This is your fast and easy way to watch unfiltered coverage of the pandemic. Trump in the White House CoronavirusTask Force Made several announcements on the response the pandemic, theuding extending nationwide social distancing guidelines until april 30. Pres. Trump thank you very much. Thank you. I 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 that 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. That is a whole new ballgame. I want to thank abbott labs for the incredible work they have done. They have been working around the clock. Normally, this approval process from the fda would take 10 months, even longer, but we did it in four weeks. Abbott stated they will begin delivering 50,000 tests each day, starting this week. Even before this development, we have been doing more tests than any other country anywhere in the world. Its one of the reasons we have more cases than other countries, because we have been testing. Its also one of the reasons we are just about the lowest in terms of mortality rate, as weve been doing more testing, so we have bigger numbers to look at. I want to also thank general semonite of the army corps of engineers, and the general who is here with us will say a few words in a little while. What the army corps of engineers did along with fema in new york is incredible. They built 2,900 beds worth of hospital, an incredible hospital in the javits center, which i know well. 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. Everyone is trying to figure out how they did it, including me. I was a good builder, but they did it very quickly, so we are very happy. I want to thank army corps of engineers, fema. The incredible job they have done. Now they are moving to other locations throughout the country where they already have people building hospitals. They are doing them in louisiana, in new jersey, in many other places. But these are incredible men and women, and they worked aroundtheclock. 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. Those people, weve 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. We will also be able to test doctors, nurses and Health Care Workers immediately, 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 we can give cities and states the best information to kind local decisionmakers. I want to point out, the hydroxychloroquine is being administered to 1,100 patients, people in new york, along with zpac, azithromycin. And its very early yet. It started two days ago. But we will see what happens. I want to thank stephen hahn, who is a great doctor, left one of the best jobs in our country running an incredible hospital in texas. Hes the head of the fda, and stephen got approval for that so fast. Lets see how it works. It may, it may not. But we may have incredible news. We will know soon. Its being tested on 1100 people in new york. The fda is also allowing 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, they are 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 powerfully. So sick patients will be transfused with the blood taken to boost their immune system. We will see what happens. Were having some early results that are good, but we will see. Thats going i think very rapidly. Again, we got approvals in very quick time. Were also looking at an approval for the sterilization of masks. I kept saying, i see some of the masks are very complex. We are delivering millions, by the way. I kept saying, why arent they able to use the mask a second, third, fourth time . Mike dewine, the great governor of ohio, called me. They have a company in the final process of getting approval for sterilization of masks, and in some cases depending on the mask, some of these are very strong, very powerful, very strong materials. Theyre able to sterilize the mask up to 20 times, so i guess like getting 20 masks. So we worked on that, as soon as i heard from mike today, i got involved and the fda is now involved, and we are trying to get fast approval for the sterilization of masks. That would be a tremendous difference, would be really helpful. 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 communication. We have the greatest people in the world. They are very, very anxious to find out how we are doing on our Different Things, whether its a cure or really anything having to do with getting people better. We have some interesting things we will be announcing i think over the next few weeks. But we will see what happens. They are being tested right now. The vaccines are moving along very rapidly. The vaccines are an answer, but id like to see if we can do something therapeutically so that we can take care of the people who are already sick, and we are working on that at a level that people would be amazed. These are incredible people. They dont stop. This method has also been used for more than a century, and thats the bloodrelated therapy. More than a century, to fight off infectious diseases. So its not unusual. Our level of complexity has changed, but its a concept that has been used a long time, including during the spanish flu epidemic, and that was really a pandemic of proportions like frankly nobody has seen until what we are facing now. That was in 1918. You know what the result of that was. Probably from 75 million to 100 Million People were killed. And also, other viruses like the one in this outbreak, this is a tough one because it spreads so quickly, like nothing we have seen. It spreads so easily, so quickly. Were unleashing everything in our nations vast arsenal. Economic, medical, scientific. Military, Homeland Security is were delivering vast orders of this material. I will ask a couple of the people here to join me that make it and deliver it. Joining us are leaders of americas largest just beaters of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, including mckesson, cardinal health, medline, fedex, ups. We just concluded a very productive meeting about ways to keep our supply chains and Delivery Systems moving at top speed, and maybe i just like to ask for a couple minutes for mike coffman to come up and maybe ed. Mike is with cardinal and ed is with owen and minor. I appreciate, and if anyone else has anything, please come up. If you could come up, mike and ed, for a second and maybe tell them what you told me before when we had the meeting. Thank you, mr. President , and thank you for your leadership on this. Because 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. All of us have been so focused on making sure we take care of our customers, because our customers are the ones taking care of patients every day, and we need to do every thing we can to make things good for them. So it has been great to see how well all these Government Agencies have been coordinating with us. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President. Let me start by thanking the administration for the support you have provided to the industry. Now, one of the things we did, we did hear the challenge, and starting in january we ramped up productions in the americas, including our facility in north carolina, where we are manufacturing an additional 40 million to 50 Million Masks per month to get into the u. S. Health care system. We talked about this, one issue we are struggling with is the demand increase. An anecdotal example, one hospital in new york that traditionally uses roughly 10,000 to 20,000 masks a week are now using 200,000 300,000 masks per week, so multiply that times the entire u. S. , let alone demand outside the u. S. , and thats part of the issue we are running into. Even with the significant rampup in supply, there is still the demand. Pres. Trump thank you. I bring that up because when we discussed back in the room, the conference room, a very nice one, actually, it is called the cabinet room, that they have been delivering for years 10,000 to 20,000 masks. Ok. Its a new york hospital, packed all the time. How do you go from 10,000 to 20,000, to 300,000 . 10,000 to 20,000 masks, to 300,000 . Even though this is different . Something is going on. You want 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 . 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 that is possible to go from that to that, and we have that happening in numerous places. Not to that extent. That was the highest number we have heard, the highest number you have seen, right . But he delivers them to a lot of hospitals, he knows the system better than anyone and 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. Frankly, they are in trouble. So they have to look at that in new york. Fema is working with these companies, to expedite the movement of critical supplies, from other countries to the United States. The first flight arrived at jfk airport this morning filled with 80 tons of personal protective equipment, including 130,000 n95 respirators. Those are the ones we were talking about before. 1. 8 million facemasks and gowns. 10. 3 million drugs, 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, including the one today we are at 51 flights with these massive planes from the Different Companies that were so nice to be here today. Would you like to Say Something . Please, come up. Thank you. Thank you, mr. President , for the incredible leadership. I will share that ups is really proud to be part of this effort. Vice president pence and i had the opportunity to speak before. The way we will 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 upser around the country whos are ready to deliver. Bringing supplies as fast as we can to serve communities that need them most. We are proud to partner with states as well, because we know in partnership with the states we can deliver what is needed everywhere, so thank you, mr. President. Pres. Trump please. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. President. I would certainly echo my colleagues comments, that collaboration among many of the Government Agencies and the private market distributors represented here today has been incredible, has been increasing and ramping up over the past week. Todays first delivery i think is the first evidence it is working. 51 flights that you referenced. We are excited and 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. 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, pharmacies across the country, and do their jobs keeping the supply chain going. The supply chain is working. It is resilient. Despite the challenge, we are tackling that. Pres. Trump thank you very much. Thank you, mr. President , and thanks to fema and hhs. I think great leadership, and it is really working well. The demand has skyrocketed, and we are doing a lot of things to bring in more masks, more other protective apparel. We are involved in reprocessing masks, and have started about 100,000 masks per day and hope to expand from there, so we are quite optimistic about it. Pres. Trump anybody else, if you want . Yes, please. Youre doing such a great job. We have to have everybody, if they want. Thank you. We appreciate the opportunity to work with your administration on a lot of fronts. Ppe products are critical, not just for hospitals but all Health Care Providers on the front lines, so our commitment is there to get it to the hotspots and care providers taking care of patients. Thats key. Second, talking about getting resources back here and manufacturing in america, that is critical, a lesson. We learned from where we are were proud we introduced a test. We need more tests out there in rapid form. We are excited about that. We worked with your ministration closely and the fda, and are grateful for that. A rapid Antibody Test is needed as well. Thanks so much. Pres. Trump so thank you all very much, and for the great job you are doing. Its really incredible, frankly. Many of the states are stocked up. Some dont admit it. But we have sent so much, so many things to them, including ventilators. You know, theres a question as to hoarding of ventilators. Some hospitals and independent hospitals, and some hospital chains as we call them, they are holding ventilators. We need them for certain areas where theres big problems. They cant hold them, if they think there might be a problem weeks down the road. So we have delivered a lot. This group has been really fantastic. We want to thank you, and ups and fedex in particular, you have gone absolutely out of your way, so we appreciate everything you have done and delivered. The federal government continues to mobilize every resource to make sure front line doctors and nurses have 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 operating rooms, 1000 hospital beds and hundreds of the best doctors, nurses and medical professionals anywhere in the United States navy, frankly anywhere in the United States. Incredible thing to see. Most of you saw that on television as it was leaving. It left literally three weeks early. It was under maintenance, and they got the maintenance done very quickly. They worked around the clock, as many people have. It was a great sight. Additionally, two of the Largest Health insurers, humana and cigna, are announcing they will waive copays, which is a big deal for anyone who understands insurance. They dont waive copays easily, but we asked them to do it. Coinsurance and deductibles for the coronavirus treatments, to help ease the financial burden on American Families during this pandemic. So, theyre waiving copays, coinsurance and deductibles. I dont think anybody has heard of that one before. Have you heard of that . I want to thank them. Great companies. Today i spoke with wolfgang puck. Wolfgang puck is a great restauranteur, as is thomas keller, other leaders of the Restaurant Business, which has been probably one of the hardesthit industries. Ive directed my staff to use any and all Authority Available to give restaurants, bars and clubs incentives to stay open. You will lose all these restaurants, and they will not get them back. So what im doing, 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 meal 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 companies can send people to restaurants. I think you will have a tremendous impact, and maybe keep them open. Dont forget, some are closing right now despite the fact they could be open in the not too distant future, we expect that, but there are some that arent going to be able to get open and we want to make sure they do, so we are going to look at the restoration, restoring the deductibility of meal and entertainment costs for corporations so corporations can send people to restaurants and take a deduction on it like they did in the old days. That was 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 who continue paying workers. 350 billion, Job Retention loans for Small Businesses with loan forgiveness available for businesses that continue paying workers. I mean, how about that . 300 billion in direct cash payments, 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 in expanded