Lead the world in confirmed cases with more than 136,000 americans now infected. And that number is expected to rise as testing expands. Steve harrigan is live outside cdc headquarters in atlanta right now. Steve. Reporter jon, amid all the developments today, a few facts and figures do stand out. First, the death toll in new york state alone topping more than 965, that would place new york state by itself as eighth in the world as far as death toll goes. The other is texas is now expanding the number of states where it is quarantining visitors from, adding miami, atlanta, detroit and chicago, this is part of a trend were seeing across the country where states are trying to defend themselves from visitors from other hot spots trying to impose voluntary or mandatory quarantines. In the meantime, another hot spot at sea, this time the Navy Aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt. More than three dozen sailors tested positive for the virus. The ship had to stop in guam to be cleaned and get some of the sailors to the hospital. Its difficult to practice social distances onboard an Aircraft Carrier. Members of the National Guard have been called up and here at the cdc they are urging people from new york state, from connecticut and new jersey, not to leave their homes and visit other states for the next two weeks. Jon, back to you. Jon Steve Harrigan at the cdc in atlanta. Steve, thank you. Today marks one month since the first coronavirus death here in the United States. It was a Washington State man in his 50s with Underlying Health conditions. Since then, the virus has spread throughout the nation with more than 2300 deaths, all together. We want to bring in now the doctor who treated the first u. S. Coronavirus case, dr. George diaz. Hes at providence health. Take us back to that case, doctor, when the Patient First presented with the symptoms that you saw. Did you know what you were dealing with . Yeah, we had been advised by the cdc that the patient was positive for coronavirus before we admitted him so we were aware of the diagnosis when he arrived at the hospital. We admitted him for observation, for testing during that time and while he was there he got sicker, got ne pneumonia. So we worked with the cdc and began experimental therapy with him that seemed to have help him resolve the pneumonia. Jon experimental therapy, can you talk about specifically what seemed to help. Yeah, we spoke with the cdc and became aware of an antiviral known as remdesivir which had been used in trials against ebola and was not effective. It was found to be effective in animal models against the virus. Because of his worsening respiratory status, we asked him if he would want to receive this treatment which he did and within about 24 hours he improved. And his fever resolved, his breathing improved, he no longer needed oxygen and was able to go home within a couple days. So this was very encouraging. Jon were told that different people, that the virus affects different people in different ways and i dont know if youve had enough experience with enough cases to describe as to whether or not that bears truth or not. But what is the single most serious threat to this virus seems to present to the human body as far as you can tell . We see severe disease in people that are older. In my county, weve had 900 cases that have been documented so far and of the people that become ill or death, are people that are aged over 60. People over 60 comprise over 95 of the deaths in my county. So clearly age is the biggest risk factors that were seeing here and generally its because of pneumonia which is the leading cause of death. Jon this all started in this country on the west coast but now new york on the east coast is the number one hot spot, new york, new jersey, connecticut. New orleans interestingly enough, florida and michigan are the five hot spots in the United States. And then if you look at the death rate versus the percentage of the population, new york, new jersey, california have death rates of 1. 3 to 2. 1 . In Washington State it jumps to 4. 7 . Is that because of the age of those who were afflicted there . Yeah. So it varies quite a bit by county as well. So the rate in our county, snohomish county, washington, is a range of about 2 . In king county there was a nursing home that was affected where there was a lot of patients who were elderly who got infection and many of those patients died. So even within our state it varies quite a bit and youre right, age is certainly a large driver of those patients. Over the age of 80 are certainly the highest risk. Jon in a quick word, give us 15 seconds or so, what is your advice to americans who are concerned and trying to deal with this outbreak . Your local authorities should advice you about social distancing. In our state it seems to be working at least locally. Weve seen a flattening of the number of patients admitted to our hospitals and so that work that our governor is doing to socially distance us hopefully is having some effect already. Jon it is having a positive effect in individual states and in the United States as a whole when you look at the death rate around the world, i mean, in italy 10. 9 of those who have been afflicted have died. Iran, 7. 35 . Spain, 7. 58 . And in the United States, its at 1. 51 , a little over a percentage andahalf. Is that because of medical treatment here . Why do you think the United States is doing relatively well compared to other nations around the world . Its a little hard to know exactly but the problem is we dont know the denominator exactly. Even with the u. S. , although testing is improving or access toest testing is improving, its not as widespread as it ought to be. Probably a more accurate reflection of disease is whats actually happening in hospitals. The number of admissions and numbers in icu is probably a better indicator. But overall i would say thankfully at least in my region we had a lot surge of patients but we were able to manage it with respect to our hospital volume so we werent totally overrun. I think the death rates certainly spike if the Health Systems that are seeing patients gets overrun and they cant manage the number of patients theyre receiving. Jon dr. George diaz who treated the first covid19 patient in the United States that we know of, dr. Diaz, thank you for your expertise. The cdc is urging residents of new york, new jersey and connecticut to refrain from nonessential Domestic Travel for the next two weeks, this comes as new york sees the largest one day increase in coronavirus related deaths. Aishah hasnie is live in new york city with more on that. Aishah. Reporter midtown manhattan as you can see around me is nearly empty. So it appears that that stay at home order seems to be working and the numbers show that too. So Governor Cuomo today earlier said that the doubling rate of this spread is rising but it is slowing down. He believes cases will peak in new york city first followed by other parts of the state which is why he today extended new yorks stay at home order for nonessential workers for two more weeks and then at that time he will reassess again. There are nearly 60,000 confirmed cases in the state, 965 deaths. New jersey has already surpassed 11,000 cases. And theyre up to 140 deaths and connecticut now has more than 1500 cases there, 33 people dead there. Uncertainty really peaked over the weekend here as President Trump mulled over this idea of a quarantine for the three states. Dr. Deborah birx with the white houses Coronavirus Task force was asked on meet the press this morning if a quarantine would have been the best method to slow the spread. A lot of people who could leave new york left new york. What were trying to say to everyone is when this virus comes to your metro area, please stay in your metro area where your care can be provided because its spreading virus more quickly around the United States. Reporter now, relief is on the way. Fema approved connecticuts disaster declaration. That will free up federal assistance programs for that state. The new Field Hospital at the Javits Center will be ready this week if the need arrives. That will offer 1,000 beds. This is one of four Field Hospitals in Governor Cuomos phase one plan with four more opening in the next two weeks. So help is on the way and some good news to report from the northeast. That patient zero as hes been called, that lawyer from new rochelle in new york state is out of the hospital now and back at home. Back to you. Jon Aishah Hasnie in new york city. Aishah, thank you. Well, places like florida, texas and massachusetts have mandated self quarantines for travelers from some of the nations hardest hit areas as governors take increasingly aggressive steps to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. Christina coleman is live in our west coast bureau with more on that. Christina. Reporter yes, jon, new developments here. Texas governor issued an order requiring all travelers driving into texas from louisiana to self quarantine for 14 days. Louisiana now one of the hot spots for the virus in the u. S. Governor abbott just wrapped up a press conference on that new expanded quarantine order. My prior executive order about travel from new orleans covered air travel from new orleans into the state of texas. Now i am updating that executive order to also include travel by road. Travel by road from any location in the state of louisiana. Reporter now, this comes just three days after people flying to texas from the hardhit city of new orleans were ordered to self quarantine for two weeks. Theres been 225 new cases of covid19 in louisiana since yesterday, bringing louisianas total to more than 3500 cases. The governors of texas, maryland, South Carolina and florida have ordered people arriving from the new york area to self quarantine for at least 14 days upon arrival. A man with covid19 was stopped by the National Guard at Jacksonville Airport after getting off a flight from a new york city airport. Floridas governor said the National Guard is helping make sure arriving travelers get screened. I think its an issue when you have folks who are in the hot zone, then leaving the hot zone to come to different parts of the country, so we instituted a 14day self quarantine for everyone coming in from those airports in the new york city area. Every time they come in, theyre now met by National Guard and department of health personnel, theyre screened, they provide information and they are given the instructions about self isolation. Reporter Governor Greg Abbott says passengers who fly to texas from miami, atlanta, detroit and the hard hit states of california and washington will also be ordered to self quarantine for two weeks, so some expanded quarantine orders just issued in texas. Jon. Jon Christina Coleman from los angeles. Thank you. Meantime, spain and italy demanding more help from the European Union in the fight against the coronavirus. Those two nations accounting for more than half of the worldwide deaths from the virus thus far. Amy kellogg has the latest from florence. Reporter percentage of new infections have gone down slightly over the last few days as have the number of people ending up in intensive care. With over 10,000 deaths here and the number still going up, its become increasingly clear that the restrictive measures put into place here to last until april 3rd will likely have to be extended. We mostly hear about older people being most susceptible but one 33yearold patient here has spoken about his fight, the fear and loneliness of isolation and hearing Constant Media reports about the death. Hes glad to be Getting Better but also getting anxious to eventually hug his parents and take a walk. In naples, a priest gave mass from the roof top of a search, from a church and people followed around on balconies. Pope francis called for an end to all wars so every resource could be put to helping fight the coronavirus. The orthodox faithful were told to start praying at home. East europe generally is registering far fewer cases than the west. There is concern that some of the less democratically inclined leaders will take advantage of an emergency to crack down on dissent. Hungary is set to vote through measures this week that will give the government extended powers to deal with the crisis. Jon, as we know Different Countries are dealing with the crisis differently. Serbia has banned dog walking, much to the fury of pet owners. Italy, where people are said to be taking excessive walks with their dogs as an excuse to escape quarantine, have drawn the ire of a lot of local mayors, eager to keep their constituents safe inside at home. Jon amy, thank you. World leaders are struggling to strike a balance between restricting human contact and keeping their economies from crashing. Parts of china resuming domestic flights for the First Time Since the outbreak began there. Meanwhile, irans president is defending that nations response to the outbreak, saying economic concerns must be weighed as it tries to fight the virus. Trawe have more. Reporter across the eastern hemisphere, coronavirus numbers continue to rise, though in china where the outbreak first began, things are Getting Better. In the city of wuhan, subways and long service trains reopened for business today. Requiring passengers to wear protective masks. They also had temperatures taken before boarding. New images show people in the streets shopping and hubei flights have resumed with nearly 100 taking off from the main arrest port in the province. In iran, the countrys president said sunday that the state of irans economy was a factor in determining the response to coronavirus. More than 38,000 people have tested positive for covid19 with 2600 dead in iran. A local worker reacted to the governments response over the weekend. Take a listen. Businesses closed, shops, organizations, malls should be closed to prevent people being infected with coronavirus. The death toll rising day by day and if it continues this way, they will be forced to quarantine the whole country. Reporter in another part of the middle east, israel is expected to implement stricter lockdown guidelines today as police struggled to keep ultra orthodox communities indoors. Many traditions, such as weddings and funerals call for large processions and people outside. Israelis are supposed to stay within 300 feet of their homes. Palestinians in gaza continued construction on a new Field Hospital. Gaza has nine total cases of coronavirus, while the best bank is reporting 97. The Palestinian Health authority will see aid from china and have added doctors to help with treatment. There continues to be close coordination between israelis and palestinians in battling the coronavirus. Both sides have limited medical supplies relative to their populations and are hoping to flatten the curve. Jon. Jon trey, thank you. So in just a matter of minutes, the white house Coronavirus Task force will brief the nation on how it is battling this pandemic. Well bring you those remarks live from the rose garden as soon as President Trump takes to the microphone. Officials say more sailors aboard the uss Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for coronavirus with numbers expected to climb as the ships entire crew is tested. It all comes as the pentagon says nearly 15,000 National Guard troops have been mobileized across the country to try to battle the covid19 virus. Garrett tenney is in arlington, virginia with the latest. Reporter the number of confirmed cases on the Aircraft Carrier continues to grow. There were 38 sailor thats tested positive for covid19. None of the infected sailors are seriously ill. No pilots onboard have tested positive. Officials are expecting the number of confirmed cases to go up as the rest of the sailors are tested. Worldwide there are 300 confirmed cases of covid19 in the u. S. Military, this comes as the pentagon plays an increased role in the countrys fight against the pandemic. The army corps of engineers is working to consistent vent buildings such as consistent convert buildings into functioning hospitals to increase the number of beds available for patients. The corps is looking at more than 100 facilities in all 50 states. On monday, the largest of four temporary hospitals in new york city will open at the Javits Convention center. More than 12,000 National Guard personnel are assisting states responding to the pandemic. On friday, the president authorized the pentagon to call up active reserve units to bolster the efforts. He appointed Peter Navarro to serve as the policy coordinator after forcing General Motors to begin making ventilators under the act. Were at war against an invisible enemy, this is a war time president and what were engaged in is the greatest industrial mobilization since world war ii. Reporter this weekend President Trump said there are a couple other companies he wants to see do more in response to the National Crisis and if they dont do it on their own he will invoke the defense production act. Jon garrett, thank you. So, more on the role of the military and our American Veterans in response to this crisis. Lets bring in melissa bryant, legislative director for the american legion. It appears that the National Guard is going to play a big role in fighting this virus and those are guard units that are direct by individual governors, right . Yes, they are. The mission of the veteran the department of Veterans Affairs is also to back up the military after we expended all of the resources through the military. This is an all hands on deck approach right now. Jon we know military services themselves will have their hands full. We reported on the Theodore Roosevelt and how a great number of its sailors have tested positive. Would you guess the navy is going to be the epicenter of the virus just because being onboard ships and submarines and so forth puts you in close quarters . Well, thats certainly a concern. And you do have the deployment of the u. S. Naval ships, the comfort and mercy outside of los angeles an new york ready to assist. I wouldnt say its primarily the navy. You have your National Guard, your army reserve, all of the services right now were all hands in mobilizing and doing what we can in order to help in this crisis. Jon probably no element of American Life is more prepared to handle this kind of thing than our military forces are. But what can you dont call out the army. I mean, thats no president does that. Thats what the National Guard is for. Under governors command. What role is there for military services to play in trying to whip this epidemic . The military services, one, continuing to do our normal mission and to ensure that we have readiness maintained at all times and so this is unprecedented times when you have many of our nations heros either teleworking or supporting however they can from their command. Again, i mentioned before the department of Veterans Affairs, theyve transitioned the department, looking to support the military again as a part of its force mission and ensuring that there are beds, that there are hospitals and icus and ventilators that are critical for support, you have those who are slated to be mobilized from the guard and reserve by the president s executive order and thats under review by the department of defense. And then theres also the legislative side of things where the 2 trillion stimulus package that was just signed into law yesterday, excuse me on friday, includes 20 million for the department of Veterans Affairs and 10 billion additionally for the department of defense in order to ensure that we are ready and capable to execute these missions. Jon what about military spouses . They already bear a huge portion of the burden here when their loved ones deploy or get sent to a base overseas perhaps. Theyre going to be threatened by this virus as well and is there help available for the spouses who might be at home with the kids . There are many resources that are available for the spouses. For one, we are encouraging social distancing from the american legion, ensuring while we are socially distant, we are providing the kind of support we need for our families. At posts nationwide and as far as germany right now were collecting toilet paper for the elderly, collecting food and other donations for families who may be under duress at this time who dont have the opportunity to get outside and to be able to receive those products and services and so were mobilizing in many ways to support military families as are Service Organizations around the world. We are ensuring that we remain connected within the community. Were known for preparedness and readiness and were applying those skill stoats the pandemic thats upon us right now. Jon melissa bryant, we appreciate your input tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you. Jon President Trump honoring those who served during the vietnam war, tweeting happy National Vietnam war veterans day to all of our vietnam era veterans. You have earned our gratitude and thanks by your actions years ago and what you have done since returning home. The nation thanks you and your families for your service and sacrifice. We love you. Events honoring military members who served during this era were either canceled or postponed today due to the coronavirus outbreak. The u. S. Led coalition in iraq with drawing from a military base in the northern part of the country today. It is the Third Military base that the coalition has left this month. Thats in line with the trump administrations plans to consolidate forces in iraq. This comes after a rocket attack killed an American Contractor back in december. That led to a series of attacks between the u. S. And an iran backed Iraqi Militia group which culminated in the u. S. Led killing of top iranian general qassem soleimani. Officials in south korea and japan saying north korea fired two suspected Ballistic Missiles into the sea of japan yesterday. This marks the sixth launch by pyongyang in less than a month. Some experts believe it was done to show that kim jong un is in full control amid the coronavirus pandemic despite sharing borders with china and south korea, officials in pyongyang claim there are no cases of the virus in north korea. Meantime, we are keeping an eye on the white house for the Coronavirus Task force briefing. It is scheduled to begin five minutes from now. These things tend to float. It was earlier scheduled for 5 00 p. M. Eastern time. About 25 minutes ago. So we are keeping an eye out for that. We will get a brief warning in advance of the president s arrival there on the dias and when he begins to speak we will take you back there live. But first, were taking a closer look at the 2 continue to 2 trill 2. 2 trillion stimulus package and the impact on the economy. Were at nearly the bottom of the hour. Markets are looking to rebound tomorrow after fridays slip of the dow. The index edging lower after a huge three day rally that coincided with the passage of that stimulus bill. Lets bring in dominic tivella, president o of leventhal globl advisors. What are you expecting on monday . We were fortunate that even though friday was a negative day, overall the week was positive. So i think Going Forward its all going to be about volatility and we could see the very huge swings both up and down. But if we could set a floor here and a foundation then we having to work off of. Jon lets take a look at parts of the stimulus package. There it is on the screen. 1,200 per adult if their salaries are 75,000 or below. 2,400 to a married couple that make up to 150,000 a year. 370 billion for the Small Business administration to help businesses keep paying workers. And 150 billion for hospitals. These numbers are just unbelievable to most of us. What do they mean to you . Is it enough . Is it going to be effective . We have to start that we had in excess of 3 Million People file for unemployment and that number in my opinion is very conservative. We had a lot of people that simply gave up, they couldnt file, the systems were down, they couldnt get in line. We had Small Businesses that just held on to not lay people off because they were waiting for the package. So its a huge package. But its weeks until these monies actually get in peoples hands and its i think at the end of the day theyll be looking to do more. Jon i think there is a lot of confusion on the part of everyday american as to how theyre going to get this money. So if you have filed a tax return in previous years and you showed less than the income thresholds were talking about here, is that going to mean that uncle sam mails you a check . Yeah, part of this is theyre trying to get the system up an running. They agreed to what its going to look like. People who filed returns are going to see automatic deposits in their checking account. If they file electronically. Other people are going to get checks, via a regular check in the mail. Small businesses have to apply for loans to subsidize payroll, maybe subsidize inventory. A lot of this this the works. Theyre estimating three weeks out before real money comes into these peoples hands. Jon i want to take a look t the phaseouts. For single people, the phaseout of the benefit begins at 75,000 and above and it completely phases out at 99,000. For married couples you can double those numbers, phaseout begins at 150,000 and complete phaseout at 198,000. It just goes to show, i think the problem with trying to build a one size fits all kind of benefit, because 75,000 in new york city, for instance, might not be a whole lot of money for people. For an individual. When you look at the two of the hardest hit states, california and new york this doesnt amount to a lot of money. The other pieces of the puzzle, subsidizing of Small Business owners, loans, payroll, help with making payroll, thats whats going to hopefully get the economy back on its feet. But again, we expect the unemployment number might get into the 5, 6,000 excuse me, 5, 6 million range according to moodys, maybe even higher. They need to be aggressive in getting these dollars in peoples hands, asap. Jon what are they going too with those dollars . So many businesses have closed down, restaurants are closed down, barber shops are closed down. What do people do with that money . Thats the scary part of this. Theyre just going to be some business thats dont survive. We know the Small Businesses are the backbone of this economy. They provide most of the new jobs, most of the new hiring. Their businesses, especially Small Businesses live week to week, month to month. They need that cash flow. They need that revenue to pay the rent, to build up their inventories, obviously to make payroll. These loans are going to help but theyre literally going to be businesses that just dont survive. Jon we are looking at some of the companies that are hiring right now. Amazon says it has 150,000 jobs available. The Kroger Company has 10,000 and on and on, 50 yo 50,000 at r general, cvs has 50,000. Pizza delivery chains, dominos and papa johns, 50,000 jobs. You can see where this is going. People are staying at home, ordering in food, ordering products from amazon and thats whats creating jobs. Is this going to perm meantly change the permanently change the face of the u. S. Economy in a profound way do you sunshine. I think it will. Every crisis has its own set of opportunities. This is where a Small Business, a small pizzeria may go out of business, they dont have the capital to rebuild their inventories and restart business. A National Chain would take over that role. Same thing with the local supermarket or local deli compared to an amazon. Amazon has resources, cash in the bank, access to being able to borrow. Unfortunately, one of the byproducts of this is Small Business owners are the ones that get hurt. Again, this is the entity in this country that is responsible for most of the new jobs. So amazons going to hire and the chains are going to hire. We hope that makes up for some of that. But if you think of the local pizza owner thats going out of business, hes not going to get in the car and start delivering for a franchise. So its going to change the dynamics and demographics of this country. Jon dominic, we appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Jon more than 2,000 people across the dc, maryland and Virginia Area have contracted the coronavirus including dozens of nursing home residents at a facility in carol county, maryland. Lauren blanchard is live from washington with more on all of that. Lauren. Reporter we already have one death out of that facility. At the nursing home, 66 residents have tested positive for the coronavirus, more than half of its residents. Now 11 have been hospitalized and theyre waiting for more tests to come back. Were trying to isolate folks who were in that facility because there are quite a number of people who are sick and they need to be taken care of. Please be mindful of our current guidelines. Please continue to have good social distancing, stay home, stay home so we can stop the spread of the virus. Reporter and according to the Health Department data for the dmv here in dc, 342 people have been tested positive, maryland many more. Back to you, jon. Jon Lauren Blanchard from washington. Thank you. So the president and the Coronavirus Task force are going to be stepping out into the rose garden momentarily to give us the latest update. This has been basically a daily briefing. Were going to pause for one moment to let our fox stations join us now. Im jon scott in new york. This is fox News Coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and a briefing from the white houses Coronavirus Task force. We expect the president and several members of that task force to be emerging into the rose garden momentarily for this ceremony. If you happen to catch part of the president s Coronavirus Briefing about an hour and 35, 40 minutes ago, we know that he is quite concerned with supply chains in this country. Hes been leaning on some of the Big Companies in america to get to work producing things like face masks and surgical masks for medical First Responders so that they can stay safe as they treat patients who are dealing with this coronavirus pandemic throughout the country. You can see some of the white house staff there bringing in extra chairs. That leads me to believe we might not be seeing the president quite as early as we had been led to believe. We got the two minute warning from the white house a little bit ago and that is supposed to mean two minutes until this thing begins. Again, well see. The president , Vice President and other members of the Coronavirus Task force expected to come out and brief the nation momentarily. Of course, it was just this week that President Trump signed into law the largest stimulus package ever in the countrys history, more than 2. 2 trillion aimed at keeping the economys heartbeat alive as so many businesses and so many individual jobs have been lost due to the forced shoulddown from shutdown from the coronavirus eruption that has really plagued a number of countries around the world. We were speaking earlier with the doctor who treated the first u. S. Coronavirus case, dr. George diaz. Hes also the section chief of Infectious Diseases at providence health. As we await the president and the task force, what would you like to hear him say. In your evaluation of what has come out of washington thus far, what more needs to be said and especially done . Well, i think that we would like to see that the production of masks and ventilators and other supplies that are necessary to care for patients will be ramped up to the degree that will be able to provide to patients who need them, particularly in new york state. Thankfully with our state we werent overrun with the number of case thats would outstrip supplies and these ventilators that really can prolong life in many of these patients. What i would like to hear that is the numbers that will be provided to states that really need them will match their need. Jon we know from hearing the president that a ventilators a complicated piece of equipment. Give us a breakdown on just basically how it works and what it does for patients who are trying to fight off the virus. Well, its essentially a bridge to allow patients to survive while theyre healing from the infection. The machines are complex. They provide a certain amount of pressure necessary to inflate the lung and it provides the amount of oxygen necessary, concentration, to provide oxygen to the blood, circulating in the patient. Theyre very complex. They also have special filters that are required to allow the virus not to escape into the environment and so all of these devices and pieces are necessary to safely care for a patient who has coronavirus. Jon the virus attacks the lungs primarily or at least in many cases, is that true . Yeah. Its a respiratory virus, the virus is spread when people cough and generate droplets in the air and other people inhale them. Thats the primary way the infection causes damage. Thats really the only way we generally see patients expire from the infection. Jon so the human diaphragm doesnt have the power to inflate the lungs in the most severe cases, thats where the ventilator comes in . Yeah. Part of what we dont really understand is exactly the mechanisms that cause the severe infection. We are learning that part of what happens is that the bodys immune system becomes disorder and releases a lot of hormones that damages the lungs. This damage results in the lung being unable to exchange air very easily and it requires the ventilator to provide that oxygen necessary to do that. Jon but theres also a great deal of concern, isnt there, about the cardiac damage that this virus can inflict . Thats true. There were in the facilities where there was a large outbreak in kirkland, washington, there was a number of patients who were admitted to the hospital and in the 3u published series t of that hospital, a lot of patients had cardiac manifestations where the hearts werent able to work very well, inflammation occurring in the heart tissue itself that complicated the disease. The burden of cardiac disease in these patients is notice fully known but it probably is substantial number of people as well. Jon we know there was at least one teenager in california i believe who has died as a result of this outbreak. A lot of young people have thought they were essentially immune from coronavirus but that appears not to be the case, doctor. Yeah. I would reiterate that the vast majority of cases are where people are admitted and go to the icu, are people over the age of 60. We do see an occasional young people come in with the disease. I would also mention that even young people that have deficiency in their immune system can also have severe infections. I believe there was a 21yearold in spain who had died and he had unrecognized leukemia as his risk factor. While severe disease is uncommon in young people, its certainly possible. Jon we mentioned at the outset that you treated the first coronavirus patient in this country. And were you able to send that patient home. We have that correct . That is correct. He was able to go home. He got five days of therapy with us in the hospital and he was ready for discharge to home. The county Health District took him home and he maintained self quarantine where he stayed there. He had further testing done and thwas released out of quarantine after another week or so. Jon that must have felt like a huge high five kind of victory for you and your medical team. Did you understand the significance of treating successfully that initial patient . We were very happy that he was able to get home and get better and return to his normal life and we understand hes doing quite well now. This is thankfully we do see a lot of patients that are now discharged out of the hospital. Within our hospital, the number of patients that are currently in our hospital has been flat for about the past week or so. Meaning that the number of people that are coming in with severe pneumonia is essentially equal to the number of people who are discharged home after theyve gotten better. We are seeing a pattern of people improving and going home currently. Jon doctor diaz, he treated the first coronavirus patient in the country. That patient alive and well right now. Happy to have you joining us as we await the briefing of the Coronavirus Task force. These are members of well, i believe members of the congress and others who have just emerged from the white house. Theyre going to be taking their seats there in the rose garden where this briefing is set to begin. President trump, Vice President pence who is the head of the Coronavirus Task force will be part of this as well as some of the medical personnel and others who have been working very hard at the white house to try to wrap their arms around this crisis that has engulfed the country and so much of the world. The good news, if you can call it that, is that in the United States the death rate from the coronavirus is only, and i say only because it is comparatively small compared with the rest of the world, only about 1. 5 regarding those who have been afflicted. In other countries, spain and italy among them, the death rate from those afflicted with the virus much, much high e about 10 and more. So the United States is doing reasonably well in terms of the longevity of coronavirus patients. However, we now lead the world in the number of people who have been confirmed with the coronavirus. So here comes President Trump, obviously, we will get very much more information from him as he and the Coronavirus Task force brief the nation. Now, lets listen to the president. Appreciate everybody being here. Beautiful day in the rose garden. Tremendous distance between chairs. Social distancing, you practice it very well. We appreciate it. Thats great. I want to start today by highlighting several critical developments on both the testing and treatment what will help us win our war against the coronavirus. On friday, the fda authorized a new test developed by abbott labs that delivers lightning fast results in as little as five minutes. Thats a whole new ballgame. I want to thank abbott labs for the incredible work theyve done. Theyve been working around the clock. Normally, this approval process from the fda would take 10 months and even longer but we did it in four weeks. Abbott has stated that they will begin delivering 50,000 tests each day, starting this week and as you know even before this development weve been doing more tests than any other country anywhere in the world. Its one of the reasons that we have more cases than other countries. Because weve been testing and its also one of the reasons that were just about the lowest in terms of mortality rate because weve been doing more testing and we have bigger numbers to look at. I want to also thank general seminte of the army corps of engineers and general paul bigcheck who is with us. What the army corps of engineers did along with fema in fork was incredible. They built 2,900 beds worth of hospital, an incredible hospital in the Javits Center which i know well. And i just want to say that was unreal. They did it in less than four days. People have never seen anything like that. And its an incredible, complex, top of the line hospital. They did it so quickly. Everyones trying to figure out how they did it. Including me. And i was a good builder. But they did it very quickly, mike, so were very happy. I want to thank the army corps of engineers, fema, the incredible job they have done. Now theyre moving to other locations throughout the country where they already have people building hospitals. Were doing them in louisiana, new jersey, many other places. But these are incredible men and women and they worked around the clock and the people of new york are very happy. Governor cuomo expressed his thanks which we appreciate but these are i mean, nobody could have done a job like that. Most people have never seen anything like it. The deployment of Rapid Testing will vastly accelerate our ability to monitor, track, contain and ultimately defeat the virus. We will defeat the virus. It will also allow us to test doctors, nurses and other Health Care Workers immediately and enable us to act quickly and aggressively to shut down the spread of the virus. So important. In critical facilities like hospitals and nursing homes. And we will ensure that we can give cities and states the best information to guide local Decision Makers and i want to point out that the hydroxychloroquine is being ad ministered to 1,100 patients, people in new york along with the zpack which is azythromycin. And its very early yet. It started two days ago. But we will see what happens. I want to thank steven hahn who is a great doctor, left one of the best jobs in our country, running an incredible hospital in texas and hes the head of the fda and steve got approval for that so fast. Lets see how it works. It may. It may not. But we may have some incredible results. Were going to know soon. So its being tested on 1,100 people in new york. The fda is allowing the emergency use of a blood related therapy called convalescent plasma as an experimental treatment for seriously ill patients. This treatment involves taking blood plasma from patients who have already recovered from the virus. So they recovered. Theyre strong. Something was good in them that worked and so we take the plasma from those people that have recovered so well, meaning their plasma is rich in antibodies against the virus and transfusing it into sick patients, very very powerful. So sick patients will be transfused with the blood taken to boost their immune system. Well see what happens and were having some early results that are good but we will see. And thats going i think very rapidly. Again, we got approvals and really very quick time. Were also looking at an approval for the sterilization of masks. I kept saying to myself, id see some of the masks are very complex, were delivering millions by the way, millions but i kept saying why arent they able to use that mask a second, third, fourth time. And mike dewine, the great governor of ohio called me, they have a company that is in the final process of getting approval for the sterilization of masks and in some cases depending on the mask, some of these masks are very strong, very powerful, very strong material. Theyre able to sterileize the mask, up to 20 times. So thats i guess like getting 20 masks. And so we worked on that as soon as i heard from mike today, i got involved and the fda is involved and were trying to get a fast approval for the sterilization of masks. That would be a tremendous difference, will be really helpful. While much of the research has to be done, we have a lot of research left to do obviously. This treatment on plasma has shown promising results in other countries. Were in communication with other countries and very Strong Communications and theyre very reliant on us in just about all cases. We have the greatest people in the world. Theyre very, very anxious to find out how were doing on our Different Things, whether its a cure or whether its really anything having to do with getting people better. We have some interesting things well be announcing i think over the next few weeks but well see what happens. Theyre being tested right now. The vaccines are moving along very rapidly. The next vaccines are an answer but id like to see if we can do something therapeutically so we can take care of the people that are already sick and were working on that at a level that people would be amazed. Incredible people. They dont stop. This method also has been used for more than a century and thats the blood related therapy. More than a century, to fight off Infectious Diseases, so its not unusual or level or our level of complexity has been changed. Its a concept that has been used for a long time, including the spanish flu epidemic, and that was really a pandemic of proportions like frankly nobodys seen until what were facing now. That was in 1918. You know what the result of that was, probably from 75 to 100 Million People were killed. And also other viruses like the one in this outbreak, this is a very tough one. This is a tough one because it spreads so quickly. Like nothing weve seen. It spreads so easily, so quickly. Were unleashing every tool in our nations vast arsenal, economic, if you look, medical and scientific, military, Homeland Security is working very, very hard with all of them in order to vanquish the virus. Every level of government, state, local, federal is working non stop to obtain more personal protective equipment for front line workers. Were delivering vast orders of this material. Im going to ask a couple of the people here to join me that both make it and deliver it, joining us today are the leaders of americas largest distributors of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment including mckesson, cardinal health, henry schein, owens and minor, medline, fed ex and ups. We just concluded a very productive meeting about ways to keep our supply chains and Delivery Systems moving at top speed and maybe id like to just ask for a couple of minutes for mike kaufman to come up and maybe ed biseka. Mike is with cardinal, ed is with owen and minor. If anybody else has anything, please come up. If you could come up, mike, for a second and ed, for a second, you could maybe say what you told me before when we had the meeting. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. And thanks for your lea leadersp on this. Balls of that leadership, we have really seen the Government Agencies working with industry like no time before. Weve seen hhs, fema, the cdc work incredibly effectively with all of the distributors and all of the distributors working together for the good of the people and all of us have been so focused on making sure that we take care of our customers because our customers are the ones that are taking care of the patients every day and we need to do everything we can to make things good for them and so its been great to see how well all these Government Agencies have been coordinating together with us. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. Let me first start by thanking the administration tore all the support theyve provided to the industry. One of the things we did, we did hear the challenge and starting in january we ramped up production in the americas including our facility in North Carolina where we are now manufacturing an additional 40 to 50 Million Masks per month to get into the u. S. Health care system. We talked about this in the premeeting, one of the issues is the demand increase. Used an example of one hospital in new york that traditionally uses roughly 10 to 20,000 masks a week are now using 2 to 300,000 masks a week. Multiply that times the entire u. S. , let alone the same demand outside of the u. S. , thats part of the issue were running into is even with a significant rampup in supply, theres still that demand that is much greater than that supply. Thank you. Thank you very much. I bring that up because when we discussed back in a room we were in a conference room, very nice one, actually, called the cabinet room, that statement was made that theyve been delivering for years 10 to 20,000 masks, okay, its a new york hospital, its packed all the time. How do you go from 10 to 20 to 300,000 . 10 to 20,000 masks to 300,000. Even though this is different. Somethings going on. And you ought to look into it as reporters. Where are the masks going . Are they going out the back door . How do you go from 10,000 to 300,000 and we have that in a lot of different places. So somebody should probably look into that because i just dont see from a practical standpoint how thats possible to go from that to that and we have that happening in numerous places. Not to that extent. That was the highest number ive heard. That was the highest number youve seen i would imagine, right. But this man makes them and delivers them to a lot of hospitals. He knows the system better than anybody and i think you were more surprised than i was when you saw that number. Thank you very much. I hope i didnt get any of your clients in trouble but it could be that they are in trouble. So they have to look at that in new york. Fema is working with these companies to launch project air bridge to expedite the movement of critical supplies from other countries to the United States. The first flight arrived at jfk airport new york this morning filled with 80 tons of personal protective equipment including 130,000 n95 respirators, the ones we were talk about before, 1. 8 million face masks and gowns, 10. 3 million gloves and many other things, millions and millions of different items. Fema has scheduled 19 additional flights and is adding more daily. We hope to have about 50 flights, were going to have i think including the one that came in today were up at 51 flights with these massive planes from the Different Companies that was so nice to be here today. Would you like to Say Something on behalf, please. Come up. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President for the incredible leadership. I will share with you that ups is proud to be part of this effort. Vice president pence and i had the opportunity to speak before and the way were going to win this war is with great logistics and ups is going to be part of that effort. We have a big brown army, 495,000 upsers across the country that are ready to deliver. We bring in the supplies from no where around the world as fast as we can so they can serve the communities that need them most. Were proud to be partnering with the state as well. Because we know that in partnership with those states, we can deliver what is needed everywhere. Thank you, mr. President. Great job youre doing. Please. Thank you. Thank you , mr. President. Which like to echo my colleagues comments that the collaboration amongst many of the Government Agencies and the private market, the distributors represented here today has been incredible, has been increasing and ramping up over the past weeks. Todays first delivery of Operation Air bridge i think is the first evidence that its working, 51 flights you referenced. Were excited about. We look to build upon that. So i would echo my thanks for your leadership and certainly to the staff for the terrific partnership and the commitment to protect the people we think about most often which are the people on the front lines providing care and maybe just a quick word of thanks on behalf of all the ceos here to our teams that continue to show up in warehouses across the country and pharmacies across the country and do their jobs to keep the supply chain going. The supply chain is working. Its resilient. Supply is a challenge. Were tackling that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President and thanks to fema and hhs. I think great leadership, its really working well. The demand has skyrocketed. Were doing a lot of things to bring in more masks, more other protective apparel. We are involved in reprocessing masks and weve already started at about 100,000 masks per day and we hope to expand from there. So were quite optimistic about it. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. We appreciate the opportunity to work with your administration on a lot of fronts. Number one weve all talked about ppe products. Thats critical, not just to the hospitals, but to all Healthcare Providers working on the front line. Our commitment is there to get it to the hot spots and get it to care providers who are taking care of the patients. It is key. We talked in there about buying in america and getting resources back here and manufacturing in america, that is critical. A lesson to be learned from where we are. Lastly were proud we introduced a test. We need to get some more tests out there in a rapid form. Were excited about that. Weve worked with your administration very closely, and were very grateful for that. It is a quick rapid test that is needed as well. Were proud to work with your administration. All going well. Thank you very much. Thank you. So thank you all very much and for the great job you are doing. It is real incredible frankly. Many of the states are stocked up. Some of them dont admit it, but they have we have sent just so much so many things to them including ventilators, even though theres a question as to hoarding ventilators, some hospitals and independent hospitals, and some hospital chains as we call them, they are holding ventilators. They dont want to let them up. We need them for certain areas. Theres big problems. Cant hold them if they think there might be a problem weeks down the road. So we delivered a lot, and this group has been really fantastic. We want to thank you. Ups and fedex, in particular, youve gone absolutely out of your way, so we appreciate everything youve done and delivered. The federal government continues to mobilize every resource to make sure our front line doctors and nurses have the equipment needed to save american lives. Yesterday i visited naval station norfolk as the usns comfort departed for new york three weeks ahead of schedule, fully loaded with 12 operatings rooms, 1,000 hospital beds and hundreds of the best doctors, nurses and medical professionals anywhere in the United States navy, anywhere frankly in the United States. It was an incredible thing to see. Mostly you saw that on television as it was leaving. It left literally three weeks early. It was under maintenance and they got it done very quickly. They worked round the clock as many of the people have. It was a great sight. Additionally two of the countrys Largest Health insurers humana and cigna are announcing they will waive copays which is a big deal for anybody that understands insurance. They dont waive copays too easily, but we have asked them to do it and they have done it, coinsurance and deductibles for the coronavirus treatments to help ease the financial burden on american families, during this pandemic. So they are waiving copays, coinsurance, and deductibles. Nobodys i dont think anyones heard of that one. Have you heard of that one before . I havent heard. I want to thank them, Great Companies. Today i spoke with wolfgang puck. He is a great restauranteur as you know as is Thomas Keller and other leaders in the Restaurant Business, which has been probably one of the hardesthit industries. I have directed my staff to use any and all Authority Available to give restaurants, bars, clubs incentives to stay open. You are going to lose all these restaurants, and they are not going to make it back, or they have to get going. So what im doing is im going to tell secretary mnuchin and also our great secretary of labor, who you know very well, to immediately start looking into the restoring of deductibility of meals and entertainment costs for corporations. That set the Restaurant Business back a lot, when it was done originally and then done not so long ago. And were going to go to deductibility so company cans send people to restaurants. I think it will have a tremendous impact and maybe keep them open. Some are closing right now, despite the fact they could be open in the nottoodistant future. We expect that but there will be some that wont be able to get open and we want to make sure they do. Were going to look at restoration, restoring the deductibility of meals and entertainment costs of corporations so corporations can send people to restaurants and take a deduction on it like they did in the old days. Thats when restaurants were doing really well. The Financial Relief bill i signed on friday provided historic relief for American Workers and Small Businesses and includes 350 billion dollars in job restoration and retention. So if you look at Job Retention loans, for Small Businesses, thats a big deal, with loan forgiveness available for businesses that continue paying the workers. So it is 350 billion dollars. Job retention loans for Small Businesses with loan forgiveness available for businesses that continue paying workers. I mean, how about that. 300 billion dollars in direct Cash Payments are being sent to every american citizen earning less than 99,000 per year, 3400 for the typical family of four, so they will be getting a check for 3400 for the typical family of four. Approximately 250 billion dollars in expanded unemployment benefits. Under this plan, the average worker who has lost his or her job will receive 100 of their salary for up to four full months. The bill provides for these unemployment checks to be delivered through the existing state unemployment systems, not us, state, and i was opposed to this method because many of the states have very antiquated computer systems, that are 45 years old, and they are not prepared to handle this kind of distribution, this kind of money coming in so quickly. They are not set up for that, and i didnt want to do it, but our opponents wanted it, so we did it, and if they dont get their money fast, im going to ask that we convene federal government, that we come back to congress, then well do something where we take care of it because we can take care of it very easily and quickly. I said that. A lot of these systems are so old and antiquated at the state level, that they are going to get the money very quickly but wont be able to distribute it. Remember what i said, and we will if we have to Call Congress back or find some other way of delivery of the money. Throughout this Great National struggle, the American People have embodied the unrivalled patriotism and will power that has led america to conquer every challenge, every single one in our nations history, more than 90 of americans say they are staying home as much as possible, putting their lives, their careers, their educations and their dreams on hold, out of devotion to their fellow citizens and to their country. Social distancing, thats the way you win. These shared sacrifices are pulling our nation together like never before. Family bonds are strengthening. Neighbors are looking after neighbors. Its incredible. Im seeing, youre seeing, everybody is seeing whats happening. Communities are rallying for the cause, and all divisions are fading away. The americans of every background are uniting, to help our nation in this hour of need. Its up to 151 countries, so when we say our nation, our nation and the world, when you think. Think of it. 151 countries, somebody said to me today that wasnt in this particular didnt know we had that many countries, 151 countries, thats something. Some are struggling at a level that nobody would have believed possible. If you look at italy, if you look at france is having big problems, spain is having incredible problems, something we did very well is when we stopped the inflow from china at a very early level, that was a good thing to do, great thing to do. We would have had thousands and thousands of more deaths, and we also stopped the inflow from europe at a very early level, but those things were very important, especially the initial one, because we had never done anything like it, where we closed our borders for a country like that. The modelling put together by dr. Birx and dr. Fauci and our other Top Healthcare i mean, we have and these people are amazing, the healthcare experts who in this country are the best in the world. They demonstrate that the mitigation measures we are putting in place may significantly reduce the number of new infections and ultimately the number of fatalities. I want the American People to know that your selfless inspiring valiant efforts are saving countless lives. You are making the difference. The modelling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks, so i will say it again, the peak, highest point of death rates, remember this, is likely to hit in two weeks. Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all. Therefore, the next two weeks and during this period, its very important that every one strongly follow the guidelines, have to follow the guidelines that our great Vice President holds up a lot. Hes holding that up a lot. He believes it in so strongly. The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end. Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to april 30th, to slow the spread. On tuesday, we will be finalizing these plans and providing a summary of our findings, supporting data and strategy to the American People, so well be having lots of meetings in between, but well be having a very important statement made on tuesday, probably tuesday evening, on all of the findings, all of the data, and the reasons were doing things the way were doing them. We can expect that by june 1st, we will be well on our way to recovery, we think by june 1st. A lot of great things will be happening. I want every citizen in our country to take heart and confidence in the fact that we have the best medical minds in the world, tackling this disease. We have the best science, the best researchers, the best talent, anywhere working night and day to protect your family and loved ones and to overcome this pandemic. With the grace of god, were rising to the occasion. We are proving that no darkness can overshadow the eternal light with american courage. We will win, and when we do, we will rebound with astonishing force and speed. We will be stronger than ever, and we will have learned so much, where Something Like this can never hurt us to the extent it has and the world again. In our present crisis, the strength of our people is our singlemost important asset, and together we will defeat this invisible curse, this invisible enemy and rise to incredible new heights. So i just want to thank you all for being here. We will take some questions, if you would like. Please, kelly . [inaudible] a million cases in the United States and deaths could exceed 100,000. Do you accept that assessment, and has that formed your thinking about extending these guidelines . And you also talked about new york. Were you suggesting there has been inappropriate use of masks or Improper Conduct with supplies . No, i want the people in new york to check Governor Cuomo, mayor de blasio that when a hospital thats getting 10,000 masks goes to 300,000 masks during the same period, and thats a rapid period, i would like them to check that because i hear stories like that all the time. You know, were delivering millions and millions of different products, and all we do is hear that can you get some more . But when you hear that, and i heard that from one of the Great Companies of the world, at doing this, it is a client, and theyre going from you heard it 10,000, 20,000, tops to 300,000 . Thats a hospital thats always full. I think people should check that because theres somethings going on. I dont think it is hoarding. I think it is maybe worse than hoarding. Check it out. I dont know. I think thats for other people to figure out, but you dont go from numbers like that. Now, other equipment likewise, because were delivering a lot of ventilators. And by the way, were building and buying, and we have a lot of ventilators that were going to be sending out very soon. We also have right now in the stockpile almost 10,000 ventilators that we have to hold in case of emergency. We dont want them going out and then louisiana has a tremendous problem which we now know they do. You know, all of a sudden, it came very quickly. I mean, louisiana was doing so fantasticall well, then all of a sudden, a big rash of cases. We have to be prepared to move the ventilators. They are very important pieces of equipment. They are very expensive and theyre very complex. Its like building a car. You know, these are expensive, complicated, very complicated pieces of equipment. So we now have 10,000, and we inherited the system, which was broken, just like i will never forget the day when a general came and said sir, my first week in office, we have no ammunition. That was in the military. We have now rebuilt our military, stronger than its ever been and we have so much ammunition, you wouldnt believe it, how much ammunition we have, but the same thing here, we had a stockpile that was deficient. We had testing that was no good. We had a testing situation that just wasnt right. It was okay for a very small cases, but it was obsolete and it was broken, and it was only good for a very small situation, but what i would like to do is id like to ask dr. Fauci to come forward and discuss the number, because i think the number i think the number is going to be a very Different Number than the numbers that you talked about. Please, doctor, you might talk about that. Yeah, thank you, mr. President. Yeah, the number i gave out is based on modelling. And i think its entirely conceivable that if we do not mitigate to the extent that were trying to do, that you could reach that number. Yeah, yeah, it is possible. I mean, you could make a big sound bite about it, but the fact is its possible. What were trying to do is not let that happen. Instead of concentrating the upper and the lower, were saying were trying to push it all the way down. The second part of your question, yes, we feel that the mitigation were doing right now is having an effect. It is very difficult to quantitate it because you have two dynamic things going at the same time. You have the virus going up and you have the mitigation trying to push it down. But the decision to prolong, not prolong but to extend this mitigation process until the end of april i think was a wise and prudent decision. Dr. Birx and i spent a considerable amount of time going over all the data, why we felt this was a best choice of us, and the president accepted it. So in direct answer to your question, the idea that we may have these many cases, played a role in our decision in trying to make sure that we dont do something prematurely and pull back when we should be pushing. [inaudible]. So thank you. You all know weve all the youve all seen the models. You have seen the models from imperial. You have seen from columbia. Weve reviewed 12 different models. And then we went back to the drawing board over the last week or two and worked from the ground up, utilizing actual reporting of cases. Its the way we built the hiv model, the tb model, the malaria model, and when we finished, the other group that was working in parallel, which we didnt know about ended up at the same numbers, chris murray, if you go on his website, you can see the ksh concern we had with the growing number of the potential fatalities. All the flu models predicted anywhere between 1. 6 and 2. 2 million fatalities, if we didnt mitigate. I think you all know those numbers. Some of them predicted half of the United States would get infected and had that level of mortality, so we worked very hard together to really look at all the impacts of the different mitigations that have been utilized around the world and used that Evidence Base to really bring that data and that evidence to the president to consider for extending, which is not a simple situation, when you ask people to stay home for another 30 days. And so they have to know that weve really built this on Scientific Evidence and that the potential to save really hundreds of thousands of american lives, and we know thats a huge sacrifice for everyone. We know its a sacrifice for every mother and child and father who are also selfisolating. There are people who have to go out to work, and we know the compromises they are making, but it is all to protect not only americans but the Healthcare Providers. The Healthcare Providers that are on the front lines. You have seen them. You have seen how difficult this has been. And so were really working there will be a comprehensive piece presented on tuesday that really talks about not only diagnosing individuals, but also increasing our surveillance now that we have more test kits, so that we can really stop and contain new infections at the same time were really dedicating test kits still to the critical diagnosis so people can get the treatment they want. And so that we can ensure when people come to the hospital, that they know that the nurses and the doctors and the equipment that they need will be there to serve them because together, as americans, were going to bring down the number of infections so we dont have 2. 2 Million Deaths or 1. 6 Million Deaths, but really work very hard to keep this in as low number as we possibly can. I just want to reiterate because a lot of people have been asking well what would have happened if we did nothing, did nothing, just rode it out . And ive been asking that question to tony and debra, and they have been talking to me about it for a long time. Other people have been asking me that question. I think we got our most accurate study today or certainly most comprehensive. Think of the number, 2. 2 potentially 2. 2 Million People if we did nothing, if we didnt do the distancing, if we didnt do all the things were doing. And when you hear those numbers, you start to realize that with kind of the work we went through last week, with the 2. 2 trillion dollars, it no longer sounds like a lot; right . So youre talking about when i heard the number today, first time i have heard that number, because i have been asking the same question that some people have been asking, i felt even better about what we did last week, with the 2. 2 trillion dollars because youre talking about a potential of up to 2. 2 million, and some people said it could even be higher than that. You are talking about 2. 2 Million Deaths, 2. 2 Million People from this. And so if we can hold that down, as were saying to 100,000, its a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job, but 2. 2, up to 2. 2 Million Deaths and maybe even beyond that, im feeling very good about what we did last week. Mr. President . Yes, please, go ahead. Mr. President , given that youre extending these guidelines, was floating easter with a mistake, do you think . No. It was just an aspiration. We actually will be hitting potentially, this was with our meeting before, on easter, we probably but that could be a peak, that could be a peak period, that could be the peak sadly to say, that could be the peak number of deaths before it starts coming down. No, that was aspirational. We had an aspiration of easter, but when you hear these kind of numbers and you hear the potential travesty, we dont want to do anything where, you know we dont want to have a spike up. We dont want to do it soon, and then all of a sudden youre coming down and then you start going up again, because we discussed that could happen. We dont want that to happen. Weve gone through too much. So that was an aspirational number. I didnt say easter i said it would be a great thing if we could do it by easter. We know much more now than we did two, three weeks ago. Easter should be the peak number. It should start coming down and hopefully very substantially from that point. Thank you. Mr. President . Please. Thank you, sir. Mr. President , your Approval Ratings have been the highest they have ever been as well as the ratings on your handling of the virus. Yet there are some networks that are saying, theyre debating whether or not to carry these briefings live, do you think theres a link between the two . Well, i dont know. Thats a nice question, thank you very much. Yeah, i dont want high Approval Ratings for this. I wish we could have our old life back. We had the greatest economy that we ever had, and we didnt have death. We didnt have this. We didnt have this horrible scourge, this plague, call it whatever you want, the virus, but were working very hard. Thats all i know. I see things, i see numbers, they dont matter to me, what matters to me is that we have a victory over this thing as soon as possible. When you hear that 2. 2 Million People could have died, if we didnt go through all of this, and now, the number will be, you know, a much lower number, hopefully it is going to be the numbers that were talking about, but so i appreciate it very much, but, you know, what i want is i want our life back again. I want our country back. I want the world back. I want the world to get rid of this. This again 151 countries. And were going to do it. Were going to have a great victory. Mr. President . Go ahead, please. You mentioned and i wanted to make sure im right. Humana and cigna will waive for all costs for anybody thats got the coronavirus, they will take care of everything . Thats what they said. I told you what they are going to take care of, copays in particular, thats a big deal. Insurance companies dont do that, and i appreciate it. Humana and cigna, they should be getting a lot of credit for that. Will there be other companies i dont know, those two are getting a lot of credit right now for it. They should because its something that its a lot of money they are waiving, and so we thank them. Will there be other companies . I wouldnt be surprised. Are you calling on them to do it . I will tell you what, love to have them do it, let them waive those copays. A great spirit in this country right now. I mean, i know Insurance Companies better than anybody. They just dont do that, but now theres a spirit like i have not seen. I have never seen anything like it. I mean, even the media is much more fair, i wouldnt say all of it, but thats okay. They should be fair because they should want this to end. This is about death. So i want to thank cigna and humana. Thank you. Will the federal government be reimbursing those Insurance Companies, or is this something that they are doing out of their pocketbook . They havent asked for reimbursement. I assume they are not. Waiving them doesnt mean they will waive them and get reimbursed, no. Second question, first of the month is three days away. I know treasury secretary mnuchin said today about three weeks the payments should get there. For people who worried about rent. I know mortgages through hud is taken care of. What should people be doing for the first of the month . They will be getting the money. I will tell you, i think landlord wills take it easy. Landlords will take it easy. We may put out a statement on that. I think a lot of people owed money will take it easy. A lot of concessions are made, just like the Insurance Companies, a lot of concessions are being made that wouldnt have been even thought of three weeks ago, not even thought of. A lot of really positive things are happening. Please, behind you . Thank you, mr. President. Yesterday why did you publicly threaten quarantine on new york, new jersey i didnt do that at all. Read the statement. Read the statement. Read what i said. I said we going to look into possibly quarantine. I didnt say were going to quarantine. I looked at it as a possibility because a lot of our professionals suggested quarantine. I said were going to look at it. We then looked at it. You see . Who are you with . Bloomberg; right . I cant imagine that. Let me just say, i didnt threaten. I dont go around threatening. What happened is people, professionals, very good professionals love the idea of doing that because thats sort of the ultimate in distancing. You cant do they didnt want new yorkers where they were having a problem necessarily going down to florida with they haveless of a problem, so the where they have less of a problem, so the concept of quarantine was thrown out to me, really would love to do it, they would love to do it, and i thought it was too much to do because the people are doing a great job. Also it is very hard to enforce. By thinking about it publicly by speaking about it publicly, and letting it be known that its a consideration, do you think that you maybe frightened no, i think we made people aware to stay in your houses and do good. Now we did an advisory. It is a strong advisory. The governors are running the advisory, the three governors, new york, nmg new jersey and connecticut, and i think we did a great thing. All i did yesterday, as you know, you can see it and read it. You can see very simply that i said that we are looking into it, and then before the end of the evening, substantially, we decided to go with the advisory, which frankly i liked better from the beginning. Go ahead. Thank you, mr. President. I have two questions. The first is you said repeatedly that you think some of the equipment that governors are requesting, they dont actually need. You said i didnt say it. You said it on fox news why dont you act in a little more positive . My question to you get you, get you, thats why nobody trusts the media anymore. My question is how is that going to impact thats why you used to work for the times and now you work for somebody else. Let me tell you something, be nice. Dont be threatening. Be nice. Go ahead. How is that going to impact how you fill these orders for ventilators or masks . Were producing a tremendous number of ventilators, doing a great job on it. Mike pence our Vice President has headed up the task force which is incredible the job they have done. We have everybody in the white house working on it. We have everybody in the country is working on this in one way or the other. The fact is, weve done a great job of delivering. Youve seen the biggest people in the business. I mean, theres nobody even close to this group of people. We had a meeting at 3 00. It lasted for long time. It was a great meeting with the generals and with everybody else. They have done a fantastic job. Im just saying this, if they are holding let me give you one example. We sent thousands of generators into new york. They were put into a new york warehouse that happened to be located, interestingly, in edison, new jersey. They were given to new york. We then went to other places also giving thousands of ventilators. The people in new york never distributed the generators. We said why didnt you distribute them . You have to understand, they have new york people working at those warehouses. They knew they had them. So we said why didnt you distribute them . I hope theyve distributed them now. But maybe they didnt need them so badly, but just so you know, were you, me, everybody, were all on the same team. You know, when journalists get up, and youre a journalist, a fine journalist, when i was directing you directly from your interview with sean hannity. Take a look at my interview. What i want to do is if there is something wrong, we have to get to the bottom of it. When i hear face masks go from 10,000 to 300,000 and they constantly need more and the biggest man in the business is like shocked. He knows all about the virus, by the way. Hes not surprised by that. He knows all about it. He shouldnt be surprised. He should say well thats standard because this is really a very tough disease, very tough virus. Please, go ahead. Mr. President , my second question thats enough. Please, please, thats enough. Thats not fair to your other reporters. It is not fair. You had a long time. You had a long question. If we have time, i will get back to you for your second question. Is that okay . Thank you. I appreciate it thank you, mr. President. Just to follow up on the previous questions, you said that the peak will hit in two weeks. Well, we dont know that. We think it will hit in two weeks. Can you just share with us your understanding of how bad it will be so the American People will be prepared for it . Well, i can. I think i will ask maybe you could give your opinion on that, doctor . And i have another question. Thank you. I mean we have great concerns when you look at the chris murray model, where he shows a rapid escalation, and you can see it happening. The people were losing every day throughout america, and you can see it going up, just like cases, and were starting to lose people at the same rate, and we have deep concerns about that. I think were meeting, and weve had calls with the clinicians, and thats been extraordinarily helpful. I think you are watching the alerts. We have a different population than italy or spain. And so because of that, our doctors and our nurses are getting information back really quickly, so that they can talk to each other about how to really combat this. Were seeing things here that werent reported in other countries, and so i really want to appreciate i know doctors and nurses are going full out, but they are also taking the time in their two hours of sleep to write us about what could be happening, when you see the cardiovascular disease and others. So in the model, and theres a large variable its anywhere in the model between 80,000 and 160,000, maybe even potentially 200,000 people succumbing to this, thats with mitigation. In that model, they make full assumption that we continue doing exactly what were doing, but even better, in every metro area, with a level of intensity because were hoping that the models are not completely right, that we can do better than what the predictions are. But were tracking it very closely, and i think theres people around the United States really helping us, scientists across the country have really given freely of their time to really help us not only model this, but really assure that the American Public knows how important it is that they stay doing this. You know, you could see from the recent data, and i will have dr. Fauci talk about young people that are being impacted here. We didnt see that the same way in europe, but our population is about eight or nine years younger, and so we have to be attentive to all aspects of this, to children, to young people, to adults. We know still the people with preexisting conditions and the elderly are at particularly high risk, but we dont want to lose any american, and so thats why i think the president came to the conclusion that at a minimum, we have to continue what weve been doing, but even better, to every metro area out there. We have to do better. We have to ensure that were protecting each other. Tony . So at the risk of offending my modelling colleagues, models are good, but models often generate the kind of anxious question that you asked, is how bad could this possibly get . And as ive said many many times, a model is as good as the assumptions that you put into the model. Very often many of these assumptions are based on a complexity of issues that arent necessarily the same as dr. Birx said from one country to the other. So when you give a model, you have the worst extreme, you have the best extreme. Often the worst extreme means that you dont do anything, that as we say let it go. If you go to the lower end, that means you have mitigated really to the utmost. What i like to do as a scientist, physician, Public Health official is not ignore models but say look at the data as its evolving and do everything you possibly can to mitigate that, instead of getting overly anxious about the extremes of the model. Again, not to push them aside completely, but the reason the president made the announcement today about going to the end of april is because we want to make sure that we dont prematurely think were doing so great. We may be, but we want to push it to the extreme, so take that with you, and maybe you will be less anxious. Okay . On behalf of the foreign pool, sir, you mentioned italy just to finish, so what both were saying and what dr. Fauci just brought up, we dont want to do well and then end a little bit early and have it start going up again because that would be a disaster. Go ahead, please. You mentioned italy. Italy is a close ally of the United States. Yes. They have been receiving help from countries like russia, china, even cuba, cuban doctors have been sent to italy, is the United States stepping in to help yes, we are. I met last night with our people. We are sending them a lot of Different Things that were not needing because were obviously in need of a lot also. And were also helping them monetarily. We are helping italy a lot. Were working very closely with italy and spain too, which is really hit hard. Were working with everybody. I spoke with merkel the other day, germany is hit hard. Their mortality rate is different because they do more testing. Italys mortality rate is very high, so is spain. We are working very closely with them. We had a big meeting with them last night. Admiral, would you please come up and talk a little bit about the tremendous success thats been made on testing from where we started . Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. So as of close of business yesterday, we have been able to perform in the United States over 894,000 tests, so highly significantly increased every single day. Those tests are performed at a number of places, in hospitals, in your neighborhood, in the Public Health laboratories, the state Public Health laboratories and in their territories, as well as the large reference laboratories that are members of the American Clinical Laboratory association. They have done over 650,000 tests including over 840,000 just yesterday. I met with all their ceos yesterday. They are fully committed to increasing testing to meet the requests and the demands of the president and Vice President. Couple words on the point of care test. Point of care means you stop. You get the result right there, that the president and the Vice President talked about, approved in record time by dr. Steve hahn and the fda. This is a point of care test meaning that the time of the swab to the time you get a positive result, five minutes like the president said and at most 15 minutes for a negative result. So just think of it as a 15minute test. This is not an esoteric test. There are 18,000 of these little toastersized machines all over the country, in doctors offices and hospitals right now. And abbott will be providing 50,000 or more tests per day, starting on april 2nd, with the first shipment out already. This complements other point of care testing, like the test that we announced about a week ago. We also have moderate platforms, so its not just about the number. It is the type. We have point of care. We have moderate platforms that are in hospitals and in larger clinics and academic medical centers, and then we have the very large tests. You have heard ambassador birx talk about the roche test and the roche platforms that are in some of these big reference laboratories. It is not just about the number, but it is about pointing this very complex ecosystem so that everybody who needs a test can get a test. On priorities, remember, we are still prioritizing those in most need, those who are in hospitals or in icus because that test makes a difference to how they are being treated. Symptomatic First Responders, healthcare workers, and as administrator will always say, those in longterm care facilities who are at high risk. One last point, ive learned more about nasal swabs than i ever thought would want to learn in my entire life, but it was a very big thing that the fda approved last week, and it will now be implemented this week, instead of having a provider stick this all the way in the back of your nose, thats uncomfortable but also requires ppe changes every time its done, the fda approved with lots of data supporting it selfswab of your nose. So literally put a swab, foam swab in your nose, put it in a plastic bag, this not only increases the speed, but it eliminates all those changes of ppe, so we will be implementing that this week which will increase speed but also save our precious resources as we build them up in the stockpile and out to hospitals. Thank you, admiral, very much. Yeah, please, go ahead. Mr. President , you mentioned that the peak could come in two weeks. Can you ensure that everyone that needs a ventilator, every single patient that needs one will get one . Will it get there in time . My second question is after invoking the defense production act yesterday with gm,aid there were a couple of problem children, that may require using your authority again. What are those companies . And what arent they meeting . Well, i dont have to tell you because those companies have come into line. They are doing a great job. They are working very hard, 24 hours around the clock so i dont want to give their names now because they are they have been great. They have come into line. By the way, General Motors is doing a fantastic job. I dont think we have to worry about General Motors now. They have really done a job. And what the admiral said also i think we can add this, admiral, the reason we show more cases than anybody else in the world is were doing more testing than anybody else in the world. So we have more cases because were doing far more testing than anybody in the world, and remember, we started with a system that was broken for many years it was broken. Im not blaming the last administration. Im saying other administrations and our pipeline had very little in it, just like we had no ammunition, we had very little medical. We had very little in our pipeline. Now we have ammunition, more than hopefully we will ever need, and we also have a pipeline thats packed. Now we have those 10,000 ventilators that we can use because you need some quickly. I mean, this goes quickly from place to place. Id love to give them all out right now, but we need quickly. I dont want to give them out and then we have to take them back and move them someplace else. So were very much prepared. Please . Mr. President , states like florida have reportedly had 100 of their requests for supplies from the National Strategic stockpile filled. But other states like massachusetts have not. So how is that assessment being made, and why has florida gotten its request . Well, i think you are going to find that most almost all states look, i was on the call yesterday with the governors, and they were happy with the job were doing. And i will tell you what, if you had a different administration, they would not have been happy. These are people that speak their mind. They were happy. It was falsely reported by a couple of people that oh, gee, they werent. They were happy. They were thrilled. Florida has been taken care of, and michigan has been taken care of, very important state. To me it is very important because im so proud of what weve done bringing Car Companies back into michigan. And were now dealing with the governor, and i think, mike, i can say that a lot of good things are happening in michigan. Massachusetts, were dealing with the governor, very strongly, and were trying to get things to massachusetts as rapidly as possible. Why has florida received 100 of its requests compared to some other states . Is there a reason . Well, florida, they are very aggressive in trying to get things, and they are doing a very good job, but i think i can say all of the governors are very commit. Were very committed. Were working together. Were getting things out at a level that nobody has ever seen before. We can you can speak to fedex. You can speak to ups. You can speak they have never done anything like this, what they are doing right now, and nobody in the world has been able to match what these Great Companies have been able to do. If we left that to government, it would have been a tough thing. We have mobilized private enterprise. We have mobilized the greatest companies in the world. And whats happening is incredible. That includes abbott, where abbott comes out and all of a sudden out of nowhere comes up with this incredible test that simplifies everything and makes it so easy. I think you are going to find most states are very happy. Im dealing with the governor of louisiana. Hes a democrat. If thats what youre getting at. But im dealing with him, very successfully. I think hes very happy. I think hes actually amazed at what hes been able to get. In fact we were even forward thinking. I suggested we send additional ventilators and other things. Were building a hospital in louisiana, very importantly. Were building hospitals in new jersey. Governor murphy of new jersey is a terrific guy and frankly he wants you know, hes got a pretty hot spot right there, right next to new york, and were doing hospitals. Were doing ventilators. Were getting a lot to governor murphy. Thats new jersey. Last night i spoke to the governor of connecticut. We had a great talk with him. We are really doing a job. Look gavin newsom, the governor of california, hes been terrific. We sent him a boat, way ahead of schedule, the hospital ship, the mercy, with a thousand beds, operating rooms, its been in l. A. For three days already. So i think they are really happy, and when you think about it, in new york, we built 2900 hospital rooms, beds, nobodys ever seen it before. The governors never seen anything like that before. This was done by federal government, not by state government. This was done by the federal government. They are opening it to tomorrow. I wanted to be there so badly, but secret service and all of the people involved wont let me. They wont let me. I would love to be there, but they wont let me for obvious reasons, but i would have loved to have been at the opening tomorrow of the hospital in new york, at Javits Center, but were very proud of the job weve done. Weve mobilized and Getting Better and better every day, and the task force headed by the Vice President , the job they have done, and they dont even sleep. Any other questions . May i follow up on your letter to the governors that you sent since you were on the topic of governors . You sent a letter to governors at the end of the week saying that you guys were going to be developing criteria to be able to classify counties based on whether they were hot spots or whatnot. And i wanted to know, if you have enough tests currently to be able to accurately rank those counties . You know, were ranking counties, and were ranking states, and a lot of people put out false information because they dont know what they are talking about. And we took over a dead barren system. We took over a system that was obsolete. It was good for a tiny little sample of people. Even that didnt work because when cdc first looked at their tests, the biggest problem they had was the test didnt work. That wasnt from us. Thats been there a long time. Now we have the best tests in the world, and nobody has now they are all calling can we get the quick test . We call it the quick test, by the way, probably more accurate and it takes a few minutes. Pretty amazing what we have done. We are getting along great with the governors. Go ahead, please. Mr. President , sir go ahead, please. Thank you so much, mr. President. I wanted to ask you more specifically about the strategy hah you plan to unveil that you plan to unveil on tuesday. What factors are you taking into consideration . What can the American People expect . And is it possible that these april 30th guidelines could be extended . Well, we hope not, but we think its going to you know, we have aspirational thoughts. We would have loved to have been a little bit sooner, but we have to do it right. We could have done it on easter. But there was a good chance that if its coming down or if its still going up, maybe its going to be coming down by that, but we felt it was too soon. We cant take a chance. You know, again, because of what weve done and because of the fact that weve stopped the flow from china so early, because the question is from a lot of my friends, why dont we just wing it . Why didnt we just wing it . I kept asking, and we did models now. Finally we got these models in, and you hear about the 2. 2 Million People would have died. I dont mean we would have had 2. 2 million cases. These are 2. 2 Million People who would have died. 2. 2 Million People. Look, were going to have a meeting, speech, press conference or something on tuesday. I thought what id do, i was going to announce the end of april on tuesday, but i said lets do it now because somewhere along the line it is going to leak, we might as well do it now and get rid of all the leaks, nice and clean. But we have to really do a great job for another couple of weeks, and i think were going to be in great shape. And were going to be in a position, even with what were trying to do with restaurants, with deductibility, we have to get these restaurants back in. We have to get our businesses open. We have to get the planes flying. We have to get everything going. We have to get even the cruise ships, and we have to get those cruise ships moving along. We had the greatest economy in the history of the world, three weeks ago, and now weve said please dont work anymore. Were actually paying people not to work. Nobodys ever heard that. Thats not for us. People want to work. But at the same time, and im so glad that dr. Fauci and dr. Birx gave us a number, and the number on the outside and maybe it is not even on the outside, we dont know, is 2. 2 Million People would have died if we didnt do what were doing. And now were looking at numbers that are going to be much much much lower than that, and it makes everything were doing feel much better to me. Please, go ahead. Thank you, sir. I do have a question for you, but i would like to let my colleague finish her second question. Go ahead. Im going to call on you next. You know that. Thank you, mr. President. You have also said at one point that you thought more people might die from the economic tragedies and economic problems in america, due to the coronavirus outbreak, what Health Officials are telling you that, and dr. Fauci, could you speak to that idea that there might be Mental Health and suicide relates to this, that outpaces at some point the viruss impact on the society . I could ask dr. Fauci to come up, but it is common sense. You are going to have massive depression, meaning mental depression. You are going to have depression in the economy also. But youre going to have mental depression for people. Youre going to have large numbers of suicides. Take a look at what happens in a really horrible recession or worse. So youre going to have tremendous suicides, but you know what you are going to have more than anything else . Drug addiction. You will see drugs being used like nobodys ever used them before, and people are going to be dying all over the place from drug addiction because you would have people that had a wonderful job at a restaurant or even owned a restaurant. I spoke to great people today that have done a great job, one day at the top of their business, celebrity chefs, they have got the most successful restaurants, and in one day, they have nothing. Theyve gotten wiped out. One day, from our enemy, this invisible horrible scourge. So when you ask me that, it is so easy to figure that. I mean, massive drug use, massive depression, mental depression, massive numbers of suicide, anxiety causes, you know, disease, they say, a lot of people youre going to have tremendous and hopefully were not going to have that because hopefully by what were doing, we get the best of both worlds. We dont have 2. 2 Million Deaths. We have a number thats much less, much much less, and at the same time, we get our country running again. Please . Thank you, mr. President. You were next. He was very nice in doing it, though, nevertheless. Go ahead. Which is unusual for cnn. Two quick questions, first of all, during this 30day additional period, do you anticipate at all relaxing those restrictions by regions during these additional 30 days . I dont think so. Its a great question actually. I dont think so. I asked that the same. I said how about nebraska . How about idaho . How about iowa . And you know what . Those people are so great, the whole midwest, they want to i dont think they want to be in that position actually and probably i was getting a pretty strong look by these two people. They said we dont like that idea. So, you know, were relying on them. Theyre the best in their profession. And they didnt like the idea. Secondly, sir, i want to ask you and we could do it, but i dont think it would be good. Thank you, sir. I would also like to ask you about some comments you made on friday. You were talking about governors of different states and you said i want them to be appreciative. You also said if they dont treat you right, i dont call i didnt say these are direct excuse me, ready . Take a look at what i said. I want them to be appreciative of me, okay, and then you cut it off because it is fake news you and your administration please, let me just finish. You just said it again. You know the answer is a lie. I could read you your comment, sir, if that would be easier. Your statement and your response in your answer is a lie. Heres the story, are you ready . I said i want you to be appreciative of me, and then you go on and then i go on, you cut it off. You said i want them to be appreciative. I dont want them to say things that arent true. I want them to be appreciative. We have done a great job. Im not talking about me. Im talking about mike pence. Thank you. You went on to say if they dont treat me right, i dont call no, i dont call the governor of washington. Why in a time but mike pence calls and the head of fema calls. I dont stop them. Did i ever ask you to do anything negative to mike to the state of washington . Michigan, i love that state, thats one of my Favorite Places in the whole world, michigan, and im so proud of whats happened with the auto industry. It is coming back to michigan. No, i dont have to call because im probably better off not because we dont get hes a failed president ial candidate. Hes a nasty person. I dont like the governor of washington. You know who calls . I get mike pence to call. I get the head of fema to call. I get the admiral to call. But what you didnt say see you started it off, and you talked about i have to be appreciated, but then when you read the rest, you said because if you dont appreciate, youre not respecting these incredible people, the two admirals, youre not appreciating fema and the army corps of engineers who built 2900 beds in three and a half days and you are not appreciating all of the work thats been done. You are not appreciating these incredible people, from private enterprise that are delivering things in numbers that nobodys ever seen. Thats why people arent watching cnn very much anymore. Thats why they dont like it. Thats why your ratings are no good because you even after knowing the truth for days now, you bring up the old lie. Read the rest of your question, the rest of your statement, you didnt put in. You have to put that in. And it said in there fema. It said in there army corps of engineers because when they disrespect me, theyre disrespecting our government. And you know what . I dont mind if im disrespected, but they cant disrespect the army corps of engineers and fema. Okay. Please, go ahead. [inaudible]. I want them to appreciate the incredible job were doing. We are doing a job the likes of which has never been done before. And there are a couple of people that know that, but for political reasons, lets say they are democrats, they dont want to give this administration credit, thens okay and thats okay, but i dont have to deal with them. But our Vice President does deal with them. Please, go ahead. Thats why cnn is not trusted anymore. They are not trusted. They are fake news. Remember that. [inaudible] yes, you are. Go ahead. Thank you, mr. President. I wanted to ask you about the extension of these cdc guidelines you have announced today. Yeah. Through the end of next month, of course you know there have been a shelter in place orders that have been imposed by governors and mayors all throughout the country. And when you take that all into account, it sounds like and it seems like you have acknowledged that america essentially will be shut down for the next few weeks. Maybe even the next two nkt mo next two months, you mentioned june 1st as a date we think it is really going to start to open up. We think thats going to the bottom of the hill. Thats what were looking at june 1st, maybe sooner than that. So we have this hill. If we did nothing, the hill would have been up here. We did a lot. We did just about maximum. And we got lucky because we stopped china from coming in, and then later on we stopped europe from we got lucky. We got very lucky. The people that were coming in here, they went to italy. They went to spain spain. They went to other countries. You look at whats going on in italy and spain in particular. June 1st, we think we can reach the bottom of that hill on june 1st. That would be a great thing. And i have confidence in the two doctors. I think that could be a day it could be sooner. It could be later. It could be sooner, but i think people would be very happy if we did a job and saved potentially millions of lives, i think people would be very happy with that date. Mr. President , my question has to do with the 2. 2 trillion dollars relief bill that you signed into law. In your view, do you think that another relief bill, another phased bill may be necessary . And are you prepared to support that, mr. President . Im prepared to do whatevers necessary to number one save lives and number two bring our economy back strong, just like it was before. I think our economy has a chance to be just as good and even better than it was before. And remember, a lot of the money that you read about, thats all coming back. These are loans to Great Companies that got stopped from doing business. They will be back very soon. So much of the money that were talking about, that money is coming back. We will take pieces of the company for the taxpayers of our nation. I expect that we will make a lot of money with that money. Were going to make a lot of money. I didnt want to talk about making money because what i want to talk about is two things, number one is saving lives and number two is bringing our economy back. Okay . But i think were going to do very well. That whole money, a lot of it is coming back. Please . Mr. President , thank you. Earlier this afternoon, you had tweeted that there are on average 8. 5 million americans tuning into these Daily Press Briefings yet there are some networks out there that are, you know i apologize concerned about taking your briefings. Ive read that. Ive read that cnn doesnt want to cover them. They cant help because the ratings are so high. If their ratings were low, he wouldnt be here. We lift up their ratings because their ratings are very low. But for the most part, i havent heard that. I will say the washington post, not to go to the president of the United StatesNews Conference because frankly so many people are watching. Were getting the word out. Were getting the accurate word out. And a lot of people are happy about it. And a lot of people arent. But they should be happy. When i have the general, when i have fema and when i have tony, when i have our incredible these people have become big star, okay . They have done a great job. Deborah has done a fantastic job. They dont want to be stars. They want to win. They have been fighting this stuff their whole life, between ebola and swine flu, i dont know, im not sure id love your life, but thats what they do, they fight disease. You know what . Theres nobody that does it better, but i think the American Public, ultimately they should be the decider. It is like if they dont want to watch, they shouldnt watch, and we shouldnt have bigger ratings than the bachelor or as the New York Times said we have monday night football jon the president talking about battling the coronavirus in a rose garden ceremony for americans who have wondered how long life will go on the way we have come to know it the last couple of weeks . The answer, at least another month, april 30th now the target date for the social distancing guidelines this as the america takes the lead in the number of coronavirus deaths worldwide. Stay tuned to this fox station and Fox News Channel for continuing coverage. Im jon scott in new york. Jon we will continue on Fox News Channel our coverage of the president s rose garden ceremony News Conference, i should say, talking about the white house response to the coronavirus. Lets continue to listen. Thank you very much. [inaudible]. Thanks, mr. President. You have talked a lot about concerns about for so long. Was there any dissent from your top economic advisors in your decision to leave the guidelines in place till the end of april no, and this is before we heard the 2. 2 Million People. I mean we had a lot of people who were saying maybe we shouldnt do anything, just ride it. Thd