Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2020

March 23, 2020

The President. Well, thank you very much. And I see we have fewer people because of the virus problem, and we appreciate you being here. And this is getting to be more and more social distancing, and that's fine. That's the way it should be, and it's too bad. We extend our best wishes to the person affected. And we feel sure that he or she will be better very soon.

And thank you for being here. America continues to mobilize every segment of our society to turn the tide in the battle against the virus. I want Americans to know that we will get through this challenge. The hardship will end; it will end soon. Normal life will return. And our economy will rebound very, very strongly. But right now, in the midst of this great national trial, Americans must remain united in purpose and focused on victory.

To every single American, please know that the sacrifice you're making at this time is saving lives, many, many lives. It's very important that we totally protect our Asian American community in the United States and all around the world. They're amazing people, and the spreading of the virus is not their fault in any way, shape, or form. They're working closely with us to get rid of it. We will prevail together. It's very important.

From the beginning, we have been working closely with our Nation's best scientists and medical professionals, and we will continue to do so until we have defeated the virus. Our public health experts, who are terrific, are studying the variation in the disease across the country, and we will be using data to recommend new protocols to allow local economies to cautiously resume their activity at the appropriate time.

We also have a large team working on what the next steps will be once the medical community gives a region the okay, meaning the okay to get going, to get back; let's go to work. Our country wasn't built to be shut down. This is not a country that was built for this. It was not built to be shut down.

My administration continues to work with Democrats and Republicans to reach an agreement on an urgent relief bill for the millions of American workers and small businesses and large businesses that were badly affected by the medical difficulty that we've had.

If you had a viable business in January, we are committed to ensuring the same is true in the coming weeks. In fact, we want to make it even better than it was before, and we're doing things to help in that regard.

America will again, and soon, be open for businessâvery soonâa lot sooner than 3 or 4 months that somebody was suggesting. A lot sooner. We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself. We're not going to let the cure be worse than the problem.

At the end of the 15-day period, we'll make a decision as to which way we want to go, where we want to go, the timing. And essentially, we're referring to the timing of the openingâ essentially, the opening of our country, because we have it pretty well shut down in order to get rid of this invisible enemy.

Two weeks ago, we moved at record speed to pass paid sick leave and paid family medical leave and approved $8 billion, including money for the development of treatments and vaccines. And we're doing tremendous work in bothâon both fronts. The vaccines are coming along very quickly.

Now Congress must demonstrate the same bipartisanship again and join together to pass the Senate bill as written, and avoid playing any more partisan games. They have to get together and just stop with the partisan politics. And I think that's happening. I got a call a little while ago; I guess they're getting closer. It should go quickly, and it must go quickly. It's not really a choice. They don't have a choice. They have to make a deal. This should not be a time for political agendas but rather one for focusing solely and squarely on the needs of the American people.

We are going to save American workers, and we're going to save them quickly. And we're going to save our great American companies, both small and large. This was a medical problem. We are not going to let it turn into a long-lasting financial problem. It started out as a purely medical problem, and it's not going to go beyond that. We're just not going to allow that to happen.

Our country was at its strongest financial point. We've never had an economy like we had just a few weeks ago, and then it got hit with something that nobody could have ever thought possible. And we are fixing it. We're fixing it quickly. And I want to just thank the American people for what they've been through and what they're doing. Our country will be stronger than ever before, and we fully anticipate that. And it won't be that long.

Let me provide you with an update on critical supplies: FEMA is distributing 8 million N95 respirator masks and 13.3 million surgical masks across the country right now, focusing on the areas with the greatest need. We have shipped 73 pallets of personal protective equipment to New York City and 36 pallets to the State of Washington.

In the past 96 hours, FEMA has also received donations of approximately 6.5 million masks.

We're having millions and millions of masks made, as we speak, and other personal protective equipment, which we will be distributing to medical hotspots. We're focused on some of the hotspots.

Across the Nation, we're seeing an outpouring of creativity and innovative ideas widely shared between the Federal health leaders, Governors and mayors, the scientific community, and members of the private sector. Really working together. Everybody is working together.

I'm pleased to report that clinical trials in New York will begin existingâfor existing drugs that may prove effective against the virus. At my direction, the Federal Government is working to help obtain large quantities of chloroquine. And you can look from any standpoint tomorrow, in New Yorkâwe think tomorrow pretty earlyâthe hydroxychloroquine and the Z-Pak, I think as a combination, probably, is looking very, very good. And it's going to be distributed.

We have 10,000 units going, and it will be distributed tomorrow. It will be available and is now; they already have it. They're going to distribute it tomorrow morning to a lot of people in New York City and New York. We're studying it very closely, watching it very closely.

You probably saw a couple of articles today came out where a gentlemanâthey thought he was not going to make it. He said goodbye to his family. They had given him the drug just a little while before, but he thought it was over. His family thought he was going to die. And a number of hours later, he woke up, felt good. Then, he woke up again, and he felt really good. And he's in good shape. And he's very happy for this particular drug that we got approved in record-setting time. There's never been anything even close to it.

And I want to thank the FDA, which has been incredible, and Dr. HahnâStephen Hahnâa highly respected man. But they're doing everything possible to increase production and available supply of these drugs, not only this drug, but also others that are coming. Remdesivir is coming from Regeneron. A couple of others are also under study.

But the one that I'm very excited about right now is the one we just mentioned. And I think there's a real chance. I mean, again, we don't know, but there's a real chance that it could have a tremendous impact. It would be a gift from God if that worked. That would be a big game changer. So we'll see.

But distribution starts tomorrow morning, early, in New York. And I think a lot of people are going to beâhopefully, they're going to be very happy with the result. But we're all going to be watching closely. It's something we have to try. It's been very, very successful on malaria. Very, very successful.

And countries with malaria have had a interesting thing happen. They take this particular drugâit's a very powerful drugâand there is very little semblance of the virus in those countries. And there are those that say because this drug is very prevalent, because of the malaria. So we'll see what happens.

Overnight, we successfully brought home 103 American citizens after they had been stranded for 10 days in Brazil, following a cruise. We want to thank the Brazilian Government and their great President. Most of those returned were senior citizens. My administration, in cooperation with Governor Greg Abbott of Texas and the private sector, coordinated their safe return to the United States. So thank you to Governor Abbott. Terrific Governor, terrific man.

Earlier today I signed an Executive order invoking Presidential authority under section 4512 of the Defense Production Act to prohibit the hoarding of vital medical equipment and supplies such as hand sanitizers, face masks, and personal protective equipment.

We have a lot of face masks; a lot of equipment is coming in. And we have some people hoarding, and Attorney General Barr is going to be speaking about that in a second. We want to prevent price gouging, and critical health and medical resources are going to be protected in every form.

Under this directive, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to designate essential health and medical supplies as scarce. So he'll designate certain supplies and medical elements as scarce, and that means it will be a crime to stockpile these items in excessive quantities, which is happening to a relatively small degree, we think, but nevertheless, it's happening. We can't let it happen. And we can't let them resell them at excessive prices, which some people are doing.

Very simply, we will not allow anyone to exploit the suffering of American citizens for their own profit. So we're going to be watching that with our great Attorney General very closely.

The Department of Justice will be aggressively prosecuting fraudulent schemes related to the pandemic. Yesterday Federal prosecutors took action in their first case, shutting down a website selling a totally fake vaccine, if you can believe that one. As President, I will always fight to protect Americans from being exploited.

Thankfully, all throughout the country, we're witnessing extraordinary acts of compassion, benevolence, and unity. Construction companies are donating masks by the hundreds of thousands. Manufacturing workers are transforming their assembly lines. Citizens are volunteering to deliver food and medicine to the elderly. We're truly seeing America at its best. We're really seeing things that people never thought even could happen. Frankly, we never thought this could happen. But the way most Americans are working toward getting it solved and just doing what they have to do to make this go away has been incredible. It's been incredible.

I want to take a moment to thank the everyday heroes who are making our vast effort against the virus possible. And thank you to the health care workers and the first responders. These are very brave people. Thanks also to the hard-working men and women of Federal Express, UPS, the United States Postal Service, and the truckers who are maintaining our supply chains and supply lines. We thank you very much. Great job.

We also want to give our regards and thanks to everyone at our grocery stores working the night shift so that shelves can be restocked and the restaurant workers and delivery drivers keeping our families fed. So many of these restaurantsâit's incredibleâthey're doing service where people come, and they pick it upâdelivery. I mean, it's been incredible what they've been doing. Totally different business than they were in, other than they cook food. Other than that, it's like a totally different business.

Most of all, I want to thank the American people for rising to the challenge and showing incredible courage, determination, patience, grace, and grit. From New York to Seattle and everywhere in between, your acts of selflessness and sacrifice and ingenuity are a powerful testament to the American character. It's really being shown. It's really showing up at a level that people are really respecting. All over the world, they're respecting. And the world has problems. We're at 148 countries now. A hundred and forty-eight countries are affected by the invisible scourge.

And all of the uplifting reflections of the American spirit are out there for everyone to see. Together, we will care for our fellow citizens. And we will win this war, and we'll win it much sooner than people think. And we'll be back in business as a country pretty soon. You'll be hearing about that also pretty soon.

Now I'd like to ask Attorney General Bill Barr to say a few words. And we'll take questions in a little while.

Thank you.

Attorney General William P. Barr. Let me start by thanking you, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, for your decisive leadership in this unprecedented battle to save American lives. At the Department of Justice, we're working hard to protect the health and safety of our personnel, while at the same time keeping our enforcement efforts at full throttle.

[*Attorney General Barr continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

If you areâhave a big supply of toilet paper in your house, this is not something you have to worry about. But if you are sitting on a warehouse with masksâsurgical masksâyou will be hearing a knock on your door.

So with that, Mr. President, I'll turn it back to you.

The President. Thank you very much. Please, Deborah. Deborah, please.

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah L. Birx. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. To start, I want to really thank all the Ministers of Health around the world who have been sending us their data, despite the fight that they're in themselves, particularly our European colleagues. They continue to send us, primarily, their mortality data, which is really very critical, because when you're in the midst of this level of fightâthat many of the European countries areâfollowing mortality data will give you the best insight right now on how the

epidemic is proceeding in those countries, because they really can't be testing at the level to really understand the depth and breadth of their new cases.

[*Ambassador Birx continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

So to all of my friends and colleagues in New York: This is the group that needs to absolutely social distance and self-isolate at this time. Clearly, the virus had been circulating there for a number of weeks to have this level of penetrance into the general community.

The President. Thank you very much, Deborah. Mike, go ahead.

Vice President Michael R. Pence. Thank you, Mr. President. The White House Coronavirus Task Force met today, but we also convened, at the President's direction, a conference call with the Nation's Governors, and we focused on efforts at mitigation, at testing and supplies. We discussed the President's recent approval of disaster declarations for Washington and California and New York.

[*Vice President Pence continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

It's going to take all of us, but with the ongoing cooperation of the American people, with compassion, with the ingenuity of American industry, with dedicated leadership at the State and Federal level, I know that we can slow the spread, we can protect our most vulnerable, and we will heal our land.

The President. Thank you, Mike, very much. Admiral, please.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice Director for Logistics Rear Admiral John Polowczyk, USN. Thank you, Mr. Vice President. So I'm Rear Admiral John Polowczyk. I'm the Supply Chain Task Force lead at FEMA.

[*Rear Adm. Polowczyk continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

So two focus areas right now: PPE and ventilators. Four lines of effort working the problem of the task to get more here and increase the supplies.

Thank you, sir.

The President. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Global Coronavirus Outbreak/Domestic Containment Efforts

Q. Thank you, Mr. President. If I could, the Washington Post is reporting that total deaths today crossed 100 for the first time. This morning your Surgeon General, on the "Today" show, said he wanted Americans to understand that this is going get really bad. Do you share that prognosis?

The President. Of course I do. It's going be bad, and we have a lot of people dying from the flu, as you know. We have a very bad flu season on top of everything else. It's very bad. It looks like it could be over 50,000. And certainly, this is going to be bad, and we're trying to make it so that it's much, much less bad. And that's what we're doing.

I think we're doing a very good job of it. If you look at other countries, what they've been through, and you look at the kind of numbers and compare them to oursâwhich is a much larger country than mostâthe numbers are pretty amazing. And it started with the fact that we stopped people from coming in from a highly affected area and infected area. And that was a good thing to do.

So yes, it's bad. And it's going toâobviously, the numbers are going to increase with time, and then they're going to start to decrease. And we're going to be opening our country up for business, because our country was meant to be open and working with others, but especially for our workers. And the engine for that whole system is, we have to have companies. And these companies are loved by our workers, because they're paying big salaries and big dollars to our workers. And we're going to get it all going again very soon. Hopefully, very, very soon.

Please.

Federal Coronavirus Response/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Sir, I'm just trying to reconcile the two things that you just said: One, that things are going to get very, very bad. And two, that you want to get the country opened back upââ

The President. Yes.

Q. ââas quickly as possible. So I guess my question is: If, in a week, Dr. Birx or Dr. Fauci are telling you, "We need to continue these measures for the health of the vulnerable populations of the country," are you going to say, "I'm sorry the economy is too important"?

The President. Well, you'll see what happens. I understand the question very well. It's a great question. But we can do two things at one time. I will say this: Our country has learned a lot.

We've learned about social distancing. We've learned about the hands. We've learned about staying away, at least during the time that this is even a little bit aroundâthis disease orâor whatever you want to call itâmany different names. You can call it many different namesâbut the virus, while it's around.

And we can start thinking aboutâas an example, parts of our country are very lightly affected. Very small numbers. And you know, you look at a Stateâgreat GovernorâPete Ricketts in Nebraska. You look at the kind of numbers they have out there. They have one of the greatâone of the great hospitals there too, relative to what we're talking about. But you look at Nebraska, you look at Idaho, you look at Iowa, you look at manyâI could name many countries that are handling it very, very well and that are not affected to the same extent, or, frankly, not even nearly to the extent of New York, which is reallyâI'm dealing with Governor Cuomo, and we're dealing very well together.

We'll be sending that ship up, by the way. As you know, we have a ship going to Los Angeles. We'll also beâthe ship is coming out of a very large repair. It's all ready to go and very soon will be. And over the next 3 or 4 weeks, that will be coming up to New York. It will go to New York Harbor, and it will be fully supplied. So they're working on that right now.

Q. And justâand maybe Dr. Birx can speak to thisâdo you share the President's optimism that in a week we might have a situation where we can say, you know, there's a few hotspots, but much of the country will be opened up.

The President. Well, I didn't say a week, but I said soon. It's going to be soon. It's not going to be 3 or 4 months, as some people were saying and a lot of people thought originally. But I would certainly let you answer.

Economic Impact of the Coronavirus/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Yes. And are your worried that some of the cities and States that haven't had the infection yet are lagging indicators and that we're going to start seeing cases?

Ambassador Birx. So you raise two important issues. One, I think you all know, a lot of our tests have had to go to hospitals at this time so that we can diagnose people who are at risk to give

them options to get these new therapeutic options. None of these therapeutic options are available if you don't know your diagnosis. So we've been very much focused on that.

[*Ambassador Birx continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

We learned this, in tackling epidemics around the world, you have to focus the resources and the intervention and the structural prevention interventions in the areas where the virus is circulating; otherwise, people never understand why you're doing this, and they don't have any virus. So it has to be very tailored, geographically, and it may have to also be very tailored by age group, really understanding who's at the greatest risks and understanding how to protect them.

Q. But there's data showing that in 3 months, as the President said, we won't need broadâto follow these broad guidelines that we'veâthat he's laid out?

Ambassador Birx. The only data that we all haveâand I think you all know what it isâthe two areas that have moved through their curve is China and South Korea. So those are the two countries that we're learning from. Those were 8- to 10-week curves.

Each State, and each hotspot in the United States, is going to be its own curve because the seeds came in at different times. So Washington State is on their curve. They're about 2 weeks ahead of New York. And so each of these have to be done in a very granular way to really understand where we are.

And it'sâthe charge that the President has given us is to use all of our data analytics and all of our data inputs to really define those issues about where the virus is, where is it going, and what predictions we can make about whenâwhere we are in that bell-shaped curve.

The President. I think that's a great definition. And I will say we're going to be watching our senior citizens very closely. We're going to be watching certain hotspots like New York. And within New York, you have areas which are troubling, and we'll be working with the Governor and the mayor and everybody else on those spots.

But at the same time, at a certain point, we have to get open, and we have to beâwe have to get moving. We don't want to lose these companies; we don't want to lose these workers. We want to take care of our workers. So we'll be doing something, I think, relatively quickly.

But we've learned a lot during this period. This was a very necessary period. Tremendous information was gained. But we can do two things at one time. You knowâand again, I say we have a very active flu season, more active than most. It's looking like it's heading to 50,000 or more deaths. Deaths, not cases. Fifty thousand deaths, which isâthat's a lot.

And you look at automobile accidents, which are far greater than any numbers we're talking about. That doesn't mean we're going to tell everybody, "No more driving of cars." So we have to do things to get our country open. But this has been an incredible period of learning, and we'll have announcements over the next fairly short period as to the timing.

Jon [Jonathan Karl, ABC News], please.

Q. Mr. President, I want to ask about these guidelines on testing. Obviously, Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for coronavirusââ

The President. Yes.

Q. ââbut he was not in contact with anybody who was known positive, and he didn't have any major symptoms. Under your guidelines, under the guidelines that have been outlined here, he would not have gotten a test. He got one anyway. So what do you say to him? He's pointed out that if he hadn't gone basically in defiance of these guidelines and got tested, he might still be showing up to the Senate right nowââ

The President. Yes, I'll letââ

Q. ââand infecting the whole U.S. Senate.

Ambassador Birx. So that's why this was important.

[*Ambassador Birx held up the administration's "15 Days To Slow the Spread" guidance.*]

That's why this recommendation to the American people was importantâbecause we have been saying that there is a level of asymptomatic or mild spread. And that's why each person has to be responsible. Each person has to be responsible in the way that they decrease their interaction with othersâthe 6 feetâand you're all very social distanced, so thank youâbut also assuming that everyone that you're interacting with could be positive. And that goes into the handwashing piece, and that gets into the other piece we talked about, is surfaces.

I think until we really figure out the respiratory transmission versus the surface transmissionâand this hard-surface transmission, not fabricâwe'll be really critical, because that is a way the virus could spread on subways or metros where people would be holding on to things that other people had recently held on to. So that's the real question.

Q. But if we can just keep with the example of Rand Paul. And obviously, there are many other people that would be in a similarâbut just keep with this one example: If he hadn't gotten that test, he would still be showing up to the Senate every day, to his place of work. You wouldn't want that, would you?

Ambassador Birx. If he had been following these guidelines, he wouldn't have been infecting others because of the social distancing, washing your hands, doing everything that we talked about. So we've talked about also how people make choices because of their jobs; that they have to come in.

You'll notice I was not here over the weekend. I think this is the part that we really need to take personal responsibility for. Saturday, I had a little low-grade fever.

The President. Uh-oh. [Laughter]

[*The President stepped away from Ambassador Birx.*]

Ambassador Birx. So, actually, probably a GI thing, but you know, I'm meticulous. I'm a physician. I looked it up. I ended up piggybanking from Walter Reed. So I got a test late Saturday night, and I'm negative. I stayed home another day justââ

The President. Phew. Thank you for saying that.

Ambassador Birx. Yes, just to make sure. That's how we protect one another. So you know, unless everybody is taking their temperature every day, we can't say that he had no symptoms. These are the kinds of things that we have to do for one another. This is the personal responsibility that I'm talking about that we all have to practice.

Economic Impact of the Coronavirus/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. And, Mr. President, when you said you didn't want the cure to be worse thanââ

The President. Than the problem.

Q. ââthan the problem itself, so are you saying that if we kept these measures that we're doing now in place for a couple of monthsâ2 or 3 monthsââ

The President. Well, they will be in place. At some point, we're going to open up our country, and it's going to be fairly soon.

Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S./Economic Impact of the Coronavirus/Secondary Effects of Containment Efforts

Q. Weeks or months? Because you seem to be kind of leaning more towards weeks.

The President. I'm not looking at months, I can tell you right now. We're going to be opening up our country, and we're going to be watching certain areas. And we're going to be practicing everything that Deborah is referring to right here. I mean, we're going to be watching this very closely. But you can't keep it closed for the next, you know, for years. Okay?

This is going away. We're going to win the battle, but we also haveâyou know, you have tremendous responsibility. We have jobs; we haveâpeople get tremendous anxiety and depression, and you have suicides over things like this when you have terrible economies. You have death. Probably andâI mean, definitely would be in far greater numbers than the numbers that we're talking about with regard to the virus.

So we have an obligation; we have a double obligation. We have a great country. There's no country like it in the world, and there's no economy like it in the world. I mean, we hadâwe wereâwe were just blazing. We were coming out with numbers thatâsome numbers weren't even reported because it was alreadyâthis had happened. They were meaningless. I got numbers about myself that were meaningless. Because by the time the numbers came in, you know, it's a whole different world with this. But I will tell you that we can do both things, Jon. We can do them both at the same time. I mean, that's okay.

What we have gone through is a tremendous learning process. And we've also solved a lot of problems, but we've gone through a tremendous learning problemâyou know, situation. Now, we're building hospitals in New York, we're building hospitals in California, we're building hospitals in the State of Washington.

We've been in touch with the Governors. Today I spoke with a man that I happen to like; I spoke with Phil in New Jersey. And we're going to be doing something very meaningful in New Jersey. We're doing something. I spoke with J.B. Pritzker; he called me today. We're going to be helping them out in Illinois. We're doing a lot of things in Florida. We're doing a lot of things.

And between FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Admiral and your group, in terms of the purchasing. That's what he does, he purchases. He's supposed to be great. I'll tell you in about 2 days. But he's going to do a fantastic job.

So we have an incredibly talented group of people. But yes, we'll be doing two things and three things at one time, while at the same time, though, we're going to be watching very closely the hotspots. We're going to be taking care and watching very closely our senior citizens, especially those with a problem or an illness. We're going to be watching them very, very closely. And we can do that and have an open economy, have an open country. And we have to do that because that causes other problems. And maybe it causes much bigger problems than the problem we're talking about now. You understand.

Jeff [Jeff Mason, Reuters], please.

Federal Coronavirus Response/Coronavirus Testing Protocol

Q. Mr. President, following up on that same topic and on your tweet, do you think that the cure, so far, has been worse than the problem?

The President. I think the cure has been very tough. This has been a very toughâthis was an operation. This was somebody going to a doctor and saying, "You need an operation." And we've had an operation. We've learned a lot and we fixed a lot of problems.

One of the things we fixedâif you look at the obsolete system that this administration inherited, it wasn't meant for this. It was meant for a small group of people. And even for that it was not very good and very obsolete. We now have a testingâwe have a testing program now that will, hopefully, be able to be used for many years into the future should we have another event like this.

I don't think you'll have another event like this. This is very unique. You look back into time, you look back decades and decadesâwe can name them all, even if you go back 10 yearsâyou know, you go back to '09, but that wasn't like this as it turned out, but they lost a lot of people.

We were early. We were early, Jeff, because of the fact that we closed early. That was a big move.

Please, Kristen [Kaitlan Collins, CNN].

Economic Impact of the Coronavirus/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Mr. President, just one follow-up. I just want to follow up on that, sir.

The President. Yes, go ahead, Jeff.

Q. You had said previously, I think from this podium, that the virus could still be with us through July or August. By suggesting now that we might, or that the Government, might change these standards or these recommendations soonââ

The President. Well, it's not change. It'sâno, we're doing thingsââ

Q. ââor alter them in some way.

The President. This was a learning experience for the people of the country and even forâ

â

Q. I'm just wondering if that timeframe has changed for you: the July-Augustââ

The President. If what's changed?

Q. The July-August timeframe of when you think the virus will be under control.

The President. Well, I think we've learned a lot. I think that there's so much discipline now

that we never had. Nobody ever said, "Don't shake hands." I did, actually, before I became a politician. Once I became a politician, then it's hard getting used to not doing it, because, you know, you do it with everybodyâwith literally thousands of people a week. You're shaking hands with big groups of people.

And you know, we'veâthere's a lot ofâwe've learned a lot. There's a great discipline that this whole country has learned having to do with distancing, having to do with shaking hands. I think a lot of it's going to stay long after the virus has gone. I really think is probably good practice anyway, but I think it's going to stay long after the virus is gone.

Q. But in terms of that July-August timeframe?

The President. But we canâwe have to open our country, because that causes problems that, in my opinion, could be far bigger problems. Far bigger.

Thisâlook, this is a medicalâa severe medical situation that could cause problems far beyond the medical and then increase the medical problems to things that had nothing to do with this original medical problem. We can't let that happen to our country. We have the greatest country in the world. I'm not going to let that happen. But these 2 weeks that we have spent has been an incredible learning period and process.

Please, Kristen [Kaitlan Collins, CNN].

Economic Impact of the Coronavirus/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Yes, I have two questions for you.

The President. Go ahead.

Q. One, you said it's likely going to be weeks, not months, before you suggest easing these guidelines that you put out. Have any of the doctors on your team told you that's the right path to pursue?

The President. WeâI spoke to them today, and I was telling them that we have two things to look forward. Don't forget, the doctorsâif it were up to the doctors, they may say: "Let's keep it shut down. Let's shut down the entire world." Because, again, you're up to almost 150 countries. "So let's shut down the entire world, and when we shut it down, that would be wonderful, and let's keep it shut for a couple of years." You know, we can't do that. And you can't do that with a country, especially the number-one economy anywhere in the world, by far. Number-one economy in the world. You can't do that.

Q. So you're sayingâ[inaudible].

The President. Becauseâwell, it causes bigger problems than the original. That's why I talk about the cure being worse than the problem. We can't have the cure be worse than the problem.

But what we have doneâso this is not retracing. This isn't anything. We have done it really well, because this 2-week period has been good. And I'm not saying it ends at that time. You know, we have another 7 days or so. I'm not saying it ends at that time. But I am saying it's been like this incredible learning process. That's going to go into the future. That's going to go even as we open up our country.

And we're going to be watching New York, and we're going to be watching California. We're going to be watching the State of Washington and other places. Illinois is becoming a hotspot. And we can do both.

Now, we may quarantineâI mean, we will be quarantineâquarantining many people in these areas. There are other areas that just aren't affected, or they're affected very little. And why would we close down a hundred percent of the country? There are areas within New Yorkâ where New York will be openâbut there are areas within New York.

Remember this: New York has the New York Stock Exchange, it has NASDAQ. It has the exchanges. To close the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ and all ofâwith all of the great work they're doingâI mean, they've gone largely to computer. You look at the floor, it's incredible what they can do, but it's fully open. But we don't want to be doing that.

Q. So you're sayingââ

The President. But we can doâwhat I'm saying, basically, is that we can do two things simultaneously. And we've had this incredible learning period.

Plus, people have been in a period, and they won't be calling, "Oh, gee"âbecause I've got many, many people that now come to me and say: "We get it. We think we can really do it now and do it while we're open."

So, at some point, we'll be setting some guidelines. We'll be setting some datelines. And we'll be announcing them in the not-too-distant future.

Q. But just to clarify, have any of the doctors on your team endorsed easing the Federal guidelines?

The President. Not endorsed. We talk together, and I think they're okay with it, and I'm okay with it. But this could be a much bigger problem. This could create a much bigger problem than the problem that you start off with.

Now, other nations are going to have to do what they're going to do, but they'll probably do something very similar, but in our case, much more so than anywhere else because of the magnitude of our economyâthe tremendous size of what we've built and what we have and the jobs involved. You know, you have 160âalmost 160 million jobs in this country nowâthe most ever, by far. By far, the most ever, the number of jobsâalmost 160 million.

So we can't turn that off and think it's going to be wonderful. There'll be tremendous repercussions. There will be a tremendous death from that. Death. You know, you're talking about death. Probably more death from that than anything that we're talking about with respect to the virus.

Q. Do you think there'll be more death if we continue with these strict guidelines than if we ease them?

The President. No, I think we're going to do them both. I thinkâthat's what I'm saying. I think we can do them both.

Now, we haven't announced a date, but we're getting fairly close to coming up with a date.

And it's a much shorter period of time than I've been hearing the news report. And I think everybody should be happy with that.

But great knowledge was gained. Please.

Q. But to followâI had two questions. I had two questions for you, Mr. President. My second one is on what your Economic Adviser, Larry Kudlow, said today. He was talking about this, and he said that there are going to be some difficult tradeoffs if you do ease these guidelines, because he wants the economy to reopen again.

The President. You mean with the Democrats, you're talking about?

Q. No, no. He was sayingâhe was talking about how you said, you know, the cure shouldn't be worse than the problemââ

The President. Yes.

Q. ââand he was talking about reopening the businesses, getting the economy going back and going again. What are those difficult tradeoffs?

The President. Well, it is true. I mean, if he saidâI didn't hear him say that, but if he said, "difficult tradeoffs," sure. It's less convenient. Before, you walk and you'd hop in the subway and you grab the handle, and you go down to wherever you're going on Wall Street, and you do all sorts of things and you go in, and you open the doors going into your great buildings or into the exchanges.

And now you're not going to have to, you know, maybe think about doing that, or you're going to think about doing it a different way. No, no, there are many tradeoffs. It's a different life. And maybe it will remain that way, frankly, after the invisible scourge is gone. Maybe it's going to stay that way. Not a bad thing to stay that way.

But no, there are tradeoffs. There's no question about that. But I actually think it's going toâ I think, in the end, we're going to end up being bigger, better, and stronger. We'reâwe have learned a lot.

Please.

Global Coronavirus Outbreak/Restrictions on Foreign Travel to the U.S.

Q. Thank you, sir. We're seeing an increase of cases in Latin America and the Middle Eastâ

â

The President. Yes, that's true.

Q. ââand some places in Asia.

The President. Latin America.

Q. Are you considering a new round of travel ban?

The President. No, we're not really. I mean, something like that could happen, I guess, but

we're not really. They thought we were going to have bans within the United States; we didn't do that. We're not going to have that. Hopefully, that will take care of itself.

No, in Latin America, there is aâthere's been an uptick. Yes, please.

The President's Comments About Asian Americans/Coronavirus Outbreak in China

Q. Mr. President, just quickly, a second question: What prompted you to say at the beginning of yourâbeginning of your comments that you're going to take care of the Asian Americans? Has there been something in particular that was prompting you?

The President. Yes, because it seems that there could be a little bit of nasty language toward the Asian Americans in our country, and I don't like that at all. These are incredible people. They love our country, and I'm not going to let it happen. So I just wanted to make that pointââ

Q. Do you think you contributed to thisââ

The President.ââbecause they're blaming China. People are blaming Chinaââ

Q. ââby calling this the "Chinese virus"?

The President. ââand they are making statements to great American citizens that happen to be of Asian heritage. And I'm not going to let that happen.

Please.

School Closures Due to Coronavirus

Q. Mr. President, you say you want to reopen the country, but most schools across the country are closed. Two States now are closed for the rest of the school year. How are parents supposed to go back to work and educate their children right now?

The President. Yes, the Governors of the various States will have a lot of leeway. If we open up, and when we open up, the Governors in certain Statesâfor instance, you go to some of the States I just mentioned, those schools are going to be opened. In many cases, they're open now.

But the schools are going to be opened.

In other casesâGovernor Cuomo, Gavin Newsom of Californiaâcertain Governors are going to maybe have a decision to make. Now, they may make a decision to keep them open in a certain part of New York and maybe in Westchester County, or wherever it may be, they'll keep them closed. But they're going to have leeway. We're giving the Governors a lot of leeway.

Q. Do you agree with the decision to close it several months out at this point? These Governors are saying they're expecting a peak in the next couple of months and have made the decision for the rest of the year.

The President. The Governors are going to make those decisions. That's going to be up to the Governors. And they're very capable. They'll be able to make the decisions.

Please.

Economic Stimulus Legislation

Q. Sir, will you explain why a $2 trillion economic stimulus is needed if you are going to reopen the country in a period of weeks, not months?

The President. Because the virus has had a big impact on our country, so we're going to give a stimulus so that the workers can live their life. It was not their fault. It wasn't the workers' fault.

And we are going to give a kick so thatâit's a kick. And this way, we think the workers can get a fair start. The small businesses, we're taking very good care of. We want to take care of these small businesses. They really are the engine of this country. A lot of people don't know that. You know, everyone thinks of these great big, beautiful businesses, who, by the way, have been very badly hurt also. But the small businesses have really, historically, been the engine, and they still are the engine of the country.

And you'd be amazed: The workers love those businesses. And the workers contact us, and they want us to help those businesses, because that's where they've made their living. That's where theyâyou know, they've been paid a lot of money over the years. And you know, you've been seeing what's happened over the last 3 years where salaries and wages have gone up very substantially for those workers. And then, we got caught by this sudden craziness coming into our country and coming all over the world.

So we need to make sure that the companies are strong and that the workers are strong. And that's what we're doing. And you know, hopefully, the Republicans and Democrats are going to be able to make a deal. They're actually fairly close, but we'll see what happens.

Please.

The Boeing Company/Federal Support for Key Sectors of the Economy

Q. But does it still need to be $2 trillion, is my question. Can it be smaller at this point?

The President. Well, one of the things: You're going to have to save companies that have been shattered. You're going to have to save variousâI mean, you know a lot of the companies yourselves.

We have a company that was, I think, the greatest company in the world, named Boeing.

Boeing is going to need some help. Now, Boeing had some difficulty before that's unlike others. We have other companies that didn't have a problem coming in. Boeing had the obvious problem that everybody knows about, from a little more than a year agoâa double problemâand it was a big one. And then, on top of it, as they're getting ready to really show their stuffâon top of it, we all get hit by this.

And obviously, the airlines are going to have a problem. But the airlines aren't going to be buying from Boeing or from anybody else right now because of this difficulty.

So we have to work with the airlines. We have to work with the cruise lines. We have to work with the companies like Boeing. Because Boeing is, potentially, again, a great company. They had a very rough period of 13 months. A very rough period. A horrible period. An unbelievable period. If you would have told me this would have happened to Boeing, I wouldn't have believed it. Because to me it was, you know, truly one of the greatâone of the truly great; probably almost 1 point of GDP, if you can think of that. It's hard to believe that a company could have that kind of an impact.

But Boeing, we have to work with it for two reasons. Number one, it's a great company that we have to save. And number two, it produces unbelievable numbers of jobs. And so, you know, the numbers have to be reflective of that kind of a thing.

Please. You know what I'm going to do? We have wonderful people behind us that are working very hard. And we want Bill to get back to the Department of Justice, and we want the Admiral to start going and doing your job, and the same thing with Deb.

If anybody would have any questionsâmaybe I'll ask Mike to stay around. But if anybody would have any questions for the group, and otherwise, I'll let them go back to work.

Please.

Q. If we could clarify with Dr. Birx. We seem to be talking about different geographical slopes on this; the curve would be changing. And yet you just said the 20 percent number that is coming out in New York gives an indication that we don't quite know when the seedsâto use your metaphorâwere planted. So how confident are you on the start dates of each curve for each of the geographical areas? The President seems to be indicating we'll be adjusting the policy for it.

Ambassador Birx. So that's a very good question. So what we do know is now we can backtrack from people who get very seriously ill to when they probably got infected, which is when they were exposed. And so when you start backing out each of those pieces, when you start seeing hospitalized patients, you know that the virus has probably been there for 3 to 4 weeks, substantially circulating within the population. So that's what we're looking for.

[*Ambassador Birx continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

And I think, right now we put everything into mitigation. Yet, if we geographically get specific data by ZIP Codes and counties, we'll be able to approach this in a very laser-focused way, making sure that what we're doing in each of those areas is absolutely appropriate for where they are in their own little bell-shaped curve.

Q. Dr. Birx, one more.

The President. Go ahead. Please.

Q. Dr. Birx, when will the Government roll out the antibody tests so people can know possibly if they've been exposed?

Ambassador Birx. So allâseveral of them have come to the FDA, I believe. Obviously, that's something I am very interested in for two reasons. One, it will give us a retrospective on where these infections were, who was actually infected, and how really asymptomatic versus mild versus all of that comes into the spectrum.

[*Ambassador Birx continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

So the reason we're so much focused on blunting the curve for this piece is, if the virus comes back, we'll have much more facility both for diagnosis, testing, monoclonal antibodies, treatments, and then the vaccine.

Q. And, Dr. Birx, a question about the serology blood tests, which some people said hold some real promise here. When will those be FDA approved, and when would they be widely available?

Ambassador Birx. So that's what she was just asking about. So these IgG's and IgMâboth point of careâI can tell you it would be no problem making ELISA today. But then, you're drawing blood, you're processing blood, you're running plates; that's what we did in the past. We

really want a fingerprick-type assay where you can just put a fingerprick on and get your IgG and IgM. So that's what we're working on right now.

Q. So, realistically, how long until that's approved and available? What do youââ

Ambassador Birx. I can't answer, because I have to look at where each of the companies are that are in their development processes.

Updated Coronavirus Testing Methodologies

Q. Sounds like a while then.

Ambassador Birx. Well, there's some that are developed now that they were using in Singapore. So we're looking at those to see how those work.

The President. We have some. Should be fairly quickly.

News Media/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. So we're looking at those, but you know, we're very quality-oriented because we want to make sure we don't give people false negatives or false positives.

The President. I have a question for you. So we have a lot of very angry media all around this room, and they want one of these seats, but because of social distancing, we are keeping them empty. And they are keeping them empty. Will there ever be a time when all of those really angry, angry peopleâwho don't like me much to start off with, but now they really don't like meâwill there ever be a time when these seats are full, like full to the brim like it used to be, where people are almost sitting on each other's lap?

And this whole row over here is packed, and now they're outside wanting to get in, and they're very jealous of all of these reporters. Will we ever have that again, or is that something that will beâyou know, it will look like this forever?

Ambassador Birx. So we're learning a lot about social distancing and respiratory diseases. And I think those are the discussions we had to have in the future. It was what you were talking aboutâchanging our whole behavior patterns of what we touch, and being conscious of that.

I remember, when I was worried Saturday morning, I was trying to think, what all did I touch on Friday? Did I touch a doorknob? Did I do this? Did I do that? Did I not wash my hands? I mean, you go through this whole piece. Did I touch my face by accident? So I think this awareness that we all now have, that we didn't have before, where we would have pushed through that door or turned that doorknob because we were in such a hurryânow I think all of us think twice. I think all of you think twice.

The President. But when the virus is gone, will the people be allowed to sit next to each other again, in your opinion, in a tight room, with a tightââ

Ambassador Birx. I don't know. You'll have to look and see if we have a new respiratory piece. Certainly, this is the way we set up every clinic all around the world when we're worried about TB and TB transmission.

Q. Dr. Birx, I'm wondering if you can comment on new measures that Britain has put into place. Also, Germany has said that it doesn't want to have crowds of less than two people, except for families, which is a pretty restrictive number. Does that inform your thinking as you are coming up with advice for this next period for the President and the Vice President?

Ambassador Birx. The President and Vice President have asked us to look at every single scenario, in every single country, because the more data we have, the more our decisions can be completely data-informed and really understanding what impact that has.

I mean, we're interested right nowâI mean, Italy obviously waited until about March 7. The virus had been circulating for almost 4 weeks before actually going into that methodology. But for the first time, it looks like their numberâtheir mortality rates are starting to decline, which would be an illustration that things that they did 2 and 3 weeks ago may actually have an impact.

Those are the kinds of data we're looking at very carefully, as well as very careful data within the United States of exactly where the virus is, what's the attack rate, has it moved out of its more confined geography, and really looking at each of those pieces of information. It's a lot of data to go through in that.

Q. What do you make of Germany and Britain's moves?

Ambassador Birx. Well, I think if you remember, just a week ago, Britain had a very different approach. So everybody is adapting to their data. I haven't looked at the data that informed that decision, so I can't really comment on how they got to that decision there or in Germany.

Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Dr. Birx, just to be clear, do you agree with the President's push to reopen the country? He said some of his doctors that he's talking to about thisâhe says, "I think they're okay with it." Are you okay with that?

Ambassador Birx. What the President has asked us to do is to assemble all the data and get usâgive him our best medical recommendation based on all the data. That's what he's asked us to do. And so that's what we'll be doing this week. We were going to have to do it this week anywayââ

The President. Right. We were going to do that.

Ambassador Birx. ââbecause we had to make a decision, come Monday, about the 15 days to reduce social spread. So this is consistent with our mandate to really use every piece of information that we can in order to give the President our opinion that's backed up by data. Not our perception, but our opinion that's backed up by data.

Q. And, Dr. Birxââ

Coronavirus Statistics in the U.S.

Q. With the data now, do you think you could in a week? Like, what would your assessment be of right now, looking forward?

Ambassador Birx. Well, we're pulling all of the data pieces in now, and that's really critical. I don't like toâI will never speculate on data. I will have to see the data in order to really understand it.

The President. And I think a big factor is the mortality rate. We're talking about the mortality rate. You know, when we first started, people were thinking about 3 and 4 percent, and now we're talking about a much lower number than that. I think it's aââ

Q. What is the number?

The President. I think it's a number that will be a lot different than people thought.

Ambassador Birx. The mortality rate is driven almost exclusively, as we have talked about, by people with preexisting conditions and older. So that has becomeâfrom the very beginning, that was our emphasis. You know, when we started 2 or 3 weeks ago talking with one another, our focus has been on how do we protect those with preexisting conditions and the elderly. And I think these steps were about protecting with preexisting conditions.

So the whole key to changing the mortality rates is not just the hospital care, but preventing them from going into the hospital to begin with, because you don't needâwant them to be infected.

The President. But it's much lower than we originally thought. I mean, frankly, it's a lot lower.

Ambassador Birx. Yes.

Q. And do you have an estimate? Do you have a number?

Ambassador Birx. Well, theâyou know what the estimate in Wuhan was originally. It was over 3 percent. When they look outside of Wuhan, it was about 0.7 percent. It depends very much. In South Korea, it was about 0.7, 0.8 percent.

[*Ambassador Birx continued her remarks, concluding as follows.*]

So I really want to be clear that, although it may be very low if you're under 40 or very low if you're under 50 and very low if you're under 70, there is an inflection curve. There are peopleâthe average age of the person who's dying in Italy is in the mideighties. So there is, really, a significant issue in our older generation that we feel strongly about protecting.

Coronavirus Statistics in the U.S.

The President. But, Doctor, this is just very interesting, the whole thing. It's an incredible subject. When somebody is very sick, they go to a doctor, go to a hospital, they record itâthey're very sick, and then they live, or they don't live. See what happens. But when somebody isn't very sick at allâI've heard people that they don't even know they had it, and they're healing. Then, I've heard people they have like a cold, or they have a runny nose, or even people that stay home and they think they have the flu. Or, in some cases, I think they have a really bad case of the flu.

But all of those people, that vast majority ofâI mean, beyond vast majority of peopleâ they're not reporting; they're not calling the doctor, they're not calling them. They're just getting better. So you would think it would have to beâbecause the people that are sick are going to a doctor, or they're going someplace and they're going to say, "Make me better."

The people that are just short of that and people that aren't evenâI mean, you know, you have many people where they literally don't even know that they have it. So now you're building up the number of cases that we talked about before. And yetâso you don't know any whatâyou don't know how many there are. It could be a vast number. But what you do know is all the people that are really sick. Because all of the people that are really sick are going to a doctor in some form, and the doctor is reporting it in all cases. So I think the number is much lower than we think.

Ambassador Birx. But that's why your question about the antibody test is so critical, because that will give us, really, a much better baseline to really understand.

Secondary Impact of Coronavirus Containment Efforts

Q. So, Mr. President, when you talk about how it could be a much, much bigger problemâ you said that at several stages on whether or not we keep these guidelines in placeâyou talked about higher death. Are you talking about suicide? Like, help us understand. And is the riskââ

The President. I'm talking aboutâI'm talking about many forms.

Q. Is the risk here of depression? Is that what you're getting at?

The President. We're talking aboutâlook, number one, it's the country itself. You're talking about tremendous disruption, economically, but you're talking about massive depression, massive numbers of suicide.

Q. You mean economic depression?

The President. No, I'm talkingâno, I'm not talking about economic, although you could be talking about that too.

Q. So you could be talking about an economic depression?

The President. What I'm talking about is people suffering massive depression, because they had a fantastic job, and now they have no idea, you know, what's going on.

Now, here's the good news: If they get the bill passed, we're taking care of those people. We're going to really take good care of those people beyond what any country has done for people. But there's never been anything like this.

No, I'm talking about where people suffer massive depression, where people commit suicide, where tremendous death happens.

Now, in addition to that, we're talking about economic, where you, you know, really hurt a country. It could take years and years to recover. And the longer you stay out, the harder it is to recover. I happen to think that you're going to haveâthey call it the "V." I think you're going to have a very big bounceâyou know, very big bounce-back. I think it's going to be very big. We'll see.

Economic Stimulus Legislation/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. If you get the bill passed.

The President. Well, I think the bill should pass. It should pass quickly.

Q. And you are confidentââ

The President. Take care of our workers, take care of the companies thatâthat pay those workers, help those companies over this rough patch.

But the longer it takes, the harder it is to come back. I'd like to be able to bounce back to where we were. And ultimately, I think we're going to be even further than that. But I'm just saying that theâwhat's happeningâwhen I say the cureâand the cure can be worse than the problem itself, right? That's what Iâwe can't let that happen. We can't let that happen. We've learned so much, and so many good things are going to happen for our country. We can't let this continue to go on.

So what we're doing is, we're meeting with the doctorsâDr. Fauci, Dr. Birx, and othersâ and we'reâwe've already started the discussion. And I can say thatâyou know, I'm a student like you're students. We're all learning this together. I learned a lot from Deborah, I learned a lot from Tony. I learned a lot from a lot of people that this hasâthis has been their life's work. I've learned a lot. We're going to come up with a date, and we're going to do two things. We can do two things at one time.

At the same time, we're going to be very vigilant. We're going to be so vigilant in terms of all of the things that we have to do that we've been talking about for the last 2 weeks ad nauseam. And I think it's going to be, ultimately, a far better solution for our country.

Yes, please, go ahead.

Q. Can I ask what advice has Dr. Fauci givenââ

The President. Deborah, why don't you go back? And youâwe want her to go back to work immediately.

Q. I have a question for Dr. Birx.

The President. Thank you. Great job. Thank you, Deborah.

Q. Dr. Birx, can I have one more question?

The President. Yes. Deborah.

Q. One more.

Q. One more.

The President. Come on. They won't let you go.

Q. Thank you. So there's still 1 week left to go in "15 Days To Slow the Spread." Doesn't talk of reopening the Government, quickly, undermine that? I mean, why would anyone today still social distance or not run out to see the cherry blossoms?

Ambassador Birx. Actually, it should reinforce it. Because if people know that we're considering and trying to understand the impact of the good work that they have done, I think it reinforces them to do good work for the next whatever it isâdays, weeks in the future. Because it says to them: We're looking very carefully of the impact that the work that you did, the selflessness that you brought to this, the ability to stay home with your fabulous children, your ability to social distance, the ability to give up on going to restaurants and just having take-outâ all of those sacrifices. The ability of your protecting our elder generation, the Greatest Generation, and making sure they're safe in nursing homes, but not seeing them.

All of us have made sacrifices. I haven't seen my grandchildren in 3 weeks. I know other people are like that: that they have really made those personal sacrifices. What we're asking every American to do is to make those personal sacrifices for these next weekââ

Vice President Pence. Now. Ambassador Birx. ââand nowââ Vice President Pence. Now.

Ambassador Birx. ââso that we can evaluate the impact of that sacrifice. So I think, if anything, it strengthens the willpower to say, "Yes, I can do this."

The President. Thank you. Thank you.

Q. Mr. President, so could I ask, where was Dr. Fauci today?

The President. Go ahead, please. Go ahead. We'llâone second, please.

Heath Care Marketplace

Q. Sir, one thing some public health officials have said would be helpful is to open back up the ACA exchanges so that people who are worried about perhaps getting treatment could go sign up for insurance now, even though the open enrollment period is open. That's something you can do with theâ[inaudible].

The President. Well, it is. It's something we're talking to a lot of people about. We'll see what happens. But we're talking to people about it.

Go ahead, please.

Economic Impact of the Coronavirus/Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Well, where is Dr. Fauci right now? Why is he not at this briefing? Will he attend future ones? Andââ

The President. Well, he wasâI was just with him for a long time. Andââ

Vice President Pence. He was at the Task Force meeting. The President. Oh, he's at the Task Force meeting right now. Vice President Pence. He was at the Task Force meeting.

The President. We have a Task Force meeting. He was there.

Q. Does he agree with you about the need to reopen the economy soon?

The President. Well, he doesn't not agree. I mean, we had a long talk, and he understands there's tremendousâthere's a tremendous cost to our country, both in terms of lives and in terms of economics, and in terms of many, many years of rebuilding something that was a fine-tuned machine. It was nobody's fault. It just happened. This horrible virus came from wherever, and it just happened. It just happened. He fully understands that.

No, he's a good man. I like Dr. Fauci a lot, just so you understand. No, he's not here, because we really weren't discussing what he's best at, but he'll be back up very soon.

Yes, please.

And we'll be discussing dates and times with him. And we are talking about aâI don't want to use the word "abbreviated," because so much has been gained by what we've done. But we're talking aboutânot during the periodâyou know, during the 14 or 15 days, but not too long after that.

Q. But, Mr. President, will youââ

The President. Which I think is going to make a lot of people happy. It's going to make a lot of companies happy. It's going to make a lot of workers happy.

Yes, Jon.

Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Mr. President, so, ultimately, will you take Dr. Fauci's recommendation on this, or are you thinking he's just looking at one set of inputs?

The President. Sure. I would certainlyâhe's very important to me, and I wouldâI will be listening to him. I'll be listening to Deborah, who you just spoke to. I'll be listening to other experts. We have a lot of people that are very good at this.

And ultimately, it's a balancing act. But you know the expression: We can do two things at one time. And we've got an incredible country. We have to keep it that way. And that includes not just economics; that also includes life and death. We have to keep it that way.

The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

Q. Mr. President, on social distancingââ

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. No, I'll get you.

Q. You were talking about social distancing amongst us reporters, and you mentioned that one of our own has come down orââ

The President. Yes.

Q. ââpotentially come down. Even if someone does come down in the White House press corps, would you pledge to the American people that you'll keep this room open? We're clearly 6 feet apart.

The President. Well, I've gotten to like this room. This room is very convenient.

Q. Will you keep it open for these briefings?

The President. I can say, from the standpoint of being President of the United States, I reallyâthis has been a very convenient room for all of us. You people are set up. So I never even thought of closing it. So you're asking me a question that I never thought in terms of closing it.

Q. I'm giving you the opportunity to pledge toââ

The President. Can you give me a good reason to close it? We could build a larger room.

Q. I'm giving you the opportunity toâI mean, you seemââ

The President. I don't want to make commitments like that, because it's, you know, not something I've ever really thought about. There are certain people that would like to see a larger room built. We need a larger room. Other Presidents didn't need such a large room. But we need a larger room, and there are some peopleâbut it's not something that is really on my mind, to be honest with you.

Yes, please

Q. All right, so quarter two: We know it's going to be brutal. Who are you listening to? Where is the brain trust to help get us through that period?

And also, has your opinion of the chair of theââ

The President. Which period?

Economic Impact of the Coronavirus/The Vice President's Leadership

Q. Quarter two. The second quarter. JPâMorgan Stanley, Goldman Sachsâ

The President. Sure.

Q. ââthey're all predicting a pretty dire second quarter. So who are you listening to? Where is the brain trust? You have all these medical advisers.

The President. Well, I thinkââ

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. I think we're listening to many people. I mean, that was my world. I know many of those people. I have many people that are friends of mine. Some enemies also, by the way. But you know, it's been a good world for me. I like that world. I like those people; they're tough and they're smart. But I listen to many of them. Ultimately, they all go into that computer.

[*The President pointed to his head.*]

And I say, "This is what we're going to do." I have to make a decision.

This is a very important man right here to my right, our great Vice President, because he's got a great instinct about things too. So I'm going to be listening to Mike. He's headed up the Task Force, I think, brilliantly. I think it's going to go down as that, because he's really done a job. He's beenânot only has he been good, he's been soothing. He's really been great for the American public to watch. And I mean that, and I mean that in the most positive way.

There is a solidity with Mike that you don't find in many people. He's been soothing. He's been good for the American public; they have confidence in him. I think he's done an incredible job. And his advice is very, very important to me. So he's going to be makingâI mean, he didn't come from that world, the world of finance, but he understands the world of finance. He was a great Governor in Indiana. They did very well, financially, too.

Q. So you won't give us even one name of someone else you're listening to?

The President. Well, I could give you a whole list. And we'll probably even set up committees. I'd rather not give you one, because then I'm going to leave outââ

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell

Q. And what's your feeling right now on the Fed Chair?

The President. ââI have spoken to so many people, and I'veââ

Q. He turned on the spigot today.

The President. What?

Q. Are you happy over the Fed now that he's turned on the spigot?

The President. I am happy with him, yes. I think he'sâI really think he's caught up, and he's done the right thing. And I think, ultimately, we will be rewarded because of the decision he made over the lastâhe's really stepped up over the last week.

And I have to tell you, I called him today and I said, "Jerome, good job. You really did it."

Q. Is that the first time you've said that to him?

The President. It might be. He was, you know, a little bit slower than I would have liked, in the sense of what he was doing. Now, other people might have liked it. But today I called up Jerome Powell, and I said, "Jerome, you've done a really good job." I was proud of him. That wasâthat took courage. And, ultimately, you're going to see the fruits.

Now, he's not finished. I mean, he's got other arrows in the quiver, or whatever they say. I will tell you, he's got plenty of arrows. But no, I'm very happy with the job he did.

Q. Mr. Presidentââ

The President. Go ahead.

Q. Mr. Vice President, you said that you'd bring the Secretary of Education here either yesterday or today. Why isn't she here today? And can we expect her this week?

Also yesterday you said you'd have some guidance for us on people who had potentially been exposed to the virus returning to work sooner.

Vice President Pence. Yes.

Q. Do you still expect that guidance?

Vice President Pence. Yes, thank you for the question. I spoke to the Secretary of Education today, and we're going to have her at the podium very soon.

[*Vice President Pence continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

We talked about the website that's being built, and she'll be coming and making a presentation on thatâbecause, as the President reflected a little bit ago, as Dr. Birx did, we understand there's a lot of kids out of school. But parents are anxious. A lot of kids out of college and university, like my daughter, who's been dismissed from theâwhat remains of this semester

of grad school, but is still doing the work. And the Department of Education is working earnestly to make that make that a reality.

Q. So we'll see her this week?

Vice President Pence. I'm sorry?

Q. We'll see her this week?

Vice President Pence. Yes. I'll have her here this week. SheâI mean, given the issues that we were dealing with today and with the Attorney General, we thought it might be just as timely in a few days.

[*Vice President Pence continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

And the guidance that we're looking forward to unpacking is how people who may have come into contact with someone that tests positive for coronavirus would be able toâif they have no symptomsâwould be able to return to work, wear a mask for a certain period of time, but otherwise go back to business. It's a focus on critical infrastructure jobs. We should have that guidance before the President and before the public tomorrow.

China-U.S. Trade/The President's Sense of Transparency

Q. Mr. President, we have understandably a patchwork of plans at the momentââ

The President. By the way, I just want to say while we're thinking about it: China has very much stepped up, as you probably know, the agricultural purchases from our farmers and some other purchases too. So they have a difficult time also right now. But they very much stepped up their purchases, and significantly. So we're very happy about that.

And the other thing: You know, I'm standing hereâin this case, with our Vice Presidentâ trying to let you ask anything you want having to do with this subject, which, frankly, is pretty much all anyone cares about right now. Butâbecause I think it's very important. I don't want to stand here for 2 hours and do this. But I think it's important thatâyou know, I call it, "Get it out of your system." Give us any question about it, because I think it's important for the public to know. So we don't want to answer two questions and leave. We want to answer your questions. That's why we're doing this for so long.

And I think it gives our country confidence, and it givesâI think we're givingâyou know, we're all gaining knowledge. This has been an unbelievable process, but we're all gaining.

So I want to, you know, stay here. Sometimes, we're here for 2 hours, and we're answering questions. At least you will say that I'm very transparent. I think you're going to have a hard time saying he is not transparent.

But we take a lot of questions from you. Unfortunately, some of them are repetitive and some of them are fantastic questions. Some of these questions are great. Some of the questions lead to us solving a problem. You bring up problems that people didn't know existed. But I just want to let you know, so we're doing this so that we can be transparent, so that we can get everything out.

Yes, go ahead. Please.

The President's Communications With Leaders of Group of Seven (Gâ7) Nations

Q. Mr. President, we have a patchwork of plans, understandably, at the moment. Are you coordinating an economic response with the leaders of the Gâ7 at the moment?

The President. Yes.

Q. You are?

The President. Yes, we're very, very close to them. We had a couple of great talks. Plus, I speakâI've spoken to a number of them individually. Yes, we're very, very closely aligned.

Please.

Updated Coronavirus Testing Methodologies

Q. Can I ask two questions? One for the Vice President real quicklyââ

The President. Yeas.

Q. ââand then one for you? Vice President Pence, we were talking about those self-swab tests. When will those be available? They said this week, but do you know which day, and do you know where they're going?

Vice President Pence. The FDA just announced that decision. And my understanding is that they'll be now going directly to market. I'll have a good estimate for you on timeline.

[*Vice President Pence continued his remarks, concluding as follows.*]

But this new approval from a study done by UnitedHealth Group and the Gates Group means that now self-collected nasal swabs will become available. We're going to be working, through FEMA, with Governors around the country to make sure and distribute those methods, as well as the swabs or any other supporting material, and get those into this vast array of labs that are now stood up around the country.

The President. That's going to make a big difference too, because that really is a process that's easy, as opposed to the current process, which is notâas I've said, it's not pleasant.

Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S.

Q. Yes, and then, just my other question for youâI just want to get clarity on this: If we get to next week, we're decidingâyou're deciding what to do with these guidelines, whether to ease them or reinstate them for another 15 days, will you follow the advice of Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci if they say you should maintain themââ

The President. And others, yes.

Q. ââfor 2 more weeks?

The President. And then, ultimately, I have to make a decision. But I certainly listen to them. I listen to a number of people. And I have a lot of respect for Dr. Fauci and for Dr. Birx. And I'll be listening to them and others that we have that are really doing a good job.

Jon.

Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S./Coronavirus Statistics

Q. But are you worried that if you do this too quickly, if you lift these restrictions too quickly, the virus will start spreading unabated? And how can you be sure that that's not going to happen?

The President. Well, you know, we have now a system, and the system is in place. And we have two very, very powerful alternatives that we have to take into consideration. And, as I said, one of the things that has really got me thinking about thisânumber one, I'm looking at what's going on. And you know, it'sâlife is fragile, and economies are fragile. But one of the things is the mortality rate, Jon.

When we first started, this nobody knew anything about this particular virus. Very, very little. I mean, we started offâwe were hearing numbers of 5 percent. That wouldâthat's an astronomical number, when the flu is .001 and two and three, right? And so 5 percent would be an astronomical number.

Now we're seeing numbers that may be less than one, and that's not including the exercise that I just went through where many people don't report. So everybody getting very sick is reporting, but nobody getting, you know, not very sick. And that should be part of that equation. So that just keeps reducing the number. So the mortality rate is a, you know, that's a bigâto me, that's a very big factor.

When we were hearing 3 and 4 percentâremember, we had 1 day where we thought it was 5 percent, and we were getting a lot of bad numbers from countries thatâI don't know why, but we were getting a lot of bad numbers. I do wishâagain, our relationship is very good with China, but I wish they could have told us about this a little bit sooner. You know that.

But the mortality rate is a big thing for me, because I think we're very substantially under 1 percent now. That'sâit's still terrible. It's stillâthe whole thing. The whole concept of death is terrible. But there's a tremendous difference between something under 1 percent and 4 or 5 or even 3 percent. So that's something that we're learning now. And I think the number may be lower than people think because of what I've been saying.

Yes, please.

Economic Stimulus Legislation/Bipartisanship

Q. Mr. President, have you instructed Secretary Mnuchin and the others working on this bill with Congress to meet some of the demands that Democrats have made with regard toâI guess they'reâ[inaudible]?

The President. Well, I thought we had a deal last night, and then the Democrats changed the deal. Soââ

We had a deal last night that was going to be phenomenal for the workers, which is my number-one aim. I want to take care of the workers.

And we had a deal. I was pretty sure we had a deal last night. If you would have told me at a certain time, like about 9 o'clock, I would have told you we pretty much have a deal. And then, all of a sudden, it changed. It changed fairly rapidly. And you know, it was unacceptable. It would have been bad for our country. And they were asking for things that would have not been good. I mean, things that that bore no relationship to what we're talking about.

We said: "That's not the game. We can't play that game." So we'll see. Look, the Democrats do want to make a deal. But, Jeff, I thought we had a deal last night.

Q. And if you come further into this process, weeks or months from now, and decide that further stimulus is needed, will you be able to work with Speaker Pelosi on that?

The President. I'll work with anybody to help the American people. I will. I don't care who it is. I'll work with anybody if I feel I'm going to help the American people and the American worker.

Yes, please.

Federal Coronavirus Response/Health Care Infrastructure and Medical Equipment/Border Security

Q. Mr. President, some States are still reporting a shortage of materials needed to actually process the tests. So what is the administration doing to get all the States the materials that they need?

The President. Well, you just saw the Admiral, and you just saw the FEMA people, and you just saw the Army Corps of Engineers andâyou know, we're building hospitals in New York and California and State of Washington and New Jersey.

I just made a commitment to Phil that we're going to help him out with some of the areas in New Jersey, which is very important. A great State. So we're doing a great job, and we're there to help the Governors. But you know, the Governors are on the front line, and they can do some of it themselves.

Governor Cuomo, he's been working very hard, and he worked with me on the hospitals and medical centers, because it's not just hospitalsâit's called hospital, and another is medical centers, of which we're building numerous for New York. And we have it all laid out. We have Javits Center, and then we have other locations throughout the State. And I think it's really a great plan. And we're going to have FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers involved.

And I've worked with them. You know we're building a wall. We're up to over 150 miles of wall on our southern border, which is now turning out to be even more important than we originally thought. But I always thought it was very important having borders.

And so I'm working withâI'm working with the Army Corps of Engineers, and I see what they do and how they do it. And that's whatâthat used to be my business, and I know it very well, and they're very professional. They're really good. So you're going to see a lot of good things happening in many Statesâbeyond the States I just mentionedâin many States.

We're working with Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida. We're working with Governor McMasterâright?âin South Carolina, where they have a little bit of a breakout. Not by comparison, but a little bit. We're working with many, many Governors and many, many States. Actually, States where you almost would think that they have it under pretty good control, and they've done a great job. But we're working with many States, and that's primarily FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Q. Mr. Presidentââ

The President. And they're capable of doing it.

Q. Mr. President, back to the stimulus, can I ask a question on behalf of my radio pool colleague, Tamara Keith from NPR?

The President. Sure.

Q. She asked me to ask this to you.

The President. Sure.

Economic Stimulus Legislation/Bipartisanship

Q. You just mentioned that there were some things last night that were unacceptable, which would have been bad for the country that the Democrats were bringing into the stimulus conversation. Her question was: What provisions would you absolutely not support in this plan right now?

The President. Well, a lot of the provisions that they wanted, like stock buybacks, I agree with that. That's good with me. I mean, I don't like them buying back stock. I like them spending money on airplanes and on their employees and their real business, not buying back stock. And I don't know if that provision is going to be put in one way or the other, but I'm all for it. And many

Republicans, I can tell you, are for it, and I think many Democrats are for it. But they were putting that out like it was a problem last night. It's not a problem for me, I can tell you that.

Q. And one more from Tamara.

The President. Please.

Q. She also wanted to know: How much would you want the cash relief directly for Americans? What number would you like to see?

The President. Well, I think what you're talking about right now is at least $3,000 per family of four. Isn't that correct?

Vice President Pence. Yes, it is.

The President. It's $3,000 for a family of four, which is bold. And if this continuedâwe'd have to build this up. And if this continued, we'll do something else, and we'll do more at a later date. But that's a big number.

If you remember, they were talking about $500 and $600. And we are all for that. Threeâas of this moment, it's $3,000 for a family of four.

Please, go ahead.

Strength of the U.S. Dollar

Q. When you're looking at some of the economic headwinds that we're facing, I'm wondering if one of the things you're concerned about is the strength of the dollar and if there's something that we should do to address that, including possibleâ[inaudible]?

The President. Well, we have a very strong dollar. And you know, a strong dollar is good in many ways, but it's also tough in many ways because it makes trade much harder. It makes it much harder for Caterpillar Tractor and other companies to sell their goods to Europe or China or wherever they may be sold.

So having a strong dollar is good, but it really sounds good. But the truth is, it makes certain things, like trade, much tougher. And our dollarâI don't know if you've seen, but our dollar has remained very strong, especially against other currencies. Very, very strong. Which, again, makes that trading more difficult, but there's something nice about having a strong dollar, right? You know, no matter what, I'm President. It's nice to have a strong dollar. But it does make trading more difficult.

Economic Stimulus Legislation/Bipartisanship

Q. Just to go back to the stimulus, you're confident you're going to get a deal?

The President. Well, I think the Democrats want a deal and I think we want a deal, so it would be very foolish if they didn't make a deal. The American public is demanding it. I can tell you, the Republicans want to make a deal and we want to make a deal that's good for the workers, good for the country. And I really believe the Democrats want to make a deal, but they have to stop asking for things that bear no relationship to what we're talking aboutââ

Q. And you've had a lot of laudatory things to sayââ

The President. ââthat are actually badâthat are actually not good for the country.

Q. You've been very laudatory toward Democratic Governors. You mentioned Governor Cuomo; you mentioned some others.

The President. Yes.

Q. If you'd get a stimulus bill, I'm wondering if you'll extend this bipartisan good will to Speaker Pelosi and invite her here for a signing ceremony.

The President. Well, let's see what happens. I have to see what happens. Right now we don't have a deal, but I think we're very close. I mean, when I left, which was quite a while ago now, because again, we're trying to answer every question so there's noâit'd be nice if you were just exhausted and said: "That's it. We can't do any more." But there's always hands up. Butâand maybe one of those questions is great and unique.

But no, look, I want what's good for the country. And if that means meeting, I think that's great. I just want what's good for the country, great for our workers, great for the citizens of the United States. That's all. It's prettyââ

Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi

Q. When was the last time you've spoken with Pelosi?

The President. Well, it's been a little while. Yes, please.

The First Lady's Coronavirus Test

Q. Both you and the Vice President have been tested for the virus, also Mrs. Pence. Has the First Lady been tested?

The President. Yes.

Q. And?

The President. She's great. She's fine.

Q. Negative?

The President. Negative. Okay? Negative.

Economic Stimulus Legislation

Q. What are the sticking points on the stimulus? Who is going to hold Treasury accountable for this $500 billion corporate rescue fund?

The President. Well, you need that to help all of these companies that have a chance of not being companies anymore. And that's going to be a good thing for the country, because deals will be made. And we're talking to certain people, some of the greatest people in the history of Wall Street, frankly, where, when they do a deal, we'll have stock for theâfor America. We'll take back stock for the United States. We'll doâat the same time, most importantly, we'll keep those companies healthy. But we can also make incredible deals for the country so that that number will increase exponentially.

I mean, that's a greatââ

Q. But the concern isn't about the fund, it's about the lack of oversight of Treasury having this unilateral authority to dole out all of this money.

The President. No, no. Look, I'll be the oversight. I'll be the oversight. We're going to make good deals. We make good deals. But these companies need it. Even it was just a simple loan, which would beâbut we can do better than that. And the companies are willing to do better than that. I mean, they got hit. Most of these companies, it was through no fault of their own. There are a couple where it wasâyou know, they were troubled before they came in. We talked about one. They had trouble; nobody can believe it, actually, in that one.

But these companies areâthrough no fault of their own, they have difficulty. I mean, 2 weeks ago, these companies were among the most solid institutions in the world. You'd want to buy their bonds; their bonds were rated triple-A, or whatever their highest rating is today. And now, all of a sudden, they have difficulty because they've been closed up.

So you need something to keep them going. But that money is not going to be wasted money. That money is going to be seen. And we could multiply that number by many times coming back to the American public. That could be a phenomenal thing. But most importantly, it's going to keep these great engines of jobs and ingenuity going. Very important.

Yes. How about one or two more, and we'll go? Go ahead, please. And then Jeff.

Federal Coronavirus Response/Economic Impact of the Coronavirus

Q. Thank you, sir. Are there things you regret in the way you handled the crisis so far? Are there words you regret?

The President. I don't think so. You know, I'm looking forward. I don't look back. I guess there's always something everybody regrets. There are things in your life you regret. We all regret things. But I really like to look forward. I'm a person that looksâa forward thinker, I guess they would say.

No, I think that we've handled it really well. It seems to beâthe American public thinks that we've handled it well, if you look at polling data.

But I'm not interested in myself. I'm interested in the American people. We have to get this going. We have millions and millions of jobs that were solid as a rock 3 weeks ago. And today there could be questions.

And the faster we get it going, the more likely it is that those stores, little businesses, big businesses, medium-sized businesses open up. And we'll get it going very fast. I really believe this is a pent-up demand. I think that as soon as we say, "Let's go"âand it's going to be pretty soon. It's going to be pretty soon. It's going to be sooner than people would think. We'veâagain, we're in a position to take care of our country, but at the same time, to have the country reallyâ really go up like a rocket ship economically. And that's great for jobs, it's great for everything else.

Yes, please.

Coronavirus Containment Efforts in the U.S./Governor Ronald D. DeSantis of Florida

Q. Mr. President, I'd like to ask a question for a colleague who can't be in the room because of social distancing.

The President. For whom?

Q. A colleague who can't be in the room because of our social distancing. About Florida, he wanted me to ask: Should Governor DeSantis have closed all of the beaches in his State?

The President. Well, that's really up to the Governor. I mean, I thinkâfirst of all, he's a great governor. He's done an incredible job. Governor DeSantis of Florida.

And on the beaches, I guess he's recently made a decision. But you do have a lot of room on the beaches and, you know, I think it's just a decision thatâthat he made originally, and then he's refined it, and then he's done something that a lot of people agree with what he's done.

But he's done a lot of things right. And he's been trulyâI mean, he cares so much about healthcare. He cares so much about the cost of prescription drugs. He's been a fantastic Governor for Florida. They're very happy with him.

The whole concept of the beach, it's a very interesting issue. There are a lot of open spaces; that includes parks and other things. But rather than relying on social distancing, they're probably going to do that one a different way.

But I would imagine when we make our decision, things like that would be opened up. And then people will remember what they're supposed to be doing.

Well, I want to thank everybody very much, and we'll see you tomorrow sometime. And we'll get this going, I think, really well. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it.

NOTE: The President spoke at 6:11 p.m. in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Miami Shores, FL, resident Rio Giardinieri; Commissioner of Food and Drugs Stephen M. Hahn; President Jair Messias Bolsonaro of Brazil; Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony S. Fauci; and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City. He also referred to Executive Order 13910.

Vice President Pence referred to his daughter Audrey. Reporters referred to U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams; and Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Pence.

Categories: Interviews With the News Media : White House Coronavirus Task Force press briefings.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Abbott, Gregory W.; Azar, Alex M., II; Barr, William P.; Birx, Deborah L.; Bolsonaro, Jair Messias; Cuomo, Andrew M.; de Blasio, Bill; DeSantis, Ronald D.; Fauci, Anthony S.; Giardinieri, Rio; Hahn, Stephen M.; Kudlow, Lawrence A.; McMaster, Henry D.; Murphy, Philip D.; Newsom, Gavin C.; Pence, Michael R.; Polowczyk, John; Powell, Jerome H.; Pritzker, Jay R. "J.B"; Ricketts, J. Peter; Trump, Melania.

Subjects: Agriculture : Domestic production, strengthening efforts; Army, Department of the :

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Brazil : President; Business and industry : Corporate responsibility; Business and industry : Manufacturing industry :: Government and private sector, coordination efforts; Business and industry : Small businesses, promotion efforts; California : Governor; China : Coronavirus outbreak; China : Trade with U.S.; Civil rights : Minorities :: Minority rights and ethnic tolerance; Commerce, international : Free and fair trade; Commerce, international : Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; Communications : News media :: Accuracy and fairness; Communications : News media :: Presidential interviews; Congress : Bipartisanship; Defense Production Act of 1950, executive authorities; Defense, Department of : Joint Chiefs of Staff; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Diseases : Influenza; Economy, national : Economic concerns; Economy, national : Household income and wages; Economy, national : Strengthening efforts; Economy, national : Travel and tourism, promotion efforts; Employment and unemployment : Job creation and growth; Florida : Governor; Health and Human Services, Department of : National Institutes of Health; Health and Human Services, Department of : Secretary; Health and Human Services, Department of: Food and Drug Administration; Health and medical care : Experimental drugs and therapies; Health and medical care : Medical equipment and supplies; Health and medical care : Research and development; Homeland Security, Department of : Emergency Management Agency, Federal; Illinois : Governor; Immigration and naturalization : Foreign nationals and refugees, U.S. admission policy; Justice, Department of : Attorney General; Labor issues : Paid family and sick leave; Mexico : Border with U.S., infrastructure and security; Navy, Department of the : Naval hospital ships, deployment; Nebraska : Governor; New Jersey : Governor; New York : Governor; Reserve System, Federal; South Carolina : Governor; Texas : Governor; Voluntarism; White House

Coronavirus Task Force; White House Office : Coronavirus Response Coordinator; White House Office : Economic Council, National; White House Office : Vice President.

DCPD Number: DCPD202000185.