People being tested positive as well as some fatalities. We know that in the south we have the lowest resilience to coronavirus. In the south we have the highest poverty rates, we tend to have older populations and younger populations that are vulnerable. We have one of the weakest health care infrastructures and because half of the states that have not expanded medicaid in the southeast, we do not have the infrastructure to take care of and serve those in need. We have had some of the highest rates of hospital closures in the south, especially in rural communities. But we also know we have some of the lowest coverage rates of public benefits. Yes, everyone can get access to snap and other programs, but in the south, especially in georgia, we have some of the weakest coverage rates, meaning that the amount that you receive, even if you qualify, tends to be not enough to meet the needs that you have. In georgia, specifically, albany, georgia a few weeks ago was number four world wide in coronavirus results. I think the other piece that we have heard conversation about and that we need to focus on is that africanamerican and latino populations are the most at risk. In georgia the highest population of both contraction and death is africanamericans. And that means that the communities that are the least likely to have the resources to fight back are the most likely to lose their jobs, are the least likely to have the revenue to help themselves are also the most likely to face the devastation of this pandemic. And the majority of africanamericans in the United States are living in the south. The fact that we have seen data and its been confirmed even d fau dr. Fauchi confirmed were seeing a disproportionate impact of blacks and browns, its even accelerated in the south because thats where the majority of blacks and browns are. Exactly. Its a compoundment issue. Weve had for 40 years a disinvestment. And lay on it the inequities that have always hurt communities and then a weak Health Care System that allow states not to provide coverage. That means people who need to be tested cant be tested because they dont have a doctor, they live in a region where they dont have hospitals or doctors at all. In an oped i wrote with former senator tom daschle, in rural areas in particular, they are the least likely to be able to get access to the services they need and theyre the least likely to be tested for what they need. So the crisis is just amplifying. Now, also compounding that is the issue of voting. You have been with your organization dealing with voter suppression, voter threats to the democratic process period around the country. Many of us in the Civil Rights Community have watched as youve organized nationally around this. And this pandemic certainly will impact voting. What are you saying must be done to guarantee that if we are in a place where theres a second wave that interferes with the election, that we ought to be putting in place now things to prepare for that so the vote is not impeded in any way . When i was deputy City Attorney for the city of atlanta, part of my job was helping the city get ready for municipal elections. I understand elections dont simply happen. You have an intersectional responsibilities at the city and county level, at the state level and the federal level. What we have tried to do through fair fight action and weve successfully down is we have set up organizations in 18 states and federal, state and local corporations. They need to be responsible for fully funding the need for elections in 2020. We dont get a doover. That means we need to c. A. R. E. S. Act. In south korea they just had an election with one of their highest turnouts are since the 1990s in the midst of covid and they did so successfully by understanding that all parties have to Work Together. Now you are saying let me ask you this, you ran for governor and many of us felt the election was not fair, but ill put that issue not aside but ill put a pin in it for a minute. How do you look at this fight between the president and the governors where the president says in one juncture he has all powers and the governors do not have the last word and then throw it is back saying the governors should make the decision. Where do you stand in this battle since you sought that office . Restoring america both during and after this pandemic is going to require working to the from the federal, state and local level. You cant leave out the locals. Each level of government has a set of responsibilities and we need a president who understands the limits and the strengths of each level. The president of the United States to date is wrong and the reason were fighting so hard for Voting Rights is because we need a leader in 2021 who understands the role of government and the limits let me stop you right there. There are many that want to see you on the ticket with joe biden for Vice President and youve said that you would be excited to serve. One, if you were to be the nominee, how would you debate Vice President pence and how would you critique him in that dewabate and how he and the president has performed during this pandemic . Unfortunately, governor pence signalled before he became Vice President he has very little interest in the rolt of Public Health. It was under his leadership and because of his ambassadors we saw an exacerbated case of aids and hiv outbreaks in indiana because of his false understandings of what his abilities are and his lack of willingness to use his roles in the United States. I understand how good leadership can bring together the mayors, county commissioners, the governors and congress as well as the presidency to restore not only the dignity of america but the functioning. Competence is what we need. What we have seen from both Vice President pence and the president of the United States is a remarkable amount of incompetence and a refusal to take responsibility for their actions. You seem anxious for that debate. The White House Coronavirus task force is about to have a briefing so im going to hand it over to my colleague andrea mitchell. Andrea. Reporter thank you so much, reverend al. We do have that twominute warning. You see the white house. Reverend al, we know that the president has scheduled this briefing a thet a time when he been in a feud with the governors telling them its now up to them to take charge. Testing is the big question. They say they dont have the facilities, dont have the capacity to test and know when to reopen their states but hes saying its up to them after of course earlier this week saying that it was all up to him and that he was in charge. Monica alba is at the white house on the north lawn. We expect that dr. Birx is going to be there. Now we see the president. Lets hear what the president has to say on this saturday afternoon. We continue to see a number of positive signs that the virus has passed its peak. Its been very devastating all over the world, 184 countries, probably more. This number was as of a week ago. Dr. Birx will walk through some of these trends in a few moments but theyre very positive trends for winning, a win, close it out. While we mourn the tragic loss of life and you cant mourn it any stronger than were mourning it, the United States has produced dramatically Better Health outcomes than any other country with the possible exception of germany and i think were as good or better. On a per capita basis, remember that, on a per capita basis, our mortality rate is far lower than other nations of western europe with the lone exception of possibly germany, this includes the u. K. , switzerland, belgium, the netherlands, italy, france. Spain, for example, has a mortality that is for times the rate of the United States. You hear we have more death so were a much bigger country. When the fake news gets out there and talk about the United States being number one, were not number one. China is number one. Theyre way ahead of us. Theyre number one in terms of deaths. I know it, you know it, they know it. But you dont want to report it. Why . Youll have to explain that. Someday ill explain it. Since we released the guidelines to open up america again, and this was two days ago, a number of states led by both democrat and republican governors have announced concrete steps to begin a safe, gradual and phased opening. Texas and vermont will allow certain businesses to open on monday while still requiring appropriate social distancing precautions. And i can tell you the governor of texas, greb abbott, he knows what hes doing. He a great governor. Knows exactly what hes doidoin doindoing. Montana will again lifting restrictions, ohio and idaho will have a phased opening starting may 1st. Throughout this crisis my administration has taken unprecedented actions to rush Economic Relief to our citizens. As an example, you dont hear any more about ventilators. What happened to the ventilators . And now theyre giving you the other. Its called testing, testing. But they dont want to use all of the capacity that weve created. We have tremendous capacity. Dr. Birx will be explaining that. They know that. The governors know that. The democrat governors know that. Theyre the ones that are complaining. Weve already processed nearly 350 billion to 1. 6 million Small Businesses across the nation to keep American Workers on the payroll. So were asking the democrats to get it done. It should be bipartisan. It should be a 100 vote. Its been incredible, the 350 billion thats been approved is so popular and its keeping businesses open and it will be open hopefully friorever. Amy wright from north carolina, as an example, said the program is a game changer for her and her family. Its coffee shops and she has 120 employees, many of whom have developmental and intellectual disabilities. And now theyre all staying and theyre getting paid and shes got a dream and its going to take place very quickly when she opens again. So, amy, good luck. North carolina, great place. Scott and Julie Alderink helped lead a church and own a restaurant in south dakota with about 15 employees. They were already starting layoffs, layoffs were moving along rapidly, but now theyve hired their employees back and they can keep their restaurant open and it will be moving quickly. Very quickly. As opposed to not having anybody and probably not having a place to have all of these people employed, she would have been out of business, she would have been gone. The paycheck protection program, funding is fully drained. Its out, its gone. 350 million to Small Businesses and in turn it goes to the employees of those Small Businesses. Lawmakers must stop blocking these funds and replenish the program without delay. The democrats have to come on board. I used to read these were democrat programs, not republicans. Seems to have switched around a lot, hasnt it . Switch around a lot. The republicans want it. I think the democrats probably do, too. But they also want other things that are unacceptable. This is about covid. This is about the plague and what its done to us. This isnt about extraneous things theyve been trying to get for years and that our country doesnt want them to have. As we enter the next stage of our battle, we are continuing our relentless effort to destroy the virus. My administration is taking steps to protect highrisk communities by providing funding for 13,000 Community Health center sites and mobile medical stations in order to equip them with the most advanced and robust ittesting capabilities. The job they do is incredible. These centers provide care to 28 Million People living in medically underserved medical and rural regions, including many africanamerican and hispanic communities. Were taking care of them, and its so important because youve all been reading about the disproportionate numbers on africanamerican and youre reading a little bit less about hispanic but likewise hispanic communities. The numbers are disproportion e disproportionate. In fact, were doing big studies on it right now. We dont like it. Not right. Nationwide weve now conducted over 4 million tests and deborah will be talking about that. Its double the number conducted by any other country on earth. So thats more than two times the number conducted than anywhere else on earth and i started with an obsolete broken system from the Previous Administration or administrations, but i would really say administration for a different reason because testing has become so advanced over the last number of years. And we have the most advanced of all. I spoke with other nations this morning, the leaders and they all are talking about our great testing capability and some of them want to know what to do, how can they get involved because they need it for their own countries. In louisiana, massachusetts, rhode island, new york and other hot spots, we have also tested more people per capita by far than italy, spain, germany, france and the United Kingdom and all other major countries. So think of that. In new york, for instance, per capita testing is 6 higher than in singapore. In fact, theres a typo. Its 67 higher. A big difference. Id say theres a big difference between 6 and i was looking, i said 6 doesnt look too good. Its 67 . Good job out there. Higher than singapore, 64 higher than south korea and its 67 higher than singapore, which is a very advanced place in terms of what theyre doing. My administration has also been speaking frequently with many of the governors to help them find and unlock the vast unused Testing Capacity that exists in their states. Dr. Birx discussed yesterday the commercial and academic laboratories in the states have tremendous unused capability, which they can use. The governors should use it. Tremendous unused capability. Theyre waiting for business for these governors that some of them complain. I must tell you for the most part were getting along great with them. But some of them like to complain. The hardest thing of all, by a factor of 20, is the ventilateors and now were the king of ventilators. Were going to be helping other countries very soon. Were going to be helping mexico. I spoke to the president of mexico. Hes a great, great guy. They desperately in mexico need ventilators. I told him were going to help them very substantially. Were building now thousands a week and theyre coming in rapidly and theyre very, very high quality. But were also helping governors to develop strategies to smartly deploy their Testing Capacity to protect vulnerable and underserved populations while getting americans at lower risk safely back to work. So again, we have tremendous Testing Capacity. Now, a lot of people like the abbott test that we came up with. Abbott is a brand new technology, brand new test, great, five minutes, boom, you put it in, and were making thousands of machines abbott is making thousands and thousands of machines but not everybodys going to get that one but theyre going to get others. We have numerous platforms, which well talk about in a minute. Unfortunately some partisan voice attempting to politicize the issue of testing, which they shouldnt be doing because i inherited broken junk, just as they did with ventilators where we had virtually none and the hospitals were empty, for the most part the hospitals didnt have ventilators and we had to take care of the whole country and we did a job we assembled an army of young, brilliant people, for the most part young, a couple of older ones, but for the most part young, brilliant geniuses that did a job like nobody would believe. I wish could you have seen it. Around the clock. Now the rest of the world is coming to us asking if we could help them with ventilators. Theyre very complicated, very expensive. Theyre very hard to build and we have them coming in by the thousands. But you dont hear that from even the governors. Nobodys complaining about ventilators. And if there was a surge, we could have ventilators to them within hours because we have a stockpile, almost 10,000 ventilators. When i first started everyone was talking oh, hospital beds, hospital beds. The governor of new york correctly asked me for hospital beds and we got the army corps of engineers out and he needed them. I know he said we were projecting were not projecting new york. Were listening to the governors. He wanted them, he needed them and we gave them thousands of beds in Javits Center and we brought the ship and had it converted to a covid19. That was a big deal, by the way, because of ventilation and all the things we had to do but we did. And fortunately for him and for us, all of us, they havent used either one very much because the numbers have gone down significantly. But it was there and it was built and it was beautiful. 2,900 beds. It was incredible what they did. They did it in a matter of a few days. But it was very good. The relationship was very good. Im frankly glad they dont need them but they were there. Louisiana, same thing. The governor democrat, good guy. He this i think tell you the store we had had more than enough. I said we were supposed to build one more, if you dont need it, would it be possible we dont build it, wed like to build it somewhere else or not build it and save money and he called me back the next day and said, sir, we dont need it. I said thats great that you say that. But we were ready to go. We took good care of louisiana, michigan. We took good care of every place. We didnt miss a trick. Were in great shape on testing. We have nine different platforms. On monday were going to be adding one. That will be nine to ten. I dont like to count them before theyre up. Well have neine to ten platfors with a tremendous testing capability. People can go. Just like with ventilators, were building now the best ventilators. Our testing is Getting Better and better. I took the first test.