thank you very much everyone thank you
progress being made and I appreciate you
all joining us last night the FDA
announced groundbreaking new policies to
further increase testing over very
substantially so all states can now
authorize tests developed and used
within their borders in addition to the
FDA so the states are very much involved
they have been involved from the
beginning but we're setting it up as
much as we can and the testing
procedures are going well and within a
short period of time all of the private
labs will kick in this never been done
before and it's it's gonna be something
very I think it's gonna be incredible if
it's done properly and these are great
companies these are among the greatest
companies in the world actually so the
state's going to be dealing through
themselves and with local government and
local physicians local everybody they're
also dealing with us but we have a
tremendous testing capacity today we're
also announcing a dramatic expansion of
our Medicare telehealth services
Medicare patients can now visit any
doctor by phone or video conference at
no additional cost including with
commonly used services like FaceTime and
Skype a historic breakthrough this has
not been done before either
in addition states of the authority to
recover telehealth services for their
medical patients and by doing this the
patient is not seeing the doctor per se
but they're seeing the doctor so there's
no getting close during this time we
will not enforce applicable HIPAA
penalties so that doctors can greatly
expand care for their patients using
telehealth so the penalties won't be
enforced we encourage everyone to
maximize use of telehealth to limit
exposure to the virus it's been a very
successful method of communication but
never used on a on a scale like we're
going to use at telehealth and you'll be
able to also better maintain hospital
capacity by doing this
earlier this morning I spoke with
executives from America's fast food
industry Wendy's McDonald's all of the
the big ones Burger King and they were
great talking about the pick ups in
light of yesterday's guidance you heard
to avoid eating or drinking at bars
restaurants or public food courts we
discussed the important role that the
drive-thru pickup and delivery service
can play in the weeks ahead so that's
happening and they have been fantastic
they have been absolutely fantastic and
they've been doing it already but
they're keeping it open and smaller
staffs very capable people and very
capable companies and they're doing it
pick ups our guidance yesterday urges
Americans to take action for 15 days to
help stem the outbreak so it's a 15-day
period I guess now would say it's a
14-day period 15 days from yesterday and
we're asking everyone to work at home a
possible postpone unnecessary travel and
limit social gatherings to no more than
10 people by making shared sacrifices
and temporary changes we can protect the
health of our people and we can protect
our economy because I think our economy
will come back very rapidly so it's 15
days from yesterday we'll see what
happens after that if we do this right
our country and the world frankly but
our country can be rolling again pretty
quickly pretty quickly we have to fight
that invisible enemy I guess unknown but
we're getting to know it a lot better
today the Senate has taken up
coronavirus legislation that includes
free testing for those who need it as
well as paid sick leave and family
medical leave for work is affected by
the virus we're also committed to
getting small businesses a support that
they need in fact one of the things we
talked about with the fast-food
operations we spoke to the chairman and
CEOs of all of the companies but one of
the things we discussed is exactly that
getting small businesses support and
flexibility that they need for
themselves and for their workers and
that's being worked
right now at my direction secretary
minuchin is meeting today with senators
on additional stimulus packages I can
tell you who is meeting with them late
until the night last night and for a big
part of the day yesterday and tremendous
things are happening there's great
spirit tremendous spirit and I can say
that for Republicans and Democrats I can
say that with respect to Governor Cuomo
we had a great talk this morning we're
both doing a really good job and we're
coordinating it and we agree you know
different states need different things
and we we agree on that a hundred
percent but with a very good talk and I
think we're right down the same track
and it's going to be very successful New
York has a pretty big problem I guess
would be the number one hotspot that's
no fault of anybody it's just the way it
is but we're working very closely
together we're also getting FEMA very
much involved they've been involved but
now we're getting them to a different
level and we'll have everything ready
we're dealing with the Army Corps of
Engineers should that be necessary we
have them working in some cases on
standby in other cases but my
conversation with Andrew Cuomo was a
very very productive one and a very good
one I appreciate that we're giving
relief to affected industries and small
businesses and we're ensuring that we
emerge from this challenge with the
prosperous and growing economy because
that's what's going to happen it's going
to pop one day we'll be standing
possibly up here we'll say well we won
and we're going to say that sure as
you're sitting there we're gonna say
that and we're going to win and I think
we're going to win faster than people
think I hope later today I'll meet with
the leaders from determined tourism
industry as well as industrial supply
retailers and wholesalers to discuss
their critical roles as you know I met
with the department store people all of
the retailers the big ones including
Walmart and others and it was great
meeting they're stocking up their stores
like they have never stopped him before
we're trying to get people to actually
buy less if that's possible
by less
don't take everything just buy what you
need for a while it's their gonna stay
open all hours of the day and they've
really been they've been fantastic we're
taking aggressive action now as one
nation and one family so that America
can rebound stronger frankly stronger
than ever before and we recognize that
while many American workers can work
from home many others cannot many of our
health care providers first responders
and men and women in the food service
and manufacturing are showing that
they're showing up and standing up to
provide us with the goods and services
we need so we want people to stay home
where they can but many cases when you
talk about food service and
manufacturing certain items in
particular they are they're going in and
they're practicing all of the safety
rules and regulations that we talk about
so with that I'd like to just introduce
our trade vice president Mike Pence
he'll say a few words and then I'll make
some other introductions thank you very
much Thank You mr. president good
morning it should be very clear to the
American people that President Trump has
initiated not only a whole-of-government
approach but a whole of America approach
and the president's interaction even
today and through the course of this day
with leaders in industry around the
country reflects that we're not only
bringing the full weight of the federal
government to bear but the full weight
of the American economy and I know I
speak on behalf of the president when I
say how inspired we are at the way the
American people have stepped up in the
way that American businesses large and
small have stepped up this truly been
inspiring our task force met this
morning and we continue to focus on
president Trump's priorities of testing
prevention and supplies and in that
category I'm pleased to report that that
while testing is available in all 50
states as the president just indicated
through the swift action of the FDA at
the encouragement of governors around
the country now state health authorities
can authorize labs in their state and
expand existing testing capabilities but
also in connection with the FDA's action
which you'll hear more about in a moment
we
have continued to expand the public and
private partnership that the president
forged with vast commercial laboratories
around the country increasing access to
the high volume of high throughput
coronavirus testing that is that is
greatly expanding access even as we
speak
also our task force received a report
this morning on the progress that the US
Public Health Service and FEMA are
making working closely with state
governments and also partners in the
private sector like CVS Target Walgreens
and Walmart to expand remote testing
sites around the country and we'll have
a full report later this week as those
come online it's important the American
people understand the testing is
happening all over the country but all
of our health experts wanted me to tell
the American people you don't need the
results of testing to know what you
should do and president Trump's 15 day
coronavirus guidelines our advice for
every American in every community
they're the result of the best guidance
of CDC and our health experts and as the
president said we continue to urge every
American over the next 15 days to put
into practice the principles in the
president's coronavirus guidelines by
every American practicing these
principles we believe that we can slow
the spread of the corona virus in fact
our experts have told our Task Force
that if every American acts on the
president's coronavirus guidelines we
could see a substantial reduction in the
spread of the corona virus but as the
president said it will take all of us to
do it so if you feel sick stay home if
someone in your house tests positive
keep the entire household home
especially if you're a person with an
underlying health condition we urge you
to stay home and practice social
distancing from people though social
gatherings of more than 10 people use
drive-through as the president discussed
with leaders in the industry today and
every American especially practicing
common sense and good hygiene for the
American people as a whole the
of serious illness remains low but we're
asking every American to partner with us
in this effort
to slow the spread of the virus and
especially to be mindful of seniors or
others with serious underlying health
conditions for whom the threat of the
corona virus can be very significant and
very real as I said the president has
continued to push our task force to
bring a whole-of-government a whole of
America approach and we continue to be
inspired the way our nation's governors
and nation businesses are responding we
spoke just yesterday with the leaders of
every broadcast network in America that
will soon be unveiling a public service
campaign using CDC guidelines and
specifically as we work on the issue of
supplies meetings yesterday with
Department of Defense officials about
excess supplies the president and I will
be meeting today to speak about the
supply chain for hospitals we would make
one specific request and that is we
would urge construction companies to
donate their inventory of n95 mass to
your local hospital and forgo additional
orders of those industrial masks because
of what the president asked to be
included in legislation moving through
the Congress today those industrial
masks that they use on construction
sites are perfectly acceptable for
health care workers to be protected from
a respiratory disease but we're asking
construction companies that our
president knows very well from his
background we're asking them to donate
their n95 masks to their local hospitals
and also forego making additional orders
at the president's direction we will we
will continue to do whatever it takes
we'll continue to marshal the best of
the American people the best of all the
people behind me the people behind them
our state and local officials and we
will get through this and we will get
through this together thank you mister
I want to thank Chad Wolfe and homeland
security in the job they did at the
airports was really incredible they
screened thousands and thousands of
people O'Hara we've got backed up but a
little bit but they got him out and but
everybody was screened and screened very
carefully they didn't want to rush it
there was 13 airports and it was it was
an incredible thing then they had a big
surge also from the UK and Ireland and
that went very smoothly but they did a
fantastic job they work long hours and
they did a fantastic job I'd like to
introduce Steve minuchin and then I'm
going to ask Steve to leave because he's
going to the hill he's been working very
hard with the Senate and with actually
with the house on a very very big bold
package it's gonna be big and it's going
to be bold and the level again of
enthusiasm to get something done I don't
think I've ever seen anything quite like
it so state minuchin please Thank You
mr. president
I'd like to announce some very
significant actions that the president
has approved today the first I would say
is earlier today I sent a letter to Fed
Chairman Powell approving his request to
use 13:3 and what that will do is the
Fed will be setting up a special purpose
vehicle which the Treasury will invest
10 billion dollars in from one of our
funds that will enable the Fed to
guarantee the purchase of a 1p one
commercial paper going forward that is a
one trillion dollar market and is
critical to American workers it's
critical to American business and it's
in critical to American savers who have
a lot of that money in money market
funds so we heard loud and clear there
were liquidity issues this is very
significant and will create I don't
think we'll need to use it all but we
have the ability to have the Fed
purchase up to one trillion dollars of
commercial paper is needed that has
already created significant stability in
the market today the second thing I
would say is you know we previously
talked about
deferring IRS payments the president
earlier this morning authorized me to
announce this program I have previously
announced we would defer 200 billion the
president suggested we increased that to
300 billion which will we will be doing
now let me just be clear on the
specifics we encourage those Americans
who can file their taxes to continue to
file their taxes on April 15th because
for many Americans you will get tax
refunds and we don't want you to lose
out on those tax refunds we want you to
make sure you get them many people do
this electronically which is easy for
them and easy for the IRS if you owe a
payment to the IRS you can defer up to a
million dollars as an individual and the
reason why we're doing a million dollars
is that covers lots of pass throughs and
small businesses and ten million dollars
to corporations interest-free and
penalty free for 90 days all you have to
do is file your taxes you'll
automatically not get charged interest
in penalties now of course any American
has the right to extend their taxes
we're not taking that are right but the
president has asked us to go up to 300
billion dollars that's also an enormous
amount of liquidity in the system the
third thing is the president and I
worked on a very significant economic
stimulus plan thank you for being
available last night and throughout this
morning and I will be presenting that to
the Republicans in the Senate this
morning and also discussing that with
the house we look forward to having
bipartisan support we're now working
with the Senate to pass this legislation
very quickly and these will be payments
to small businesses we've talked about
loan guarantees so two critical
industries such as Airlines and hotels
and we've also talked about a stimulus
package to the American worker you can
think of this as something like business
interruption payments for the American
workers thank you do you have any
questions for the secretary of the
Treasury
for American workers do you mean direct
payments to Americans are you talking
about a payroll tax holiday although the
president likes the idea that the
payroll tax holiday I will tell you what
we've heard for many people and the
president has said we can consider this
the payroll tax holiday would get people
money over the next six to eight months
we're looking at sending checks to
Americans immediately and what we've
heard from hardworking Americans many
companies have now shut down whether
it's bars or restaurants Americans need
cash now and the president wants to get
cash now and I mean now in the next two
weeks I will be previewing that with the
Republicans there's some numbers out
there they may be a little bit bigger
than what's in the process we've had
discussions with all the airline CEOs
this week the airline CEOs have had
conversations with the Senate and the
house as the president said I was up
with a subset of the Republican senators
last night I've discussed that with them
I think as you know this is worse than
9/11 for the airline industry this is
they are almost ground to a halt the
president wants to make sure that
although we don't want people to travel
unless it's critical we want to maintain
for critical travel the right to have
domestic travel I'm not gonna comment on
the specifics I will tell you we're very
focused there's a lot of workers the
this is strategically important to us
and we'll be working with Congress on
the airline industry we'll be in good
shape yeah go ahead thousand dollars tax
to every American increasing support
among Republicans and some Democrats for
that would you support that going to
everyone or would you support some sort
of income restriction on who gets a
check well I think it's clear we don't
need to send people who make a million
dollars a year checks okay but we like
that's one of the ideas we like we're
gonna preview that today and then we'll
be talking about details afterwards well
I think I think we're going to do
something that gets money to them as
quickly as possible that may not be an
accurate way of doing it because
obviously some people shouldn't be
getting checks for $1,000
we'll have a pretty good idea by the end
of the day what we're going to be doing
was the mechanics of this work we've
been talking about a payroll tax holiday
some 500 billion dollars worth was
floated to me to Davis so how would this
idea of sending people to checked work
would you would that be sort of an
advance on what they would pay attention
again we want to make sure Americans get
money in their pockets quickly we want
to make sure small business owners have
access to funds we want to make sure
that hotels airlines we have an entire
package will be laying out those details
later today yeah I have to say this
there are four different ways you can do
it that's before you can hear me well
enough and magic in this story okay
those are very important people come to
think of it especially your people look
we have four or five ways we can do it
four ways in particular I think there's
a fifth possibility but there are some
very good ways of getting the money out
and getting it out quickly payroll tax
is one way but it does come over a
period of months many months and we want
to do something much faster than that so
I think we have ways of getting money
out pretty quickly and very accurately
instructed me we have to do this now so
this is now week we are going to work
with the Senate who's in session right
now actively we will continue to have
conversations with the house I've
already spoken to Speaker Pelosi once
today this is stuff that needs to be
done now the president has instructed me
that this is no fault to American
workers for medical reasons we are
shutting down parts of this economy and
we're going to use all the tools we have
as I've said and what tools we don't
have we're going back to Congress I got
to go back to you
million dollars to those who might be
concerned that's too it we don't want to
talk about it but it's a substantial
number we're going big the expression we
could do it two ways we could keep going
back every day or every week we're going
big and that's where Mitch McConnell
that's the way he wants to go that's the
way I want to go I think we want to get
it done and have a big infusion as
opposed to going through little meetings
every every couple of days we don't want
to do it that way we want to go big go
solid the country is very strong we've
never been so strong and that's what
we're going to be doing we don't want
with this invisible enemy we don't want
airlines going out of business we don't
want people losing their jobs or not
having money to live when they were
doing very well just four weeks ago so
we're going big and that's the way it'll
be and that's the way everybody seems to
like it on the hill any other question
on that call a lot of restaurants have
to close even if they are doing delivery
they're not making as much money as they
would with a full house let me make two
comments on on the restaurants and the
president understands this that this was
emphasized this morning first of all we
want to make sure that the states allow
the drive-thru portion of these fast
foods to stay open particularly in a
time period where we're telling people
don't go to restaurants these companies
feed a big part of America and I expect
they're gonna feed a bigger part of
America the second thing they asked me
to emphasize I wasn't going to do it now
but as long as you asked many of these
companies have apps you can order ahead
of time that way when you get there it's
as simple as they'll have it packed they
can give it to you as social distancing
and it'll be very fast so we expect that
they will be able to feed a large part
of the population and in regards to
support I will say a lot of these
businesses are small businesses or
companies franchisees 500 or less and we
have a specific program we'll be
unveiling that helps all businesses
small and medium-sized businesses of 500
and less suits
question regarding Marriott corporation
and announced that it is furloughing
thousands of individuals because of the
impacts of the coronavirus rule your
legislation
I hope so that's one of the reasons why
we got to act very quickly because we
understand whether it's the airlines
hotels for good reasons to protect the
United States on medical issues these
businesses are shut down and the
president wants to make sure as I've
said we will use all the powers we have
you saw this today trillion dollars of
potential liquidity into the market and
the powers we don't have we're going to
Congress and I will say there's a lot of
bipartisan support for these issues so
I'm going to apologize because I have to
go deal with some other I do want to
comment on this okay we absolutely
believe in keeping the markets open okay
Americans need to know they have access
to their money after September 11th the
only reason why the markets were closed
was because the technology was disrupted
I've been on the phone with the major
banks with the New York Stock Exchange
everybody wants to keep it open we may
get to a point where we shorten the
hours if that's something they need to
do but Americans should know that we are
going to do everything to make sure that
they have access to their money at their
banks to the money in their 401ks and to
the money in stocks so I want to just be
very clear we intend to keep the markets
open and the banks are record-setting
strong so we have we have that which is
a much different event and what we had
not so long ago
mr. mister president you mentioned the
Army Corps of Engineers of the
conversation with Governor Cuomo people
leaves in New York is going to run out
of hospital beds are you prepared to
mobilize your kness to increase capacity
yes we're starting to we're studying the
process and it's a process we hope it's
not going to be necessary but it could
be necessary the state is working on it
very hard themselves but we'll probably
supplement what they're doing and given
that many of the precursors for our
pharmaceuticals come from China and
there have been destroyed as there have
been supply disruptions that supply
chain has been broken to some degree you
expect that we could run into a shortage
of prescription drugs no I don't see
that at all and I think Jen has every
incentive to make sure that things work
well Jonah wants to make sure that
things work very well they have every
incentive to do so Jeff the governor of
Ohio has called off the election that
was supposed to happen today the primary
election do you agree with that decision
and what steps are you taking to ensure
that elections going forward if this
pandemic i continues that elections will
be able to happen including the course
ii think one of the fall well the
governor Ohio is doing a great job he
called that off and we'll see what
happens as a court case and it hasn't
been fully determined yet but if he
called it off I could understand that
because you know he he's definitely
somebody that knows what he's doing
we'll be seeing what very soon you know
they're going by the rule of 10 as
opposed to 50 and it's pretty tough I
would say probably you could violate
that if you wanted to for an election I
just think an election is a very special
thing he's going to chose he chose a
different date I think a date sometime
in June but that would be a decision
that would be made by him he felt it was
necessary the courts are somebody's
challenging it so the courts will
ultimately decide we're still in this
situation
yeah while I'm doing what I'm doing
Jones very simple we're getting rid of
this virus that's what we're doing
that's the best thing we can do by the
way for the markets for everything it's
very simple very simple solution we want
to get rid of it we want to have very as
few deaths as possible this is a
horrible thing you look at what's going
on with Italy we don't want to be in a
position like that but a much larger
because we're a much larger country we
don't want to be there and I think we've
done really well I think we've done well
I think the states have done well we're
all working together the best thing we
can do is get rid of the virus once it's
gone it's gonna pop back like nobody's
ever seen before that's my opinion but I
think it'll pop right we've ordered
massive numbers of ventilators we have
by any normal standards we have a lot of
respirators ventilators we have
tremendous amounts of equipment but
compared to what we're talking about
here this has never been done before and
yesterday I gave the governor is the
right to go order directly if they want
if they feel they can do it faster then
going through the federal government now
we've knocked out all of the bureaucracy
it's very direct but it's still always
faster to order directly and I gave them
that was totally misinterpreted by the
New York Times on purpose unfortunately
but the the but it's very important yes
please a president directed us to work
with the Department of Defense there's
two ways that DoD can be helpful in
terms of expanding medical capacity I
know the governor of New York has asked
us to look at the Army Corps of engineer
which could perhaps renovate existing
buildings but the president also has us
inventorying what you all would
understand as field hospitals or mass
hospitals that can be deployed very
quickly we spoke with Governor Inslee
yesterday in Washington State we have
resources in that part of the country
that we could move and as governors make
these requests we will process them
bring them to the president but there
are two different lanes that VOD can
provide in addition to many men
Oh supplies to augment our national
reserves and the president has tasked us
to to evaluate and make available and to
consider every every request from
governor's for either field hospitals
expanding facilities or the Army Corps
of engineer that could retrofit existing
buildings
the Army Corps is very prepared to do as
we say and we're looking at where it's
going but and they do call them mash
hospitals but the field hospitals go
very quickly there we have them we have
all of this equipment in stock and we're
looking at different sites and a few
different locations and we're not going
to need them in West Virginia where so
far I guess they have none still none
still none West Virginia Big Jim the
governor's you must be doing a good job
that's what's reported well that's all
that I just see West Virginia is the
only one that has no cases so obviously
that's being treated differently than in
New York or or a California different
parts of California I do say this so the
the Army Corps of Engineers is ready
willing and able we have to give them to
go ahead if we find that it's going to
be necessary we think we can have quite
a few units up very rapidly I'm gonna
work with Governor Cuomo I'm going to
work with a number of the governor's
governor Newsom has been very generous
and is in his words and I'm being
generous to him too because we're all
working together very well and and I
think a lot a lot of very positive
things have taken place we're talking to
California about different sites but we
can we can have a lot of units up fairly
quickly if we think we need them I think
what I'll do is I might ask Seema to say
a few words on the telehealth and then
we can get back to this place Sheila
Thank You mr. president
and as the president announced earlier
we are doing a dramatic expansion of
what's known as telehealth for our 62
million Medicare beneficiaries who are
amongst the most vulnerable to the
corona virus and we're acting in accord
with the appropriations bill that was
signed on March 6 as well as the
president's emergency declaration last
week
and this action is a part of our broader
effort to ensure that government
requirements rules and regulations don't
get in the way of patient care during an
emergency and today's announcement
builds on the significant progress of
the president has already made over the
past three years around telehealth
services and all we have allowed for
virtual check-ins full telehealth
benefits have been restricted to those
living in rural areas established
patients and just for those brief visits
but no longer Medicare beneficiaries
across the nation no matter where they
live will now be able to receive a wide
range of services via telehealth without
ever having to leave home and these
services can also be provided in a
variety of settings including nursing
homes hospitals outpatient departments
and more and thanks to the leadership of
HHS will also be temporarily relaxing
certain HIPAA requirements so that
doctors can provide telehealth with
their own phones and we'll be using
enforcement discretion when it comes to
collecting co-pays so that cost won't be
a barrier this is a part of our larger
efforts around mitigation and as we are
encouraging Americans to stay home
whenever possible we don't want our
Medicare policies getting in the way and
so consider the implications of this
perhaps an elderly patient with diabetes
needs routine checkup and this has
nothing to do with the corona virus and
so with our new telehealth benefits this
person who's not really who's at risk
for the corona virus doesn't have to
venture outside their home they can talk
to their doctor via Skype and they don't
have to risk exposure to the virus and
they can receive that care from the
safety of their own home it could be
another Medicare recipient who's
experiencing mild flu-like symptoms and
instead of leaving the house and sitting
in a waiting room full of other
vulnerable people they can also receive
advice from their doctor from their home
and this shift is very important for
clinicians and providers who over the
coming weeks will face considerable
strain on their time and resources and
now Medicare patients who don't
absolutely need to come in to an office
won't have to and this allows the health
care system to prioritize
for care for those that are more and
that have more needs or in dire need and
preserves protective equipment as well
state Medicaid agencies can also provide
telehealth services without federal
approval and so we're asking all states
to make this available as well and we've
also asked private insurance companies
to expand their telehealth benefits and
make it clear to their providers and
their members what they cover as our
nation seeks to balance the twin
imperatives of getting Americans the
care that they need during this outbreak
and limiting the spread of the virus the
impact of this historic action simply
cannot be overstated in an emergency
those on the front lines shouldn't have
to worry about federal rules and red
tape hamstringing them when they need
flexibility above all else and we're
doing everything in our power to make
sure that that doesn't happen I also
just want to briefly mention that
because of the president's emergency
declaration we do have the ability to
provide a lot of Medicaid waivers and
Florida was the first state to be
approved we were able to do that in a
matter of days thank you any questions
where do you see your citizens go for
instructions on how to do the tillow
they should call their doctor's office
and their doctor's office can tell them
how to do that
I'm also you know there may be some of
our Medicare members that may not have
access to equipment so we're asking
family members but to help with this but
also respecting the requirements around
social distancing and if any of those
family members or neighbors have
symptoms they should obviously stay
won't be posting members or so that's
correct I used way to do it if you post
and they can also call our 1-800
Medicare number and they can also get
information those phone lines are open
thank you
Admiral if you say a few words about
where we're going we're going to have
dr. Brooks just say well thank you very
much as we talked about earlier this
week the commercial system is rapidly
advancing in the testing capabilities as
of today our public health laboratories
meaning the CDC and the public health
labs have reported out 30 1878 tests so
almost 32,000 tests the clinical
laboratories the Association of clinical
laboratories have reported out 20 about
27,000 tests and most importantly of
those 27,000 during the cumulative
period of time 8200 of them were
yesterday this is showing the dramatic
ramp is the high throughput comes in we
don't have the numbers this morning from
the American Hospital Association which
means all the individual Hospital
laboratories we will have that up coming
in the next day or so and then
ambassador birx will have this whole
process a fixed under with the
legislation that everything will roll up
into a common reporting probably by the
end of next week in terms of our
drive-thru laboratories again these are
blossoming all over the country by
individual states the ones that we are
heavily involved in and really pushing
equipment to we expect over the next few
days to begin setting up 47 of these in
approximately 12 states the material is
already palletized and being shipped to
the locations most cities have the
specific locations some do not but it's
still going to a central receiving and
we know that we'll be deploying at least
140 commissioned Corps officers about
half of the sites have reported their
requirements about 140 officers will be
going we expect that to go up so this is
going on the way we expected we did a
trial site yesterday with a full mobile
unit for driving through with full PPE
we had a lot of kinks in the system as
you can expect that's why we do a test
before we go out into the field don't
expect these to be a hundred percent
perfect the moment they come they're
going to be adapted to the state and
local
situation but we're very confident that
these will add testing to the already
very robust health care system and
commercial system Thank You mr.
president and this has never been done
before and it sets a great roadmap for
future
should we have something like this in
the future I hope we don't but it's
never been done before and they've done
an incredible job and again we're
working with the states and relying on
the states we have to because they they
have its point of sale its point of
sight and we're in I think just about
every instance getting along really well
with the with the states if I could
doctor Brooks if you could say a couple
of words president so I think what
you've been hearing from us is to find
solutions that are high-quality and
sustainable based on the front line
workers and governor's request and I
those come in on the governor's call
we've been immediately responsive to
those and that's the the level of red
tape and bureaucracy that we have
removed I think that point about
sustainability and quality is very
important because as the president says
we're creating a roadmap for a different
level of functionality for future
pandemics our flu pandemic preparedness
plan was a plan now we're seeing where
we have to revise where we have to
create new avenues of research and new
avenues of work to really ensure that
the need of the American people can be
reached
we were adamant about having a high
quality test based on our commercial
vendors over the next few months you
will begin to see that other tests that
were utilized around the world we're not
of the same quality resulting in false
positives and potentially false
negatives these tests were studied and
studied by the FDA to really ensure that
they are that level of quality and we've
given the states the permission to
ensure that same level of quality now I
want to just say one minute on the
testing testing should not be used as an
assessment of your risk we are asking
every single American no matter what
your generation from Z and up to X and
Millennials in between
to really ensure that you're following
these guidelines we hear every night of
people who are not in work moving that
time into bars and other areas of large
gatherings if we continue with that
process we will fail in containing this
virus so every single generation has a
role to play we're asking our older
generation to stay in their homes and
we're asking the younger generations to
support them in social contacting
through videos and other Skype type
functions or just the simple telephone
we're asking the younger generations to
stop going out in public places to bars
and restaurants and spreading a
symptomatic virus onto countertops and
knobs and grocery stores and grocery
carts I heard an innovation last night
and this morning again on the news I
really want to applaud the private
sector who are now creating senior only
shopping times I think that's
extraordinary I think that shows what
America brings and I think other
countries will learn from us about how
to really protect seniors in this type
of way I'm hoping that carries through
to next year when we have our flu
epidemic where we can really have a very
different prototype for a file of the
amount of mortality that we have during
flu that we never talked about anywhere
from 15,000 to 45,000 individuals are
lost every year if we learn how to do
this well and sustain some of those core
changes we can change the way
respiratory viruses not only for this
but the future affect Americans it's a
big thing a question on the clinical
data so we've had now early 5,000 people
test positive we've had 90 deaths or so
when are we going to know the data of
who those people are who has been
infected what the ages are what the
pre-existing conditions are how serious
it was both for those who have been
tested positive but also those who have
died
well you're singing my sheet of music
I'm very data oriented so thank you for
bringing up this issue of data I really
want to applaud HHS we had a discussion
about this several days ago they've made
calls into Seattle and California to
really understand that and also
importantly to understand how many of
their patients needed ventilators how
many of them needed oxygen support how
many of them needed and what they needed
could we predict early someone who was
going to have a more difficult course
these are all the questions we're asking
right and answering right now we did get
an early report back from Santa Clara
and Seattle we're digesting it we just
got it this morning we're looking at
that carefully because we think that
roadmap is very important to other
communities we have not discussed this
with New York yet we do know from other
countries and that all is available
online that profile you can see that
mortality under 30 is extraordinarily
low the mortality across the board
outside of Wuhan is now settling
somewhere around 0.7 but that should not
be reassuring because it's much higher
in people with pre-existing medical
conditions even if young and people that
are older with pre-existing medical
conditions and so we still want every
American focused on doing what they can
do today to change the course of this
pandemic commit to making that data
public so we will all know we're
committed not only to making it public
but to have a website that everyone can
see in real-time
there you are signaling a much more
aggressive posture toward containment
mitigation now in many states have been
very aggressive but there is a small
number of states that has not have not
issued public guidance to their
residents is it important for the
success of the effort that 100% of the
states be forward leaning on this and if
so mr. president what would be your
message to those states that have not
so that's why the vice president and the
president yesterday issued those
critical guidelines as I said this
morning on Fox and Friends you can look
at them as with guidelines you can look
at on requirements and you can look at
him as the president asking every
American in every state to follow those
that's why we put them out at the
federal level we wanted to make sure
every American knew what they could do
today to change the course of this
epidemic
I think it's empowering I think it says
all of us have a social responsibility
to each other and that's why we believe
that every mayor and every governor
should be instituting these guidelines
that came from the White House and the
President of the United States and we've
been very tough in those states I know
exactly who you're talking to
we've been very tough in there thank you
you've been telling us for days now that
millions of tests have been sent out so
why have fewer than 60,000 people
actually been tested I think you will
see different numbers this week you
heard just at 8,000 remember all of
these tests the high-speed tests were
approved last Friday last Friday night
and last Thursday night I think if I
could talk to thermo Fisher and the
other groups that have these platforms
out there do not rely on a pull
technology push out those tests because
we can only make them available groups
have to order them so I we've been
talking to thermo Fisher one of the key
platforms to push out tests based on
need and not wait for orders
that's a great question I know part of
it is getting the test out right now I
think the Admiral and others are working
on getting that the issues related to
getting the test conducted obviously
that does take time he is working on
innovative solutions that are creative
and sustainable that will be a game
changer in testing but we don't have the
data yet this is a critical comparator
can you do it yourself
can you actually sample yourself these
these are the kinds of things we're
working on right now and he's getting
the data for us the states are actually
doing a lot of the governor's and the
states are doing a lot of it with even
our tests thank you can you give us a
sense of how long these tough new
restrictions will need to be in place
until we start to see the rate of this
virus going down and also can you speak
to this study that as many as 2.2
million people in the United States
could die if their work this type of
action by the government taken I think
you know models are models and they're
based on input and they're based on
infectiousness without any controls I
can tell you we've never seen that level
of infections that modeled up to that
2.2 million and mortality so we are
looking at that we are having a
particularly model meeting tomorrow I
think that's really going to be
important I've dealt with a lot of
modelers in my time they're wonderful
people but they all have their favorite
inputs and they all have their favorite
integration functions so we're
evaluating all of those so we can
integrate and create the best model for
the United States based on the best data
and that first set of recommendations
you saw were based on what we could do
today to prevent anything that looks
like that if I could just say one other
thing to the hospitals and dentists out
there things that don't need to be done
over the next two weeks don't get it
done if you're a person with an electric
cert elective surgery you don't want to
go into a hospital right now there's a
lot of distraction there's a lot of
people doing a lot of other things to
save people's lives so let's all be
responsible and cancel things that we
can cancel
to really free up hospital beds in space
and then let's do everything that we can
to ensure that we don't need the
ventilators because we've protected the
people who would have needed to use them
are you looking at the possibility of
more actions like for example limiting
travel within the United States are you
it's possible it's possible we'll see
how it goes
it's been great cooperation with local
governments States
we'll see how it goes it's going it's
going right now pretty well yeah well
we're able to do that if we have to
right now we haven't had to but it's
certainly ready if I want it we can do
it very quickly we've studied it very
closely over two weeks ago actually
we'll make that decision pretty quickly
if we need it we hope we don't need it
it's a big step you know when you say
the stage in particular three states
need some help and some states you know
have two people three people no people
in the case of again West Virginia so
we're looking at it very closely we've
taken it apart 15 different ways it's a
very difficult thing to do it's a very
big step and if we need that step we'll
take it okay a lot of people got
traveled to places that are considered
hot spots you know Caribbean Mexico that
sort of thing over the next few weeks
would you recommend that they follow
through these plans I would just say
enjoy your home stay I would just say
right now we we have to get this problem
fixed and then we'll get back into
business real really quick we'll open up
our country we'll open up our society
the world will hopefully open up we see
areas of the world that are that haven't
done well and we see areas that are
doing very well and I would put us in
the category of doing very well for a
country so big I think that I would
recommend that they just enjoy their
living room yeah go ahead please
guidelines from the White House and then
also I have a question on asymptomatic
yeah I'm not happy with those people if
they're not but you know those people
are being shouted down by other people
they know they're being it's almost like
self policing people went in there are a
couple of instances I guess probably
more than a couple where people are not
happy when they see others doing what
they're not supposed to be doing we have
to get rid of this we have to win this
war and ideally quickly quickly
there's the longer it takes it's not a
good situation and I'm not even talking
about the economy I'm talking about the
lives of a lot of people yeah please
together I think it's all the work in
progress what President Trump has made
clear to industries around the country
is that we're gonna do whatever it takes
we understand this is an extraordinary
moment in the life of our nation it's
the reason why the president brought in
leaders of the financial sector airline
industry he'll meet with all additional
industry leaders today in tourism and
hospitality but he has tasked the
secretary of the Treasury to work with
members of Congress in both parties to
make sure that we construct the kind of
economic support that will allow those
industries to weather the period of the
corona virus and then to come back
stronger than ever before we've had
we've had such incredible I don't know
it's almost the word spirit is the best
way it's like a spirit the banks have
come in and the banks are doing things
that they would have never done they're
working on extensions and lots of things
that they wouldn't have done co-pays
with regard to the insurance companies I
mean for them to be doing what they're
doing you know all about the co-pays
they would have never done that and they
did it they were in my office they I
would say the 11 biggest in this country
I guess probably the 11 biggest of the
world the big ones are all the big ones
and they they did things on copay that
nobody would be doing that they wouldn't
have done in a million years but they're
doing it there's a great spirit going on
right
in the country so you want to yes please
doctor chachi doctor pouchy you've said
you like being accused of overreacting
because that is an indication we may be
doing things necessary to beat this bend
the curve how long do you think it will
take for you to be confident that yes
we're bending the curve or no or not you
know I can't give you a firm number on
that because the dynamics of outbreaks
in some respects are predictable
historically they do this and that we
don't know because this is really
unprecedented I mean of all the
outbreaks that I've been involved with
over the last at least 36 years and then
going historically back we've never had
a situation where the mobilization of
all the different components travel
restrictions internal the containment
mitigation financial assistance public
health assistant testing so we don't
really know but the one thing I do know
I do know that if you look at models
with all of their Vice Institutes of
models is that when you have input into
the kinds of mitigations and things that
we're doing we're gonna see a hump
instead of a peak I would be really
surprised if all the things that we're
doing and and this is really a a
comprehensive approach I was struck as I
was listening to everyone make their
their presentations that you know I'm a
scientist I'm a health person and I'm a
physician who sees patients so I look at
it from one particular standpoint but
what I'm being impressed by is that this
is really a comprehensive thing that has
multiple components different all of
them got to succeed if we're gonna get
to that endpoint that I've described
multiple times from this podium so I
hope that if everyone does their job
we're gonna be able to give you a number
and say you know we've seen that
inflection and we're coming down I would
hesitate to do it now to be honest with
you because it might be misleading and I
don't want to be misleading I just want
to say one other thing because I heard
dr. Burke say it and I think we need to
say it over and over again
when I was young a long time ago I felt
that I was invulnerable the way I think
many of us feel were invulnerable and
when we're asking the young people to
help us with this mitigation strategy by
staying out of the bars staying out of
the restaurants really trying to
distance yourself don't get the attitude
well I'm young I'm invulnerable you are
while in some respects you're certainly
less vulnerable than I am however which
you might inadvertently do and I know
you don't want to do that you don't want
to put your loved ones at risk
particularly the ones who are elderly
and the ones who have compromised
conditions we can't do this without the
young people cooperating please
cooperate with us you know that question
keeps coming up and I'm not gonna evade
the question but I want to make a point
we tend to think that we're not going to
be able to mitigate or contain without
testing they complement each other in
some respects but they're separate
channels even if we had no testing we
should be doing what we're doing now the
question are asking so I won't evade is
specifically would it be important
outside of a doctor patient coming in
together of knowing what's out there
what might be under the radar screen the
answer to your question is yes so let me
tell you what the CDC is doing right now
they're going out there and part of
their program is to get a feel for what
is there that wasn't initially thought
to be corona virus that was thought to
be something else when you do that
you're also gonna get a feel of what the
penetrance is in society so we are
heading with the high throughput things
that you've been hearing about to get an
answer to your question
Governor Cuomo said this morning he
believes that we'll see a peak in terms
of infection in 45 days would you concur
with that you know it's possible I mean
I know the the governor has been really
I believe doing a really good job of
trying to stay ahead of this 45 days is
not unreasonable you have to be careful
when you get a number you own the number
and then if the number doesn't come out
you're in trouble and that's the reason
why from our standpoint from the federal
government we're talking about a range
so within that range it isn't like you
want to be correct for the sake of being
correct to something well okay so what's
happening I mean if you look as a
metaphor it's kind of like a race
against the virus if left to its own
devices will do this and us trying to
somehow blunt that now you could see the
virus going up and up and your affect
your your work what you're trying to do
may actually be having an effect but you
may not see it because it'll still be
going up and as you're trying to
implement your your interference with
the virus you may not realize that you
were actually interfering it'll say wait
a minute it's still going up what's
going on you've done nothing but you
don't know whether it would do this
versus that so the answer to your
question it probably would be several
weeks and maybe longer before we know
whether we're having an effect it may be
at the end of the day we'll see a curve
that would have been way way up but I
wouldn't like put us to task every few
days well wait a minute it's going up is
it working or not that would be really
misleading if we do that
guidelines which were one of those
guidelines was a recommendation against
gatherings of ten or more people and
today the governor of Alabama issued her
own guidelines and it was people what is
your recommendation for people of
Alabama people across all of the country
as far as the guidelines that were
announced okay so the one thing we don't
want to do is to get hung up on the
difference between ten and twenty five I
think you might agree with that when we
give guidelines they're only guidelines
we sit down we look at the data as dr.
Burke said we're data-driven and we say
on different models ten looks good if
someone wants to do 25 we're not gonna
fault them but if someone wants to come
to us and ask us what we think the best
is we stand by the numbers it isn't
perfect it isn't precise math it's
assumptions and it's data that make you
get your decision yes of course but this
is the United States of America there's
a lot of free enterprise there people do
their own thing and quite frankly I
don't think there's a big deal
difference between ten and twenty five
we got many many more important things
to worry about than that difference so
that there's an idea floating around the
administration to cut taxes for
companies who would be bringing their
supply chains back to the United States
he said he specifically liked immediate
hundred percent right osburgh structure
is equipment he said you have endorsed
that yet would you endorse an idea
you're gonna have many ideas that's one
of them frankly and we're looking at
creating incentives for companies not
only that type of company but other
companies we're also looking to help
companies such as the airline industry
within the airline industry and we'll be
doing that we will be doing that this is
not their fault and they've been very
understanding action
we're gonna be helping them we will have
a very powerful airline industry and
it'll start up as soon as this is over
we'll we'll have those we'll have those
planes ready to go so we have to help
them during the short term was very
important yeah please some of these
models such as the Imperial College
London model that kind of poses a very
difficult choice whether it's shutting
down society or overwhelming the
healthcare place down is that something
that we look at every model we've relied
on the very talented people and there's
no better team that the people be behind
me and I will say that all of the people
that have done those models are all in
constant touch with dr. Burks and Tony
and everybody that you've been hearing
so much from over the last couple of
weeks we've looked at we've looked at
many different models and the model we
have is we want to save a lot of lives
we want to save a lot of lives if we get
too steep in that curve you're going to
lose a lot of lives perhaps
unnecessarily now we're going to find
out if everything has a risk we're going
to see but if people do what we're
telling them to do what we're asking
them to do you're going to see the
saving of a lot of lives now Boris in UK
yesterday you so what happened it looked
like they were going to get different
way but that he went away of similar I
guess simpler I don't know exactly but I
would say we had a conversation
yesterday similar to what we're doing so
a lot of people seem to think this is
going to be we are we are looking to
save the maximum number of lives
everything else is going to come back a
life is never going to come back but
everything else our economy is going to
come roaring back you're gonna know
we're gonna know we're gonna all know
that day if somebody was asking about
the day when will you know when will you
know we're gonna know all of a sudden
we're gonna say wow that's looking good
that's looking good that's looking good
and we're gonna be on the other side of
the curve and that's a day that we look
forward to
now with the time to implement these
much more stringent social distancing
measures oh I don't think so this is
where we're going I really think from
the beginning this is where we were
going this is what we had in mind
we were just were just going step by
step that was the next step the next
logical step as dr. Fauci said and I
think very importantly one of the most
important things when you write the
history of this was the fact that we
closed it down to China and Europe but
in particular China we closed it down to
China the source very very early very
very early far earlier than even the
great professionals wanted to do and I
think in the end that's gonna be
tremendous I didn't think I mean I have
seen that where people actually liked it
but I didn't feel different I've always
known this is a this is a real this is a
pandemic I felt it was a pandemic long
before it was called a pandemic all you
had to do is look at other countries I
think now it's in almost 120 countries
all over the world no I've always viewed
it as very serious there was no
difference yesterday from days before I
feel the tone is similar but some people
said it wasn't
vizor said almost 100 percent chance of
a recession you see it that way
could be I mean I don't think in terms
of recession I think in terms of getting
it out because when we're finished with
the virus we will win we will win and
when that victory takes place our
economy is going to go through the roof
it is so pent up it is so built up it is
so ready to go in a in an upward
direction but we have to knock out this
enemy this is a really tough enemy but
we have to knock out all of us that's
all of us so I don't think in terms of
recession not recession it's words we
have to knock out this and we will have
an economy I actually think we'll have
an economy like we've never had before
it's all pent up I think the question
about about the actions that the
president authorized beginning in
January when he took the unprecedented
step of suspending all travel from China
the efforts to issue travel advisories
for portions of Italy and South Korea
and then to begin screening all the
passengers the efforts regarding
suspending travel for Europe and what
went into effect at midnight last night
adding the UK and Ireland - that have
all been informed by the experts that
are surrounding us what the president's
asked us to do from the very beginning
as dr. Burks and dr. Fauci often say is
let's follow the data bring the
president the best options in response
to what is actually happening on the
ground but but with regard to
yesterday's 15 day slow the spread plan
our team unanimously brought to the
president these very strong
recommendations for every American
because we truly believe we are at a
point in this epidemic in our country
when we can reduce the number of people
that actually are exposed to or contract
the coronavirus but we'll continue to
bring the best data the best evidence
and the best recommendations frankly of
the best health experts in the world and
the president will continue to make
decisions that put the health of America
first
in other words reduce the number of
people that die that's what we're trying
to do and
you do the steep curve a lot of people
are gonna die a lot of people you know
the worst ever they say 1918 and I don't
have to go into the numbers but they
were unbelievable numbers had they'd
known and had they done what we had now
it would have been a very much different
story it would still be tragic but it
would have been a very much different
but that was that was the one that
people write about that was an
incredible that was an incredible
pandemic like we haven't seen but we
have we have done something that I hope
hopefully we will all have made the
right moves we're all in this together
including you and we want to see fair
press and and I tell you what it's been
generally speaking I think it's been
it's been a great thing to see it's been
very very the the getting along with
Democrats getting along with Republicans
for the Democrats themselves there's
been a lot of spirit there's been a lot
of things happening that I haven't seen
happen in the first almost now three and
a half years it's been very nice to see
that's one of the good things but what
really the good thing is we have to
knock it out we have to win and we want
to keep that slope as low as possible
because that's a lot of lives in there
let's go back there somebody that then
you get any indication from officials
there that they're going to have trouble
meeting the purchase agreements
part of the things one deal particularly
the agricultural buy well they need our
product very badly and no I haven't
received any with good relationship with
China I have not received anything to
that no we have a signed agreement
they're going to be buying and they have
been buying a lot of product yeah
over text and she talked about the
certain options that are available to
the United States here that happens
including VA hospitals right Department
of Defense medical treatment facilities
and even hospital ships at what point do
you tap in to those options well I'll
know the point and by speaking with
Governor Cuomo and other governor's
we're gonna know the points it's gotta
be different for New York that it's
gonna be from you know Iowa or from
Idaho or from West Virginia frankly or
for you know it's different New York
he's got a big problem the state of
Washington is a big problem California
has some big problems everyone's doing a
good job but we're gonna know when it
will be and I believe it'll be more spot
that it will be it's not going to be the
whole thing it's going to be spots there
are some hot spots that are in trouble
big trouble
and there are other areas that are in no
trouble at all they watch it on
television they don't know you know it's
just not affecting them and that's
they're lucky they're lucky but there
are areas of the country that don't have
much of a problem and some that don't
have any problem they're not gonna have
a problem with hospitals but some areas
like New York California state of
Washington they're going to have some
difficulty and when we see that coming
we're going to be in there were already
making preparation for it
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida your
trade adviser Peter Navarro have been
recommending an executive order that
would ensure that the raw materials for
pharmaceuticals and medical devices are
manufactured here in the United States
we were getting some indications last
week that you were close to signing this
executive order can you tell us well
we're looking at different things John I
don't want to say exactly right now
China has been sending us everything we
need but we're we're looking at some
alternatives yes we are looking for
alternatives and we have other places
Ireland does a lot of work for us you
know that in that world in the pharma
world a very tremendous producer and we
are looking to bring a lot more back
home and I've been excuse me you know me
for a long time I've been talking about
this for many years long before I
decided to run for president I've been
talking about this and we have to be
able to take care of our country and
that was one of the many things on the
list so we'll be talking about it but we
are we are discussing it in Marcos very
much involved and Peter is very much in
lot of people are involved and a lot of
people feel that way but we'll be
discussing are you considering not to
the United States the United States of
course are you considering closing the
land borders in the United States and
also you know Canada has not closed it
to the United States so we're working
very closely with Canada and but they
have not closed it they have closed it
to the world but they have not closed it
to the United States in the US land
border I don't want to say that but we
are discussing things with Canada and
we're discussing things with Mexico
quite honestly and again the
relationship is outstanding with both
outstanding we just signed our deal u.s.
MCA and the relationship is very strong
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using the phrase Chinese virus how do
you feel about that
to continue using that phrase well China
was putting out information which was
false that our military gave this to
them that was false and rather than
having an argument I said I have to call
it where it came from it did come from
China so I think it's a very accurate
term but no I didn't appreciate the fact
that China was saying that our military
gave it to them our military did not
give give it anybody crazy stigma no I
don't think so no I think saying that
our military gave it to them creates a
stigma please
today what specific help are you going
to offer to them well we're gonna help
they need help look let's face it you
know they go from having record-breaking
years this is the third year of
record-breaking year's travel and
tourism airlines everything they were
doing record numbers ordering new planes
building new hotels everything was
really hunky-dory and then one day we
hear about this rumour in China and then
we find out it's much more than a rumor
and then all of a sudden we make a great
decision to close it up early it would
be a whole different world we a whole
different world but we make a decision
to close it up to China and all of a
sudden tourism and and then we close it
up to Europe which you know people never
heard of this before I'm not sure that
that's ever been done I know that when I
made the decision to close it to China
people told me that's never been done
before but it was a great decision we
make good decisions so I'll tell you my
best decision the people behind me are
total pros all over the world they're
respected dr. Burks Anthony who's become
a wizard to become a major television
star for all the right reasons now he's
just so professional so good the people
that we have working here have been
incredible and they're totally respected
the Admiral has been incredible having
to do with the testing incredible and
he's he's viewing this as testing also
for the future we're building a platform
when we took over this platform first
thing the Admiral said was this wasn't
that designed for what we're talking
about millions of people it wasn't and
it's nobody's fault it's not like who
could have ever predicted anything like
this but we broke it down and it's
really gonna be an incredible system and
it is now a great system I just I just
want to say these are incredible people
standing behind me they're the most
respected in the world every country
that you've mentioned today so far has
called them and they call them all the
time for advice there's nobody better
than what we have
why didn't we seem dr. Redfield the last
couple days I tell you he's doing a good
job we're very happy with him mr.
president yesterday we were being told
that the payroll tax was gonna comprise
the lion's share of the fiscal stimulus
right we also had the markets fall quite
dramatically yesterday and we did that
and what was it about the federal tax
did that inform your decision what do
you what what made you make that change
and when did you make that well I didn't
wreck it change well look at the payroll
tax and we're looking at various other
forms of getting money to people and the
payroll tax is something that I've
always liked the problem is it does take
a period of time you know months before
they really see something and we don't
really have months in terms of people
living you know a lot of these you have
you have people that work on tips you're
people in are it's a large number of
people it's a tremendous who would think
this right but and they do nicely they
work very hard but they work on tips we
have to take care of our people we don't
want to have people suffering during
this period it wasn't their fault that
this thing all of a sudden was upon us
so we're looking at various we're also
looking at payroll tax you know it's
possible it's also possible we'll do a
percentage of payroll tax and then other
things but we'd like to be able to get
money to people you know we're very
lucky our country is doing so well we
can do this and we can do it easily but
we have to do it and I have to say Mitch
McConnell if you look at Mitch and Kevin
and the whole group and it's been it's
been incredible how they're reacting how
Congress is reacting how whether it's
the House or Senate how they're they're
moving and I'm talking about Democrats
and Republicans but we've had tremendous
leadership meetings and they want to see
it done right and they do want to go big
I think going big is important I don't
think we want to go up there every day
with a different idea a different
concept oh gee let's worry about the
airlines let's do this one you have a
big problem with the cruise ship
industry
it's a industry that was setting all
sorts of records two months ago that all
of a sudden
there's nobody on the ships okay so we
have to help these these are great and
these are going to be taking care of
people and passengers and and for years
to come and paying tremendous taxes
tremendous taxes for years to come so we
have to make sure that this is done yes
mr. president what you refer to just a
short while ago about politics in your
address to the nation you said we have
to put politics aside stop the
partisanship and unify together this
morning you criticize the Democratic
governor of Michigan yesterday was the
Democratic governor of New York you've
attacked Obama you talked to be attacked
by in fact every day except one since
that address you flashed out at a
Democratic leader are you going to set
the example they only do that one I have
to respond
I watched her on television she said
something that was false and therefore I
did do that
and I will continue to do that if
they're not gonna play fair because you
know they have the media on their side I
don't I just have me and if they're not
gonna play fair I'm gonna do that if
they are gonna play fair there's gonna
be nobody there's gonna be nobody better
than Donald Trump in terms of
bipartisanship but if if they're going
to say things that are false like the
story that was written yesterday a lot
of people I don't know somebody I think
I know who but they taped the conference
call that I had with the governor's it
was a good call it was fine I assume
somebody's going to tape it they handed
it to various people and one of it was
the New York Times and The New York
Times chose to write totally
inaccurately about it it was a
disgraceful thing was bad journalism but
you know they do a lot of bad journalism
but we respond to that and actually if
people get it people get it no I want it
to be bipartisan and nobody's going to
be better than me but when they attack
me or the people these incredible people
behind me I'm not gonna let him get away
with it I can't do that okay how about
one or two more questions go ahead
please please
after Nationals
well you can do a national lockdown
hopefully we're not gonna need that we
think of everything I mean we have every
idea that you mentioned we've thought of
and you know it's a very big step that's
a step that I mean in one sense would
work it's a very big step it's something
we talk about but we haven't decided to
do that please God
mr. president what would be the
determining factors for you to take that
action it would have to get to a level I
just don't think it's gonna be an action
that we're gonna take I don't think I'll
talk but Anthony all of the people
standing behind me would get together in
a room plus some additional x' and we
would make a decision but I don't think
that's a step that we're going to be one
more question you didn't have one did
you come on financial assistance to
Boeing and airplane suppliers like GE
we're looking at that we're certainly
looking at Boeing Boeing got hit hard in
many different ways Boeing never had a
problem for four years they were they
were an incredible and it was
unthinkable what happened with respect
to boy unthinkable probably I would
consider it the greatest company in the
world prior to a year ago now they get
hit in 15 different ways and they have
different management I've met the new
people running Boeing I think it's going
to be outstanding but yeah we have to
protect Boeing we have to absolutely
help help Boeing they were doing a job
they were getting it was coming along
well and then all of a sudden this hits
so obviously when the airlines aren't
doing well Boeing is not going to be
doing well so we'll be helping Boeing on
what john was saying you called for
people to leave politics evidence joe
biden said the world health organization
offered testing kits that they had
available to the united states and to
give it to us now we refused it we
didn't want to buy them PolitiFact says
the wh should have never made that offer
can you tell us well that's what I don't
know I'm gonna let I'm gonna let Tony
answer that question or some whoever's
best at answering that but I do have to
say when you talk about politics I watch
the debate not too exciting but what
they said about me and we've done a
great job when you talk about
not not being bipartisan what they said
about me and if you look at swine flu
the the whole thing and I guess it was
2009 and what they did and the mistakes
they've made they were terrible there
were horrific mistakes 17,000 people
died and I'll be honest they shouldn't
be criticizing because we've done a
fantastic job the only thing we haven't
done well is to get good press we've
done a fantastic job but it hasn't been
appreciated even the the closing down of
the borders which had never been done
and not only did we close them but we
closed them early the press doesn't like
writing about it so we've done a poor
job on press relationships and you know
I guess I don't know who to blame for
that I don't know maybe I can blame
maybe I can blame ourselves so that I
will blame ourselves but I think we've
done a great job I think we've done a
poor job in terms of press relationship
but let me have somebody answer your
question I tried to cover this in the
answer when I talked about quality of
kids and our quality analysis runs
through the FDA so all of these
platforms we have asked people to submit
and we've asked States to quality
control so I mean that anybody could
submit their tests to us we don't buy
tests that haven't been quality
controlled and they show us the data
either show us the data upfront or show
us the data after they've been running
them because quality testing for our
American people is paramount to us it
doesn't help to put out a test where 50%
or 47% are false positives imagine what
that would mean to the American people
imagine their level of concern now and
telling people that they're false
positive we take this same approach to
HIV imagine telling someone they were
positive to HIV and they weren't so that
is our bottom line the customer the
American people first and so any of
these groups can submit their testing
kits through our regulatory processes
but without that and without a plan we
are not going to accept tests that have
not been studied by us good answer
- good answer would you have something
like that I'm just gonna emphasize a
little bit more on that when I became
involved in the testing world I called
as senior officials at the WH o as I
could find to understand what the
situation was and as far as I can tell
from sources that should know no one
ever offered a test that we refused what
I heard - um this was a this is a
research grade test right research grade
test that was never submitted was not
approved not submitted to the FDA that
was supplied in tens of thousands of
quantities to a hundred countries in the
world okay so I think there's a lot that
people are saying about this this is
based on rumor and myth nothing was
offered that we refused it was a
research test that was not approved and
again there was a small number that we
have greatly surpassed in a very short
period of time so number one nothing was
offered number two it was a bad test
otherwise it was wonderful listen thank
you very much no he made a massage I
assume I assume that he'll apologize
thank you all very much