power point presentation they'll be sharing with the public here in a few minutes. though governors and local officials will ultimately make the final decisions, this is the guidelines they want all states to use to make the decisions. reporting indicates that members repeatedly told him that the thing that was missing in here was more testing. none of this works without more testing. context for all of this, the number of unemployed americans surged to 22 million. another 5 million first time unemployment claims. it technically wipes out every single job gain that has been made since the last recession. with me now, as we await the start of this briefing, i've got white house correspondent kristen welker. i've got nbc business correspondent stephanie ruhle, adviserologist joseph fair, and dr. naheed bedahlia, director of the special pathogens unit at boston university school of medicine and white house correspondent for "the washington post" anne gearan. we've got a lot going on. i've got a question based on the nursing home tragedy that we see taking place in new jersey, and we know these hot spots are in a lot of places. there is a lot of people that are watching right now, dr. fair, that have family members in a facility. if you find out your family members in one of these facilities that has somebody who tested positive, but your family member hasn't, what do you tell -- what do you tell them to do? >> you know, that's really going to be a conversation between them and their caregiver, and the specifics of either their parent or loved ones' circumstances. and i'd like dr. bedahlia's opinion on that first. but i think that's going to be a specific conversation between them, but something they universally can do is ask the facility what precautions the facility is specifically taking against the spread of covid-19. >> dr. bedahlia, i'd love for you to weigh in on this. >> i think that dr. fair said this exactly right. some of this will depend on the patient, the family member who is in the nursing facility and what is their risk. imagine they're at advanced risk, a more severe risk. a lot of nursing home facilities have started to put in a lot more measures in terms of protecting patients and health care workers, and some of this is coming from the data that health care workers may come in who are completely well and still shed the virus and others may get this infection. so there is universal masks of both patients as well as health care workers within the health care worker setting. the question is would ask as dr. fair said, what are those infection control measures in place. >> you know there is going to be family members who wonder is this person safer in my house or safer in their own facility. and there is risk to either way i imagine, right, dr. bad bad delia? >> i would say they're still safer in the facility. that is a medical facility geared to do the decontaminat n decontamination. it's the ability to completely clean the environment which could also translate the virus, the potential you might touch something that is contaminated. and that level happens much better in facilities that are linked for that. i would say the worrisome part is a nature article came out recently this week that says at 43% of the transmissions actually occur before you develop symptoms. so half of the people you're going infect are already infected. . that is a very scary proposition when it comes to this virus. we're obviously going to get a preview of how to open. stephanie ruhle we had another 5 million today. so we have 22 million people. they have already run out of the small business funds. it's obvious we've underestimated the impact of this. but by a factor of what have we underestimated the economic impact of this virus? >> chuck, let's go through a few things. the idea that there is this enormous pent-up demand, and we're going to snap back, people are starting to realize that's not the case. in the last few minutes, you've talked all about the importance of tracking and testing. just think about this for a moment. we're not turning back the country on a light switch, and businesses realize that. that's why you're seeing more and more unemployment claims. it's going to be health department officials looking with local and state governments to figure this out and realize in the last 24 hours when the president had what it called this new great american industry groups and all the ceos talking to him, the majority of them aren't saying we just need to rush back out there on the field, coach, because they know that's not possible. right? name a ceo that's not saying to the president we don't need mass testing. are you talking was it the ceo from morgan stanley? they've got their own hospital. the ceo of salesforce? he's got his own hospital. these businesses know that things are going to change indefinitely. bill gates earlier today said we're most likely not going to get a vaccine for 12 to 18 months. that means social distancing is here for that long. you and i aren't going to be sitting next to one another at the movies. and you're seeing that reflected in the unemployment numbers because businesses know that. but where it's not a surprise that the small business loan program has run out of money, it is essential that more money gets put in that program. but chuck, if they replenish it, they've got to take a really close look at the language, because i promise you, when we see all the businesses that applied for this loan, you're going see a lot of industries that were not dramatically impacted, and we can't turn the clock back. we've got to get the money to the heart of this economy. those smallest businesses that that first $350 billion didn't get to. >> all right. well, that was a good place for you to stop your sentence here. the president has hit the podium. let's take a listen. >> to win this fight, we have undertaken the greatest national mobilization since world war ii. and that's exactly what it's been. we've marshaled every instrument of american power, and we've unleashed or most potent weapon of all, the courage of the american people. these have been trying times. a cruel virus from a distant land has unfairly claimed thousands of precious american lives. to every citizen who has lost a cherished loved one, your pain is our pain. we mourn as one national family. our country has come together. we draw solace from the faith that god has received and he has taken the departed into his eternal and loving embrace. they will never be forgotten. over the last weeks and months, millions of americans have joined together in a shared national sacrifice to halt the spread of this horrible disease. the army-built field hospitals in sports arenas and convention centers, the army corps of engineers is great. over 20,000 beds in record time. the navy sailed hospital ships to our biggest cities. life-saving supplies and experimental medicines were rushed to the front lines as we launched a rapid search for groundbreaking treatments and vaccines. we built the most advanced and robust testing anywhere in the world, and we've done more testing than any country anywhere in the world. we suspended dangerous foreign travel. we leveraged our industrial base to produce vast quantities of critical medical gear and enabled a historic $2 trillion relief package. through it all we have seen the heroism of our doctors and nurses like never before. these are our warriors. the bravery of our truck driver, such bravery and food suppliers, such incredible bravery. and the determination and drive of our citizens. through this unified national endeavor, we have made great progress. you could really say incredible progress. our experts and scientists report that our strategy to slow the spread has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. models predicted between 1.5 million and 2.2 million u.s. deaths. if there was no mitigation, it could have been even higher than that. and between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation, it's looking like we will come far under even these lowest numbers thanks to our all-out military operation and the extraordinary devotion of our people, we believe we will experience far fewer deaths than even the optimistic projection. but there is no such thing as an optimistic projection on death. one person is too many. our experts say the curve has flattened and the peak in new cases is behind us. nationwide, more than 850 counties were nearly 30% of our country have reported no new cases in the last seven days. because of our early and aggressive action, we have avoided the tragedy of health care rationing and deadly shortfalls that have befallen many other nations, nations where if possible we are helping. in america, no person who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. we're making hundreds of thousands of ventilators. we've delivered thousands and thousands of ventilators to the states. and actually, it's been an incredible operation. we started with very little, and we ended with a lot. the united states has achieved a significant lower mortality rate than almost all other countries. based on the latest data, our team of experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war, which we are calling opening up america again. and that's what we're doing. we're opening up our country. and we have to do that. america wants to be open, and americans want to be open. as i have said for some time now, a national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution. to preserve the health of our citizens, we must also preserve the health and functioning of our economy. over the long haul, you can't do one without the other. it cannot be done. to keep vital supply chains running, these chains have to be taken care of so delicately. they're delicate. the balance is delicate. we want to deliver food and medical supply. we must have a working economy. and we want to get it back very, very quickly. and that's what's going to happen. i believe it will boom. an economic lockdown with a forced economic depression would effect an immense and wide ranging toll on public health. this includes a sharp rise in drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide, heart disease, and many other dimensions of physical and mental well-being. moreover, many patients have put needed medical care on hold, create i creating entirely new hazards for public health. our country has suffered. the world has suffered. 184 other countries have suffered. therefore, my administration is issuing new federal guidelines that will allow governors to take a phased and deliberate approach to reopening their individual states. i dealt with them now a long time, and we've had a great relationship. democrat, republican, the relationship has been good. this strategy is based on hard, verifiable data. i want to thank dr. birx for her incredible leadership in crafting these guidelines. in consultation with scientists, experts, and medical professionals across government. dr. birx will explain the guidelines in more detail in a few moments, and dr. fauci has been absolutely terrific. we've all worked together, and we've worked together well. they are interested in the health of our country, and we're all interested in the viability and making us truly great again. we took the greatest economy in the history of the world, and we closed it in order to win this war, and we're in the process of winning it now. our approach outlines three phases to restoring our economic life. we are not opening all at once, but one careful step at a time. and some states will be able to open up sooner than others. some states are not in the kind of trouble that others are in. now that we have passed the peak in new cases, we are starting our life again. we're starting rejuvenation of our economy again. in a safe and structured and very responsible fashion. our strategy will continue to protect senior citizens and other vulnerable populations while allowing military and other groups of incredibly talented people to go about their real business and the business that's supposed to be hard at work at doing and nobody does it better. our military is the greatest anywhere in the world, and we're so thankful for what they have done. healthy americans will now be able to return to work as conditions on the ground allow. instead of a blanket shutdown, we will pursue a focus on sheltering the highest risk individuals. so important. we're establishing clear scientific metric and benchmarks on testing, new case growth and hospital capacity that must be met before advancing to each phase. and that's each phase specifically in the reopening of our country. this is a gradual process as the caseload in a state continues to go down. restrictions continue to be eased and come off. throughout the process, citizens will be continued to be called on to use all of their weapons in this war. vigorous hygiene, teleworking when possible, staying at home if you feel sick, maintaining social distance, sanitizing commonly used surfaces, and being highly conscious of their surroundings. those are our weapons, and they're very powerful weapons indeed. governors will be empowered to tailor an approach that meets the diverse circumstances of their own states. every state is very different. they're all beautiful. we love them all. but they're very, very different. if they need to remain closed, we will allow them to do that. and if they believe it is time to reopen, we will provide them the freedom and guidance to accomplish that task, and very, very quickly, depending on what they want to do. we are also encouraging states to work together to harmonize their regional efforts. we'll have numerous cases where states have worked and will be working very, very closely together. as we reopen, we know that there will be continued hardships and challenges ahead. our goal will be to quickly identify and address any outbreaks and put them rapidly. if the virus returns in the fall, as some scientists think it may possibly, these guidelines will ensure that our country is up and running so that we can likewise put it out quickly. at the heart of our strategy is the vital role of medical research, especially for therapies that will significantly improve outcomes for high risk patients and reduce the need for urgent care. this will be tremendously valuable in allowing life to eventually return to normal. at least 35 clinical trials are already under way, including antiviral therapies, immune therapies, and blood therapies in the form of convalescent plasma. you've all heard about some of these events and some of these therapies. they've come a long way. what's been done in the last four weeks is incredible. we will also continue to expand our testing capacity. we have now completed more than 3.5 million tests, by far the most anywhere in the world. areas of our country that have been hot spots have done much more testing on a per capita basis than south korea. we've done more than south korea, and south korea has done a good job, but we've done more. we will continue to work with governors to advise them on how to conduct both surveillance and diagnostic testing. we have now distributed over 600,000 avid id point of care diagnostic tests. these are tests that are done on-site and within five minutes you know the answer. positive or negative. in recent days, we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of tests performed by hospitals and academic institutions with more than 120,000 tests recently reported in a single day. far more than any country in the world has ever been able to do. and our numbers are actually going up. as these new and better testing solutions come online, we're seeing this additional capacity reflected in the numbers. for this reason, the number of tests processed in commercial laboratories has dropped from approximately 100,000 to roughly 75,000 tests over the last week. the reason it dropped is because we have so many other tests and we don't even have to go through the laboratories. but the laboratories have tremendous additional capacity, and states feel free to use that capacity. some in the media falsely reported this as a bad thing when in fact it is a great thing. because it indicates that the states are moving to faster, more local testing solutions, including on-the-spot tests. so this drop in the utilization of commercial laptories is an affirmation that testing, which is at an all-time high, is growing at a historic rate. in other words, the laboratories are great, but now we have forms of testing that are much quicker, much better, and we don't have to use the laboratories, but they're there, and they have a great capacity to do the work. as dr. birx has been advising our governors for weeks, we continue to have an excess testing capacity of one million tests per week available for use and our capabilities are growing every single day, especially with the new tests that are coming on to the market rapidly. as we begin a science-based reopening, we must be extra vigilant in blocking the foreign entry of the virus from abroad. border control, travel restrictions and other limitations on entry are more important than ever to keep the virus in check and allow americans to get back to work. the sacrifices our citizens have made in this time of crisis will be remembered, studied, honored, and praised for generations to come. we're really all working together. democrat, republican, conservative, liberal, we're all working together. this is not about parties. this is about our country. now the american people are ready to rise to the occasion once again. they're ready to show the world once more than americans can defeat any challenger. together we will rebuild this land that we love. we will reclaim the magnificent destiny that we share, and we will carry our nation forward to new heights of greatness and glory. i would now like to ask vice president mike pence and dr. birx to further explain the new guidelines. i want to thank dr. birx. i want to thank dr. fauci, and i want to thank, really especially, a man who has devoted 24 hours a day to his task force and done such an incredible job, our great vice president mike pence. please, mike. >> thank you, mr. president. the members of the white house coronavirus task force today joined the president to meet with bipartisan group of members of the house and of the senate to get their counsel on the development of what the president unveiled to america's governors this afternoon. the new guidelines for opening up america again are a product of the best science and the best common sense that the president has marshaled on this team and from a broad range of advisers from all across the nation. from the moment president trump established the white house coronavirus task force early on, he made it clear that we have no higher priority than the health and safety of the american people. the president launched a whole of government approach. and while we stand here on this day with more than 640,000 americans having contracted the coronavirus, and our hearts go out to the families of the more than 31,000 americans who lost their lives and those who continue to struggle with serious consequences of the coronavirus, the truth is that because of the decisive action that our president took early on, suspending travel from china and thereafter from portions of europe and south korea, screening passengers, because of the strong actions in partnership with every governor across america, because of the extraordinary efforts of america's health care workers on the front lines, and because of the cooperation of the american people and god's grace, we are slowing the spread. we are flattening the curve. we have preserved the capacity of our health care system and we protected the most vulnerable. in a word, because of the actions of this president, this administration, governors at every level, our health care workers, and our fellow americans, we save lives. and every american should be comforted by that. and we can see it in the numbers. in the charts that i'll present today, these three maps track influenza-like illness, which in this instance is mostly coronavirus across america. the first map reflects the total number of cases on the week ending march 28th. the next map reflects our data about the total number of cases on the week ending april 4th. and we stand here today with the final map reflecting the total number of cases across america as of april 11th. with these trends under way, president trump tasked the coronavirus task force for new guidelines opening up america again. those guidelines were presented today first to our nation's governors. and it is our intention at the president's direction to provide these guidelines to assist governors and state health officials in evaluating the most responsible manner to reopen the economies of their states at a time and manner of their choosing. the guidelines as americans who are looking on will note begin with what is the best criteria that our experts have developed. a downward trajectory in cases over a 14-day period of time, ensuring that states have proper capacity in their health care facilities. the second set of includes a description of recommendations for state preparedness. and let me say to the american people what president trump made clear to our governors today, that our administration will continue to work day in and day out through our task force, through fema, to ensure that our states have not only the medical supplies, but that we continue to rapidly expand testing across the nation. the president reflected on the progress we made on testing, but a few statistics for that as well, which i hope are an encouragement to the american people. on march 11th we performed 3,558 tests. the number was 83,500 by march 18th. and as the president just said, that number is 3.5 million today. it is our expectation that we will have test in order than five million americans before the end of the month of april. and we'll continue to scale those resources. so testing and medical supplies will continue to be an ongoing partnership with our state, and we want our health care workers and people all across the country to know of our commitment to that. finally, the president directed us to propose a phased approach to reopening, to reopening our economy. it is based on up to date data and readiness. we'll continue to provide the very best data to our states, working with their health officials. the focus is on the mitigation of any risk of resurgence or emergence of the coronavirus in states where it's not yet emerged. there is a focus in the president's new guidelines on the most vulnerable, and we made this very clear to the governors today, these new guidelines for opening up america again can be implemented on a statewide basis or on a county by county basis. with that, i'm happy to turn it over to dr. deborah birx. and if i may, mr. president, i'd also like to extend my admiration and appreciation to dr. birx, and dr. fauci and every member of our task force that worked around the clock to develop these recommendations for opening up america. i know every american is grateful for your leadership and for theirs. deborah? >> thank you. thank you, mr. president, mr. vice president. we're going to go through these quickly, because i know you have them, and many of you have already spoken to them on television. next slide, please. this is a very important slide. it talks about the gate keeping, on the gate-keeping criteria moving into phase one. it's very much related to what you just saw about influenza-like illness. and the united states has been tracking influenza-like illnesses through the centers for disease control for years. both the state and public health officials are used to watching this. county health officials are used to watching it, and frankly, every family around the united states know house to access on the cdc website. in order to get up to date information for the communities. it also looks at a syndroi syndd a program that can be utilized for a lot of illnesses, but this case will be utilized for respiratory diseases. we're tracking the number of case, and it must have a downward trajectory for 14 days. and a downward trajectory in the number of positive tests with persistence of high levels of testing. for the hospitals, it's to ensure that we can treat all patients without resorting to any crisis care, and ensuring that there is a robust testing program in place for at-risk health care worker, including front line responders with the emerging antibody test. next slide. just to show you what this looks like. so what the cdc did for me under the direction of bob redfield was to chart what the syndromic illnesses were reporting throughout the early part of march. and you can see in new orleans, respiratory diseases were starting to be seen in the emergency room that is the red line. the cases are shown in the dark blue line. the gray mountain is testing, and underneath that is the blue mountain of positives. and you can see that the early alert was present from the emergency room about early respiratory disease. you can see it predated the cases. so throughout the summer, when we do not have flu to contaminate this picture, we'll be able to follow the syndromic pattern, city by city, county by county, community by community, state by state. next slide. in addition, the cdc has the influenza-like illness net distributed throughout the united states. very useful in the wintertime. that first peak is influenza b in the red. that's this season. i showed you all the seasons here. so you could see the seasons are they are displayed. the first peak the influenza b. the second peak influenza a. and then you can see the coronavirus. and you can see its decline, and it's declining towards baseline. this will allow us, again, city by city, community by community, state by state to look for variations in an early response mode in those localities that i described. next slide. so three-point you see that we've brought cdc and their amazing talented individuals at the center for disease control and prevention and all of their abilities to this response, and also to the surveillance that we need in this response. but i want to call your attention to the third bullet on this graphic. so we're tracking those two pieces that i described. the third bullet is about setting up sentinel surveillance sites. to be able to distinguish and find asymptomatic individuals. individuals that you have heard about that may be either presymptomatic or asymptomatic throughout their entire disease course. we want to be able to find them in communities of particular vulnerability. so we'll be doing sentinel surveillance throughout nursing homes, throughout inner city federal clinic, throughout indigenous populations to really be able to find early alerts of asymptomatic individuals in the community and both for the syndromic cases that are tested, the influenza-like cases, and the asymptomatic cases doing contact tracing, again with support from the centers for disease control, working with each state and local government. in addition, we want to make sure that all the health care facilities have adequate personal protective devices, and the equipment to handle the surge. and to ensure the icus can handle increased capacity. we want every state to have a plan for the health and safety of its workers and critical industry, and to protect the health and safeties of those living in high-risk facility, including senior care facilities, as we discussed with sentinel surveillance, but also additional surveillance. when we talked with all of the states that had not had a major metro outbreak, their sentinel surveillances picked up always first cases in nursing homes. and so this is a very much big focus of the plan moving forward. i won't go into the rest of the details on this slide, but there is quite a bit of details on the expectations of every state and local government. next slide. you'll recognize this slide. it's -- next slide, please. you'll recognize this slide. it's what we've been talking about in the 15 and 30 days to prevent the spread. it's continuing those in critical hand-washing or sanitizers. avoiding touching your face at all times, disinfecting surfaces, using face-covering while in public. following state and local guidelines, and critically, staying home if you are sick. i know a lot of people go to the workplace when they are feeling ill. you know when you're feeling ill. you won't get better by going to work. so we're asking again for people to stay home when they're sick. next slide is for employers. to ensure that there can be social distancing and protective equipment, temperature checks, use of disinfectant in high traffic areas, including break rooms, and ensuring that we don't do -- there is no nonessential business travel. and then monitoring for any symptomatic individuals in the workplace. and again, if you become ill at work, to immediately to go home. and ensure that there is contact tracing of all the individuals that become sick. i'm going to go through the phases very quickly, but you have the details. phase one. again, you have to go through those gate criterias related to 14 days of decreasing evidence of illness and decreasing testing, despite adequate testing. phase one begins with all vulnerable individuals, including those with comorbidities continuing to shelter in place. ensuring those that first go out into the public are not those most vulnerable to bad outcomes in this disease. and then ensuring that we continue to do six feet maximum physical distancing in public space, continuing to avoid large gatherings, and all nonessential travel. for the employers, next slide, again, if a vulnerable population needs to return to work and cannot be teleworking, there should be special accommodations for all vulnerable populations as well as options for teleworking. we believe every employee should encourage work return in phases from 20% or 25% to 40% to 50%. and, again, minimize all nonessential travel. phase one continued. next slide. if the schools are already closed, they should remain closed. all visits to senior living facilities and hospitals should continue to be prohibited. large venue, including sit-down dining can only be operated under strict physical distancing protocols and maintaining those six feet. gyms could open if they can adhere to strict physical distancing, and elective surgeries can resume on an outpatient basis. phase two, next slide. next slide. again, you have to go through the criteria, again, of a continuation of another 14-day decline among those criterias that were in the gating. again, we're asking for all vulnerable individuals shelter in place. we did not put a timeline on any of the phases. we want the governors with the data that they have community by community to be settingthose timelines. again, we're asking for the public to continue to maximize physical distance. however, we increased social settings to now be able to have 50 individuals and nonessential travel can resume. next slide. this is for the employers. we still would like to encourage telework and the common area should remain closed or be physically distanced. all nonessential travel for employees can resume, and then again, special accommodations for vulnerable. next slide. it should be a relief to many households that have small children. schools, day cares and camps can reopen in face two. visits to senior living facilities, however, should remain and hospitals prohibited. large venues can operate, but solely under moderate physical distancing, and elective surgeries can resume on an outpatient and inpatient basis. phase three. and so phase three, i won't go through in detail, was essentially returning to our new normal with all of what we talked about through all phases, continuing the good hygiene practices, continuing the respect for spaces between individuals, because we know that we still have an issue with asymptomatic spread. i do believe with this plan that we're both confronting the issue of finding symptomatic individuals through our networks with early alert as well as those that come and present to different hospitals and emergency room with testing and contact tracing. but critically have put in place what we believe is a safety net through asymptomatic sentinel surveillance that is centered around our most vulnerable groups between nursing homes and native american people and indigenous population, and our inner citigroups that we know may be a multigenerational households and of unique risk. i'll stop there, mr. president. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very much, mr. president and mr. vice president. so as you have seen just now from the detailed presentation from dr. birx, this is a rather robust program for reentering into normality. there is a lot of details here, and i know it will take a little bit time to digest them all. so what i thought would be good, since i really want to be brief to allow time for questions is to kind of take us back to the discussions that we've had here before and why this is a natural evolution from what we had said before. you might recall that on a few occasions, when i was up here before you, i told you that when we get to the point where we're going take those steps towards trying to get back to some form of normality, that it would not be a light switch that you could turn on and off. i meant that in two different components. fist of all, that we are a very large country, and we have different dynamics in the country. we have areas of the country that have gone through a terrible ordeal, and others that fortunately have gone and gotten through this rather lightly. so that's the first thing. the second thing is that light switch on and off is the exact opposite of what you see here, which is a gradual gradation with the first thing and the only thing in mind as the health people here, my colleagues who are either physicians, scientists, or public health issues, the predominant and completely driving element that we put into this was the safety and the health of the american public. and i know there are a lot of other considerations that go into opening, considerations that you've heard of righting from this podium. but the dominating drive of this was to make sure that this is done in the safest way possible. so let me just make a couple of comments to just reiterate more from a broader standpoint the things that dr. birx did so well in a very granular detail. first of all, in order to even consider getting into the phasing, you have to pass a hurdle. and that's the hurdle that we refer to as gating in. now when you think about it and look at the map of the country and look at the differences in different parts of the country, you will see that there are some regions, states, locations that are going to be almost already into some of that gating and will have already fulfilled some of those criteria. others, because of the dynamics of the outbreak in their area, will take longer to be able to do that. but you don't get to phase one until you get through the gating. and then in order to make sure that safety and health is the dominant issue, the design of the phases were just that. you go into phase one if you get no rebound and you satisfy the gating for yet again a second time, then you go to phase two. if you have no rebound and you're satisfied the gating criteria for the third time, you go into phase three. so there are multiple checkpoints of safety there. so as i've said from this podium, when we were talking about the first 15 days of the mitigation and then we extended it another 30 days, i essentially pleaded with the american public to say let us make sure we do the best that we can to accomplish that. and in fact mitigation works. you saw the charts that the vice president and that dr. birx put up. it worked. and what we hope and i believe we will be successful if we carefully do this again with the attention to the safety and health of the american public, that we will be able to -- it will be staggered. not every state, not every region is going to do it at the same time. that's clearly obvious because of the very dynamics of the outbreak. but we feel confident that sooner or later, we will get to the point, hopefully sooner with safety as the most important thing to appoint where we can get back to some form of normality. the one thing i liked about it that dr. birx said so well, no matter what phase you're in, there are certain fundamental things that we've done that are not like it was in september and october. you want the call it the new normal? you can indicate whatever you want. but even if you are in phase one, two, three, it's not okay, game over. it's not. it's going to be a way that we protect ourselves because as we know and as i've said from this podium, it may very well be as we go the cycle around that there will be this virus that wants to come back to us. i think we're going to be able to handle that. thank you. >> mr. president. >> go ahe, dr. fauci. >> i assume there is also a phase four which is after a vaccine is developed and available to everybody. so question on phase three being the new normal, are we during that phase going to be able to see things like packed arenas for sporting events, large crowds, concerts? >> the answer is it is conceivable that we will be able to do that. i think that we'll always have to be attention to making sure that we don't do all that packing in together. i think we'll be able to have sports events in that phase where you actually have participants there. i'm not sure you're going to be able to do that uniformly and even temperedly with everyone. but when people get to that phase, paying attention to the fact that if there is a rebound of any sort that when you're in that phase you can respond to that, or you put it back and go the other way. so the flexibility is that there may be some setbacks. let's face it. this is uncharted water. there may be some setbacks that we may have to pull back a little and then go forward. but john, the direct answer to your question, i do see us getting more towards normal. >> mr. president? mr. president, if you take a look at the gating criteria, is that the guidelines, there are at least a handful of state, i just looked at the trend lines, idaho, wyoming, hawaii, montana, who look like they have already satisfied that gating criteria. >> that's right. >> in your call with the governors this afternoon, did you hear back from any states who said we're already there. we could start the process now? >> i did. i heard from a number of governors that said they're in very good shape. i also heard not only from the call, but i heard from some of the governors previous. and i think you have some very good things to report over the next few days about states opening up. and i think having to do with your call on sports, depending on the area, depending where we're talking about, you're going to have large areas of our country where this is not been or has been totally eradicated. you'll be able to have those full arenas. now, with everything being said, a lot of great work has been done on vaccines, but you have a testing process. therapeutics likewise. we have a lot of great things happening therapeutically. that will be a step further. but in terms of sports, they'll probably start off, as you know i spoke to the commissioners yesterday, almost i guess of every sport. and many of them are going to be starting without the fans. so it will be made for television. the good old days, made for television. and it will go that way, and then the fans will start coming in. maybe they'll be separated by two seats, and ultimately, we want to have packed arenas. when the virus is gone, we're going have packed arenas. we'll be back to enjoying sports the way we want them to be. and the same thing for restaurants. at a certain time, when the virus is gone, we're going back to normal. please, go ahead. >> mr. president and the doctors, can you clarify then is the 30-day period to stop the spread, are those mitigation efforts still in place, or have they been replaced by this new guidance? >> well, they're going to be in place to a large extent, and it also depends on the governors, what they want to do. you if you look at montana, wyoming, north dakota, that's a lot different than new york. it's a lot different than new jersey. so it's going to be very dependent on the governor. we're recommending, as you see in the charts, we're recommending certain things. they'll be in place dependent on what the governor wants to do. if we see something wrong, we will be expressing ourselves, very strongly. >> thank you, mr. president. does this mean that states such as montana and utah, will they be able to go to phase one as early as, say, tomorrow, if the governor decide? >> you're talking about those states that are in great shape already? >> yes. >> they will be able to go literally tomorrow. yes. because they've met all the guidelines if you go back. you're going back 14 days. you're going back even a month. and they have the ones i'm thinking about, they've met those guidelines, actually, pretty along ago. >> mr. president, what would your message to those protestors we see? we saw a lot in michigan but other states saying they are refusing to comply with the stay-at-home orders issued by governors and local officials. i mean, isn't it important for everybody to go along with this as we go through these phases? >> well, they've been going through it a long time, john, and it's been a tough process for people. you know, i told you, there's death and there's problems in staying at home, too. it's not just isn't it wonderful to stay at home. they're having -- they're suffering. this country wasn't built that on principle. it was built on an exact opposite principle actually. and i watched, in one particular state, where they were -- they want to get back. they want to get back. there were very strict sanctions that were put on people, that was probably the most strict of all. but i just think the american people have been incredible. when you look at -- john -- when you look at what they've done, when you look at what they've been through, when you look at all of the death and all of the problems and all of the sickness. when you look at what's happened, i just think the american people have been incredible. >> protestors listen to local authorities? >> i think they're listening. i think they listen to me. they seem to be protestors that like me and respect this opin n opinion, and my opinion is the same as just about all of the governors. they all want to open. nobody wants to stay shut. but they want to open safely. so do i. but we have large sections of the country, right now, that can start to think about opening. there will be some mitt gagds a mitigation and they will keep it going for a period of time. i asked a question today. why would they wear masks in wyoming or montana or north dakota? and that's if somebody should come in from an area that isn't so successful in terms of what they've done. so that will be a governor's choice. >> mr. president, you spoke this afternoon with your new congressional advisory groups, 32 bipartisan members of the house, 65 bipartisan members of the senate. one of the big topics was the fact that the small business association loan pot of $350 billion has hit the cap. it's exhausted. there's nothing moving on the $250 billion to replenish it. what did you tell those bipartisan groups, today, about getting the move on? >> right. so just for the viewers watching this or hearing you ask that question, exhausted is a good thing, not a bad thing. it went quickly. it is so popular. the banks have been incredible, including 4,000 community banks. 4,000. most people didn't know you had that many banks. >> still need a loan, though. >> what they want is people want to keep this going, and we're doing it to keep the small businesses open. and to keep the workers paid. and we have $250 billion request. the democrats like it. the republicans love it. and, to be honest, i think something's going to be happening. i hope so because this is a very popular program. it was really executed flawlessly. the first day, they changed an application a little bit. there was -- but when you look at what what bank of america did and wells fargo and citi and a lot of the banks. when you look at what all the community banks did, it's been really incredible. well, we're negotiating with democrats, and they should, frankly, approve it quickly. it's a great thing for our country. it's a great thing for small business and for the workers and we are having a hard time getting them to approve it. i think it's going to happen. it should happen, really, unanimously. but they're trying to get things, and we're not too happy with what they're trying to get. please. >> first, can you just say which states specifically you think -- >> i'd rather not saying, but you will be seeing it very soon. i'd rather have the governor -- the governors -- be able to announce. and they are very proud of it. they've worked hard. some are in an area less susceptible and some was done i think we can say through talent. they worked really hard. we have some states that got too much credit for what they've done. frankly, i could name a couple of those, too. and we have others that haven't been given credit that have done a phenomenal job. >> part of the guidance seems to sort of shift to states and companies. the burden, not just of additional testing and surveillance but, also, the sort of new normal in which there's smaller crowds in restaurants and bars and arenas. >> well, that's not going to be normal. there's not going to be a new normal where somebody has been having, for 25 years, 158 seats in a restaurant and now he's got 30 or he's got 60 because that wouldn't work. that's not normal, no. normal will be if he has the 158 or 68 seats. and that's going to happen. and it's going to happen relatively quickly, we hope. but that's our normal. our normal is if you have 100,000 people in an alabama football game. or 110,000, to be exact. we want 110,000 people that we want every seat occupied. normal is not going to be where you have a game with 50,000 people. >> to that point, i mean, best-case scenario that happens and the states are doing really well in a month. obviously, for i think a lot of other states, it's going to be longer than that. so my question is what is the federal government going to do sort of help, especially companies, but states and local governments in those positions, pay for what is anyway going to be an even longer -- >> we are going to be watching over. we're going to see that everything is working out smoothly. we're in very strong communication with the governors. we're going to be helping with testing. they're going to be doing the testing. it's got to be a localized thing. and it -- it really has been since i've been involved because i came in and federal government's supposed to do testing of parking lots in the middle of a certain state that's 2,000 miles away. it's ridiculous. but the testing has been so incredible. two things. testing and ventilators. ventilators are really tough. they're very complex. they're very expensive. they're, you know, very sophisticated machines. some are unbelievably sew fi sophisticated. gm. we have 11 companies building them. we have not had one complaint, in the last week and a half, which is surge time. don't forget, when they were calling, they were calling because in two weeks and four weeks and five weeks, they're going to need ventilators. not because they need them right now. and we were right on our counts, and nobody that wanted a ventilator didn't get a ventilator. plus, we have additional if there is a surge. we hope there's not going to be a surge at all but we're going to be able to build up the stockpiles of states who didn't have them, who should have had them. and we're, also, going to have a big stockpile in the federal government, and we'll be able to help foreign countries, countries that need help. because you have -- look -- you have countries will never be able to build a ventilator. it's tough stuff. we're uniquely talented in the sense that we can do things that nobody else can do. we'll get right back to you. peter, in the back. >> you said you didn't want to name the states that might be ready to go. but can you give us some where experts, dr. birx, dr. fauci, give us some sense how many. yesterday, you said 29 states were in good shape. >> peter, i think 29 states are in that ball game not for opening. but i think they'll be able to open relatively soon. i think the remainder are just getting better. look. new york, new jersey, are having very tough times and they'll be there. they'll be there, at some point. but they're not going to be one of the earlier states. they're going to be later, obviously.keith mike and a couple of folks. we had a great talk with him. phil is a terrific guy. he's working very hard. democrat. but we get along. he's working very, very hardly. i guess the fact that he's right next to this big, massive city where everybody's closely -- you know, they're together. and new jersey's been hit unbelievably hard. as hard -- as hard as anybody, in the true sense. but they're doing a great job in new jersey. that doesn't mean they're going to be opening next week. that's not one that's going to be. but we have a lot of states that, through location, through luck, and also through a lot of talent, we have states a lot of talent are in a very good position, and they're getting ready to open. over the next short period of time, it's going to be up to the governors. we're going to work with them. we're going to help them but it's going to be up to the governors. i think you are going to see quite a few states starting to open. and i call it a beautiful puzzle. you have 50 pieces. all very different. but, when it's all done, it's a mosaic. when it's all done, it's going to be, i think, a very beautiful picture. and very important is what dr. fauci said. it could be that sometime in the fall, there will be some fla flareups. this is something nobody ever saw before. such contagion and very, very powerful. we all probably have friends. i have a number of people, who were just great people, who were just decimated by what happened. some -- some are dead. right now. they're dead. they went into a hospital. one called me. he said i tested positive. four days later, he was dead. the following day, after he said that, he was unconscious. so this is a tough deal. at the same time, some people got sniffles and they didn't even realize they had a problem. and they are, supposedly, immune. we're going to find out about that. even that's a little bit soon because we don't know how long the immunity lasts. bu