it could be. and the hospital levels are starting to perhaps decrease. it's been very short, but perhaps decrease. l of the people in new york and new jersey, your governor is doing a great job. he's doing a great job in new jersey. they got hit very hard. i just want to say that the full power of the american government and american enterprise, it really is, this is an all-out military operation that we've waged, and especially over the last number of weeks. 50 states and territories have now been approved for major disaster declarations, which is very unusual. thanks to the army corps of engineers, new york city's javits center is now one of the largest hospitals in the united states. it's designated for treatment of the virus. patients and staff by hundreds of federal medical personnel

deployed from two army hospital units, and they are doing a great job. this is something that we didn't expect to do, but they needed help in new york, and we sent federal troops, not only troops, we also sent a lot of very talented doctors, nurses, first responders, people who are now running javits. also as you know, the usns comfort which is in new york, there's been a lot of publicity about that coming in, that was not supposed to be for the virus at all, under any circumstances. but it looks like more and more we're going to be using it for that. we will see. that was supposed to be for people having other medical problems, but it's very interesting because there are virtually no cars on the road. no motorcycles on the road. no anything on the road. things that would normally be taken care of we don't see anymore, so we haven't seen that in a long time. perhaps a positive. but the ship is ready, and if it

has to, if we need it, if we need it for the virus, we will be using it for that. they'd prefer not, for obvious reasons, but if for any reason they need it, it is ready, willing and able. we have the best doctors, the best military leaders and the best logistics professionals anywhere in the world, and we're orchestrating a massive federal response, unlike anything our country has ever seen or done. we've never done anything like that. and more and more we're using our medical people because of the fact that jurisdictions, states, in particular, new york, new jersey, connecticut area, long island now has become a hot spot, part of new york. we're sending a lot of things, a lot of supplies, and now we're sending personnel where it's needed, military personnel. as of tuesday, we will have deployed over 3,000 military and public health professionals to new york, new jersey, connecticut, and other parts of our country, 3,000, and that

number is going up, and we hope we're seeing a levelling off in the hottest spots of them all. we will see. you will be seeing that over the next few days. we will see what happens. but we're prepared. in the last seven days, fema has airlifted critical supplies and protective equipment from every corner of earth. they are coming from all over the planet, including from within the united states, where the equipment isn't as necessary. since last sunday, cargo planes have delivered almost -- listen to this -- 300 million gloves, almost 8 million masks, and 3 million gowns and many more fully-loaded cargo planes are right now on the way, three big ones landed today, and these supplies are being distributed directly to the hospitals and healthcare providers all across the nation, so that massive amount of material that we're getting in is being delivered

all over the country. tomorrow we'll deliver -- deliver an n 95 masks to new york city to take care of the needs of the hospital. it was a request of mayor de blasio, we've been working great with him, getting him a lot of stuff. he's working very hard, i can tell you that. we're working very hard with new york city and new york state. at the request of a congressman, out in long island, we will also be delivering another 200,000 n 95 masks to suffolk county where they need it very badly. we're getting it out on an emergency basis. should be there tomorrow. we'll also be deploying millions of n 95 masks to other locations that the admiral will detail shortly, the admiral will be up in just a few minutes. over the last 24 hours, fema has delivered an additional 500 ventilators to new jersey, 500.

and again, the governor has been very thankful. we're working very hard with new jersey, including building hospitals. we've also sent an additional 200 ventilators to louisiana, definite hot spot, 300 to michigan, working very well, i think with the governor. amazingly, 600 will be going or have gone to illinois, and i mean, there's a governor i hear him complaining all the time, i hear him, he's always complaining, and yet i just said give me a list of the couple of the things we have done in illinois. we're building a 2500 bed hospital in mccormick place. that's the big convention center in chicago. and we're helping to staff it and probably will end up staffing it because he's not able to do what you're supposed to be able to do as a governor. he has not performed well. we're also sending 100

ventilators to massachusetts. so we have 600 to illinois. we have 100 to massachusetts. we have 300 to michigan. we have 200 to louisiana. we have 500 ventilators, 500 going to new jersey. and this is being done by fema, being delivered by fema, and it's some job. think of that, when you think about 500 ventilators, a ventilator is a big deal. we're also establishing a federal medical station in the washington, d.c. area to help washington, d.c. and working very closely with the mayor and everybody in washington, d.c. at the same time, governor inslee, we appreciate this, of washington state has returned 400 ventilators which can now be deployed elsewhere in our country. so the state of washington's done very well. they won't be needing some of the ventilators that have been sent, about 400, that's a lot, and we appreciate that he's able to give them back.

he feels confident that they are in good shape, for the coming weeks, until we can declare a final victory. in the days ahead, america will endure the peak of this terrible pandemic. our warriors in this life and death battle are the incredible doctors and nurses and healthcare workers on the front line of the fight. we pledge to them our eternal gratitude and everlasting support. they make all of us very proud. our country is very proud. we have people, they love our country. the world loves our country, most of it. probably all of it, they just don't say it. i can report today that the united states has now tested and given results -- gotten results of 1.67 million people. that's far more than any other country's been able to do. and you remember, we inherited a broken system, so a lot of this has been developed.

by tuesday 1200 brand new rapid point of care testing kits has been produced by abbott laboratories, great company. and they'll be distributed to all of our public health labs. that's a 15-minute test, even less, as well as the indian health service, the cdc and the strategic national stockpile, so we're going to have 1200 and on a weekly basis, we're making a lot more. they go very fast. they're very accurate tests. and other countries are wanting them, so at the right time, we will be able to do that, but right now we're getting them to all of ours. so we've done 1 million 670,000 tests. think of that, 1 million 670,000 tests. and they have a great system now. we're working with the states, in almost all instances, but we have a great system. the other thing that we bought a tremendous amount of is the

hydroxychloroquine, which i think as you know it is a great malaria drug. it's worked unbelievable. it is a powerful drug. on malaria, and there are signs it works on this, some very strong signs. and in the meantime, it's been around a long time. it also works very powerfully on lupus. so there's some very strong powerful signs. we will have to see, because again, it is being tested now. this is a new thing that just happened to us, the invisible enemy we call it, and if you can, if you have no signs of heart problems, the azithromycin which will kill certain things that you don't want living within your body. it's a powerful drug. if you don't have a problem, a

heart problem, we would say let your doctor think about it. but as a combination, i think they're going to be -- i think there are two things that should be looked at very strongly. now, we have purchased and we have stockpiled 29 million pills of the hydroxychloroquine, 29 million, a lot of drugstores have them, by prescription, and also -- and they are not expensive, also we're sending them to various labs, our military, we're sending them to the hospitals. we're sending them all over. i just think it is something, you know, the expression i've used it for certain reasons, what do you have to lose? what do you have to lose? and a lot of people are saying that when -- and are taking it, if you're a doctor, a nurse, a first responder, a medical person going into hospitals,

they say taking it before the fact is good. but what do you have to lose? they say take it. i'm not looking at it one way or the other. but we want to get out of this. if it does work, it would be a shame if we didn't do it early. but we have some very good signs. so that's hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin. again, you have to go through your medical people, get the approval, but i've seen things that i sort of like, so what do i know? i'm not a doctor. i'm not a doctor, but i have common sense. the fda feels good about it. as you know, they have approved it. they gave it rapid approval. and the reason because it's been out there for a long time, and they know the side effects, and they also know the potential, so based on that, we have sent it

throughout the country. we have it stockpiled. about 29 million doses, 29 million doses. so we have a lot of it. we hope it works. driven by the goal of the brightest minds in science, we have the brightest minds in science, but we're driven by the goal of getting rid of this plague, getting rid of this sko scourge -- getting rid of this scourge, getting rid of this virus, these brilliant minds are working on the most effective anti-viral therapies and vaccines. we are working very very hard. i have met many of the doctors that are doing it. these are doctors that are working so hard on vanquishing the virus. they're staying -- we strongly recommend staying at home, practicing vigorous hygiene and

maintaining social distance so you're just not going to catch it. that's the most effective weapon in this war, and i will tell you, we are committing to the -- to you, we're committing to the people of our country, like few administrations, few people, few professionals have ever committed before. they are working so hard. i see them. i see them before my eyes exhausted. people that i'm dealing with every day exhausted. they haven't left their offices. they haven't left their hospitals. we meet with them. we see them. and tremendous strides have been made. i think the vaccine -- we will have a report on that. vaccines -- working together with other countries. we're also working with other countries, many other countries, and we all want everyone else to

be first. we're very happy. we're very far down the line on vaccines. we will see how that works. johnson & johnson is working very hard. a vaccine would be great. a therapy would be great. we will see what happens. in the meantime, listen to what i said about the two drug mentioned. my administration is rapidly implementing the largest emergency economic relief package in american history. you've seen what's been happening. billions of dollars in small business loans have already been processed through paycheck protection program, so we went out on friday and literally it's become so popular. it's been worked with the banks to get it to the small business. it's all about employment. it is all about jobs, want you to keep your jobs. give small business funding to keep the workers on the payroll, and we're sending direct cash payments to millions of americans and rushing aid to the

hardest-hit industries. we're saving industries. we will be -- you will be seeing it. and if we do more, we're going to do more, and we're going to try and get directly to people that are hit so hard, but we're going to take care of our workers. we're going to take care of our citizens. we're going to take care of our small businesses, large businesses, the airplane industry, the airline industry, a lot of great industries that we have that are in trouble because of what took place over the last short period of time. these are industries that were doing better for the most part -- doing better than ever. the airlines were doing great. oil was doing great. oil and gas, and the energy industry was doing phenomenally well and got hit like nobody's ever been hit before. just about like no industry has ever been hit before. there's never been anything like this. but we see light at the end of

the tunnel. things are happening. things are happening. we're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. and hopefully in the not-too-distant future we'll be very proud of the job we all did. can never be happy when so many people are dying, but we're going to be very proud of the job we did, to keep the deaths down to an absolute minimum, the least that could have happened, with this terrible, terrible virus. in closing, i also want to note today is palm sunday and the beginning of holy week for christians in america and all around the world. while we may be apart from one another, as you can see from our great churches, our great pastors and ministers are out there working very hard, but we may be apart. we can use this time to turn to reflection and prayer and our own personal relationship with god.

i would ask that all americans pray for the heroic doctors and nurses, the truck drivers and grocery store workers and for everyone fighting this battle. i had mentioned yesterday where i see the nurses rushing into hospitals, and they're putting on their outfits and they're putting on their masks and goggles in some cases. they're rushing into war. they're rushing into war. i see people from apartment, houses, screaming and shouting and singing their praises. it is an incredible thing. they are warriors, these doctors and nurses. they are running into buildings and literally putting it on as the doors are opening, putting all their stuff on, running inside. they are running inside to tremendous danger, tremendous danger. but most of all, i would like to ask for your prayers for the families who have lost loved ones, ask god to comfort them in

their hour of grief. it is a great hour of grief, for our nation, for the world. this morning i was talking 151 -- for four days i said 151. 151 countries this morning, it's 182 countries. it jumped up a lot. so as of this morning, it's 182 countries are under attack from this monster. with the faith of our families and the spirit of our people and the grace of our god, we will endure. we will overcome we will prevail. we have learned so much. we will be stronger than ever. and i just want to thank everybody. i want to thank the incredible professionals on the task force also. we had a big meeting today, with calls all day long to so many different people, and i think our package to get everyone

working when we're ready is really turning out to be successful. we may have to make it larger because it's been really successful. but all of that comes back to this country. we want to get them back. we want to get our people back to work. everybody wants to be back. we want to open up our country as soon as possible. with that, i'm going to ask dr. birx to say a few words, and she has some charts to show you. and thank you very much. thank you. >> thank you, mr. president, as you can see from the hopeful signs in italy and spain, where we see finally new cases and deaths declining, it's giving us hope of what our future could be. we wanted to give you an update on where all of the states were. we're looking at this as states normalized per 100,000 citizens. it looks very similar to last week. we wanted to update you. we have been covering throughout the week the states that were

moving on this map. you can see very clearly where new york is as a state, although this is very much still centered in the new york metro area. new jersey is the orange line. the green line is louisiana. that's followed by massachusetts and then connecticut and michigan are together in those lines, towards the bottom. and then of course washington, d.c. is now visible on this map, which was not visible before. and the yellow line towards the bottom is washington state. next slide, please. so this just summarizes all of the states we're tracking very closely at the county level. so we're tracing and tracking not only the epidemic at the state level but understanding what's happening in county by county with new cases and of course also the deaths. we're also triangulating that

with all the laboratory data. to tell you how we're kind of doing that, for new york, which you can see at the top, now about 36% positive. they were in the 40s. so day over day their percent positive is finally starting to decline. new jersey's increasing, however. they are now up to 42% of the specimens that come to the laboratory are positive. louisiana, 25%. massachusetts, 20%. connecticut, michigan, 20%. district of columbia, 15%. washington, 8%. and then illinois, colorado are at about 16%. pennsylvania, which is also new to the graphic is at about 12%. next slide, please. so if we could go back one, i'm sorry, if you could go back one slide, one more, all of the states here, those are 38 of the

states. 38 of our states have less than 50 cases, per 100,000. they are testing. their laboratory results are consistent with that. their positivity rate for their laboratories are less than 5%. so this is how we're tracking and triangulating both case reporting, mortality, or fatalities and also triangulating that with the laboratory. the new york metro area, new jersey, louisiana, and washington state have all tested at a rate greater than italy and spain. i know many of you are tracking that. remember many of us, we pushed out a lot of those assays at the beginning over the last two to three weeks and i want to thank admiral and hhs who have been working very closely to make sure that the states that were having an outbreak had access to all of their assays. next slide, please. and the next one? so just to give you an idea of how we're looking at this. we look at cases every day.

and i want to thank my data team they spend all evening compiling data. i get it about at 2:00 in the morning. it looks at all the metro areas by their granular counties, so we can see the counties that have new cases that also helps us identify the hospitals and understand what hospitals will need ventilators or ppe. this is the detroit area. it is oakland and detroit, wayne county. next slide? we also then also track mortality. it gives us insight into how many clients are in the icu and need care. we want to make sure that we're meeting the needs both on cases and really appreciating the front line healthcare workers that are really saving many people's lives. next slide. this gives you an idea from new orleans. we're now also tracking st. john's the baptist parish also. but this is the new orleans and jefferson county and really

tracking those on a case by case basis to look for changes over time. and next slide is their mortality. you can see it's starting to stabilize. so this is how we've been tracking and tracing the epidemic as it moves through states and counties and communities. but as we started, we just wanted to note again we do see hopeful signs in spain and italy. they have completed nearly four weeks of mitigation with people really doing social distancing, staying at home, ensuring they were washing their hands, if they have to go out to the grocery store, they're extraordinarily careful. they send one person from the family. we can really see that beginning to work. we're very hopeful over the next week although we're see rising number of cases of people who lose their lives to this illness, we are also hopeful to see a stabilization of cases across these large metro areas, where the outbreak began several weeks ago. so thank you for your attention.

>> thank you very much. >> thank you, sir. what i thought i would do is update on the -- [inaudible] first and follow up on dr. birx and how we're geographically aligning the supply chain. air bridge, we had three additional flights come in today, bringing a million gowns, 2.8 million n 95 masks, 2.8 million surgical masks, 11.8 million gloves, 18.6 thousand gowns, on three flights. that material will be pushed out across the nation, delivered to hospitals, nursing homes, across the country.

dr. birx went through the geography, and so over the last few days, i've been aligning the supply chain to those areas. and then reaching down into those areas and extracting data from those areas on burn rates. so for example, i spent the weekend talking to chief operating officer of detroit, for example, talked to the leadership at detroit medical center, audrey gregory, talked to the health officer in michigan and then also with the chicago health officer. so reaching down to a level to understand their needs. so we're geographically aligning the supply chain. you can see dr. birx went through these counties, and we're getting down to the county level. and then aligning it by

priorities of point of care. public hospitals first, va hospitals, private hospitals, nursing homes, first responders, acute care. over the coming days, we will be making a push to the geographic areas that dr. birx mentioned, increasing the volume through the supply chain to those areas, to give them weeks, not just days worth of supplies. primarily using our industry partners that we are directing, cardinal mckesson, med line, owen miner, henry shine, concordance healthcare, directing them to put product to the hospital door, the nursing home door, the first responders, directly to them. we're also working to push out

millions of doses of hydroxychloroqui hydroxychloroquine. we're working the distribution there to push the same thing to the same impacted areas. we're working to get it to the hospitals, into every pharmacy. my team is back there right now working the arrangements to make that to the hospital front door and primarily to the local pharmacies so doctors can write those prescriptions and you can get it prior to having it go to a hospital. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. president, mr. vice president. my last appearance here i mentioned that the president had given the department of veterans' affairs very specific instructions to be as aggressive as possible in response to the virus crisis and not only to protect veterans but also to

help the american people. as many of you know, we have three primary missions at va, one is support veterans health, the other is to provide veterans with benefits and the third is memorial services. but we have a fourth mission, and that is to support the nation in times of national emergency, both in war and in peace. we provide a bridge from the federal government to the states and localities during these emergencies. as a result of that, i have ordered our veterans hospitals to begin preparing more than 1500 beds to make them available, both at the icu and the acute care level to the states and localities across the country. as a result of that, we have opened up approximately 100 beds in the metropolitan new york area, in brooklyn, in manhattan, and east orange new jersey. we will be informing the governor of louisiana, john bell

edwards tomorrow, that we will give him access to our va medical center in shreveport, louisiana, to come to the aid of the people of the pelican state. i've also given instructions to initiate the fourth mission in michigan. we will be providing the people of michigan access to hospital beds in both ann arbor and in detroit. we've also provided a pharmaceutical trailer to be used by the governor of michigan to support the citizens of michigan who will be coming into that facility for medical care. we have also informed the state -- the commonwealth of massachusetts that we will be helping them in their efforts to protect their most vulnerable citizens in two of their nursing homes. so in accord with the president's instructions, the 400,000 men and women of the debt of veterans -- department of veterans affairs are in this

fight, not only for the 9 1/2 million veterans who are part of our service but we're in the fight for the people of the united states. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. president. and you all just heard from several members of the president's white house coronavirus task force. and we're truly blessed to have the kind of leadership that we have and whether it be the admiral who is organizing the distribution of tens of millions of supplies, whether it be dr. birx and dr. fauci who are analyzing the data literally hour by hour or whether it be that whole of government approach that you stood up up, mr. president, calling on every agency of government, including the va and hhs, every agency, i hope the american people know that at this president's direction, we are sparing no expense. we're doing whatever it takes.

we're marshalling the full resources of the federal government to respond to the challenges facing communities impacted today by the coronavirus and making sure every community in america has the support. we've also as the president has said so many times we have forged a seamless partnership with states around the country. as the president just reflected, by this tuesday with another 840 military medical personnel arriving in new york city, there will be some 3,000 department of defense and hhs personnel on the ground to supplement and to provide relief to healthcare workers really at the epicenter of the coronavirus, in the new york city area. and you just heard the va is opening up bed space. in new jersey i spoke at the president's urging today with governor murphy, 500 ventilators announced today being billed on the supplies that we have already provided. we were able to coordinate with him to extend all federal coordination on testing in new

jersey, through may the 30th, if the need is there, and also opening up va beds. i spoke with governor john bell edwards in louisiana and was encouraged to hear from him that as you heard dr. birx say, that new cases were down slightly. in fact, we're seeing a trend of some levelling among all of the governors i spoke to today. and i know what the secretary of the va just announced, about opening up va facilities, been a priority for governor edwards, but i assured him we're going to continue to send resources and supplies and personnel to support their healthcare. in michigan today i spoke to both governor gretchen whitmer and the mayor, the city of detroit. governor whitmer and i spoke about a new program in detroit

that will make hydrochloroquine available for 3,000 patients through the henry ford hospital. they will be tracking in a formal study, the results of that, but at the president's urging, i assured her that we're more than prepared to make hydrochloroquine broadly available to pharmacies and doctors offices across the detroit area, as they deem appropriate. i also heard from the mayor, as i told you, mr. president, and he was so grateful to the fda, not only for approving the henry ford hospital test that will be exploring hydrochloroquine, but also for the rapid approval of the 15-minute test. in fact, the mayor told me that he was able to use the 15-minute test this weekend to test 150 first responders who had been side lined because they'd been exposed to the coronavirus. they all got the 15-minute test.

they're all back in the line of duty, and the mayor couldn't have been more grateful. in illinois, i spoke with the governor as well as the mayor of chicago, as you just heard, not only have we sent 600 ventilators to the state of illinois, that i assured -- i assured the governor, the mayor, that while the principal focus that we have in the next several days is on the rising cases in the greater new york city area and louisiana, that michigan and illinois are in the forefront of our thinking and at the president's direction, we're going to make sure the people of illinois, the people of michigan have the resources, equipment, and support that they need. the governor did express great appreciation for the fact that our army corps of engineers constructed 500 beds at mccormick place and before the end of this week would construct another 2500 beds for an overflow healthcare facility in

chicago. in fact, mr. president, the mayor told me that the army corps was just outstanding in the job that they have been doing in constructing that extra bed space. as i close, let me just express as the president did, our profound appreciation for governor kate brown and governor jay inslee, the state of oregon and the state of washington are leading by example. oregon sent 140 ventilators to new york city. they looked at their circumstances and concluded that they could spare those. at the point of the need, and because of the low and steady numbers in washington state and in california, governor inslee today announced that they were sending 400 ventilators back to the strategic international that will stockpile, and those will be deployed at the point of the need. not only are california and washington state low and steady,

but frankly as i talked to governors and mayors today, i want to say to the american people that we're beginning to see the glimmers of progress. the experts will tell me not to jump to any conclusions. i'm not. but like your president, i'm an optimistic person, and i'm hopeful. the truth is we're starting to see cases and most importantly losses and hospitalizations begin to stabilize. but make no mistake about it, i want to say to the american people, if that holds, if that's happening, it is because of what all of you are doing. it's because the american people are putting into practice the coronavirus guidelines for america. you're listening to your state and local officials. you're practicing social distancing. you're using drive-thrus instead of going into restaurants. and so on behalf of your president and all of us, working really at every level, i just

want to say thank you, america. thank you for responding. thank you for putting other people's lives in the forefront of your thinking, putting it over and above your own inconvenience and difficulty. because of your efforts, there is as the president just said light at the end of the tunnel. i'm absolutely convinced, with then't -- with the continued cooperation, patience, and prayers of the american people, we'll get through this, and we'll get through this a lot sooner than we first thought it would take. thank you. >> mr. president, where did the flights come from, sir? >> they came from asia. >> you were mentioning the masks, gowns, hydrochloroquine. how do you make sure there's not a run on these products? that you drop them off at the hospital and people don't rush

to grab every mask and gown. >> it's going to the loading dock, and there's an invoice, and so those people that are responsible for that loading dock and that invoice, they're going to make sure that's not going to be a run-on. >> thank you, sir. i appreciate that. mr. president, first, did you have a chance -- >> we do give orders a lot more for sometimes than we think an area needs. we have a lot of orders that we think we are high. if we have it, like for instance with the medicines and with other things, we like to give it to them. every day we're building up and building rapidly and deploying it. we do get orders from some of these states where we don't they they need it -- we don't think they need it. we give it to them anyway.

>> you mentioned the prime minister. did you speak to him? >> i didn't speak to him, no. i did get a call from the ambassador. it's a big move going to the hospital. that's a big thing. he's a great gentleman, so, you know, i just hope he's okay. >> you mentioned the nurses, the doctors, the people that are gearing up and getting ready, has there been any talk on any level whatsoever of some sort of either compensation, protection for nurses, doctors? there's been some people who have said i can't risk my family's livelihood, i can't go back to the er. >> we're talking about it. we're talking about doing something for them. we're looking at it at the conclusion. we don't want to focus on that right now. they're incredible. they are not saying we're not doing it. they go in with good equipment, with great equipment and with stuff that's not so good and sometimes they catch it, the best stuff you can buy, brand new, the best stuff. this is a very tough enemy, but these are amazing people.

no, we are talking about something, but we're really thinking about let's get it finished first before we do that. please? >> the surgeon general this morning was talking about the coming week being among the hardest and saddest weeks of our lives. he was talking about this being our pearl harbor or 9/11 moment. you all are talking about glimmers of hope and stabilization. how are the american people supposed to bridge those different descriptions that they're getting from this administration? >> i don't think they are so different. i think we all know we have to reach a certain point, and that point is going to be a horrific point in terms of death, but it's also a point at which things are going to start changing. we're getting very close to that level right now, and the next week and a half, two weeks are going to be -- i think they are going to be very difficult, but at the same time, we understand what they represent and what that time represents and hopefully we can get this over with, because this is a very horrible thing for the world.

look, we're one country out of 182 now that have -- 182 countries. a friend of mine said he didn't know we had so many countries in the world. 182 countries are now affected by this. we want to get it over with. >> can i ask a follow-up on those numbers you were talking about earlier? how does that change the projections you were making earlier this week of 100 to 200,000? >> we're hoping we can stay under those numbers. those are numbers of death. we hope we can stay under those numbers. that would be terrific and as far under those numbers as possible. now if we did nothing, you know that number too. the american people really stepped up, so did the professionals. they just really stepped up. we're hoping to stay under those numbers. that means the minimum and the maximum. we're hoping to stay under the minimum number. you know what that number was. >> the numbers you were talking

about today, have they changed those projections? >> i would say the answer is yes, but i would also say that we're not going to know really in terms of the final total until we get out to the end, and we're probably, possibly not so far away. we're getting closer. but it's our goal to stay as far under that minimum number, the minimum number as possible. okay? that's what we want to do. go ahead. >> mr. president, as president of the united states, your words carry enormous weight, in this country and around the world. while you acknowledge you're not a physician, you do promote these medicines, extensively here. how do you not go so far as to be giving medical advice? and you said you might take some of these medicines even though you don't have symptoms. are you still planning to do that? how do you calibrate being enthusiastic and not playing doctor? >> because i want people to live and i'm seeing people dying. i've seen people that are going

to die without it, and you know the expression, when that's happening, they should do it. what really do we have to lose? we also have this medicine's been tested for many years for malaria and for lupus, so it's been out there. it is a very strong powerful medicine, but it doesn't kill people. we have some very good results and some very good tests. you've seen the same tests that i have. in france, they had a very good test. they're continuing. but we don't have time to go and say gee, let's take a couple of years and test it out and let's go and test with the test tubes in the laboratories. we don't have time. i'd love to do that, but we have people dying today. as we speak, there are people dying. if it works, that would be great. if it doesn't work, we know for many years malaria, it's incredible what it's done for malaria. it's incredible what it's done for lupus, but it doesn't kill people. that's one of the things with a vaccine, when we have a vaccine,

we have to do tests because when you inject that vaccine, when they take whatever it is they have to take, we have to make sure it doesn't have a horrible impact, destroy somebody, so we have to test it for a long period of time. this one not so much because it's been out there. now, i'm not acting as a doctor. i'm saying do what you want, but there's some good signs. you've read the signs. i have read the signs. with the other one, there's some very good signs also, different -- going together works very well, but there may be an indication that if you have a problem with your heart, you shouldn't take what we call the z pack. you shouldn't take it, and that's okay. but i would love to go to a laboratory and spend a couple of years testing something. we don't have time. we don't have two hours because there are people dying right now. if it does help, great. if it doesn't help, we gave it a

shot. we gave it a shot. that's the way i feel. you know, we passed -- >> [inaudible]. >> i would be very serious about taking it. we passed something, i'm very proud of, it is called right to try. for 45, 50 years they have been trying it. it makes so much sense. we have the greatest doctors and labs and lab technicians, greatest medicines, greatest minds in the world, everybody admits it. and when we're close to having something or when we have something that tests incredibly well, you couldn't use it for years because they would take years and years to test. so with the help of also democrats, i got it bipartisan, but they have been trying to get this passed for decades, you know that, it's called right to try. so a person would be diagnosed terminally ill from something, and in the old days, meaning before a year ago, they would

say do you think i could try this pill, this whatever, this medicine, that's testing so well? no, you can't do that. you can't do that. under no circumstances. they'd leave for asia, leave for europe, if they had money. if they had no money, they would go home and die, with no hope. we've got a got thing called right to try. if somebody is very ill, terminally ill, they're going to die. and it was very complex, wasn't as easy as it sounds because there were huge liability problems. the drug companies didn't want to do it because they didn't want it on test results because these are very sick people, so they didn't want to bring down their test results. the insurance companies had tremendous problems. i got everybody in the room and said look we will sign a waiver. the person taking it, we're not going to sue the drug company, not going to sue the insurance company, not going to sue the state, the city, or the federal government. okay?

it is called exculptation. we got it done. now we have right to try which is actually in my opinion much more difficult than what we're talking about here, but if there's a medicine or something, a possible cure, or something that's looking good and somebody has something where they are going to die or very sick, they take it. you know, we've had some unbelievable results, unbelievable results, and it also gives the people hope. yes, please? >> mr. president, the doctors who are treating coronavirus patients, they have the medical expertise to determine whether or not they should prescribe hydroxychloroquine -- >> and many of them do. >> there are already clinical trials in place. >> sure. >> looking at hydroxychloroquine. >> sure. >> why not just let the science speak for itself? why are you promoting this drug -- >> i'm not. i'm not at all. >> you come out here every

day -- >> i want them to try it. it may work. it may not work, but if it doesn't work, it's nothing lost by doing it, nothing because we know long-term -- what i want, i want to save lives. i don't want it to be in a lab for the next year and a half as people are dying all over the place. >> it is already out there. doctors are able to prescribe -- >> -- what do you accomplish? >> i will tell you what i accomplish. we bought massive amounts of it, 29 million doses of it. we have it coming to all of the labs. we're doing it here. in case it does work, we want to have it. we have given it to drugstores. we're sending it all over. fema is doing it. we're doing it through different channels, many different channels, including the companies that make it. it's a very special thing. now, it may not work, in which case hey, didn't work, and it may work, in which case, it is going to save a lot of lives. a lot of people are saying if

the people walking in prior to getting it, if they take it, it has a profound effect. well, maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. i don't want to wait a year and a half to find out. and only cnn would ask that question, fake news. go ahead. >> sir, i would like to ask dr. birx a question. the president just said based on the most recent data that you've seen some change in the projection. i'm wondering if you could -- you obviously have a week's more worth of data since the sort of 100,000 to 240,000 potential deaths figures that you gave us last week, so i'm wondering with all the caveats that this is sort of based on, continuing social distancing, that we might see, you know, if one city pops, things could change dramatically. what is the sort of range you are now looking at in terms of total death impact? >> i think the most important

thing right now is when we were talking about why we were hopeful. we're hopeful because last time i was here, i wasn't able to really tell you that italy and spain were coming across their apex and coming down the other side. and i think to me, that's extraordinarily hopeful. they just completed four weeks of really strong mitigation, and i think that's our word to the american people, is we can look like that. two other countries look like that now. two other countries with a very similar experience to our experience with higher case numbers and higher mortality, so that's what the promise is. the promise is if we do this, we could potentially be better. now dr. fauci and i today got another update from another independent modeler, and the numbers came in close to that 100,000 number again, but we believe, dr. fauci and i, that

if every american follows the guidelines, 6 feet, washing hands, not social gathering, that will have an even greater impact, and the other side of the equation certainly is our remarkable healthcare providers, our respiratory therapists, our laboratory technicians, our nurses and doctors, they are saving lives every day. and so that changes the number too. >> i also think that dr. fauci and dr. birx are very impressed with the american people. and i'm not going to put words in anybody's mouth. i would never do that, but i am and i will say that they are doing maybe a better job than we all thought even possible. when you look at streets in new york, where there's nobody in the street, no cars, no nothing, i see it. you know, i've seen those streets for a long time, and they are packed all the time. now you see there's nobody. you look at other places. you look at what's going on in

california where they are doing a fantastic job. they really are. the governor is doing great. i'm proud of them. i'm proud of a lot of people, proud of a lot of people own the other side, you know -- proud of a lot of people on the other side, you know, a lot of people. i'm really delighted to work that people on frankly on other issues didn't get along so well, disagree on this or that, we don't need to go into that now, but we are getting a long with a lot of people. they are happy with us. we are happy with them. i really believe the american people are doing a better job than anyone would have thought even possible. that's one of the reasons we can even be talking about the kind of number that we hopefully will be talking about which is at the minimum level instead of the maximum or beyond. it's not even the maximum. it is much beyond the maximum level which would be horrific. yeah, please? >> mr. president, secretary esper mentioned the department of defense might be moving in the direction of using face

coverings, former vice president biden mentioned he is going to be using a mask whenever he goes out now. are we getting to a point where we might see members of the coronavirus task force also wear face coverings? >> well, it was voluntary as i saw it yesterday. and certainly if they'd want to, i would encourage it. i would have absolutely no problem with that, if they wanted. we had a long meeting today. there's good separation. but the task force meets, and i would certainly have absolutely no problem if they wanted to. i think frankly it's something at least for a period of time where it might be advisable, and, you know, it's advisory, and we'll see what happens. yes, please? >> mr. president, on project air bridge, we've seen reports that shipments, testing kits and ppe turn out to be faulty to some capacity. we obviously don't have -- >> not here, no. >> no but to spain -- >> no, you have seen it in spain. they are not sending faulty

things to us. >> you're not concerned -- >> no, come look at it, come check it out. please. >> one of the things we're doing to prevent that is using those six companies that are the ones of the major supply chain. we're actually going to facilities, looking at product, pt inning it, and clearing it before it comes here -- looking at product, inspecting it, clearing it before it comes here. we have heard those things. that's why we're doing it. >> thank you. follow up to the doctors -- >> also sending it from other locations. when it comes to the ventilators which are very complex, we are now building -- we have now under construction literally thousands of ventilators. but so far i think or projections on ventilators have been right. they have been correct. did you have something for what? >> for yourself and for dr. birx and dr. fauci if they want to take a crack at it. some of the models you are are using, a model in particular, has been very accurate when it

comes to projecting deaths over the last couple of days but couple other metrics they seem to be pretty far off on, particularly hospital beds, are you happy with the models you are currently using, is there any need to adjust those? >> it turns out we need less hospital beds. we may have models, but we have been sort of saying that. in new york, we were saying we think you are going to need less. let's hope that continues. i heard governor cuomo this morning and he was saying less hospital beds. also less deaths. that was a very big thing. first time. less death today than yesterday, right? that's a big thing. but also less hospital beds. that means less patients because basically it is less patients. we were saying that. it also means less ventilators. there's a lot of not very positive things happening. okay, please? >> with prime minister johnson hospitalized,

>> are you staying away from each other just for continuity. >> we are standing away from each other, mike, you are tested. >> yes so was i a couple days ago. i when i get next to my don't breathe. i'm only kidding. we are sometimes forced into positions that i'd rather be away but we are all looking for questions, mike is a big part of this, i am, very difficult maintaining this distance in this area.

>> would you consider leveling imports, the tariffs on imports for oil. >> if the oil price stays the weight is because people who really want to go up, we want to save a great industry and we built a great industry in this country. if they don't get along i was you that, i would do tariffs, very substantial tariffs because we are independent now we have our own oil. we could say we just want to use our oil were not going to use foreign oil and it's great to be independent. we are independent. our energy is now independent. we produce more oil and gas than anybody else in it all took place over very recent time. in the meantime i'm seeing

$91, 91 cents out on the road. there's a lot of people who are happy, very inexpensive jet pool and fuel, were trying to save the airline industry but i wanted to save our energy industry i would absolutely do that what we will do is we will save and very importantly we will save tens of thousands of jobs. one of the other things were doing is having oil shipped to our strategic oil reserves were buying it for the right price and shipping, in some cases storing it for nothing. for filling up our reserves with this very inexpensive oil. nobody ever thought they'd see at this price for this is from the 1950s when they had big dollars. i would use tariffs if i had to, i don't think i have to. russia doesn't benefit by having this in saudi arabia

doesn't benefit by having this. oil and gas, they are major sources of income so it's very bad for them but we have a very important industry minutes formed beautifully, it was the virus that killed it because what happens is it's down 40% from the day this happened, otherwise it would be doing phenomenally well. so that's it. you have a timeline on the stimulus checks, how much longer do they have to wait. >> i like the concept of it, that's good, were talking about a different way of doing it but i like the concept, i like the concept of infrastructure. our country has to be rebuilt. they spent all this money in the middle east. $8trillion in the middle east