In real life conversations. After just four weeks i was feeling confident enough to have simple conversations in french. speaking in french language now im speaking french. Babbel, the quick way to get conversational in a new language. Try babbel free today, go to babbel. Com or download the app. This is cnn breaking news. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States around around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the situation room. Were standing by right now for, excuse me, a White House Briefing on the coronavirus pandemic. As america marks a grim milestone passing, 1,000 coronavirus deaths to date. The number tonight up to more than 1,100 with more than 80,000 known cases world wide there are
more than 511,000 reported cases right now and more than 23,000 deaths. As the pandemic continues to spread, he told the nations governors he will be easing social distancing in some areas as a part of his push to get the country back to work in the coming weeks. But his own Health Advisers have warned that loosening the guidelines before the virus is contained will worsen its spread. Dr. Anthony fauci the top National Infectious disease told cnn, i am quoting, you dont make the time line, the viergs makes the time line, a direct quote from dr. Fauci. The situation is getting increasingly dire as hospitals in the hardertesthit areas are suffering right now. Cnns nick watt, he has the story. There are horrible stories out of new york and elsewhere. Reporter absolutely, washington. Listen, if are you a Hospital Administrator and you are trying to save lives, you hate unknowns and you hate variables and that is what people are dealing with, here in seed sar sinai, in l. A. , right now they tell us they are dealing with supplies daybyday and its a similar scene across this country. All the people you see, they all have covid19. Reporter and 13 died at this one New York Hospital in one day. We had to get a refrigerated truck to store the bodies of patients who are dying. Reporter the New York Times had a camera inside. I dont have the support that i need and even just the materials that i need physically to take care of my patients. And its america. Reporter cnn reached out to
emhurst hospital for the statements from this doctor. Various leaders from the president to the head of health in hospitals saying things will be fine. Everything is fine. And from our perspective, everything is not fine. Reporter new yorks governor says there is enough protective equipment for now, but distribution might be stop and start. You cannot get the curve down low enough so that you dont overwhelm the hospital capacity. Reporter new york state has by far the most confirmed cases right now, but theyve also done by far the most testing. 25 of the National Total says the governor. So, everywhere else . I think it could be as much as one or three Walking Around asymptomatic right now. Heps, more than half the country ordered stay home to slow spread. The first confirmed case in the u. S. Was january 21st, washington state. About a month later, the president said this. We are going down, not up. We are going substantially down, not up. That day 56 cases. Today more than 80,000 cases in every single state according to a cnn tally. Down in miami, starting friday night at 10 00 p. M. To 5 00 a. M. Cancelled the debate looked like this. On the record, the motion passed unanimous 50. Reporter over in louisiana, a spike. More than 500 cases, 18 deaths in one day. The word from new orleans a city that was 80 submerged by hurricane katrina, 15 years ago. This is affecting everyone, really. This is going to be the disaster thats going to define our generation. Reporter and the next generation is stepping up. Weve heard around 70 students at new york med school have agreed to graduate early so they will begin their internships in april, not in july. We just heard from the mayor of new york, 40 additional
ventilators will now have been sent to that hospital in queens we featured at the top of that story. We are so grateful no the doctors and nurses out there. Nick watt. Thank you very, very much. Lets go to the white house, our chief White House Correspondent general acosta, President Trump is pushing to get the country back to work sooner than a lot of the Health Experts think are safe, whats the late northwest. Thats right. President trump told the nations governors in a letter the administration is working on new guidelines that would help state and local leaders come up with new social distancing letters. The letter says counties across the u. S. Will be designated high risk, medium rusk or low risk, depending on their exposure to the virus. With relearning not all Task Force Members seen mr. Trumps letters to the governor before the letter was released. In the clearer sign yet, he intends to reopen part of the u. S. In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump is moving toward relaxing
the nations social distancing measures. In a letter to the nations governor, the president said they are drafting new guidelines for maintaining, increasing or relaxing social distance, the plan with potential risk, high risk, medium risk and low risk. But sections of our country probably can go back much sooner than other sections. And were obviously looking at that also. People are asking, is that an alternative . I say, absolutely, it is an alternative. Reporter the proposal may be at odd with what administration Health Experts had been urging. A go slow approach. You dont make the time line. The virus makes the time line. Reporter not to mention both democrats and republicans who have been pleading with the president to listen to the scientists. It wont happen unless we respect science, science, science. For those who say we choose prayer over science and say, science is an answer to our prayers. Reporter the president is
under pressure to reignite the economy after nearly 3. 3 million americans filed unemployment claims last week, the highest number on record, treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin tried to downplay the figure as a temporary setback. I think these numbers are not relevant. You know, whether theyre bigger or smaller in the short term, you know, i mean, obviously, there are people who have jobless claims and again the good thing about this bill is, the president is protecting those people. Reporter the Top Administration official vers officials have been wrong before when wilbur ross predicted it would be good for the economy earlier this year. I think it will help accelerate the return to jobs in north america. Reporter Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said we have to ride it out. We may be in a recession. I would point to this and a normal recession. There is nothing fundamentally
wrong with the economy. Reporter the Senate Passed the 2 trillion stimulus bill unanimously, with the House Bill Expected friday. Locals mayors are outraged over how the aid is being allocated. The district will only receive 500 million while every other state will receive a direct payment of at least 1. 25 billion. Reporter in a sign of the times, the president met over a Video Conference call instead of in person to discuss ways to combat the virus. Dr. Fauci said people around the world simply have to adjust to life in the era of social distancing. Its not convenient to lock yourself in. Its not convenient to not do the kind of things. Its not convenient for you not to be playing basketball. But were going through a period of time now where weve got to as a country pull together. Reporter now, as for the administrations plan to relax
some of the social distancing guidelines in certain areas of the country, the president may find some of these governors and mayors are unwilling to follow his lead. That may seat white house officials just fine as they are eager to distance mr. Trump from the political fallout of the virus. Wolf. All right, jim acosta at the white house for us. Thank you. Joining us now, the mayor, thank you for joining us. I know these are difficult, very hard times for you, for everyone in new orleans, especially. Louisiana as you know has now reported more than 500 additional cases of coronavirus since yesterday. Is it realistic for the president to suggest that lower risked areas should now relax their social distancing measures . Absolutely not. Relaxing the social distancing measures will take us back and not move us forward. You know, when are you in the middle of the river, going back is just as important as moving forward. So we might as well move
forward. And as we see residents are complying with the stay at home mandates and we are seeing an uptick in testing, in the results, and also that will i allow us not only to analyze data, but to have a better understanding of trends as well as where our curve is, so that we can continue and move forward with flattening the curve. Thats what will get the xi going. Experts say, mayor, that the mardi gras celebrations at the end of february in new orleans may have actually played a role in accelerating the spread of this virus. More than a Million People came to your beautiful city at the time. We are showing some video of that right now. At the time, mayor, did you have any guidance from Health Experts on the potential risk of coronavirus . Well, you know that the city of new orleans as it relates to
mardi gras. We plan mardi gras. Eighth yearlong effort. Around a part of our unified command is the federal government. Homeland security as well as fbi. So in reaching out meaning my Health Directors and Public Safety officials, every step of the way consulted with federal partners as well as the cdc in reference to covid19. The federal government did not issue any red flags and, therefore, we moved forward with federal agents being a part of our unified command on the ground. And with the first time the city of new orleans for mardi gras, were at a seer2 rating that was an improvement given to us by the federal government. So every step of the way, the federal government has been partners with us with mardi gras. No red flags were given. So absolutely, we moved forward. Yeah, you certainly did. Ill ask you the same question i
asked your governor yesterday with hindsight, we are all obviously a lot smarter with hindsight. Sure. Do you think mardi gras could or should have been closed this year . Well, if red flags were given at the federal level. Leadership matters. So while i was the first in the state of louisiana to stop social gatherings. I had to cancel the st. Patricks day parade. All broke loose when i did that, so it was necessary. Giving data, allowing science to lead us, it does matter, we rely on the facts to make decisions for the people that we serve. Given no red flags, we moved forward in hindsight, if we were given clear direction, we would not have had mardi gras and i would have been the leader to cancel. I know, i guess reports are within a week or two after mardi gras, all of a sudden the cases started emerging in louisiana. Obviously, thats very disturbing. I will point out, we did some
checking back on february 12th, the cdc, they said and im quoting her, now, we can and should be prepared for this new virus to gain a foothold in the occupation. But you are saying no one from the federal government came to you and urged you to at least can sell or postpone mardi gras . Thats absolutely correct. And not only that, it was backed up with the response of our national leader. When its not taken seriously at the federal level. Its very difficult to transcend down to the local level in making these decision. But when the experts told me that social gatherings would be an issue, i moved forward with can selling them as well as st. Patricks day parade as well as our super is up, where our mardi gras indians parade, the suits that theyve made, all year long, so, this is something
that not only concerns us, but it sets the tone for how Leadership Matters at every level of government in the United States of america. Where mayors were mayors on the front line. You certainly are. We are grateful to you. Your governor announced a 17yearold died of this virus in louisiana. Our heart, of course, go out to his family. Its unclear if there were Underlying Health conditions, if they were in play. But what does that tell you about the risk of this virus, the risk it poses . Well, the risks are real. And we need to not only Pay Attention but also continue to use social distancing practices as well as the stayathome man dapts. They are working. They will work. But it will take time for us to be able to analyze the data and to determine where the curve is, so we can continue to flatten
that curve. My heart goes out to all of our families who have been impacted. The 46 people who have died, 17yearold and even when we were saying that you know only seniors are older individuals can come down with the virus. Clearly, we have been proven, thats been proven wrong. But all of our people are at risk and its up to us to do everything that we can to protect our vulnerable, our young and our old. Well said, indeed. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in your beautiful city. Appreciate it very much. Thank you so much. Back to our viewers. Stay with cnn later tonight for a live global town hall, coronavirus facts and fears, our own sanjay gupta will host dr. Anthony fauci and bill gates will join them later tonight. Thats at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Stay with us tonight this
hour, we have coverage of the Coronavirus Task force briefing. The president will walk in, make a statement. Others will be there. Theyll take questions. Our special coverage will continue. Well also have more from a doctors truly harrowing videos of a hospital overwhelmed with coronavirus patients. Sure, principal is a fibut think of us as a protect your family as it grows company. A put enough away for college company. And a take care of your employees company. Were a help you ride the ups and downs of the market company. And when its time to retire, were a weve been guiding you toward this all along company. Think of us as all these companies, and more. Principal. Retirement. Investments. Insurance. For the same medications as the vet, but up to 30 percent less with fast free shipping. Visit petmeds. Com today. Today the White House Briefing. Members of the white house Coronavirus Task force will come into that briefing room. The president has already announced he will be there. I assume he will be asked to categorize all the counties in the occupation as either high risk, medium risk or low risk for the virus. We will have live coverage
coming up amid a time we are hearing disturbing stories about the horrific conditions inside various hospitals here in the United States. Brian todd has a closer look of whats happening on the front lines of the fight to save lives. What are you finding out . Reporter wolf, a short time ago, new york city mayor deblasio called one besieged hospital, elm hurst the epicenter of the epicenter. He says the city is rushing supplies to save lives. Still, officials and doctors at that hospital and others, especially in the new york city area say they are living on the edge right now. What you see, they have all covid19. Reporter dr. Colleen smith says she doesnt care if she gets in trouble. She is in the hospital in queens, one of the hardesthit facilities treating patients. The video she sent to the new york sometimes shows an overloaded emergency room, patients lining up outside and a
refrigerator truck, which she says the hospital had to get to store the bodies of patients who died. I dont have the support that i need and even just the materials i need physically to take care of my patients. And its america. And were supposed to be a first world country. Reporter smith told the times on a regular day, prior to the outbreak. Her er would see 200 people. Now its twice that she filmed a new shipment of ventilators emhurts just received from other hospital. Five ventilators. Oh my gosh. Reporter staffers described the scenes to the times as apocalyptic and calls over a loud speaker, the code for when a patient is in danger of dying comes several times on each shift. Cnn has resched out to elm hurst hospital for a response to the video and comments. The hospital has not replied. But in a previous statement,
they said they are working hard to meet demand. But care givers at other New York Hospitals are also worried and talking about it. An internal medical resident at colombias Medical Center tweeted yesterday, today was the worst day anyone has ever seen. But tomorrow will be worse. We are on the precipice of rationing. A head and neck surgeon at the same hospital sells cnn she believes it is inevitable she will be exposed to the coronavirus. In my department, procedures we do are procedures that tends to aerosolize the virus or emit particles in the air. Thats high risk for exposure. Reporter some staffers seem at breaking. Pa nurse posted i cried in the bathroom on my break. I cried the entire ride home. We dont have the tools that we need in the Emergency Department and in the hospital to take care of them and and
its really hard. Reporter another doctor, a pulmonary specialist at a prominent boston hospital says shes scared right now of sharing the same air in a room with coronavirus patients. She says she goes in, does only what she absolutely into evidence to do and then leaves. She says she cant even spend a few moments reassuring patients, which, of course, washington, leads to the overwhelming feelings of isolation for patients and doctors alike. These Healthcare Professionals are real, real heroes, right now, under awful circumstances. Brian todd, reporting for us. Thank you very much. Lets turn to our medical and political experts, as we await the start of the White House Coronavirus briefing. Sanjay gupta, based on the dire accounts we just heard. We are hearing a lot from hospitals on the front loon right now. How come the American Medical System of collapsing as this crisis grows exponentially worse
and worse and worse . Well, i think you know, lots of very tough decisions need to get made to prevent that collapse from happening. There is going to be a situation where you are going to have a higher demand than supply in all sorts of areas, you name it, right . In the equipment, such as ventilators, the personal protective gear, testing. Also the man power. I mean, respiratory therapists who are making those ventilators work. You need someone to do that, doctors, nurse, obviously, as people get sick, washington, people are afraid theyre going to get sick because they dont have enough personal protective equipment. Theyre afraid theyre going to go home and make their family members get infected. Its really tough. Its not just a physicalal risk to themselves. To their families and communities. Tough decisions have to begin. I just want to ask you, are physicians trained on how to ration life saving medical
equipment, ventilators, potentially choosing between who lives and who dies . No, wolf, theyre not. Thats not something we faced very much before. We certainly faced those issues with life and death and for a single patient when there might be a decision to make in life and death. We have never been in a situation i can recall. I dont think anybody i have spoken to could either, is its the point weve had to do that for several people. It takes somebody normally we would continue to ventilate. Now we have to remove that ventilator from them. We are trying to decide who among them e them gets on the vent lator. Its very depressing to many of our physicians a and a very difficult session. You see dr. Anthony fauci is now on the podium there. Ambassad birx. The two of them there i assume the Vice President will be walking out very, very soon. The president will come out with a statement, he wrote a letter
to all the nations governors, he wants the latest data to show which counties are in high risk, which are at medium risk. Which are at low risk. Here comes the president and the Vice President. Lets listen in. Thank you very much. Thank you. A beautiful day, very good what you are doing. Look at all those empty seats. I never seen it like that. Oh boy. Boy, how the world has changed. How the world has changed, right, but its going to end up being better than ever. I want to thank you very much for being here. Id like to update you on the steps we are taking on our ongoing fight to defeat the virus this morning at 7 55, i spoke to the leaders of the g20 i had a great meeting and we have a lot of different ideas, a lot of good ideas, were working
together. The leaders gathered virtually around the world to discuss the whole subject of the problem that right now 151 nations have got. We had president Alberto Fernandez of argentina, Prime MinisterScott Morrison of australia, pretty Jair Bolsonaro of busy, president xi of china, president trudeau of canada, president macron of france, chancellor Angela Merkel of germany. Prime minister modi of india, the president of indonesia, Prime MinisterGuiseppe Conte of italy. Prime minister shinzo abe of japan, congratulations to japan on making a great decision on the olympics. Were going to make it next
year, 2021. President an dreus manual lopez of mexico, i want to thank the president of mexico for having done such a great job with respect to the military. We have 27,000 mexican soldiers on our southern border and very few people are getting through, i can tell you that. We will keep it that way. And we have a great relationship with mexico now. President putin of russia, king solomon of saudi arabia, president amposa of south africa. President moon of as you know a country that we spend a lot of time in, south korea. We are working very hard on that. Prime minister sanchez of spain,
president erdogan of turk yip, Prime Minister perceboris johns the united kingdom. President of the European Commission vanderlin. President of the European Council charles mchale. United nations secretary general antonio gutierrez. World Health Organization director. World Bank President david malpas and the International MonetaryFund Managing director christolina georgiva. Its a great group. They were all there every one of them. And we talked about the problem and, hopefully, it wont be a problem for too much longer. The United States is working with our friends and partners around the world to stop the spread of the virus and coordinate our efforts. We discussed how vitally important it is for all of our
nations to immediately share information and data and we have been doing that to a large extent, but well do it more so to inform our, i guess you could say, inform each of us on the fight that weve got going one way or the other. Its a little bill different. But were handling it a little in different ways. But there is great uniformity i think. It was a terrific meeting, tremendous spirit among all of those countries, yet, 20 countries, plus the other people that ive mentioned and tremendous spirit to fet this over with. And after the meeting with the world leaders, i spoke with the governors of our 50 states and territories. Our team has been in constant communications with the governors. And we had a terrific meeting. Somebody in the fake news said that one of the governors said, oh, we need tom brady. Yeah. He meant it in a positive way. We need tom brady, we can do
everything positively, but they took it differently. They think tom brady should be leading the effort. Thats only fake news. And i like tom brady. I spoke to him the other day. Hes a great guy. But i wish the news could be real. I wish it could be honest. I wish it werent corrupt. So much of it is, its so sad to see. We had a great meeting. Im sure have you tapes of the meeting, you were able to get tapes, 50 government governors plus. If you had the tape, no contention, virtually none. I would say maybe one person that was a little tiny bit of a raising of a voice, a little wise guy, a little bit. But hes usual lay big wise guy. Not so much anymore. We saw to it that he wouldnt be so much anymore. But he is, we had, i mean, i
would rate mike was there, a lot of the folks in the back were there. It was a great meeting. It took place at about 12 00. So we went from the g20 to the governors. We also spoke about the Economic Relief with the governors and the package that were moving through congress to deliver muchneeded until assistance to hardworking families in Small Businesses. I want to thank democrats and republicans in the senate for unanimously passing the largest Financial Relief package in american history. 560. I have to say 960. I have to say its the largest so far. Im profoundly grateful both parties came together to provide relief for American Workers and families in this hour of need. The house of representatives must now pass this bill, hopefully, without delay. I think its got tremendous support. When you are at 96nothing as
you know a couple of those people are quarantined and one, rand palm, hes actually got it. But hell be better. Hes been a great guy. Hes been a great friend of mine, actual llitch. The massive 2. 2 trillion relief package includes Job Retention loans for Small Businesses with loan forgiveness available for businesses that keep their workers on the payroll. Pretty good. Loan forgiveness, keep the workers on the payroll. Direct Cash Payments will be available to american citizens earning less than 99,000 per year, 3,400 for the typical family of four. Expanded unemployment benefits, the average worker who has lost his or her job will receive 100 of their salary for up to four full months. These are things that, by the way with plenty more to go. But they are things that nobody has ever had any package like
this done and i just want to thank them. Hopefully, it will get approved equally easily in the house, really, i think it will go through pretty well from what i hear, virtually everybody. There could be one vote, one grandstander, you could have one grandstander, for that we will take a little time. It will pass, we will take a little longer. Lets see whether or not we have a grandstander. Critical support for the hardestit industries with a ban on corporate stock buy backs and safe guards to protect compensation, it appears over 100 become for our amazing doctors, nurses and hospitals, 45 million for the Disaster Relief fund, more than doubling the amount available. This is tremendous stuff. 27 million for the Coronavirus Response including 16 billion to build up the strategic
national stockpile with critical supplies, including masks, respirators and all sorts of pharmaceuticals, 3. 5 billion to expand assistance to child care providers and child care benefits to healthcare workers, First Responders and others on the front lines of the crisis and these are really brave, incredible people i have to say. And some of them are getting sick and some of them are getting very sick. Some of them dont even recover. Theyre incredible people. 1 billion for defense production act procurement. We are, you nope, using the act. We use it only when necessary. We use it as leverage. We generally dont have to use it to accomplish what we want to accomplish. As of today, fema has shipped over 9 million n95 masks, 20 million face masks, 3. 1 million face shields. Nearly 6,000 ventilators, 2. 6
million gowns, 14. 6 million gloves and were sending more every day and weve got tremendous amounts of equipment coming in. A lot of Great Companies are making equipment right now. The ventilators, obviously, they take a little longer to make. We will be in great shape. We took over an empty shelf. We took over a very depleted place in a lot of ways. As you know, the testing is going very, very well. And that was obsolete and broken and we fixed it. Its been going really good. And i think very importantly, the stockpile, we are really filling it up. We fill it up rapidly, we get it out, sometimes we have it sent directly to the states instead. Again the state has to be doing this kind of a thing also. We are sort of a, we look from behind a little bit and we look at how are they doing and if they need help, we do it. But its their first responsibility. Sometimes they just cant get it. But we load it up and send it out. But if we can, we have it sent directly to the state. We want it to go directly to the point where we want it. I can now announce something that i think is incredible, what theyve done in the navy, because the incredible Naval Hospital ship, the usns comfort, which is incredible, actually when you see it inside, will be under way to new york city on saturday. So its going to be leaving on saturday rather than three weeks from now. And they did the maintenance quickly and it was going to be there for quite a while longer than the three, four weeks and it should be arieving until the governor 20 minutes ago, governor cuomo, that the ship will be arriving, new york harbor, on monday. I think im going to go out and ill kiss it goodbye. Ill go to, its in virginia as you know. And i will go and well be waving together. Because i suspect the media will be following, will you be following . You never know. Great ship. Eighth freight vessel is right. So if you want to go, ill see you there, if you dont, thats okay. After being fully loaded with medical supplies, its going to be loaded up to the top and its over at the Norfolk Naval base. Thats where it departs. It is expected then to, were saving about threetofour weeks by the incredible work done by the navy. And i actually look forward to saturday to see it go. The ship will arrive and i believe its going to get a little its having very beautiful about it. Its incredible piece of work. Its going to be landing at peer 90 in manhattan to provide
hospital Surge Capacity for the new york metropolitan area. Its a Surge Capacity. They may use it for this or have other people coming in from hospitals. Unrelated to the virus and then they use those hospitals on land they use those hospitals for the virus, but well see how they do it. They could do it either way, one way or the other, which everis best. It could be its set up so well for a regular hospital that they may take people out of hospitals and use those rooms. The National Institute of health in the private sector, working closely with the fda continue to collaborate to discover and test treatments and therapies that can effectively reduce the duration and symptoms office virus and help very much help people to recover and im firmly exited to bringing these treatments to market very quickly. We have a lot of tests going on
with regard to different medicines and i hope we get lucky, hit a lot of talented scientists and doctors are working on therapeutics, vaccines. I think we are doing very well. Tony may speak to that a little bit later. I think we are doing well with regard to the vaccines. I think we are doing relevant with a lot of the things i just mentioned. We have to see what happens. We will know fairly soon about a lot of them. Its very advanced. The vaccines are very advanced prior to a reasonably long test period in that case over a year. Every american should be proud of the incredible spirit our country has brought to this effort. Its been incredible. Citizens from all walks of life have come together to turn the tide in this battle. We are witnessing the extraordinary power of american unity like a lot of people have never seen, even getting a vote, you are talking trillions of
dollars, you got a vote of 96nothing. We are waging war on this virus, using every financial scientific medical pharmaceutical and military resource to halt its spread and protect our citizens. I want to express our tremendous thanks, to the American People for continuing to practice social distancing like you people are practicing right here. I dont know, this room may never be the same. Maintain good hygiene and follow government guidelines. Vice president pens lifts up that card every time. And its not very complicated, but, hopefully, you can do that. And your commitment will make all the difference in the world. Thats one of the big ones well be for a while. Stay home. Just relax, stay home. We are making a lot of progress as we continue to gather more information and accelerate the testing, where were doing
record numbers of tests now, far more than any other number in the country has done. I told you yesterday, eight days here, you are hearing so much about south korea, the media kept talking south korea, south korea. We have a great relationship with president moon of south korea. But when i hear so much about south korea, so in 8 days, in 8 days, we do more testing than they did in eight weeks. Its a very highly sophisticated test. Well be able to deploy more datadriven and targeted approaches to slow the ultimately, you know, its a very devastating thing, but, we will vanquish this virus and a lot of progress has been made. Thats why earlier today i sent a letter to the americas governors describing how we will be using the data to update existing guidance on social distancing, which will be developed in close coordination
with our nations Public Health officials and scientists. Because of the sacrifices of our great doctors and nurses and Healthcare Professionals, the brilliance of our scientists and researchers and the goodness and generosity of our people, i know we will achieve victory and quickly return to the path of exceptional health, safety and prosperity for all of our citizens. We have to get back to work. Our people want to work. They want to go back. They have to go back and were going to be talking about dates. We will be talking with a lot of great professionals. But this is a country that was built on getting it didnt. And our people want to go back to work. Im hearing it loud and clear from everybody. So well see what happens. Were going to have a lot more information early next week and well be reporting that back, but i just want to leave it with you. We have to go back. This is the United States of
america. They dont want to sit around and wait and theyll be practicing. And, by the way, a lot of people misinterpret when i say go back. They will be practicing as much as you can social distancing, and washing your hands and not shaking hands and all of the things that we talk about so much. But they have to go back to work. Our country has to go back. Our country is based on that. And i think its going to happen pretty quickly. I think its going to happen pretty quickly. A lot of progress is made. But we got to go back to work. We may take sections of our country, large sections of our country that arent so seriously affected. You may do it that way. But weve got to start the process pretty soon. So well be talking to you a little more about that next week and with that, if you have any questions, you could ask and then im going to have Vice President stay behind and hes going to take questions and also
introduce some of the people, you can ask them some questions. John, please. Mr. President , unemployment numbers 3. 3 million. I take it not a surprise. No. But still a staggering number. I want your perspective on that. Well, its nobodys fault, certainly not in this country. Nobodys fault. We got very lucky when we made a decision not to allow people in from china at a very early date. I say that because some people dont want to accept it. But this was a great decision made by our country. Or theres the numbers you are talking about, it was a big country, it would be far greater, far bigger. So when i heard the number. I heard it could be 6 million. It could be 7 million. Its 3. 3 or 3. 2. But its a lot of jobs. I think we will come very strong. The soon we get back to work. Every day we stay out it brings it harder to bring it back
quickly. Our people dont want to stay out. So i know those numbers, john, i think you will see a fast turn around once we have a victory over the hidden enemy as i say, its a hidden enemy, sometimes the hidden enemy is a lot tougher than somebody that stares you in the face. Right . So, well see what happens. But i mean, theyre fully expected numbers. At least. The proposal to deploy some troops along the canadian border, Prime Minister trudeau is complaining about that. Why is that necessary . Well, we have very strong deployments on the southern boarder with mexico. We had some troops up in canada. But ill find out about that i guess its equal justice to a certain extent. But in canada, we do have troops along the border. We have a lot of things coming in from canada. We have trades, some illegal trade we dont like. We have very strong sanctions on some. We have very strong tariffs on dumping steel. And we dont like steam coming through our border thats been dumped in canada to avoid the tariff. I charge a lot of tariff for steam. Its been great for our steel companies, look whats happened with steel. Its been pretty incredible. Weve taken in billions and billions on tariffs on steam. Much of it comes in from china. But they can come through the canadian border, too, so we are always watching for that. Numbers directly, the United States has surpassed china as the country with the highest number of virus cases. Does this surprise you at all . No, i think its a tribute to our testing. You know, number one, you dont know what the numbers are in china. China tellles you numbers, and im speaking to president xi tonight i believe. Well have a good conversation, im sure, but you just dont know what are the numbers. But i think its a tribute to
the testing. Were testing tremendous numbers of people and every day the way the system works, and i want to thank especially roche has been fantastic. A great company. Theyve done a tremendous amount. Everybody told me theyve stepped up to the plate as has other companies. It seems theyre doing it particularly well. So well see what happens there. But its a tribute to the amount of testing that were doing. Were doing tremendous testing. And im sure you are not able to tell what common is testing or not testing. I think thats a little hard. Mr. President , on the 3. 3 jobless claims, you suggested 6 to 7 million. I didnt say that i didnt say that i said some people are projecting that it would be 6 or 7 and its i believe 3. 3. Millions of americans out of work. Some people lob losing their insurance. Whats their plan through no
fault of your own, are you willing to do subsidies under exchanges under obamacare, expand medicaid, whats being considered . The things i read to you are being considered. Other things will be considered. People will be getting checks. Its not their fault. What happened to them is not were doing a lot of Different Things on health insurance. Were doing meetings on it today. Were taking care of the people. This is not their fault. Were sending them very big checks. I think for a family of four its about 3,000. Were taking care of our people and workers. This was on a financial crisis. Were going the take care of our people. 3 of all restaurants in this
country have shut for good in the past three weeks. The projection is 11 more are going to close many the next 30 days. What the you say to a restaurant own who are is looking at his streets and thinks he has to close many the next 30 days . I know the business well. I understand the Restaurant Business is a very delicate business. Its a business thats not easy. One bad meal, number 31, they never come back again. They are great people that run restaurants. Ive heard 3 could be lost and you could go as high as 10 or 11 . They might come back in one form of another. Its going to be a great business for a lot of people. Were make it easy for people to what were doing in terms of loans. What were doing in terms of
salaries, theyll all come back. It may not be the same restaurant. It may not be the same ownership but they will all be back. Yes, sir, please. You mentioned the pledges from American Companies to provide supplies. The top 81,000 cases in the u. S. , does it make sense to relook at using the defense production act . I talk about the defense production act a lot. Ive enact it. I can do it with a pen. We have used it and then we can with draw it. We say we need this. They say dont bother. Were dealing with ford, general motors, 3m. They want to do this. They want to do this. Theyre doing things that, frankly, they dont need somebody to walk over there with a hammer and say, do it. They are getting it done. Making tremendous amounts of equipment. Tremendous amounts. When this is own well be fully stockpiled which they would have never been except for circumstances. This was something nobody thought could happen. We inherited a broken situation. I dont blame the people before me in this administration. Nobody would ever thought a thing like this could have happened. The production act, defense production act is a wonderful thing but i just havent had to use it. They know its activated. They know i can use it. Maybe that frightens them a little bit. Its got tremendous power. I havent had to. Please. Thank you, sir. Question for me and another question if youll let me for some of my colleagues social distancing . Where are they . Outside trying to get in. For carnival cruise, they are offshore to places like panama
and might not qualify. They should move back to the United States before they get a check. Do you agree . Should they pay u. S. Taxes to get u. S. Taxpayer relief. They are based in different places. I wont tell you where, but i wont do that. I do like the cuts perhaps coming in and registering here. Come sboog the United States. Its very tough to make a loan to a company when they are based in a different country. With that being said, they have thousands and thousand thousand people that work there and work on shore filling the ships with goods and products and a cruise
line business is very important. I know carnival, what a great job they do. I would think we could stick with senator holly and maybe really at that very seriously. Look, its a big business. Its great business. Its a business that employs tremendous number of people outside of the ship itself. You look at these port, its loaded up with shops and people that are involved with the ship. Were going to work very hard on the cruise line business and try to work something out. I like the cononcept. The senate bill includes a directly tied to the airlines and since before the pandemic suffering from the loss of 737 max airplanes. Do you think its appropriate to use this legislation to sort of provide them with 17 billion of aid on top of the 25 billion they could qualify for as a
passenger airline and another 4 billion they could qualify for as a Cargo Airline . Is that fair . The Airline Business is a very tough business over many years its been very, very tough. Its got everything. Its got labor. Its got very strong powerful, you look at the cost of these airlines. Everything is tough. You look at how complicated, how complex. Its got unions. Its got everything. The Airline Business generally, speaking, its a very tough business. Always been a very tough business. The Airline Business is very vital to our country. Its a tough business. We have to understand that. Quick question for you. I didnt call you. I called this gentleman. On monday who are you with . Bloomberg. Mr. President , on monday, did you speak with chinese president xi before you urged americans to not blame Asian Americans for the coronavirus . We noticed you backed off that language. Im speaking to him tonight. Its scheduled to go tonight. Ill have a call with president xi of china. Very good relationship. It wasnt him. Somebody at a lower level, mid level. They made a statement that our soldiers brought it into china. It came from china. We just signed a big deal with china. They are paying us a lot of money in tariffs and other things. China has taken advantage of the United States. Until i came here with slope ee joe biden and bush and everybody else. 500 billion a year they were taking out. We had trade deficits so large, nobody has seen anything like it. We changed it. We gave some to our farmers because china, they targeted our farmers. Now were going into a phase two negotiation with china but were getting 25 on 250 billion. Then were getting a lot on
money after that. Weve never had a deal with china. China took advantage of the United States. I dont blame china. I blame the people that were right here because they should have never allowed it to happen. The relationship with chinas been a very good one. John. Did president xi asked you to calm that language down or not use it . He never asked me to stop it. Nobody spoke know about it. I think it was time, though. I talk about the chinese virus and i mean it. Thats where it came from. If you look at ebola, all of lime, connecticut. You look at horrible diseases, they seem to come with the name with a location. This was the chinese virus. I dont have to say if they feel so strongly about it, well see. You know we have we just made a great deal with china. Great hopefully for both parties. We made a deal and do another one. They want to do it very badly. Maybe they will want to wait like iran. They want to see whether or not trump gets beaten in the election. They would love it. Thats their best dream in the world to negotiate with someone other than me. There are some that are waiting until after november 3rd, the election day. I think were doing very well. We have made unbelievable trade deals. We have changed the whole thing around. Earlier today, you sent a notification letter saying you would son koon come out with ne guidelines about social distancing. Do you have any data to suggest