Pandemic. But lets be clear, it is a pandemic, and i labeled it so a week ago. I dont know what the World Health Organization is waiting on, and i really dont care. Were americans, and that means were not a nation of buttercups and daffodils who need to have every official word on the coronavirus pandemic sugarcoated and sweetened for public consumption. Were americans. We and every generation before us has faced threats and challenges without flinching. We will do so as well. Today there was, i believe, a new, different and stronger tone emanating from washington as the president himself met with the heads of pharmaceutical companies and challenged them to begin rapidly preparing the manufacturing of needed drugs and pharmaceutical up ingredients necessary ingredients necessary to deal with this Public Health emergency, and the stock markets roared their approval. After last weeks performance, the worst since the 2008 recession, the Dow Jones Industrials today soared almost 1300 points. Today the dow, the nasdaq and s p all hitting their largest singleday point totals in history. The dow ending up more than 5 , the nasdaq and s p up 4. 5 . The markets surging in the final hour of trading, coinciding with President Trumps meeting with those drug company executives. The president urging those executives to speed up their efforts to find a vaccine against the coronavirus. Were working very hard to expedite the longer process of developing a vaccine. Were also moving with maximum speed to develop therapies so that we can help people recover as quickly as possible. We have a lot of recovery going on. We want to see if we can advance that. Its likely that therapies will be available before a vaccine is actually ready, and well seek to bring all effective treatments to market as soon as possible. So very good work has been done on the vaccine. However, they have some good progress. Lou the president also addressing american dependency on chinese drugs, telling big pharma that we need to develop medical products here in this cup. The in this country. The coronavirus shows the importance of bringing manufacturing back to america so that we are producing at home the medicines and equipment and Everything Else that we need to protect the publics health. And ive been talking about this for a long time. That process is has already started. It started long before we ever knew about this. We want to make certain things at home. We want to be doing our manufacturing at home. Lou and joining us tonight is the president s secretary of health and human services, secretary alex azar. Hes also the chairman of the president s Coronavirus Task force. Mr. Secretary, good to have you with us. There didnt seem to be a different tone today in washington as its becoming clearer what the nation will likely face. Officials seem to be a little bit more [inaudible] than they had been. Is there really a change here . I dont know that id call it a change, id say the message remains transparent but one of confidence. What were saying is what weve been saying lou why not then call it a pandemic . Because you know very well it is. Well, in fact, i spoke today with the head of the World Health Organization, and ill give you some insight into their thinking finish. Lou im noted not interested in their thinking, to be candid with you. Youre center for your department, the nih and the cdc are responsible for the publics health. Im flighted to speak to you delighted to speak to you, sir. Well, lou, within the United States whether you call it a pandemic or you dont call it a pandemic is irrelevant. It doesnt change one single action that we would take here in the United States. Not one, lou. Just doesnt matter. Lou why not call it that and be just as straightforward lou, what does it add . What does it add . Lou you tell me, what does it subtract if you dont . Were trying to engage in careful, thoughtful Risk Communication to people, and that means as americans, and that could change. It hasnt changed because the president s bold, unprecedented actions to protect our borders and lou absolutely. But we are now seeing some limited Community Spread, it appears. Weve seen some limited persontoperson transmission of the disease, and absolutely while were on the air right now, lou, weve made an important announcement out of the fda and the cdc that should dramatically increase the availability of our n95 respirator masks for use by Health Care Professionals in the United States. So were making advances lou thats great. That is wonderful. And at the same time, do we have tests that are now available here in this country . Yes lou to the degree that we need them . Because the ratio, as i see it, theres a better ratio of testing for the coronavirus in other countries than we maintain here. Were actually screening fewer people because we dont have appropriate testing. Well, lou, we actually have a validated test. The cdc has had it, theres been no backlog since weve had that up and running. Its out in labs. Weve been increasing the availability of it. We insist on a valid test. You know, in other countries they dont have the, they dont have the same regulatory requirements for validation, and so in other countries basically a hospital or a lab can just take the recipe lou i understand, mr. Secretary, but then i dont understand why at the same time we are seeing Community Spread and we know very well that there have not been test kits available that didnt work and, in fact, the cdc had test kits but they were unworkable. Actually, lou, the tests worked. The tests work, they are validated. What happened was there were some manufacturing issues, apparently, in one stage of the test, and some labs were not able to validate it. We solved that issue. Weve gotten the lou so they were [inaudible conversations] i dont want to play games with you, and im sure you dont want with me, but when you use words like validated and then say one segment of their use was invalidated by problems, you know, it just this is not transparency well, lou, you dont want to hear it, but weve been transparent at every step of the way. There are three stages to this test that the cdc developed. The first two tests for the novel coronavirus, the third was for a form of any form any form of coronavirus that wasnt necessary. The fda concluded a week ago that wasnt necessary, the third step, that it was overkill on the test. They authorized the first two stages to be used to test, that enabled lou when did they do that, mr. Secretary . Now tens of thousands of tests out there [inaudible conversations] regulatory requirements to now allow us to get rid of an obamaera burden on labs to allow any certified clinical lab out there to develop a test based on the recipe that we have produced. That should open up hundreds and hundreds and hundreds if not millions per week of tests available, lou. Lou youre making more tests available . Yes, absolutely. Of hundreds of thousands and millions per week will be are available as a result of the regulatory relief that we granted on saturday morning out of the fda, relief from an obamaera fda requirement that required any labdeveloped test be approved by the fda. We said in this emergency situation, we are authorizing those certified labs to create their own on test based on the recipe that we have published lou you had plenty im sorry testing immediately. Lou mr. Secretary, i apologize. I apologize, but, frankly, youve just said that you had plenty, and now youre acknowledging that you didnt. I dont want to get bogged down in this, i mean, i really dont, but i do want to understand how bad is this going to get. Are we going to be talking about it what is the planning and the thinking of the Corona Task Force for the americans who are watching this broadcast who are all adults and who want to know the facts . Hardboiled, straightforward, no sugarcoating and no pedantics . Lou, were planning for all scenarios. Right now weve got a fairly limited scenario, but weve planned for the full range. Right now were working with Santa Clara County and king county in the state of washington on Community Mitigation recommendations, and thats the appropriate step to take. But you can go all the way from community to Large Community to National Mitigation steps, and well take all measures needed to protect the American People. But we dont need to do it until theyre necessary, and thats the president has taken unprecedented action. You know, these travel restrictions that he took on china, people complained about them at the time. But they protected america. They delayed this impact here in the United States significantly, and now everybodys praising him for those measures, and well continue to take bold, aggressive actions. He wont hesitate. Wed rather overreact than underreact to this situation is. Lou i am not talking about steps the president has taken, which i happen to agree with you, were with the foresight and were the exact necessary step to take. You know, as a matter of fact, ill go further, you know, this president was looking in 2017 at the dependency of this country on offshoring and across the country, the entire world, frankly, the dependency on Southeast Asia and china for supply chains. And he was talking about it three years ago. So im keenly aware of his thinking on this. And the reality is im talking about the publics right to know here. And thats quite a different thing. Absolutely. Lou i have absolute faith in the leadership. My concern is how much the American People are being told that they need to know, and that is, i think, everything. So, lou, theyre being they have been lou let me put it this way in fact, we just in 2017 updated whats called the pandemic action plan. Thats a Public Document that goes through how one deals with a pandemic lou wait a minute, did you say pandemic . That is what we prepare for, pandemic status of this lou do we have one . From active containment, through Community Mitigation, large scale Community Mitigation. All those steps, lou, everything is laid out very transparently about what the government would recommend. Also our states have, thanks to the work that i did with president bush back in the 2000s for pandemic flu preparedness, every state has pandemic plans that we exercise, that integrate into a National Pandemic action plan. As this disease progresses, and we hope it will not, but as it progresses, we will see a continued education calculation of different types escalation of different types of steps, and were going to modify those lou what are you projecting will be the number of cases in this country over the next week . Lou, i couldnt possibly predict what the number of cases over the next week will be. All i can tell you is we are going to see more cases and, unfortunately, we saw new fatalities this morning, and i fear we will, well continue to see more. Therell be an increase. But one cant predict the number of cases were going to see. No cups been able to no ones been able to predict any cases. I wish i could, i wish i could, but you cant do that. Lou okay. Well, with that, what do you think is the most important thing for the American People to know about this pandemic . In spite of how youve been describing it, lou, for Everyday Americans right now this shouldnt impact their daily lives. They should go about normal lou how did i describe it . I missed that part. How did i describe it . Youre i think youre just trying to whip people up into a frenzy here, lou lou about what . Im trying to get people to understand the government has a plan, we have steps, we exercise this. But in their daily life at this point, and that could change, at this point there isnt a change in peoples daily existence except for normal good preparedness activities, the same stuff we would have recommended six months ago. Go to cdc. Gov for recommendations of what you should have been doing all along and the kinds of steps you should take now. Were working with your communities on different mitigation approaches to plan for, we have a plan, to exercise what they would do. How do you, for instance, if you have a Community Outbreak in an area, do you close a school . Maybe theres some good mitigation steps there like you dont just have sessions in the auditorium or large scale recesses where the kids congregate. These are some learnings weve gotten through hong kong and singapore, and were using them as we work with Santa Clara County and king county out in the seattle area to help advise them as they work on the Community Containment that theyre facing now. Lou mr. Secretary, we appreciate your time. I promise not to whip anybody into anything, you know, concerned about the well, the body of Public Knowledge in a free society m i, you know, god forbid i should do that. Thanks so much. Appreciate it. Up next, new life has been breathed into the yearslong pursuit of justice for Hillary Clintons use of a private email server. Judicial watchs president tom fitton has been at the forefront of the effort. He joins us later. Also, joe biden becomes the radical dems favorite candidate once more as recent dropouts are now supporting his bid for the white house. I wonder why . Well take that up. Uhuh how will all of it how will all of it play out for Bernie Sanders and, oh, yes, Michael Bloomberg and the others remaining in the race . Well take that up with ed rollins, Michael Goodwin right of after these quick messages. Please stay with us. If your gums bleed when you brush you may have gingivitis. And the clock could be ticking towards bad breath, receding gums and possibly tooth loss. Help turn back the clock on gingivitis with parodontax. Leave bleeding gums behind. Parodontax. whistling leave bleeding gums behind. But when i started seeing things, i didnt know what was happening. So i kept it in. He started believing things that werent true. I knew something was wrong. But i didnt say a word. 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So we can spend a bit today, knowing were prepared for tomorrow. Wow, do you think you overdid it maybe . Overdid what . Well planned, well invested, well protected. Voya. Be confident to and through retirement. Lou more positive numbers for President Trump and the economy. A gallup poll finds 50 of americans now see the United States as the worlds leading economic power compared to just 39 who see china in that role. This is the first time and this is something that Many Americans may not have been aware of, i certainly was not but since 2000, this is the first time that americans now believe the u. S. Is actually leading china economically. How about that . Well, joining us now, former Reagan White House political director, fox business political analyst, ed roll lins, blitz ed rollins and Michael Goodwin. Gentlemen, good to have you with us. How about that . For the first time, i really did not know that for 20 years americans didnt believe we were the leading economic power. It surprised me too. I, you know lou in point of fact, we have always been. Yeah. I mean, i guess there were some numbers when you total up all of their gdp, but the population differences, you know, if you did it per person lou per capita. Yeah. I mean, so i dont know lou its were number one. Thats been part of our whole world presence. Lou what do you think . Im very pleased. The gallup polls always kind of been the gold standard. The president s done very, very well in the polls of late. You look back over history, theyre the ones that are most accurate on most occasions, so i think this is a great sign for the president. Lou the gallup poll pointing out that 65 expect hill to be reelected. Thats right. Lou it goes on and on. Its all positive right now and has been for weeks. As you point out, ed. Lets talk about super tuesday and whats it all about. I think its going to be very confusing for the administration. I think Bernie Sanders would have won it easily e and may win it easily, but i think with everybody dropping out at this point in time and the Mainstream Media and the principal democrats all wanting biden to come back in the game, theyre going to ship it in a way that it doesnt spin it in a way that doesnt matter. I think its d