Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Craig Melvin 20200319

Shelterinplace. Mandatory evacuation and a good thursday morning to you. Craig melvin here once again broadcasting from home because i came into contact with a today show staffer who tested positive for covid19. Im fine. No symptoms, no signs, but we have been listening to new York Governor Andrew Cuomo spending the better part of the last 30, 45 minutes clearing up some of the misconceptions about what may or may not happen specifically in new york state, specifically new york city. Governor cuomo insisting there will not be any sort of lockdown in new york city. Also, admitting that the term containment, that term that he used to describe what the state did in new rochelle last week perhaps wasnt the best perhaps not the best use of language there. Also announcing some help for folks. Mortgage relief. Atm fees not going to be a thing for a while in new york state as well. So were going to keep a very slows eye and ear on Governor Cuomo. You also see there at the bottom of your screen the Coronavirus Task force. Were expecting were going to get an update here from the president s task force any moment now. Theres also some potential news coming out of the state department as well that we are working to get confirmed. But again, Governor Cuomo said that the state also trying to track down ventilators and increase the number of hospital beds as well, specifically downstate. So were watching the pentagon for an update as well. The pentagon going to be providing an update on the National Guard perhaps being used a little bit more. My colleague Chris Jansing is standing by. She will pick up the coverage as well in just a moment. Also joined by nbcs kelly odonnell. Kelly o. Standing by for us there at the white house. Dr. Lena went, visiting professor of the George Washington school of health is also with us and dr. Linda doll, Board Certified ear, nose and throat doctor. Everyone standing by. Kelly o. , let me start with you here at the white house. There has been a spike now, some 9,000 cases in this country, roughly 2,700 more cases than we had at this time yesterday. What can we expect to hear from the president and the task force . Reporter well, we expect, craig, the task force will talk about this being an anticipated effect of both how the virus has spread and the testing which gives us a better picture of where it is and what the latest numbers are. They have told us for days to expect a spike, and the spike is here. We have had some foreshadowing from the president about the fda which, of course, approves things like medicines, therapeutics, testing related to all sorts of parts of our Health Care System, and he has suggested that there would be some new information. So we dont have hard facts on what that would be, but thats been one of the ways the administration has foreshadowed what could be coming as a new piece of information in todays briefing. We also know the president will be going to fema today. Fema playing a different kind of role than we typically see. We know that it is called to action when there is a tornado or a hurricane, sort of natural disasters that we have covered over the years. This is a way where, because of their unique ability to procure and gather supplies and to get those into sort of the transmission point of government, thats a big skill set in fema. The president will be meeting with them today at their headquarters, and we will be interested to find out what will they be able to do when so much of our conversation right now is about equipment and supplies and facilities that people need to accommodate the spike in medical care needs. That will be something well be looking forward to hearing. We expect the president will be at this News Conference based on what he has telegraphed. Officials here cautioning us that that can always change at the last moment. The president has been a very visible figure leading these things, along with the experts. Weave seen a change, how the president will change to experts when its not his area of knowledge to try to give people more information. So that kind of update is what we expect shortly. One big silo of this, obviously, kelly, is the medical. The other is the financial. The president signed the Coronavirus Relief bill that was approved by the house and senate. Now theres this new plan, and were getting tons of questions. People hearing theyre going to get a check. They want to know for how much, when they might get it. At what stage is that and would we expect to hear more details of that from the white house today . Reporter youre right, chris. Two pieces of the Coronavirus Response have already happened. The initial wave of money, the second wave the president signed into law last night which deals with things like family leave and pay. This next one which would be what theyre describing as checks in hand, it may be a direct deposit situation where in two tranches expected over april and potentially may, there would be an amount sent to american families. Still some questions about if dollar amount for each of those checks and if theres an income level trigger for that. Thats part of the negotiations between the administration, primarily secretary mnuchin and congress to get that done. We expect that will come quickly because they know the urgency of getting cash in peoples hands and how important that is to keep fears down as well as to keep families afloat. Chris . Thank you for that, kelly. Craig . Dr. Win, let me come to you. It would seem to a lot of folks italy has become worse Case Scenario. Looking at china and this word i think late last night, no new cases coming out of this particular province in china, how promising is that . How much can we trust that information . If it is true and i hope its true, it illustrates that chinas containments have worked and containment could work here in the u. S. As well. I think thats why we keep urging for social distancing and all these voluntary measures that are put into place at the moment, that if people could just stay at home, we have a chance of preventing that worst Case Scenario were seeing in italy. We have a chance to spread out the rate of infection and avoid overwhelming our Health Care System all at the same time. Now, there is a question, too, in the u. S. Of what are we going to do with Hospital Capacity . I think thats why i really hope we have the president saying today or at least very shortly how were going to ramp up capacity really rapidly. Were running out of supplies. The cdc just put out guidance saying, as a last resort, Health Care Providers can use home made supplies like bandannas and scarves. That cannot be acceptable for protecting our front line workers. We need Hospital Capacity to be built really rapidly, and we cannot wait as we have done with all these tests. Weve waited and now we dont have tests. We know were going to need Hospital Capacity. Lets Start Building that now to avoid the worst Case Scenario in italy. Exactly to the point of the concern over supplies weve been hearing over and over and over again for hospital workers, i want to bring in politicos jake sherman who has been following this closely. Speaker nancy pelosi is calling for President Trump to use his authority to force the mass production of critical supplies we need to fight this virus. President trump tweeted wednesday he would only use the authority, which is the defense production act, in the worst Case Scenario. Her argument is were here. What are you hearing about where thats going, jake . I know he signed that last night, but he has not put it into action. Reporter yis, lets set the stage here, the president and Speaker Nancy Pelosi have still not spoken during this crisis. Thats unheard of during a National Emergency of this magnitude, that the speaker of the house and the president of the United States have not spoken at all. So im not sure nancy pelosi is going to be persuasive of President Trump, although i will say its important to note that nancy pelosi holds a lot of cards for President Trump right now, obviously, and the Global Economy because with markets slipping and having slipped all these Percentage Points over the last couple days, nancy pelosi is needed. Her perspective, her votes, her cooperation is going to be needed, not only this week, but Going Forward for the next many, many months when Congress Tries to wrap its arms around the damage thats been done both to the Global Health system and the economy. On this specific issue, it doesnt look like the president is going to be taking Nancy Pelosis advice. Hes kind of flying solo on this while his treasury secretary takes the lead in handling the kind of broad, overall congressional reach liaison. Its quite amazing to see the president hasnt been active with congress in any way, shape or form. Something else introduced into the equation is that two members of congress have tested positive. Both of them were around many other members of congress. Is that right . Chris, its stunning to me that more havent come out, to be honest with you. These two members of congress, ben mcadams and mario diazbalart. Diazbalart is a member of the republican whip team, a massive operation always in the middle of talking to members, literally slapping backs. I think were going to see today as many as a dozen members go into quarantine out of precaution. I think youre going to have a house of representatives thats working at not even half capacity come next week. I think theres going to be, according to the sources i speak to, theres a huge fear in House Republican and democratic leadership that even more people are going to come out as positive for the coronavirus. Really uncharted territory for the house of representatives in this crisis. Remember, chris, important to keep in mind, the house has to come back into session to pass this trilliondollarplus package over the next week or so. So this is going to be a challenge for Congress Like weve never seen before. Dr. Doll jake stand by for me. Dr. Doll, let me bring you into the conversation. Apologies if we have to interrupt you to start this briefing. There was some conflicting information that was circulating yesterday, albeit largely on social media. I want to clear up some confusion if we can, this idea that, even if you have symptoms of coronavirus, you should stay away from ibuprofen. What more can you tell us about that . So far in the medical community, we just know of some incidental reports from europe. Nothing specific, no studies have been done. The french Prime Minister is feeling that medications like ibuprofen and advil and the sort and also using a lot of steroids can reduce the immune system. So if youre already immunocompromised, you can get sicker. Its a theory. No one has put it into use. Let me go to gabe gutierrez, if i can. Its been at the press conference with andrew cuomo in albany, new york. What can you tell us . What are the headlines out of that . Reporter hi there, chris. Were here in brooklyn in a hospital where you can see behind many, theres been a line of people that has shown up at these pre screening tents. Many of the hospitals across this area and across the country are setting up pre screening tents so they can see that the people coming in fit the criteria for a full covid19 test. Its open from 8 00 a. M. To midnight. We can tell you about Governor Cuomos News Conference, he says the number of cases in new york state went up dramatically overnight. Hes introducing some more density control measures. Youll remember, chris, yesterday the governor said all businesses in new york state, it was mandatory for them to have at least half of their employees working from home. He is increasing that now. Now he says they can only have 25 of their workforces working from home. He says that of the cases that have been tested, 19 of them are resulting in hospitalizations. How does that relate to whats playing out right now here on the front lines, chris . Basically the governor is saying 19 of the people that are tested end up in hospitalization. As weve been hearing from the Health Care Workers and the medical professionals youve been speaking with, theres a lot of anxiety across the country in hospitals and from er doctors and Health Care Workers that they feel, if these cases continue to go up, there could be massive problems. They have shortages of ventilators, but also the basic protective equip ment, you heard one of the guests revising guidance that some of the Health Care Workers could use bandannas, scarves in order to cover their faces. The cdc admits that the effectiveness of that is unknown. Back to what Governor Cuomo said, he said what is encouraging though is that many more people are being tested right now, chris. Many testing in new york state, 7,500 over the last day or so. To put that in perspective, chris, just last week, they were only having about 200 people tested per day. Thats a huge increase. So thats some good news perhaps. He says that because more people are being tested, that is why those numbers are rising so dramatically. Hes urging people not to panic, that fear can be very be the worst thing of this pandemic. However, he is really knocking down the idea of a shelterinplace order that weve been discussing so much that mayor bill deblasio floated the idea a few days ago, urging new yorkers to be prepared for that. The governor saying thats not something hes looking to do. He was insist stent that no such thing as a quarantine, locking down the city of new york. He said thats not going to happen. Again, the headlines from that News Conference, chris, we just heard from the governor a few moments ago, saying hes making it mapped tore for businesses to reduce their density, to have less than 25 of their workforce actually working in buildings and 75 have to be working from home. He is saying that the number of cases here in the new york area are rising dramatically, but that is due to a significant increase in testing. Again, were here in brooklyn. You can see behind me, these pre screening tents. Theres a line that began here maybe about two hours ago. These are people that are really coming in to see if they might meet the criteria to be tested for covid19. Gabe gutierrez, thank you for that. As we look at the podium at the white house, dr. Wen, i want to bring you in. One of the eyeraising things we learned at yesterdays briefing, nearly 40 of patients sick enough to be hospitalized were age 20 to 54, very different from what we heard at the beginning which this is essentially, for lack of a better term, an old persons disease. Now weve gotten a couple of concerning reports out of new jersey, one is that a 5yearold has tested positive, presumptive positive for covid19. Parents, also, the husband in his 40s, the wife in the 30s, and the test is pending on the 5yearolds 4yearold siblings. At the same time, theres a report, three people in the same family have died, 73yearold mother, two Adult Children after a family gathering. Given that, what is your message to families and what do you expect the message or would you like the message to be coming out of the white house today which, again, already warned yesterday, if you think this is a disease of people in their 60s, 70s and 80s, thats no longer backed up by the facts . Thats right. No one is immune from covid19. By definition, this is a new disease, so no one has immunity to that. We know people across all age spectrums are infected and can transmit it to others. Also, people are getting sick. Its not just the elderly who have chronic medical conditions get sick, although they are still in the highest risk category. Now were finding out, for example, new studies showing children under the age of 1 can also become critically ill in large numbers and that young people, as you were saying, are getting hospitalized here in the u. S. This is really something that all of us have to take seriously. No one is immune. Also, lets think about the social distancing element. This is something that we have control over. We may not have control over so much of this disease. We dont have a prevention or we dont have a vaccine yet, we dont have treatment, but we do have other preventive measures. If its something that i hope that the president can emphasize today even more, its that social distancing is absolutely critical. This is about each of us taking responsibility. We cant just wait for the government to impose restrictions on our behavior. No play dates, no birthday parties, no celebrations. This is not a vacation. This is time for all of us to adopt a wartime mentality because were truly at war against this virus. We just saw Governor Cuomo with his daughter next to her, who will not have a college graduation, wont go traveling as Many College Students do when they graduate. These are very serious times. We also want to talk about what is going on economically. The Labor Department is bracing for an historic surge in unemployment filings. In fact, this morning theyve already reported a stunning jump. 70,000 jobless claims in just the last week. The National Restaurant Association Warning the industry could lose 5 million to 7 million jobs. I want to bring in nbcs jo ling kent with more on how its impacting the Restaurant Industry. One of the biggest groups in new york city, the Union Square Hospital group laid off 2,000 workers, 80 of the workforce. Ceo danny meyer talked about the crisis earlier today. I want to play part of what he said to stephanie ruhle. To say the only thing you can do to take care of people is to lay them off just doesnt add up, doesnt make sense. On the other hand, restaurants with zero revenues cannot pay people. Jo, how bad is the situation expected to get and what can be done about it . Reporter chris, its a really sad story. Were here at the legendary kanters deli, a big popular spot. Usually at this hour its buzzing. Here in california theyve shut down their dinein. Now only this front deli and bakery is open. You can see its empty and that silence has been deafening. We have been here for several hours now. Just a handful of customers have come in. As restaurants are taking such a huge hit, weve heard from open table, reservations are down 84 . The workers who are left here working at kanters deli are concerned about what the future holds. Ive been talking with some of the folks here behind the counter, and they are telling me that they dont have enough pay to make their rent and theyre going to have to start making very difficult choices. What you see here really tells you the whole story. These dinein restaurants are completely empty, and this is somewhere ive been so many times here in los angeles. It is always buzzing with people and it stands completely empty. Now, the broader story here is that the Restaurant Industry could lose half of its employees to layoffs and communities here in los angeles are trying to come together, not only to support and keep these togo delivery options open, but also support the people who are working in the restaurants by providing them the food they need to get through every single day. This has been a major, major dropoff. Just to underline that point, kanters deli has been around since 1931. They did not close for the l. A. Riots, didnt close for the financial crisis, didnt close for 9 11. This picture is really all you need to know. Jo ling kent, thanks so much. Craig, i was very hopeful, especially in a place like new york with the population density, that many of these people would continue to work. I saw just yesterday walking homes, restaurants the day before had signs up that said open for pickup and delivery are now closed completely. Its a heartbreaking and terrible story for so many people in the Restaurant Industry, craig. It is. Ive been to that deli there that jo is highlighting a number of times. We did a pickup, carryout last night. I spent some time, social distancing, of course, but spent some time so craig, his shot has frozen. Im curious to hear what his conversation was like with the delivery person. In the meantime were waiting for the White House Briefing. Its running a little late. We will bring it for you as soon as it starts. Take a quick break and be back with more. 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No matter what you trade, at fidelity youll pay no commission for online u. S. Equity trades. The briefing at the white house. It was supposed to start at the top of the hour. Theyve been running a little late. Well have that for you live. I want to go back to craig. Craig, you were talking about ordering out last night and having a chance to talk to the delivery person. Chris, our favorite Chinese Restaurant here in town, in fact. He was talking about the very real possibility that they may have to shut down, not just temporarily but perhaps permanently if theres not some sort of fix soon, and not just a Small Business bailout, but customers returning to the shop as well. A lot of folks just stopped dining out in these times. I was also listening to someone earlier point out that one of the things we can all do, people who have been blessed like you and i have, when you do do takeout, tip as if you were in that restaurant and perhaps tip even more if you can in certain instances. Chris, we can also report right now, im being told again, this is according to politico, and well probably get more of this from the White House Briefing from the Coronavirus Task force. Politico is reporting that the state department is set to announce what it calls a level four travel advisory that will apply to all international travel. What that means is that the state department will instruct americans who are abroad right now to either return to the United States or to shelterinplace where they are because of this coronavirus pandemic. Americans would also be instructed by the state department under this new advisory to not travel abroad. Again, weve been reporting that Airline Traffic is down significantly anyway. It wouldnt seem as though americans are going abroad right now, but the state department instructing americans not to do so. Dr. Wen, i understand youre standing by as we await the briefing to start. Let me get your initial thoughts on that new reporting from the state department. Well, first of all, americans should not be doing any nonessential travel anyway, whether its domestic or international. This is the time for us to reduce any nonessential activity, i would say. Even reducing things like grocery trips, but certainly no nonessential travel. No vacations. This is not the time for us to go on vacation somewhere. But i think this really underscores how much of a Global Pandemic this is. Travel restrictions are not generally known to be helpful in outbreaks because when you have a pandemic situation, theres a lot of Community Spread as it is. In fact, the level of Community Spread in the u. S. Is probably far more in fact is almost certainly far more than we know of because of lack of testing. That said, i do think its important for us to reduce any kind of nonessential travel. It does make sense to issue this directive that is about having people hunker down at home, whether were in the u. S. Or abroad. This is really spreading rapidly, and the best chance that we have of curtailing this outbreak is for us to all hunker down, stay at home and know that we have this very narrow window of opportunity to stop the spread or ems we will be overwhelming our Health Care System here in the u. S. And abroad. Dr. Wen, we are familiar with two of those faces there in the briefing room, of course on the far right. Thats dr. Jerome adams, the Surgeon General and dr. Debra birx there as well. Im told the other gentleman is the head of the fda, the head of the food and drug administration, stephen hahn, head of the fda. Any idea, dr. Wen, what we could hear from the head of the fda . Well, i hope well hear more about testing because this is still a major hangup. Look, i dont know what happened back in january that resulted in those faulty tests in the first place. Thats behind us. What i want to know is whats happening now with testing. We flagged this as a major problem three, four weeks ago, and every time theres an announcement of, one million tests dr. Wen, let me interrupt you. President trump flanked by the vice president. Lets listen in. I have a few things to report. I want to thank you all for being here. I have to say i think with social distancing that the media has been much nicer. I dont know what it is. All these empty these inbetween chairs. We probably shouldnt have anybody sitting behind you, but i love it. Its so much nicer. I shouldnt say that because youll get me now. Thank you all for being here. We continue our relentless effort to defeat the chinese virus. Before i begin, i want to start by announcing that today we are bringing home another american citizen, a big thing, very big, omar fikori is on his way back to the United States after being imprisoned in lebanon since september of 2019. Hes battling late stage cancer. Mr. Fikori will be able to receive the muchneeded care and treatment in the United States. Weve been working very hard to get him freed and hes finally able to have his entire family at his side. So im very grateful to the lebanese government. They worked with us, and we are very proud of his family. They stood by him so strongly. And they are thrilled. The United States has no higher priority than the safety and wellbeing of our citizens. Weve gotten a tremendous number of hostages out as you know. I think were 420. Robert obrien, as you know, was our chief negotiator for a large part of it. In fact, did so well that now we have him in a different position. So i want to thank and congratulate robert and his team. I want to let everyone know that recovering americans held captive and imprisoned abroad continues to be a top priority for my administration. We have one young gentleman, austin tice. Were working very hard with syria to get him out. We hope the Syrian Government will do that. We are counting on them to do that. Weve written a letter just recently. Hes been there for a long time, was captured long ago. Austin tice, his mother is probably watching. Shes a great lady. Were doing the best we can. Syria, please work with us, and we would appreciate you letting him out. You think about what weve done, weve gotten rid of the isis caliphate in syria. Weve done a lot for syria. It would be very much appreciated if they would let austin tice out immediately. As you know, my administration is working every day to protect the American People and the American Economy from the virus. Yesterday i signed in to law a critical support for american workers, families in Small Businesses, a big thing. Were providing sick leave and family medical leave to those affected by the virus, and more help is on the way. As we speak, our entire team headed by secretary mnuchin is on the hill. Were working with democrats and republicans, and theres a lot of good will going on. This was something that happened that was some people would say an act of god. I dont view it as an act of god. I would view it as something that just surprise d the whole world. If people would have known about it, it could have been stopped in place. It could have been stopped right where it came from, china, if we would have known about it, if they would have known about it. Now the whole world almost in inflicted with this horrible virus. Its too bad. Its too bad, because we never had an economy as good as the economy we had just a few weeks ago, but well be back. I actually think well be back stronger than ever before. We learned a lot during this period of time. Ive also just invoked the defense production act to help facilitate distribution of essential supplies, if necessary. Were working with congress to provide major additional relief to the workers, Small Businesses and the hardest hit industries. We want to make sure everybody is able to continue on so that when we recover, all of these companies and these great businesses, both very, very small and very, very large, are not going to be broken up and youd have to put them back together. That would take a long time because we really believe i believe in the v curve. I believe its going to go when this is defeated, this hidden discourascourge, well go where we are and beyond. Today i wanted to share progress the fda is making with the private sector as we slash red tape like never before. Someone was on yesterday and one of the networks and said theres never been a president even close to do what ive done in slashing all the red tape and everything to get very important things to the market, medical. So we slashed red tape to develop vaccines and therapies as fast as it can possibly be done, long before anybody else was even thinking about doing this. As you know, earlier this week we began the first Clinical Trial of a vaccine candidate for the virus. That was launched in record time. It was just a few weeks, and that would have taken years to do not so long ago. As we race to develop a vaccine, were also pursuing antiviral therapies. Thats what were going to be talking to you about today. Thats the purpose of being up here today. To me thats even more important. The vaccine by its nature, you have to have long tests because you have to make sure what goes into somebodys body is not going to do destruction, do bad things. So you need long tests. Theyre doing great with the vaccines, but theres still a long process. The therapies are something we can move on much faster potentially. And the treatments that well be able to reduce the severity or duration of the symptoms, make People Better essentially were looking at things to make People Better or, at the very early stage, they wouldnt even know they had it. Thats where i believe its going to work even the best. The fda commissioner, stephen hahn who is with us, hes fantastic. He has been working 24 hours a day. Hes been hes worked probably as hard or harder than anybody in the group other than maybe mike pence or me. What the fda is doing is incredible. Theyve done things in times that were not even thinkable, and ive directed the fda to eliminate outdated rules and bureaucracy. So this work can proceed rapidly, quickly, and i mean fa fast. We have to remove every barrier. There are a lot of barriers that were unnecessary, and theyve done that to get the Rapid Deployment of safe, effective treatments and we think we have some good answers. Well find out very, very soon. Clinical trials are already under way for many new therapies and were working on scaling these to allow many more americans to access different drugs that have shown really good promise. Weve had some really good promise. We will do so in a way that lets us continue to collect good data to know which medicines are safe and which medicines are working the best. We have a couple that were in really good shape on, and thats for immediate delivery, immediate, like as fast as we can get it. The fda has also approved compassionate use for a significant number of patients. You know what that means. Were also reviewing drugs that are approved abroad or drugs approved here for other uses, and you know one of the things that im most proud of that i got was right to try, thats where somebody who is ill, somebody who is very sick, terminally ill usually in past administrations we signed this a year and a half ago, you wouldnt be able to even think about getting any of the drugs that may be showing great promise now, and theyve been trying for many decades to get this approved. It sounds simple, but its not because theres liability involved and lots of other things. I was able to get it approved working with congress, right to try. This is beyond right to try. What were talking about today is beyond right to try. Right to try has been, by the way, a tremendous success. People are living now that had no chance of living, where we take treatments things that would have to go through years of a process, and if somebody was terminally ill, and i would say why wouldnt they be able to try this. Theyd go to asia, to europe, all over the world to try and find something. Some people, if they had no money, theyd go home to die. They had no hope. Right to try has been an incredible success. But this is beyond right to try. If treatment is known to be safe in europe, japan or other nations or effective against a virus, well use that information to protect the health and safety of the American People. Nothing will stand in our way as we pursue any avenue to find what best works against this horrible virus. Now, a drug called chloroquin, add to it hydroxy, this is a common malaria drug. Its also a drug used for strong arthritis. Somebody has pretty serious arthel right tis also uses this in a somewhat different form. Its known as a malaria drug, around for a long time and very powerful. The nice part is its been around for a long time. We know if things dont go as planned, its not going to kill anybody. When you go with a brand new drug, you dont know thats going to happen. You have to see and go long tests. But this has been used in different forms. Very powerful drug in different forms. Its shown very encouraging, very, very encouraging early results. And were going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately, and thats where the fda has been so great. Theyve gone through the approval process. Its been approved and they did it they took it down from many, many months to immediate. So were going to be able to make that drug available by prescription or states i spoke with Governor Cuomo about it at great length last night. He wants to be right he wants to be first online. So i think thats a tremendous theres tremendous promise based on the results and other tests, tremendous promise. Normally the fda would take a long time to approve Something Like that, and it was approved very, very quickly and its now approved. By prescription. Individual states can handle it. They can handle it. Doctors will handle it. I think its going to be i think its going to be great. Were quickly studying this drug, and while were continuing to study it, but the studying is going to be also done in as its given out to large groups of people, perhaps in new york and other places. Well study it there. There are promising therapies produced by gilead, rem des voir, and thats a drug used for other purposes thats been out and has had very good results for other purposes, but it seems to have a very good result, having to do with this virus. And that drug also has been approved or very close to approved in that case by the a fda. I cant tell you how much we appreciate what the fda these people are incredible patriots. The job that dr. Hahn is doing, one of the most respected doctors in the country, where we took him i said, are you sure you want to do this . We didnt know this was going to be in the playlist, what happened here. He really has stepped up to the plate, wherever you are. Where are you. You really have. Id shake his hand but im not supposed to. I thank you, doctor. Hes going to speak right after i speak. Rejen ron is a company thats done fantastically well as i understand with ebola and some other things. Great company. Theyre looking at some very promising events also. You have rem des voir and you have chloro quine and hydroxy chloroquine, essentially approved for prescribed use. I think its going to be very exciting. It could be a gamechanger and maybe not, maybe not. Based on what i see it could be a gamechanger. Very powerful theyre very powerful. I want every american to know were doing everything we can, and these actions are important next steps. For the fda to act the way they acted with this kind of speed is an incredible thing. Normally theyd say, well, we can have it by next year or we can have it in two years from now, you understand this is the way normally its years and years and years. They had it immediately, based on the fact its been used for other things, totally unrelated things. Which believe these therapeutics and others under evaluation right now will be able to provide relief to Many Americans. We really hope thats going to be. This could be a tremendous breakthrough, tremendous breakthrough. We will work toward a muchneeded vaccine in the future, as i said. What were doing with the fda is so exciting in so many other fields, so many things are happening. Its a very exciting time for medicine, and we appreciate that the American Public has pulled together. Theyre really staying home. I think theres tremendous spirit in this country right now, a spirit like a lot of people have not seen. People have not seen anything like it for a long time, and that means democrat, republican. Theyre pulling together. I hope everything is going good on the hill. Maybe i shouldnt say this until i check out whats going on, because you never know. But i think theres a great spirit where the democrats, the republicans and everybody else are getting together and trying to get things done. But most importantly, the American Public has been incredible. We took the best economy weve ever had and we said, stop, you cant work. You have to stay home. Theres never been a case like this. Normally you pay a lot of money to get things going. Here is a case where were paying a lot of money to stop things because we dont want people to be together so this virus doesnt continue onward. So theres never been anything like this in history. Theres never been nobody has ever seen anything like this. But were doing the right thing. Our big war is not its not a financial war. Its a medical war. We have to win this war. Its very important. With that, id like to just introduce dr. Stephen hahn, and he again, hawn. Again, i would like to send back with steven our thanks to all of the people working in the nba who are fantastic, talented people, we appreciate it very much, everything youve done. Especially the seeds you have these two very important drugs past. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. President. I want to thank you for your leadership during this coronavirus outbreak and thank you for the kind words about the fda staff. We have 10,000 scientists, doctors and others, more than that, working around the clock to aid the American People in this fight against the coronavirus. And those words are very much appreciated, sir. Before the president nominated me and i was confirmed for commissioner of drugs i was a cancer doctor. I sat across from countless number of patients and had to talk to them about their diagnosis and their treatment. One thing that was really important is to provide hope. I have great hope for how were going to come out of this situation. Whats also important is not to provide false hope but to provide hope. As a doctor, thats the way i come to this. Were speaking now to the American People as commissioner of food and drugs, but that part of me has not left. Just look at the way the American People have responded to our calls for mitigation, for social distancing. American people have great resiliency. Im so incredibly proud how the American People responded. As the president mentioned, he asked us to be aggressive, breakdown barriers of innovation and breakthrough exciting lifesaving treatment and were doing that at the fda. The fda is continuing to provide flexibility and guidance but let me make one thing clear, the fdas responsibility to the American People is to ensure products are safe and effective, and that we are continuing to do that. Our folks and their tremendous professionals are working day and night to do this. I cant even imagine how much theyre working to provide the support for the American People, and i thank them. Since early january, long before the first domestic case, the fda began working in collaboration with cdc. I also want to know we set up an Incident Command Group and had been focused on the coronavirus since the very beginning of this Public Health emergency. This is an addition of all america and all the world approach and i will describe what i moo enby that. The important part of that work is expanding the potential Therapeutic Options associated with coronavirus. Weve learned from our colleagues across the globe about this. But i want to focus on one thing. I was a cancer researcher before all of this. One thing i know about this great country of ours is we have unbelievable innovators. We have people who every day, its their job to develop treatments for all sorts of diseases. We are incredibly blessed as a country to have this. And as is true, these Great American innovators, academia, private sector, they have engaged us about the best possible Treatment Options. Were looking at everything thats coming across our desks as possible Treatment Options for coronavirus. And were extremely encouraged by the interest and promise weve seen from these Great American innovators. Again, we need to look at it, we need the data and information to make the absolute best decisions for the American People but i want to ensure you we have over 17,000 people at the fda doing this every day. We need to make sure the sea of new treatments will get the right drug to the right patient at the right dosage at the right time. As an example, we may have the right drug and it may not be in the right dosage form now and it may do more harm than good. Thats the important part to look at and thats why its important to have dedicated prefessionals looking at aspects of therapeutic development. Also were looking at access to get drugs into the hands of providers and patients. The president mentioned this but one of the mechanisms is called passionate use. Let me tell you about this. If theres a potential drug available, the doctor could ask for that drug to be used in a patient. We have criteria for that. And the important thing about compassionate use, and this is the right to try, we collect the information about it. One of the things we promise the American People is collect the data and make the absolute right decisions based upon the data on the efficacy and safety of the treatments. Were working expeditiously and working to make sure these products are as safe and effective as they possibly could be. Let me tell you about a few things were working on. This was a plan developed with many of the people at this table, our Infectious Disease experts on the task force. In the short term, were looking at drugs that are already approved for other indications. So theyre already approved as the president said for other diseases. As an example, Many Americans have read studies and heard media reports about this drug chlor aquinn, an antimalarial drug. Its already proved for treatment for malaria and arthritis treatment. Thats a drug the president asked us to take a closer look at whether an expanded use of that could be done to see if that benefits patients. We want to do that in the setting of a large, pragmatic trial to ask the questions that need to be asked and answered. Let me give you another example. Theres a crossagency effort about something called convalescent aplasma. This is a pretty exciting year. And, again, this is something weve given assistance to other countries with as this crisis has developed. The fda has been working for some time on this. If you have been exposed to coronavirus and youre better, you dont have the virus in your blood, we can collect the blood this is a possible treatment. This is not a proven treatment. Just want to emphasize that. Collect the blood, concentrate that and have the ability once its pathogen free, that is virus free, be able to give that to other patients and the immune globbens, immune response, could provide a benefit to patients. Another thing were looking at over the next couple of weeks, we will have more information and pushing hard to accelerate that. That is sort of the more meeting short term. That will be a bridge to other therapies that will take three to six months to develop. This is a continuous process. Theres no beginning and end to each of this. This is were pushing this through. The other great thing about the great innovators of america, some of them tell us its taken us years, years to develop therapies. Theyre looking at pushing that to a month period of time and were trying to provide them regulatory flexibility but at the same time scientific oversight to make sure that gets done in the best way possible for the American People. The president mentioned that there is a vaccine trial currently being performed, its a phase one trial. So its the earliest study that gets done. We expect that to take 12 months to get completed at a time we could approve a vaccine. But these are all things to bridge to the prevention part of this with a vaccine. Its exciting work and the president is right, this is record time for the development of a vaccine. Impressive Public Private partnership. The fda is focused on ensuring timely access while also meeting the agencys world respected gold standard. Relying on strong data from Clinical Trials to determine if an experimental or offtheshelf drug thats used for Something Else can safely and effectively treatment patients. We want to assure the American People the fda is all hands on deck. As the president mentioned, these efforts continue to work with interested sponsors to help expedite the work. We remain steadfast in helping foster the development of safe and effective therapies for covid19. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. President. The white house Coronavirus Task force met this morning, and on this very first day of spring, we continue to make steady progress towards President Trumps objective not only to marshal all of the resources of the federal government, every state government, every local health official, but also to harness the power of the American Private sector and activities over the last day reflect all of those priorities. Yesterday the president spoke with americas top physicians and nurses and garnered helpful insights about how we can best serve those who are serving americans that are dealing with the coronavirus. We also had a productive call with over 5,000 state and local officials, explaining the federal governments approach and our strong and Seamless Partnership with all 50 states and territories. Last night as you heard, the president signed the family first Coronavirus Response act, which provides free coronavirus testing, paid sick leave, family leave for caregivers and Food Assistance for the needy, among a broad range of benefits. And today as the president indicated, we expect the senate will begin work on an Economic Relief package. Later today, the president and i will meet again in a teleconference with the nations governors. We will meet at the National Response Coordination Center at fema. And align President Trumps decision to have fema take the lead in our national Coronavirus Response. Our nations response through fema will be locally executed, state managed and federally supported. On testing, we want the American People to know once again testing is available in all 50 states. It is becoming increasingly available literally every hour of the day. Because of the Public Private partnership that the president initiated several weeks ago with major commercial labs, im pleased to receive a report today that tens of thousands of tests are be performed every day. With the passage of last nights legislations, a state and private labs are now provided by law to report all coronavirus testing directly to the cdc, which will give the American Public and also give our researchers timely and important information