, one of the biggest finds anywhere in the world. When you add it all up, i think were probably number one even with what we have. Were very lucky. We grew up in a land that was rich in a lot of ways, but it is also rich because it has a lot of oil underneath, oil and gas. As you know, natural gas, l and g is all over the country now, at a very low price. Our carbon, our atmosphere, our the level of environmental cleanliness is at its alltime best right now, alltime best because we are using a lot of natural gas. But we have many forms of energy, including some of the newer forms that people want to see us go to. We have a lot of different forms of energy. Were number one in the world. We want to keep it that way. Were helping mexico out. We will be reimbursed in a form sometime in the future. I want to ask you about the new federal projections in a moment. Today you tweeted the invisible enemy will soon be in full retreat. Given it is invisible, without widespread testing, how would you know . Well, i think were going to have it in retreat. Will it be today . No. Tomorrow . No. But it will be at a certain point in the nottoodistant future. It will be gone. How do you know that without widespread testing . Because people arent going to go to the hospital, people arent going to get sick. We will know were going to do more testing. We have done more testing than in the world by far. I will have the professionals answer that. Deborah, you can come up. We are doing tremendous testing, but you are going to know before anybody because you are going to see nobody is getting sick anymore. It will be gone and it wont be that much longer. I will ask you about the projections after. Thanks, mr. President. Thank you, mr. President. So the testing, i want to reemphasize about what kind of testing were talking about. This is rna diagnostic testing. That is the platform that was built to respond to this epidemic. It is the same platform that we utilize for hiv viral loads. So many hiv clients have also given up their space on the machines to have these tests run for all of americans. This assay is complicated. Its not like an assay that you have for your other diseases, your strep tests or other diseases like that. This is a very complicated assay that requires a lot of technical oversight, and it is part of the reason why not all 100 of our machines are running at full capacity, but we had great discussion with the Lab Directors about that. Every day more are brought online, but i think we have to create expectations of what the daily test rates will be. Last year we probably did 3 million hiv viral loads or 4 million hiv viral loads as a country. Weve done over 2 almost 2. 2 million in four weeks. This is unprecedented in what we have to do. Were working very hard for two pieces. Testing is just part of our strategy. The other part of the strategy has to be this syndrome and influenza like illness where theres an alert to an illness so that were surveying where we know the most vulnerable cases have appeared. The great call that i had with the mayors and with the Health Officials yesterday and mayors today, a lot in the rural areas, and as it was in washington and california was at the nursing homes. The issue is to build a testing strategy that speaks to our strengths of laser focusing a strategic approach to testing when we know what our volumes are and they increase every day but we have to be realistic about what the volumes will be a week, two weeks, three weeks from now and combine that with strategic surveillance that were testing symptomatic people and their contacts very quickly to go back to Contact Tracing, utilizing our complete strategy. Were very much interested and why the president three weeks ago put us on getting an Antibody Test. I called from the podiums of our University Colleagues and hospitals to begin a elisa based test because thats a blood draw but we wanted a finger prick to make it easy and deployable. Thats whats being worked on now. We dont want to promise until we have it because i think we deserve that. The American People deserve that to have a test that is efficient to let people know who has been positive for immunity. Thats critical to epidemiologists and Public Health officials to know what the penetration of a virus was into the community when all you are seeing the serious cases and testing the most symptomatic. Thats a question that we still have. Is this the tip of the iceberg . Or is this half the iceberg or three quarters of the iceberg, what we have seen to date . And we have i just want to complete the thought by saying in the areas where we had an outbreak, these large metros, louisiana, denver, detroit, chicago, new york, new jersey, by per capita we have done more tests than any other place in the world. That was intentional. We focused the tests where the need was the greatest and the burden of disease the greatest. And now were trying to really see how strategically that very valuable resource can be utilized around the country to create a mosaic of testing combined with surveillance. Federal projections i would like to ask about the new federal projections that suggest lifting the 30 day shelter in place orders would lead to a spike in infections. Have you seen those new projections from your department of Homeland Security and hhs . When did they say this would take place . When . They said it would take place if the 30day shelter in place were to be removed. Three different well talk about that. Is that your thinking they havent seen it. I guess they leaked it to nbc. They didnt link it to us. Its been they havent seen it and they are the ones that do it. Its from the hhs and doj. Well find out about it. They dont know about it. Do you want to Say Something . Okay. First of all, peter, i havent seen that. [inaudible]. I still havent seen it. Ive been here all day. Im just saying [inaudible]. What i think that they are talking about is that whenever you pull back, you would expect that you might start seeing cases, and what weve been talking about, what dr. Birx has just mentioned is that when you see that, thats where you want your results to be able to be very efficiently in realtime identify, isolate and contact trace. Dont let anyone get any false ideas that when we decide at a proper time, when were going to be relaxing some of the restrictions, i would be so surprised if we didnt see cases. The question is how you respond to them. I think thats what they were referring to. I guess the question, mr. President , should americans have to decide between staying healthy and going back to work . I think were going to do both. Were going to go back to work and stay healthy. Staying healthy is also a proportion. If you look at what were doing, were looking at a date. Were hope were going we hope were going to be able to fulfill a certain date but not doing anything until we know this country will be healthy. We dont want to go back and do it all over again even though we know it would be in a smaller scale. The president of mexico said you had agreed that the u. S. Would cut production by 250,000 barrels per day. Is that what you agreed to . Yes, we would which we have already done by the way. We would agree to a reduction cut. They would agree to do something to compensate us in the future. Did you make any assurances to saudi arabia that you, the United States, would not bail out oil drillers here . We didnt discuss that with saudi arabia. We just discussed the numbers and we discuss who had is opposed and who is not who is opposed and who is not. Pretty much everybody is in favor of it. They are all getting clobbered. All the countries are having problems. If you look at saudi arabia, thats their primary source of income by far. They want to do it. Russia wants to do it. The opec nations want to do it. They all want to do it. We will see what happens. Theres a difference between wanting to do it and doing it. Go ahead, in the back. Thank you, mr. President. This is a National Security question about venezuela and chai. Venezuela. Go ahead. We have news this morning that president xi is talking with Nicolas Maduro [inaudible]. Two questions, one, have you discussed this with president xi the u. S. Policy on maduro . And two, how does this affect u. S. Policy with regards we will not be happy if that takes place. I havent spoken to president xi of china about venezuela, about that aspect of venezuela. But if that took place, we will not be happy. Okay . Are you concerned that hes opening up another financial im concerned about everything. Thats why i dont sleep a lot. I get myself concerned about everything, but i would not be happy about that. Go ahead. Getting back to peters question, variation of that question, your doctors who are gathered here seem to be in doubt as to whether or not the country could reopen on may the 1st. If they come to you before may 1st and say big parts of the country are not ready to reopen on may 1st. Will you listen to them . I have listened to them about everything. I think they are actually surprised. I have Great Respect for these people, all of them, and others that are working with us. I have Great Respect for this group. In fact i told tony fauci. I said why dont you move to new york, run against aoc, you will win easily. Hes decided he is not going to do that. I kid. By the way, you know that. Some of your allies have been bashing these doctors, would you tell them to cut it out . I can only say this. I have tremendous respect for these people. And weve done very well. And when you look at us compared to others, were a big nation. When you look at us compared to others, when you see how we have taken testing from a broken system that i inherited to having the best tests that anyones made, anywhere in the world, and other countries are calling us wanting to use our technology, i have Great Respect for these people. I never saying bad about these people. If they come back to you and say before may 1st, we cant open on may 1st, will you listen . I will certainly listen. There are two sides. I understand the other side of the argument very well because i look at both sides of an argument. I will listen to them very carefully, though. Please . Thank you, mr. President. Jpmorgan came out with a forecast about gdp growth in the Second Quarter. They are saying 40 decline in the Second Quarter of this year. Do your economic advisors share that with you . My economic advisors are interested in the Third Quarter and really the Fourth Quarter. And i think we have a chance to do record Fourth Quarter numbers because theres a tremendous pentup demand. You see it this week. I mean what reason would there be other than faith in us and in this country, faith in this group and me and our Vice President and everybody, governors perhaps, you can add them into it also, what reason would that be for in a shortened week, four days instead of five, to have the biggest stock market gain in over 50 years . I think to me thats a sign. Hey, look, with all weve been down, i mean, weve never been hit i dont know, has this country ever been hit like this . Probably not. 1917, but that was different. It was a different time, and frankly europe took the brunt of it. We didnt, but it was a terrible time also, but probably never been hit like this; right . Somebody was saying in fact i was speaking with Governor Cuomo about it. New york city, a place we love new york state with the World Trade Center and that was approximately 3,000 people. Weve doubled that in this same area. Weve doubled that, more than doubled it, substantially more and its obviously going. We had our highest number yesterday and the day before. Okay. With all of this news, what would lead you to believe that were going to have the best stock market week, shortened week in 50 years . Almost broke the all time record. You know what that . Thats pentup demand. Thats my opinion. The other thing is were doing tremendous stimulus plans. Despite what youre reading, you know, this back and forth, we are getting along with democrats. They want to see something happen. We have to help our workers, small businesses, restaurants. I think deductibility will be great for entertainment, restaurants, all of that. Look, i think with the stimulus work the people, with what weve got going i think with the stimulus, with the people, with what weve got going, we will be meeting with the airlines over the weekend. We have a great plan for the airlines. We need to keep the airlines going. Never been a great business but vital for the country. We will be meeting with boeing, meeting with a lot of Great Companies and were Great Companies a short while ago. I mean we cant let anything happen to boeing. You know, its got so much potential. You talk about potential. Can anything have more potential than that . So we have a lot of very exciting things taking place. We have tremendous plans and stimulus. I think we have a chance to do really well. So this quarter isnt the quarter im looking at. Third quarter we start to think about it, and i think Fourth Quarter is going to be at a level that maybe we havent seen before. I think our country with the stimulus, with all that weve been through, we have learned a lot. Dont forget, we have learned about pandemics and epidemics, we have learned a tremendous amount. With all that we have learned as an example, were making ventilators, thousands of them being delivered in very near future. We have countries calling us can we have ventilators . That would have been an unthinkable call. I wouldnt know what to say. They had people dying but we needed them for ourselves. We had plenty before the surge. In new york they need far fewer hospital beds than we thought. And i have to say, dr. Birx told me that four weeks ago, six weeks ago. Remember you said that numbers too high. We dont need that many. And based on what she said and others, we did what we had to do. We actually gave the maximum. We built javits. We sent the ship in. We then made the ship covid because there werent a lot of people on the roads. There werent other unrelated accidents. Nobody driving. Normally you have a lot of car accidents, a lot of motorcycle accidents, you have people going to the hospital. We didnt have that. We had almost none of it. So a lot of things have happened. I think we have a chance to be stronger than before. I really do. I think the stimulus is very important, what were doing. I think it is very very important. Please, go ahead. Mr. President , can i ask you about credit and debt as well . Many americans, individuals, families, have had to cap their credit cards during this period. And businesses have had to draw down their credit lines. Are you concerned, mr. President , that may hobble the u. S. Economy, all that debt, number one, and number two, would you suggest to Credit Card Companies to reduce their fees during this time . Its something we have already suggested. Were talking to them. Business interruption insurance. I would like to see these Insurance Companies you know, you have people that have paid when i was in private, i had Business Interruption, when my business was interrupted, through a hurricane or whatever it may be, id have business where i had it i didnt always have it. Sometimes i had it. I had a lot of different companies. If i had it, i would expect to be paid. You have people i speak mostly for the restauranteurs who have been paying for 25, 30 years, Business Interruption, never needed it, all of a sudden they need it. Im very good at reading language. I did very well in these subjects. Okay . I dont see the word pandemic mentioned. Now, some cases it is. It is an exclusion. But in a lot of cases, i dont see it. I dont see reference, and they dont want to pay up. I would like to see the Insurance Companies pay if they need to pay, if its fair. And they know whats fair. I know whats fair. I can tell you very quickly, but Business Interruption insurance, thats getting a lot of money to a lot of people, and theyve been paying for years. You know, sometimes they just started paying. But you have people that have never asked for Business Interruption insurance and they have been paying a lot of money for a lot of years for the privilege of having it. Then when they need it, the Insurance Company says were not going to give it. We cant let that happen. Please go ahead. Thank you, mr. President. You said in march that anyone who wants a test can get a test. Now you are saying you would be open to reopening the government without having a National Testing system. How do you square those two statements given that theres still issues with testing Going Forward . How can you tell people i got it. Theres not a lot its a good question. Theres not a lot of issues with testing. Certain sections we go to iowa. We go to nebraska. We go and interestingly idaho is very interesting because they had a few breakouts, but they are very very capable states and big distances, a lot of land, a lot of opening, you dont need testing there. Where you have a state with a small number of cases, some states with almost none, West Virginia went for a long time with none, for a long time. When you have that, you dont need testing. You dont have to test every person in the state of iowa as an example. You dont have to test every Single Person and say lets open up, lets get the tractors moving, lets get the corn, lets open up all the Different Things they are doing in that great state. You dont need that. With that being said, if theres a little hot corner someplace, we will be testing. Think deborah speaks to this very well. Same thing in new york. Thats what we talked to Governor Cuomo about this morning. We have the abbott test, very quick, easy, goes very fast. We have a lesser test that we talked about where we can talk about a larger area, but youre going to know were going to do testing, but you dont need to test 325 to 350 Million People because number one, its unnecessary. Vast numbers, vast areas of our country dont need this. I think you agree with me on that. Just dont need it. Now we have certain hot spots. Louisianas a hot spot. New yorks a hot spot. Detroits a hot spot. And then you have certain areas in certain hot spots that you have to even go more so, and were doing all of that. Remember this, weve done more testing than any country in the world. We have the best test. We have developed this over a short period of time. Can i ask you about the africanamerican disparity . I have a question for you and the surgeon. For you, mr. President , we know this Health Disparities have existed for a long time among africanamericans, latinos and other people of color, why didnt the administration possibly have a plan directed at those communities to prevent high death rates knowing the Health Disparity there . We do have a plan. One of the things im most proud about is what ive been able to do for the Africanamerican Community. Lowest job numbers in the history of our country. Before the virus of course. This is before the virus. This has been here for three weeks; right . Just before. The Africanamerican Community had the lowest unemployment, the best employment numbers, more africanAmerican People and communities have been thriving. If you look at the opportunity zones and what we did, tim scott, a fantastic senator came to me, opportunity zones. More jobs for africanamericans than ever before. Better healthcare than they have ever had before. All of these things, the Surgeon General spoke to it, and he spoke to it i thought really brilliantly. I found it very interesting what he said. And id love you to come up and answer the second part of her question because i think you would do a much better job than i would, please. Thank you, mr. President. I have a quick question for you. You said that africanamericans and latinos should avoid alcohol, drugs and tobacco. You also said do it for your abuela and poppop. There are some people online that are already upset by that language and the idea that youre saying behaviors might be leading to these high death rates. Could you talk about whether or not i guess do you have a response for people who might be offended by the language you used . I use that language because thats i have been meeting with the naacp, with the National Medical association, with others, i actually talked with Derek Johnson multiple times this week, the head of the naacp and we need targeted outreach to the Africanamerican Community. I use the language that is used in my family. I have a puerto rican brotherinlaw. I call my granddaddy granddaddy. I have relatives who call their grandparents big mama. So that was not meant to be offensive. Thats the language that we use and that i use, and we need to continue to target our outreach to those communities. It is critically important that they understand it is not just about them, and i was very clear about that. Its not just about what you do. But you also are not helpless. We need to do our part at the federal level. We need people to do their parts at the state level. We need everyone, black, brown, white, whatever color you are to follow the president s guidelines, the coronavirus guidelines and do their part because when i talk to the naacp three weeks ago, it is important to note that one of the things they asked me was can you help dispel the myths in this community that people actually cant get coronavirus if theyre black . That was a myth that was out there thats very important for us to squash here. All americans avoid tobacco, alcohol, and drug use . Absolutely. Its especially important for people who are at risk and with comorbidities but yes all americans. Thank you i will clarify that. All americans need to avoid these substances at all times. Ive put out a Smoking Cessation report in january. I put out an advisory against youth and pregnant women using marijuana last year. That was not directed towards any one race. Thats Everybody Needs to do everything they can to be as healthy as possible at this critical time. Dr. Fauci, can you add anything . I think he said it perfectly. Would you like to add anything . You expressed very beautifully before. No, i mean you did it beautifully. I cant do it any better than that. I know jerome personally. I can just testify that he made no not even a hint of being offensive at all with that comment. I thought that was appropriate. Thanks. And i can tell you, jerome has done a fantastic job, our Surgeon General. I hope nobody steals him and he goes to one of these Big Companies for a fortune. Dont leave us; right . Dont leave us, jerome. Hes doing a great job. Everybody tells me that too. So we appreciate it. Please . Thank you. So google and apple have announced that they are jointly enabling Contact Tracing on their mobile phone operating systems. I was wondering if this is something that you would consider or a lot of other things. We will look at it certainly. We know they have done that. It is highly very new, new technology. It is very interesting, but a lot of people worry about it in terms of a persons freedom. We will take a look at that, a very strong look at it. We will let you know pretty soon. I have another question. Yes, please. Can you explain why it is appropriate in the middle of a pandemic to be talking about cutting or eliminating funding to the World Health Organization . Well, were going to talk about the who next week in great detail. I didnt want to do it today, good friday. I didnt want to do it before easter. I also didnt w