One has ever seen anything like this. Seeing how many patients are still intubated, how many are flipped on their stomachs to help them try to get through this terrible disease. Its been a nightmare. We have a volume of sick people like you cant believe in one shifty pronounced six people dead. Too much detachment and you stop caring for your patients, you lose your humanity. Too much empathy and your humanity swallows you whole. Youre paralyzed by an ocean of tears and heartbreak. Wow. Its quite the conundrum he presented there. Once again, we start the show with a glimpse of what life is like for the medical workers on the front lines of this fight. Think about what that person shared with us. Welcome to thursday, meet the press daily. Im continuing special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. We have to remember a massive death toll thats accumulating every day. Sometimes its a stat, theres a lot of mourning that isnt happening right now. The start of the Task Force Briefing at the white house is set, which the president tweeted is going to start at 5 45. Todays presser comes as a number of states plows ahead with plans to reopen their economies, despite the obvious Public Health risks. But at the same time, states are reeling from the economic calamity of being shut down. Nationally, more than 26 Million People have now lost their jobs over the last five weeks excuse me, who have filed for unemployment. Perhaps more lost their jobs. Thats 26 million filed for unemployment. Thats roughly the equivalent of the entire population of the state of texas. Or another way, 16 of the entire workforce. The house is now voting with social distancing measures in place. Its going to take a few minutes. A near 500 billion emergency aid package to help small businesses. Its expected to pass which would send it to the president s desk for a signature. Lets be hop hes. A half a trillion in compared to the size and scope of this economic fallout. The number of new cases and new deaths remain at elevated levels. 29,000 new cases were confirmed yesterday with more than 2,000 confirmed deaths yesterday. There have now been more than 850,000 confirmed cases in the United States. We are nearing 50,000 confirmed deaths. I emphasize confirmed because dr. Fauci reiterated that we dont have enough tests. We absolutely need to significantly ramp up not only the number of tests but the capacity to actually perform them. I am not overly confident right now at all that we have what it takes to do that. Were Getting Better and better at it as the weeks go by. But we are not in a situation where we say, were exactly where we want to be with regard to testing. This needs to be the moon landing of projects here getting testing up and running. Here we are. No vaccine, no treatment. And without widescale testing, governors across the country are facing an excruciating calculation, perhaps best summed up by the New York Times peter baker. How many deaths would be acceptable to restore a shattered economy . You want to make that decision. Complicating matters further is a whiplash of messaging from the white house on this and other questions. He contradicts the officials and then himself. Hes pressing governors to reopen, urging states to liberate their economies, but then last night he criticizes georgias governor for moving to reopen stores. I told the governor of georgia,kemp, that i disagree strongly with his decision to open certain facilities in violation of the phrase one on the very real question of whether there will be a resurgence of this virus in the fall, the cdc chief sounded the alarm in an interview with the Washington Post and then this happened. Dr. Robert redfield was totally misquoted in the media on a statement about the fall season and the virus. Totally misquoted. You were accurately quoted, correct . Im accurately quoted in the Washington Post. Might not come back at all. Its also possible it doesnt come back at all. We will have coronavirus in the fall. I am convinced of that. There will be coronavirus in the fall. Joining me now from the white house as we await a briefing from the Coronavirus Task force later this hour, my nbc colleague shannon and peter baker also with us. Correspondent for the New York Times and msnbc political analyst. Shannon, im going to start in the white house and the obvious issue weve dealt with. It seems like every one of these briefings, theres an example of mixed messaging. We saw it here again and it appears that even the decision by the president to try to get the governor of georgia to pull back was a hotly debated topic inside the white house just minutes before he did say it. So is there any way of stopping this mixed messaging or is just the president that we know . I think were witnessing in public at these briefings often what is going on behind the scenes. Where the Public Health advisers are saying one message, i was told by one white house aide that sometimes trump doesnt initially seem to hear that or it doesnt seem to register. They have to repeat it multiple times. The Public Health experts saying one message, the president another message. The Public Health experts increasing the volume, reigning him in until he seems to then be able to come back over to the side. Were watching play out this internal struggle the president has had this entire time between not wanting to be talking about coronavirus, not wanting to have the economy shut down because of very real fears that sending the economy into a tailspin that we are in going into 2021 that is not this vshaped curve that he has talked about versus the advisers almost uniformly telling him that theres so much more damage that can be done if he moves too quickly. So the push and pull just continues. I dont see anything changing. How many weeks are we into this . Its still going on. Right. Peter, how much lost time look, i guess its hard to there has been a substantial amount of time that members of that task force spend essentially managing the president rather than focusing on how do we ramp up testing, how do we do this . Where they have to put out some fire or focus him on some fire. Yeah. Thats right. You look at what weve been told is that these Task Force Meetings proceed generally without the president , before he gets there. And then talking points are drafted that are meant for him to read at the beginning of these briefings. You see him read them. You can see from his tone that its not something he himself drafted. Right . Theyre very he speaks in a something he may not have read before the briefing. Hes reading whats in front of him. Then he gets going what he really wants to say. Oftentimes, various i think shannon is right. You see the kind of contrast play out in front of our eyes that puts you just the president saying it may not come back at all and dr. Fauci saying oh, yeah it will. Thats extraordinary to see from a white house podium, that kind of variance from a president and his own adviser in front of us. Shannon what makes it head scratching is, if you really wanted to be crass politically and pragmatic about it, you would think shouldnt the president s goal be to temper expectations and pleasantly surprise them. Frankly, its the way im managing my kids expectations. Im setting them up for disappointment this summer. Yeah. Everyone is excited. Right. That was a case that i know was made to him very early on in this march time frame when he was talking about how well have 15 cases and theyll go away. But the president really lives in the moment, lives in the days news coverage, lives in the days polling which has not been good for him the past two weeks and wants to see immediate wallows in it. Try to cheer everyone up and make the situation look better. Maybe it could help in the shortterm but not necessarily thinking about the longterm consequences. Peter, theres another thing that some colleagues and i were discussing today thats been missing from this president and frankly, i think its a real hole for all of us as americans. We havent mourned these deaths as a nation. This death toll is mindboggling. Okay . Every day, 2500 americans. Its a number. The president has not led us in some sort of National Mourning on this. He has not we have so many families that cant be there to hug this loved one as they go. But theres not hes not we know that this isnt who he is. But boy, is it really apparent right now that we have no National Leader to try to comfort the nation right now. No. I think thats exactly right. Its interesting that this comes right around the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. You remember 160some federal workers were killed in that bombing. President clinton led the country in what youre talking about, a National Mourning and everybody responded to that. It was seen as a turning point in his presidency because it was similar with reagan and the challenger and bush and 9 11. I have this photo in my office, where i havent been in a while. Of george bush holding up a flag and biting his lower lip and tears running down his face from a 9 11 ceremony. President obama was not known famously as a particularly emotional guy. After the newtown deaths of those children, we havent seen any moment like that with president trump. What he talks about are numbers, as you say. Hes setting out expectations. Anything less than 100,000 deaths is somehow a victory for him. Not regarding this by this time next week well have more people dead than died in 10, 12 years of the vietnam war. Thats a huge number of americans. Weve not seen him grapple with that in a public way. If i can jump in here for a second. Go ahead, shannon. Please. You look at what has the white house, what has this president been doing and focused on during this time where we have 45,000 people dead . This week was the immigration order. I put a story out today talking about how the white house aides scrambled chaotically to get an immigration order today because the president tea decided to tweet that he would prevent immigrants from taking american jobs theoretically. As one of my colleagues suggested, if somebody read the names of the dead every night. Some way of honoring them in a national way is i think something that a lot of americans are yearning for. Shannon and peter, thank you for getting us started. But the real question is something that peter baker laid out in his column. Its a question that many have to grapple with and governors have to grapple with. The issue of Public Health versus Economic Security and economic health. Joining me now, a governor grappling on the question of how and when to start lifting restriction in his state is mississippi governor tate reeves. Governor reeves, thanks for coming on. So you are working through a plan to youve been very careful. You say its not a light switch. Its a dimmer. I thought that was a pretty good description there. Walk us through what your dimmer switch looks like and what are the types of businesses youre looking at to be the sort of canary in the coal mine here . Well, thank you, chuck for having me on. I appreciate the opportunity to be with you today. Let me start by saying, you have to come from this in your decisionmaking process realizing a few things. Number one, we have a Public Health crisis in our state and in our country. Number 2, we have an economic cris crisis. A shortterm economic crisis and the decisions we make today will determine how long it remains in our states and ultimately in your country. As i look at the things that were looking at, were trying to make sure we understand that we open our economy as soon as we possibly can, but we do so in a safe, responsible way. For instance, on monday of this past week, i made the decision that we would allow small mom and pop retailers to reopen their businesses, but they could only take orders online or via the telephone and they would have to deliver those order via a drivethrough service so that you dont have large numbers of people in any confined space. So as we look at those businesses that have a large amount of interpersonal contact, its unlikely that theyre going to open in the next week to ten days. Lets talk about the issue of testing. Youve had mississippi is one of the Better Stories on testing. I think youre the second most per capita in the south after louisiana. How much more testing would you like to have to feel more comfortable opening up more parts of the economy . Well, you know, its interesting to me chuck, that now every governor in the country and quite frankly, every National News person wants to talk about testing. Weve been talking about testing from the beginning. You know, the national dialect was about ventilators and hospital beds, et cetera. Those are all important. But we always believed in our strategy, which is identify and isolate those who test positive, that testing was critical. Not only are we second in the south. Were actually the most recent dat in the New York Times showed us as the sixth most tested state in america. And only states that we were behind were new york and new jersey and rhode island and louisiana. Guess what . The federal government has pumped true resources into those states. If you look at just those states that have left to our own devices, mississippi is a true National Leader. Im proud of my Public Health team and Public Health department. Testing is critical. If youre going to do Contact Tracing, which we have contacted every single positive test in mississippi and identified who those individuals have come in contact with and weve actually worked to provide isolation orders to those individuals. Testing is critical as we move foord. Were continuing to ramp up testing. Right now weve done almost four times more test than say, south korea did. We looked at their model early on. We felt that was the way to go. Thats one of the reasons you look at the models and what you find is mississippi is in far better shape today than any of the models suggested. In fact, the ihme model, something that yall look at, i know, the white house looks at it, everyone looks at it, march 30th, that was a mere three weeks ago by the way. It feels like 333 years ago. I get that. You and me both. Mississippi should tell me. But they say that mississippi should prepare for needing 8,978 hospital beds. We had 400 with covid19 patients in them yesterday. They say we should prepare for approximately 1100 ventilators being used. We had 78 people on ventilators. They say we should prepare for 80 deaths in mississippi yesterday. We had eight. So the fact of the matter is, testing is important. Identifying and isolating is important. And social distancing is important. We instituted those very early. We kept many parts of our economy open but weve been able to understanding is very challenging. A stat that i read today, governor, that was amazing to me. On a typical week before the pandemic, you paid out about a Million Dollars in Unemployment Insurance. I believe this last week, its my understanding 72 million went out. I assume you cant ballet budget rolling out ballet budget rolling out that much money. Some of that is repaid by the federal government in general and youll have your own tax issues. Are you going to need money from the federal government to help your budget Going Forward for the next couple of years . Well, ill tell you, mississippi came into this as probably one of the most wellfinanced states in the nation. I know that probably surprises a lot of your viewers. But we had a Rainy Day Fund that was full. We had 10 of our annual operating budget set aside for a rainy day. When we look at the Unemployment Trust fund, mississippi had one of the five most wellfunded trust funds in america. When you look at that 72 million, over 50 million of that was actually paid by the federal government through the federal cares act. The federal government has acted in ways that really concern me when you think about the amount of Additional Debt that theyre taking on. Trillions and trillions of dollars. But theyve acted in such a way that they have provided those of us in state governments a path to make sure that we can not only balance our budgets, although it wont be easy. We can balance our budgets sloongs they continue to allow for the funding in the cares act. I think in mississippi well be okay. It will be a challenge. Well have to well have to cull budgets im sure. We didnt go into this in dire positions that many states and cities did. Obviously, well take whatever help we can get from the federal government. Were in a different spot than many of the bigger spending states around the country. Governor, one last industry im curious about and im curious how youre thinking about it. Theres a lot of revenue that comes from it. The casino industry. How do you how do your Health Advisers advise you on when and how to let casinos reopen . Yeah. Thats a great question, chuck. Were spending a lot of time looking at that. Its incredibly important industry in our state. Not only do we receive somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 million a year directly into the state coffers, many of our local governments get significant amounts of revenue. So the cities and the counties are affected tremendously as well and so were looking at responsible ways to do it. We reached out to the industry and we encouraged them to provide us their guidelines on how the industry could reopen in a safe, responsible way. The Gaming Commission is a threeperson take industry guidelines over no. We asked them to provide guidelines and we have the Gaming Commission actually looking at it. Theyre going to come up with their own guidelines and ultimately, well look at both of them and make a decision. We dont think the gaming industry is ready to reopen yet. We dont expect that in the order that comes out it will be effective monday at 8 00 a. M. That were there yet. But we know that they not only do they supply a lot of revenue to state coffers, they employ tens of thousands of mississippians. Many of those 130,000 people that are on Unemployment Insurance came out of the gaming industry. So weve got to get them open as soon as were confident we can do so in a responsible, safe way. You need a decent economy for people to gamble as well. Actually have the money to do all of that. Governor tate reeves, thank you for coming on, sharing your views. I hope youre staying as safe and healthy as you can. Chuck, thanks for having me on. Yall have a great afternoon. You got it. Were awaiting the start of the White House CoronavirusTask Force Briefing. It is now set for 5 45. Once it begins, well go to it live. A stark sight on capitol hill. Members of Congress Voting in face masks. Ill talk to congressman steny hoyer about the push to contain. Programming note. Join Brian Williams and Nicolle Wallace for special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and how we recover from this. Theyll speak with Governor Andrew Cuomo about the road to recovery. Savannah guthries exclusive sitdown with bill gates on his efforts to fight the pandemic. Dont miss this special report, testing and the road to reopening tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern. 7 00 out west. Well be right back. I just love hitting the open road and telling people that Liberty Mutual customizes your insurance, so you only pay for what you need [squawks] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Balanced nutrition for strength and energy. Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. And nutrients to what do we wburger. Inner . I want a sugar cookie. Wait. I want a bucket of chicken. I want. Its the easiest because its the cheesiest. Kraft. For the win win. Welcome back. Even at the house, its minutes away from passing a nearly half a trillion dollars spending package in response to the coronavirus, theres talk about vision what to include in the next spending bill. Many lawmakers wore masks during the floor debate and then voted in small groups alphabetically to adhere to social distancing guidelines. For what its worth, the bill will replenish a fund and provide money for hospitals as well as money to help increase testing. As congress looks to its next move to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell says cash strapped states should not look to the federal government for help. He suggested states file for bankruptcy protection instead. New york Governor Andrew Cuomo was one of many people less than thrilled with that idea. This is one of the really dumb ideas of alltime. State and local Government Funds police and fire and teachers and schools. How do you not fund police and fire and teachers and schools in the midst of this crisis . And then to suggest were concerned about the economy. States should declare bankruptcy. Thats how you bring this National Economy back . By states declaring bankruptcy . You want to see that market fall through the cellar . Let new york state declare bankruptcy. A lot of panic about what these comments could do to the bond market by the way. With me now is congressman steny hoyer of maryland. Congressman, thanks for coming on here and being you can talk through the mask. It hasnt been a problem. We had congresswoman katie porter there. Ill do this now. Its on for the safety as we know of your camera men. Of course. They have masks on for my safety. I appreciate it, greatly. Let me ask the question this way. You guys are voting on a 500 billion bill. I dont mean to sort of mangle the famous ever dirksen line. A billion here, billion there. Eventually youre talking about a lot of money. 500 billion doesnt feel like a lot of money when you look at what were staring at in what appears to be an economic catastrophe that is going to take probably years, not just months. What is the best next step in your opinion . Well, it is the best the best next step is well pass another bill. There will be some conversation and i want to say were in endless conversations on the phone doing what we do here in washington. But were doing it virtually in terms of the package and how we ought to do it. One of the things that we agree on is what Governor Cuomo just said. We need to make sure the states and localities and the tribal governments who have spent a lot of money on something they couldnt have possibly have budgeted for and theyve had to take it out of their funds that they budget for. Therefore, fire, police, teachers, school operations, other operations critical to the safety of the American People and each of the residents of each state and community are at risk and we need to help them get to a place where theyre solvent and where theyre able to run those Vital Services for their people. So were going to have discussions about what ought to be in that bill. The other thing we think needs to be in the bill, chuck, we see food lines miles long of people who are desperate for making sure they can put food on their familys table. We need to beef up the s. N. A. P. Program and other nutritional programs we have. What about on testing. You threw some money at testing. But if the executive branch isnt going to come out with a plan to create a testing and Contact Tracing nationwide Contact Tracing system, why cant the legislative branch outline a program for a nationwide testing and Contact Tracing system . We need a national plan, youre right. We can do that. That may well be a discussion if the administration doesnt follow suit. Now, my governor, governor hogan, who is a republican as you know. Were working very closely together. I dont think he has any doubt what the plan is. We need to test, we need to isolate those who test positive. We then need to contact trace. We need to trace people with whom that person has been in contact. Thats how you minimize exposure of those who have not been exposed. So i think that plan is a plan thats been outlined, frankly, in the president s plan and generally, but by most of the states specifically and by the medical authorities, specifically as you know this 25 billion that i think is a great win for the American People in getting testing money in there. Took us a little over two weeks to get those negotiations. You also got another 120 billion for small business, which i think is critically important. We know how fast that first fund went. But the legislature could and maybe will look at that in our committees, Frank Pallone and others urging testing and also urging specific language how that was carried out. Yeah. Let me ask you a question on remote voting. I talked to katie porter earlier today. Congresswoman from southern california, orange county. She has been on this issue. Shes not happy that its not getting taken up today. I think she thought it would. And that possibly you guys would get a resolution. But she expressed a concern that if you dont come up with some sort of new rules that allow for markups on remote, Committee Meetings remote, let alone voting remote, essentially, youre creating a fourperson congress, the two leaders on each side, they do all the negotiating and the rank and file dont feel like they participate. How do you bridge the gap between the two parties on this remote Business Front . We had a meeting today, mr. Mccarthy, i asked to have a meeting with the chairman of the rules committee and rarnging members ranking members of both committees, three republicans, three democrats. We had about an hour meeting in which we talked about how can we raise the confidence of members on both sides of the aisle that they would be confident that democracy was, in fact, being carried out even though somebody may be not physically in the chamber. Were in a technological age which no Previous Congress has been in which gives you the capability to remotely communicate and see your face and see your move and say aye or nay and mr. Chairman can i be recognized. My suggestion has been and were going to be discussing this on monday, the six of us, whether or not the Technology Allows us securely, i dont mean in the line of secrecy. You cover everything we do and tell the public. Its not a question of secrets, but securely so that people cant mess up the technology and cut off people from talking. Hijack it. Hijack it. So one of the discussions we had was maybe we start out with committees before we get to the question of whether we have remote voting on the nofloor of the house but committees. Hopefully that raises so that this process can work. State airplanes are canceled out of california. Over 50 members. They have to have some way to get in. Theres no flights. In this unique circumstance, somebody mentioned well, we didnt close down civil during the civil war, we didnt do it in we pointed out the technology was not what it is today. We have a new day. We have new opportunities and we ought to be able to solve this problem so that members who cannot get here for one reason or another, health reasons, advice of their governor, planes dont fly, so they can have their voice heard and the constituents voices heard. You do a lot of Conference Calls and Video Conferencing at this Company Every single day. This doesnt seem that difficult. A committee seems like a great first step. Well be watching. Congressman steny hoyer. Thanks for coming on and sharing your views. Put your mask back on. Flipped to to the side. Now its going on. Fair enough. Thank you. Up ahead, the rush to create a coronavirus vaccine. Theres already some progress being made. Richard engel joins us live and well have part of Savannah Guthries exclusive interview with bill gates. 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Yeah, i totally agree, they dont have any of those. I want to know what im paying upfront. Yes, absolutely. Do you just say yes to everything . Hm. Well i say no to kale. Mm. Yeah, they say if you blanch it its better, but that seems like a lot of work. Now offering zero commissions on online trades. We charge you less so you have more to invest. They grew their first tomatoes right here. And when it snows, the kids go sledding right there. The frels family runs with us on a john deere 1 series tractor. Because this is more than just land, its home. Search john deere 1 series for more. Vaccine is the most likely solution. Ive been surprised how quickly theyre moving of the theres a number that have even begun the human testing thats key there. So it could be that in a year we have lots of the vaccine and then once you get it out to lots of people, then you have enough Community Immunity that you wont see this widespread problem again. Welcome back. As you just heard from bill gates, who talked to my colleagues, Savannah Guthrie about what he thinks needs to be done to combat coronavirus. Scientists around the world are scrambling to create a coronavirus vaccine. But vaccines are tricky to make. Most Public Health experts say a vaccine could be a year or more away and that is if its on a fast track. There are several human trials underway here in the United States and china and now the uk. Our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel caught up with some experts. Richard after all of this, how optimistic are you that a vaccine will be here sooner rather than later . Reporter so im fairly optimistic that they will come up with a vaccine. The issue is will the vaccine hold, because there are certain viruses, like smallpox where they came up with a vaccine and effectively eradicate it. Measles, the same, polio the same. Some of these influenzas change. They mutate. Thats why theres not really a flu vaccine. You have to get a booster every year because the flu is constantly evolving and changing. So you have to continually change the vaccine to try and fight against it. So they dont really know if the coronavirus is going to be a one and done vaccine. If youll be able to take something, inject it into your body. Your body stimulates, produces antibodies and then its over or is it going to be a constant moving target . But this is up to the scientists to try and work out. But these some of the concerns that the scientists have been expressing to me. Here in the uk, they began their first human trials today at oxford university. A young woman, a scientist Elisa Granato was the first to get the trial vaccine here. Theyre going to have 800 candidates in. U. K. Half in the control group, have getting the vaccine. There are two companies in the United States that are doing it. Theres a company in china doing it. Germany is about to start human trials, too. I actually spoke with a patient, someone who is getting the trial vaccine in the United States and the ceo of one of the companies called inoaf yoe. I asked him what exactly is he doing . Whats the goal here . Each one of these approaches is slightly different. This is what he had to say. What exactly are you injecting into someones arm . Weve honed in on the spike protein of the coronavirus, which is the most outer layer of the virus protein that allows them to dock into the patients cells. Its an entry point. Its an anchor that the virus uses to get in. So its a great target for our immune cells to go after, our antibodies and tcells. What were injecting into the patient is a dna sequence for the full length spike protein. We inject a genetic code into the patients cell and safely and effectively manufacture a whole host of this spike protein. And that presence of spike protein really jump starts the immune system, recognizing it and being ready to pounce when the actual virus enters the body. Okay. So chuck, that company and several other companies are already in human trials. What they are doing now is monitoring the people who have taken these trial vaccines to see if, a, they are producing the antibodies to fight the coronavirus and most critically, what kind of condition are they in. Are there negative impacts. Those are essential. Because this could be potentially given to a large segment of the entire globes population. And if you get this wrong, it could have a far worse effect than even the coronavirus. Thats for sure, Richard Engel with some report willing on that. Richard, thanks very much. Let me bring in. We got the twominute warning on the briefing. I want to bring in dr. Joseph fair. Hes nbc newss viralologists these days. I want to pick up on the reporting. Your experience in seeing vaccines to eradicate certain viruses, is it more likely this is going to be like a flu vaccine that youll have to get yearly versus one that might eradicate covid19 completely . To be honest, i dont really know. We really dont have any precedent for coronavirus vaccine, per se. The closest weve got, which was a vaccine produced outside of out of baylor for sars coronavirus, we can expect that theres going to be some lasting immunity to it. As richard says, we have no idea how long that immunity is going to be. Approximately for half, if not more of the vaccines that we take, we require boosters actually or every other year, in some cases every ten years for that vaccine. It will depend on the vaccine and how it takes it through the human immune system and how robust we are to the vaccine candidate itself. I want to shift gears here. Ive been looking forward to talking to you all day about this issue. Im curious if you can give your analysis. That is what we learned from the first antibody study out of new york about how wider spread the virus really was. It looks like its a death rate of one half of one percent if the assumptions are there. How, what did you make of this Antibody Test data that Governor Cuomo released and did it did it make sense to you . Obviously, we have to wait for more data to know how accurate it is. But did it look like thats what you would have expected . You know, it did make sense to me based on kind of how many months new york has experienced cases. How many people we think in new york have recovered from coronavirus infection. But keep in mind, both with the Antibody Test and with the acute test, to tell you if you have covid19, were still not anywhere near where we need to be as far as having enough tests available for everyone that needs to be tested, to be tested. These numbers might actually be on the low end. They wouldnt be surprisingly on the low end i should say. A 14 infection rate. One half of one percent death rate. Compare that to the flu. Thats a little more deadlier . Is it four times deadlier than the flu basically . Seasonal flu has a case fatality rate of around 1 . Usually we compare everything to seasonal flu. Just based on the numbers and the infectiousness of seasonal flu, we saw i think around 34,000 deaths in the United States last year alone from seasonal influenza. So, when dr. Redfield talked about the presumed second wave of coronavirus coinciding with the influenza season that well typically see in the fall, thats what hes talking about. The worst of both worlds, having covid19 and a lot of people naive to that infection and our seasonal flu thats deadly. Its deadly in a season of flu. What are you seeing take out new york right now. Out of the math. What are you seeing in the rest of the country . Clearly, were having a lot of success in new york, flattening the curve and making real progress. But its such a concerted effort and im also concerned that in some ways as the good news from new york that maybe people are assuming everything is healing. That doesnt appear to be the case outside of new york. Thats exactly right. In fact, you can see the curve has plateaued, lets say it that way in places where strict social distancing measures have been adhered to. Especially the longer theyve been adhered to. You can see plateauing and lowering of those curves. What we like to see is not just a flattening of the curve. What we want to see is sharp decline in that curve that. Points towards were getting towards the end of the outbreak. Were really still in the first stage of this outbreak, i would say. We might have reached that plateau in certain places. But were still seeing weve still yet to reach the peak in other places in other parts of the country. That could be just because they waited too late or have waited even until now to implement social distancing measures or it could be they were hit later with cases. They were traveling to wherever they are. Let me ask this in a more laymans term here because were having this debate. The antibodies result the test results out of new york, should that make us all feel better . That this virus, doesnt have a 5 death rate. Should it make people feel better that it may have been out there longer than we realized and we see what we have or should it scare us more that its in more places that we dont realize . On the one hand let me say it this way. We could do a lot worse than covid19. If we were expecting the virus right. Sorry. We got to go cut you off there, dr. Fair. The president has come to the podium. In relief for the American Worker and for small businesses. At a time when Many Americans are enduring significant economic challenges, this bill will help small businesses, keep millions of workers on the payroll. You see states are starting to open up now and its very exciting to see. I think its very aweinspiring. Were coming out of it and were coming out of it well. Were really the governors have been doing a really good job working with us. Its really pretty impressive to see. Ive spoken to numerous leaders of countries over the last 48 hours and they are saying were leading the way. Were really leading the way. So many different ways. Im also very pleased at harvard. Harvard and stanford and princeton and numerous other universities and colleges and also Large Businesses have sent funds back to us and in some cases i stopped funds i looked at and we are pleased to report that the funds have either not gone out or its about 350 million and even theyve not gone out or weve renegotiated it and theyre not getting them. Its a couple of cases theyre sending them back. And sending them back immediately. I think it was very nice. I want to thank harvard in particular. They acted very quickly and decisively. They agreed when they heard the facts, that they should not be getting it. We appreciate it very much from harvard. Princeton, stanford and other institutions. The bill also includes 30 billion to support small lending institutions serving distressed communities, helping countless African American and hispanic american small businesses. As we continue our battle against the virus, the data and the facts on the ground suggest that were making great progress. In 23 states, new cases have declined in the peak week. 40 of american counties have also seen a rapid decline in new cases. 46 states report a drop in patients showing coronaviruslike symptoms. Thats a big number. To keep america gang momentum, every citizen needs to maintain the vigilance. We all understand that very well. Weve gone over it very many, many times. This includes practicing good hygiene, maintaining social distance, and the voluntary use of face covering. A safe and phased reopening of our economy is very exciting, but it does not mean that we are letting down on our guard at all in any way. On the contrary, continued diligence is an essential part of our strategy to get our country back to work, to take our country back. Were winning this, and were going to win it, and were going to keep watching. Were going to watch very closely for the invisible enemy. With each passing day, were learning more and more about this enemy. The scientists at dhs have released a report offering a number of insights about how the virus reacts to different temperatures, climates, and surfaces. The findings confirm the virus survives better in colder and dryer environments and does less well in warmer and more humid environments. I have to say that very excitingly, were going have somebody up they will be up in just a little while. This is a great report he gave, and he is going to be talking about how the virus reacts in sunlight. When you hear the numbers, you wont even believe them. U. S. Trials of the covid19 have been going on and have been approved in the United States, germany, uk, and china. Thats big news. And a lot of trials are going on. We have a lot of great, Brilliant Minds working on this, both from the standpoint of a vaccine and therapeutics. We must be careful in all conditions, but we will we will get this done. Were very close to a vaccine. Unfortunately, were not very close to testing, because when the testing start, it takes a period of time. But well get it done. And i want to thank the head of dhs science and Technology Bill bryant for what he is going to be doing and what he is going to be saying and the reports that he is about to give. I think its going to be something that nobodys ever heard. It will be brandnew information and very important information. My administration continues to leverage the defense production act to dramatically increase the manufacture and delivery of critical medical supplies. We finalized three contracts to produce 39 million more n95 masks in 90 day, and as you know, were also using a sterilization process. Some great equipment that will sterilize the masks up to 20 times per mask. So thats like ordering 20 times more masks, and its working very well. We just want the hospitals and the institutions where it is to use it. A lot of people dont use it. Theyre so used to getting a new mask, they dont want to use it. They want to go and immediately get a new one. Were asking them to use the sterilization process. Every bit as good, up to 20 times. Think of that. In addition to ramping up our Domestic Assembly lines, weve airlifted 750 million pieces of personal protective equipment into the United States through our project air bridge, which has been an incredible thing to watch. Its really a military operation. The Vice President is now providing each governor with an exhaustive count by county, breakdown of the privately distributed personal protection. And this is equipment and things that are incredible. Its personal protective equipment. Its incredible, and its all brandnew and at the highest level. Were getting only the highest level. And also were looking at essential gear within the states, and its being delivered to different states quickly and as we speak. This way the governor should know exactly whats being delivered through a private sector supply chain within their states as well as through the project air bridge. Were trying to get it immediately from the plane to the state. When we cant do that, we bring it into our facilities and get it to the governors. And were getting them fast and notifying them very strongly so they know its there. Governors can use this information to quickly get materials where and when they are needed. Today i also want to extend my special thanks to our nations incredible county Emergency Management teams who have been working relentlessly for weeks around the clock to serve their community, help distribute critical supplies and save countless americans lives. We salute these heroic officials on the front lines. As we continue to develop potential therapy, the fda has recently begun a National Effort to expand access to convalescent plasma donated from the blood of those who have recovered from the virus. The blood of these donors contains antibodies that can potentially reduce the severity of the illness in those who are sick. And frankly, those that are very sick. Nearly 3,000 patients are now enrolled in the expanded access program, receiving transfusions nationwide. And i want to thank all of the people that recovered for what they have done. As i said yesterday, they raised their hand when they barely can walk, and theyre saying i want to donate blood. I want to donate whatever it is you want, because we want to help people. Its really quite incredible. Convalescent plasma will also be used to manufacture a concentrated antibody treatment that does not have to be matched with a particular blood type. This concentrated antibody treatment could be used as a preventative measure to Keep Health Care workers and other highrisk populations from contracting the virus in the first place. A very big deal. Clinical trials of these products are slated to begin within week, and we can maybe have a fairly quick solution. I urge americans to get in there and keep doing what youre doing, because, again, we want those people recovering or recovered from coronavirus to contact their local blood and Plasma Donation Center to learn how they can help. And theyve been so great. And i just appreciate it. My administration is also partnered with the lead, and weve established great partnerships with leading scientists and journalists to create scholarly articles on the coronavirus that can be analyzed by artificial intelligence. Top ai experts are using this wealth of data to gain insights into potential therapies, and were collaborating with tech firms, universities and our National Labs to harness american Super Computers in the search for treatments and vaccines. That search is going on and it is being i think youll see in the future youll see its very successful. Ultimately, it will be a tremendous success. Great progress is being made at a rapid pace, a pace like no other. We have every hope with the full might and resources of American Science and technology, and with the courage of devotion of the American People who have been so incredible, we will end this plague, and together we will restore the full measure of american strength and power and prosperity. Our country is going to do fantastically well. You see whats going on. There is a pentup demand in our country to get it back right where it was, and maybe even better. And thats whats going to happen. So with that, id like to ask mike pence to come up, Vice President , say a few words, please. Mike . Thank you, mr. President. And good afternoon. Today the white house Coronavirus Task force met, and while our hearts are with the families of those who have lost their lives to the coronavirus and those who are struggling with serious illness today, our team led by dr. Deborah birx informs us that the data continues to show promising signs of progress. In the new york metro area, new jersey, connecticut, detroit, and new orleans, all appear to be past their peak, and we are seeing consistent declines in hospitalization and cases in regions across the country. Our only conclusion is that were getting there, america. Because the American People have put into practice the president s guidelines of social distancing, because youve been listening and adhering to the guidance of state and local officials. We are were making meaningful progress in a very real sense, sparing americans to be exposed to the coronavirus and to no less extent, saving lives. Our task force actually believes, mr. President , that if we continue these mitigation efforts in the days ahead, as states implement their policies, including phased reopening that will preserve those gains, we do believe by early summer, we could be in a much better place as a nation. With much of this coronavirus epidemic behind us. Earlier today, we also had a Conference Call led by secretary ben carson and leaders from hud about the president s announcement yesterday that he is repurposing the white house opportunity and revitalization council to focus on the impact of the coronavirus on minority communities. Secretary carson will convene the council tomorrow and well be reporting tomorrow afternoon on their progress. We want to thank the more than 270 leaders of organization dedicated to housing, homelessness, and improving the lives of people across our urban communities. Not only for being with us today, for the way they have partnered with our administration, and partnered with state and local officials to put the health of all of their constituencies first