dobbs. follow me on facebook and instagram @lou dobbs tonight. coming up next president trump his coronavirus task force from the white house briefing room. thank you for joining us here tonight. good night from sussex. elizabeth: hi. it is liz macdonald with "the evening edit." you're watching the fox business network. we have breaking news, the white house coronavirus task force briefing has been delayed temporarily. the president is on a conference call, has been on a conference call with the leaders of russia and saudi arabia. that would be vladmir putin and king saloman to strike an oil deal. prices are plunging to generational lows. they're clawing back. there has been an agreement, reports coming in among members of opec to cut oil production by 10 million barrels per day. let's take it up with former lieutenant colonel james

carafano of the heritage foundation. colonel, great to see you. the president is on a conference call to get this oil deal done. your reaction to that story as we await for the presser? >> i think one of the untold stories about the whole covid response has been the u.s. as a global leader. we're so focused on the domestic story. we're so focused what china is doing around the world that china is absent and we're not. this is one of the instance united states holding back, holding world health organization accountable. tremendous work we've done with other countries own development and cdc and everybody else. u.s. is still the global leader. i'm glad we have something like this to remind people of that. elizabeth: i want to move to jobless claims. this is a story of reopening. the american people want to know the plan going forward from reopening economy. we're different from europe.

entire nations shut down. they can make the call to reopen. we operate on a 50 state model. here is the problem, 6.6 million jobs lost today. texas, a bellwether, 650,000 texans filed for jobless claims. that is more than the entire year of 2019. what is the best plan for reopening? should it be wall-to-wall nationwide testing? >> i think it will be a number of things. one we'll go through the curves at different periods. we're not like any other european country. they go through the curve once. i think we'll be able to open regionally. as we have less hot spots, people are bringing less parts of the country to others regional i think will work. i think industries, we're learning a lot of lessons from companies like fedex, or the companies working through the pandemic, how are they able to stay in business and keep people

from being infected? we'll find different ways to do business. how do we get different people in a stadium. as we figure those things out that will open up additional activities. it will not be a light switch. i think it will be sooner than people expected. i think we'll use combination of techniques. the big variable is what you just mentioned. you mentioned testing but also anti-virals to treat it, other methods, prophylaxis and other mitigation. elizabeth: americans want details. they just want details. the best way forward is to do, you know, just basically show the american people, here's the status of this vaccine. it will come online and how many weeks? here is the status of that antibody test, it is ready to go when? they want to see a screen a full shot screen, what's the status of all these things because the american people, watch the market reaction. unless they have confidence to go out and to work they won't do it. unless they feel they want to

feel safe. they want to feel safe going forward. wouldn't that be the best approach? here it is, america. here is where we're at right now. full transparency with testing, with drugs, with vaccines? >> i think it is reasonable to expect to see that at the end of the month. i think at the end of the month we'll have a much better grasp where the disease is headed. we'll have a much better grasp what our arsenal will look like and we have feedback from the private sector. i think we're couple weeks away from that kind of data but i could see that happening by the end of this month. elizabeth: your take on this we went initially imperial college of london said 2.2 million u.s. fatalities. then it came down to 240,000. then it came down to 85,000. now it is at 60,000. your take on these models. we understand it is difficult to projecting and these models are used to use major shutdowns

across the corntry and drive major economic decisions in the country. your reaction to the data? >> the models were kind of all we had but essentially we have now a world class tester. we're working on real time data. i think debate on the models, whatever they said in the past we are where we are. reality we're dealing with real day-to-day knowledge of the disease. i think importance of the models will really fade in importance. i think again, if we keep going the direction we're going, at the end of this month i think we'll have an idea about how to go forward. the other thing is, we have to think about this differently. this is not a depression, or recession, this is suppression. nobody ever done this history. voluntarily turned off the economy and turn on the light switch go back on again. we have to think afresh. we have to think how we get the most number of people safely back to work as quirky as possible. elizabeth: more than nine out of 10 americans under some form of stay at home or shelter in place orders. let's move on to this story.

we know that we now have 70 countries working on drugs and vaccines around the world. there is a growing global backlash against china. china has ignited a humanitarian crisis around the world. we're talking social media, colonel, lighting up, social media attacks against china and india and bangladesh and afghanistan from europe to the uk. the world simply cannot get hit again by another pandemic due to china's recklessness and coverups. the uk believes china's outbreak is 40 times bigger. how do you get china to be made accountable here? >> well first of all i think people forget this is just the nail in the coffin. china was in deep trouble before this even started. cheating, predatory behavior. china seen this coming. here is i think the key thing. i think we'll all stop doing business with china but this is advantage usa. as soon as we get this country back to work we'll be in the

strongest position of anybody. this president will have more leverage on china than anybody has in the last 30 years. this guy is not afraid to use it. i think -- elizabeth: go ahead. >> yeah. use the leverage. let the president follow through on the strategy that we already have in place. elizabeth: okay. so here is what is going on. japan is now saying to its companies that had operations in china, come home to japan. we'll pay you billions. two billion dollars set up to get companies out, japanese companies out of japan to come back home. we know that there is a, basically the production act, the defense product act, domestic product act to get companies to ramp up medical supplies and production of that. could that be used as a first step to get even more medical supply production happening inside of the united states? because china has basically been pushing on a medical belt and road initiative to become a

medical superpower now? your reaction to that? >> i think we need, i think our approach we need a plan that is good for america, good for japan whatever they're doing. there are three pieces. why can't people do business here? scour everything at local, state, federal level, every piece of red tape to prevent everybody innovating and hire people here. get rid of that. to get people doing business in the united states. the second one, there are other partners around the world that want to do business in the united states. we don't spend enough time going out to find the good partnerships. that is two. the third thing is transparency this has been the key of the whole thing if we learned everything. let the world know, what the chinese are really doing and then people will risk informed decisions and do business in other places. that is a three-part strategy for the u.s. that will put china place. elizabeth: james carafano. thank you so much. good to see you. thank you for your insights.

come back soon. >> thank you. elizabeth: great to see you, sir. more on the plan to reopen the economy with senator tim scott of south carolina. that stover next. that i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ tums ver(bell rings)la stick when heartburn hits fight back fast... ...with tums chewy bites... beat heartburn fast tums chewy bites there are times when our need to connect really matters. to keep customers and employees in the know. to keep business moving. comcast business is prepared for times like these. powered by the nation's largest gig-speed network. to help give you the speed, reliability, and security you need. tools to manage your business from any device, anywhere.

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♪. elizabeth: welcome back. you're watching "the evening edit." let's bring in our next guest, republican senator from south carolina. it is senator tim scott. great to have you on, sir. >> thank you, liz. you look great on tv. sorry can't be there with you. great to be on the telephone with you. elizabeth: oh, it is great to have you on too. this growing global backlash against china. now the world health organization leader basically said this to the united states, the administration, stop the politicizing, that's a quote, stop turning this into a political game because you're going to just create more body bags. the pushback against that, senator is, it is you w.h.o. helped china create the body

bags in the first place by helping w.h.o. cover up the outbreak. your reaction to that fight? >> no doubt our justice department has got it right, why we're looking at fcc making it harder for telecoms of china to do business in america. think about this. the w.h.o. worked in a collaborative fashion with the chinese to, at the very least, deceive the world as it relates to the severity of this pandemic. frankly they revealed very little to us that we needed to know early on that could have stemmed the tide, saved thousands of lives. but now, we're at 1.5 million cases across this globe, in part because of the ineptitude of the w.h.o. working hand-in-glove with the chinese. elizabeth: so what we have discovered in our reporting is that the outbreak in china may have happened earlier, may have happened in the summer of last

year or october. it started to sweep through wuhan in november. we know that patient zero supposedly was found in november. the world health organization blocked countries like taiwan. taiwan was warning that china was infecting the world. w.h.o. pushed back on taiwan. china started to arrest and censor whistleblower doctors. it started to hoard, hoard medical supplies, 2.4 billion items in ventilators and masks. it tried to corner the market on remdesivir. tried to get a patent on remdesivir before it let the world know about the outbreak. and sir, when you see people in afghanistan and in india and in bangladesh on social media now criticizing china, china has a big credibility problem on the world stage. what else can be done? should you push back against china at the world trade organization and at the u.n. as well? what do you think? >> i think the first thing we

have to do is take a look at our funding of the w.h.o. it is important for us to get them called on the car pest and have them become more transparent. i do think that fcc's approach looking for ways to basically ban, strip out of our country chinese telecoms, send a powerful strong, signal that we mean business. president trump's leadership has been fantastic on this issue. he was leaning in when the rest of folks were leaning out on this chinese situation. i'm thankful for his leadership. those are 2:00 specific things we could do to bring them to the table and solve the problems from the onset and move us forward. elizabeth: you know, here's the other story too. i wanted to drill down, it is, it is interesting how now the world is waking up to a humanitarian crisis that has been created by what happened and what's continues to happen in china. the world cannot withstand another pandemic out of china.

we have been decades at this with what is going on inside of china with its unsafe and gruesome wet markets now reports coming in reopening up. here is facebook users in afghanistan sharing posts, calling for china to quote, be isolated completely until the chinese change their lifestyle and quote eat things which are quote, normal. people in afghanistan, bangladesh, asia, europe, pushing back against china for the poor quality products like poor covid-19 testing. your reaction to that story? >> we long suspected that that it is very difficult to trust any information coming out of china. the fact we had more tests in our country, than anybody else in the world country by country suggest we're transparent. when you're talking about someone who wants to be a global leader, they need to have the same standard of transparency as we do. they should have the same level of inintegrity as we do. when you hear countries across

this world not always friends of ours, chiming in and talking about how bad china is, it only reinforces the fact pattern that we saw early on. and one of the reasons why we have so many questions about why they wouldn't let our doctors in to help, why they kicked out our press, these are telling signs that china knew up front what they were hiding, number one. number two, they wanted to have all the cures all the information, supplies, information, equipment in their backyard and it slowed down actually the recovery here in america because we couldn't get our hands on some of the ppe that we had companies producing in china. this is all coming full circle. it is one of the reasons why i am thankful that president trump is leaning in. our doj, fcc, and other agencies are calling them to the carpet because this is something that could have at least been mitigated more if not even

slowed down to the point where it may not have had the loss of thousands, tens of thousands of lives here in our country and frankly around the world. elizabeth: yeah. that's right, senator. i mean one study said 95% of this outbreak could have been stopped if china just stepped up to the plate. they pit a potempkin village of deceptions and lies and bullying the world and bullying w.h.o. to tow the line. >> happy easter to you. elizabeth: happy easter and passover. president's to use the defense production act to get mull medical supplies here in the united states. is this the first step to bring back u.s. manufacturing of medical supplies? that story next. that story next. stay with - hey, can i... - safe drivers save 40%!!! guys! guys! safe drivers save 40%!!!

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which could need hospitalization, skin problems, and severe bone, joint, or muscle pain. are you ready? ask your doctor how prolia® can help strengthen your bones. elizabeth: okay. it is elizabeth macdonald with "the evening edit." the president is about to take to the podium at the white house coronavirus task force presser. let's bring in conservative commentator and author kristen tate. great to have you on. >> great to be with you, liz. thanks for having me. elizabeth: kristin, there has been a lot of fingerpointing, there has been a lot of 2020 hindsight here. there is lot of talk about the strategic national stockpile,

really took a hit in 2009 under the obama administration. it was depleted due to the h1n1 epidemic here in this country and wasn't rebuilt and wasn't maintained. stockpiles in california and new york state were no maintained either. that is not just us saying that, but like media outlets like "the new york times." how about stopping the fingerpointing and blame game, and president is working on the fly to rebuild things as he said were broken? >> the pandemic is a wake-up call for our nation. we have to be prepared for the next health crisis this could be our opportunity to look at the weak points to make it stronger. now more than ever we need to come together as a nation, stop politicizing tragedy to score more points. the pandemic has, has reminded us -- to reliant on china for.

elizabeth: got it. the kristin tate. here is the president. thank you for watching. president trump. >> the secretary of treasury, steve mnuchin and secretary of transportation elaine chao all on proposals regarding the airlines and the airline business and we're working very closely with a lot of different people. we'll be probably putting out a proposal and giving them some of the details, some of the very powerful details over the weekend and it is moving quickly. the airline industry has been hit very hard as everybody knows. we'll be in a position to do a lot to help them so they keep their employees and they save their businesses. that will be taking place i think, you can say over the weekend. we may even have discussions with some of the airlines or all of the airlines over the weekend. i think it is going to be a very acceptable package. it is a very big package and a

very acceptable package. it will be good for our country, food for the airlines, good for a lot of people. likewise i just spoke with the president of russia vladmir putin and the king of saudi arabia, king saloman and we had a big talk as to oil production and opec and making it so that our industry does well and the oil industries does better than it is doing right now. the numbers are so low that there will be lay offs all over the world. there will be certainly layoffs in this country. we don't want that to happen. we built a great, great energy business in the united states. so we have tens of thousands of jobs. we had a very good talk. we'll see what happens. as you opec met today. i think they're getting close to a deal. we'll soon find out.

that is conversation we just had. so we had a busy hour 1/2. let me begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to the american people. millions of americans are making profound and difficult sacrifices in their own lives because they know it will save the lives of countless others and that's exactly what it's doing. you see what's happening where we are, where we stand and hopefully we're going to be opening up, can call it opening very, very soon i hope. together our people are writing one of the most noble chapters in the history of our nation. americans are encouraged to learn boris johnson, prime minister, has been moved out intensive care. that is a tremendous statement. we continue to pray for him and a fast recovery. that is a very positive development. as the new york metropolitan area continues the battle against the outbreak, the full power of the federal government

is there to support them. as you know the javits center has now been fully converted into a 3,000 bed hospital, one of the largest anywhere in the country. and by the incredible professionals, i have to say the corps of engineers they can do they have done a fantastic job. they are nationwide building 21 hospitals and care facilities, adding 17,000 hospital beds. they did all of that in a very short period of time. incredit what they had done, army corps of engineers. fema has been fantastic. our sweeping air operation to keep interests doctors and nurses supplied with personal medical equipment. 49 additional flights are now scheduled in the near future. the gear and outfits are being handed out. as they arrive they're going directly to point.

the american medical system continues to perform beyond our highest expectations reminding us that the united states is blessed with the most advanced health care and the most skilled health care workers anywhere in the planet. other countries are looking to what we're doing and our testing operation has now become far and away the most sophisticated and the best anywhere. and we want to thank all of the heroes on the front lines as they fight to save american lives. we're at the top of the hill. i'm pretty sure we're at the top of the hill and now we're going downward. in some cases we already started that process. earlier today i spoke with hundreds of mental health leaders and advocates from around the country to discuss the vital work and the vital work they're doing. we had the top doctors in country. some international doctors, mental health, big factor. not only as the virus inflicted immense physical suffering on many people but also mental and

emotional suffering as well. we're staying physically apart, no american is alone. we're all in this together but the mental health doctors and experts, it is a very great call. it was a very interesting call. they're working very hard. we're also seeing encouraging signs in our race to develop breakthrough treatments and therapies. pfizer revealed today it is found a promising new treatment that might prevent the virus from replicating in that hopes, it hopes to begin testing in clinical trials very soon. it is going to be very, very soon. they have great, great feelings for this particular therapy and, they think that, a lot of good things are happening through the fda es coronavirus treatment acceleration program. 19 therapys and treatments are now being tested and 26 more are in the active planning or clinical trials. so we have 19 therapies being

tested currently and 26 more are in the active planning for clinical trials. that's a big statement. that's a lot. trials for gilead's anti-rival drug remdesivir continue and the company expanded emergency use for new patients getting good early results by the way. the companies that manufacture hydroxychlorquine are massively ramming up production. as you know many people are recommending strongly zpack be added, the zpack and also zinc and federal government continues to build the stockpiles and build millions of doses for doctors to use as they see fit. i'm pleased to inform you a lot of good things are happening. we'll see how all that works out.

we have purchased and stoke piled millions and millions of doses. we're distributing it to some state has want it very badly. we sent a lot of to michigan and other areas. reporting today that we passed two million tests completed in the united states, first time. most anywhere in the country. it is a milestone for our country. it is a milestone anywhere. nobody has done anywhere close. our tests are highly sophisticated and highly accurate. at the same time we're making important progress on economic front of this war. in a few moments secretary of labor eugene scalia will explain new steps that we're taking to ensure american workers swiftly receive unemployment and paid leave benefits and that employers protect the health and safety of all workers including essential workers on the job, working very, very closely with workers and employers to provide further economic relief the federal reserve announced this morning it will provide up to

$2.3 trillion in support to businesses, states and local governments. $600 billion in loans will be available for mid-sized businesses with up to 10,000 employees and $500 billion will be viable for states, counties, with over two million residents and cities with a population of over one million. my administration is also working with congress to replenish the very successful. lou: incredibly successful the way it is going paycheck protection program which is allowing hundreds of thousands of small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll, meaning it will keep those businesses open. we need both democrats and republicans to come together to get this legislation, the legislation completed and it looks like it as on its way but we need both and it should be for people that are working, for the workers. and if you look and you see we have a lot of people that are

affected by that. and it is a very positive development. so we have to get a bipartisan approval of that and hopefully that will happen today. the department of education is also announcing the available of more than six billion dollars in emergency grant funding to assist college students impacted by the cancellation of classes and the suspension of housing. a lot of people have a lot of things suspended, housing is one of them. previously we waived student loan payments for six months. so student loan payments have been waived for six months. we'll discuss that after that, may go further. although medical orders separated our citizens for a period of time, it also united our entire nation. i think i can say almost like never before. americans are moving forward with common purpose, with shared resolve, determined to vanquish the virus and lift our nation to even greater heights. we are supremely confident in

the magnificent future that awaits the american people. and with that before i invite our vice president, our great vice president and gene scalia to speak, we'll take a few questions. i'm going back into negotiations on oil and on airlines. yeah, please. reporter: [inaudible]. conversation with president putin and the king? >> had a very good conversation. reporter: did you organize that call and do they understand the problems they're causing with the oil situation? >> no. there is a lot of of, so much production nobody even knows what to do with it, that's how it is working and saudi arabia and as you know russia well-known we're producing a lot and they were perhaps fighting with each other over the production and the amount of oil being produced and frankly there is not enough room to even store it. our storage is now full. will be very soon, our strategic

national storage is, i said there is a great time to fill it up, load it up with oil frankly at pricing that nobody's ever seen before. i don't think we've seen this probably since the 1950s. that was with big dollars. we'll see what happens. the conversation was very good. they're getting close to a deal. that's opec and many other countries outside of opec. we'll see what happens. reporter: are they still fighting with each other? >> no. i think they're getting along well. we had a very good call. we'll see what happens. but it was a very good call. they will probably announce something either today or tomorrow. one way or the other. could be good, could be not so good. i think one way or the other. jim. reporter: how can the administration discuss the possibility of reopening the country when the administration does not have an ad quality nationwide testing system for this virus? don't you need a nationwide testing system for the virus before you reopen the country? >> no. we have a great testing system. we have right now best testing system in the world but certain

sections. reporter: but certain -- >> certain sections of the country in phenomenal shape already. other is being shuns are coming online. other sections are going down. we in addiction to that are giving out millions of tests. every day we're doing it exponentially and picking up and what we'll be doing in the very near future, going to certain areas of our country to do massive testing. it is not necessary but it would be a good thing to have. reporter: don't you need that, mr. president, making sure people are safe going back to work? you don't want people sending -- >> do i need it, no? is it a nice thing to do, yes? we're talking about 325 million people. and that is not going to happen as you can imagine. it would never happen with anyone else either. other countries do it but they do it in limited form. we'll probably be leader of the pack. please. reporter: 16 million americans, more than 1million americans who have lost their jobs in the last

three weeks, fearing that the economy won't just bounce back like you said? >> well i think the economy is going to do very well. now that is just my feeling. it is a strong feeling. i have had good, proper feelings about a lot of things over the years and i think we're going to do well. we're doing very, looks like at the lower end of the curve in terms of death which is a terrible word, a terrible dark word we've experienced like nobody's ever seen before in this country. we have numbers that are terrible but when you look at the lower levels of, lower prediction levels of 100, 120,000, to 22,000, or if we did nothing up to 2.2 million people, we're looking at a much lower level than the level of, i hope, that on the level of 100,000. so we're going to see. we're going to have to, you can never, you can never do anything about the people that lost their loved ones and lost their

friend. i mean the great friendships. i'm not sure, a lot of people will ever be the same but i think our country, from an economic standpoint will end up being stronger than ever. we have tremendous stimulus. we have tremendous stimulus plans. we have things in the works that are going to really i think fire the country. i think that what is going to happen is we're going to have a big bounce rather than a small bounce. but we will be back and i think, honestly i think our country will be back from an economic standpoint, again, you can never replace the people that were lost and to their families you can never certainly do a thing like that, but we will have succeeded in many ways. hopefully keeping the number way below our minimum numbers and also also from an economic standpoint. we met with the mental health people today and that, this is taking a tremendous toll mentally on a lot of people. i think we're going to open up

strong. i think we'll open up very successfully. i would like to say even more successfully than before. please. reporter: thank you, mr. president. oil trading today at about $23 a barrel in new york. what would you want to see the price? do you want it at 30, 40, $50 a barrel? >> i want to see where there is a certain market but i don't want to see it where people have no idea, you know, we're opening up, we'll be opening up areas for storage ever oil, massive areas for storage of oil because oil today is not selling. what happened the virus knocked out 40% of the market immediately. you know that, you know the number, 40%. there was a lot of oil but it was very controllable. all of sudden they lost 40%. you look at roads, look at what is going on. there is nobody driving. there is no reason for it right now. that will start coming back. but we are storing millions of barrels of oil that nobody thought would even be possible.

frankly ships turned out to be a good business for some people because they're filling up tankers, sending them out to sea, not saying where to go. they're sitting out there loaded up with oil. so we want to save our energy, in this country we want to make sure that our energy companies, businesses and employees, workers, remain strong. so that is how i'm involved and i think that's boeing to happen. right now if you look, probably 23.25. if they announce a deal we can get it up. we need a minimum number so companies will not go out of business. so they will not lay off energy workers that are important to our country. we are now energy independent. we could do something where we only used our oil, but i think the long term benefit is be able to go with the market and it is going to work out, it is all going to work out. three weeks ago as you know, we talked about it, three weeks ago and two weeks ago this was catastrophic. i think it's really hitting

bottom and i think, i mean we've had a bottom but now at $23 and $25 and probably heading up, at the same time we save our energy and we also produce great, cheap, energy and we save our jobs. yeah? reporter: ask but the paycheck protection program, every day we're hearing from small business owners telling us their banks don't know how to access this money, they're trying to apply, they can't figure it out. where does the fault lie, does it lie with the banks? >> i don't think there is a fault. they're doing record numbers of dollars. they're dealing with community banks, bank of america, citibank, wells fargo as you know is very much involved and they're dealing with the bankers. can't go that quickly but i'm hearing it is very, very successful rollout. they did want changes in applications. they want changes in loan requirements et cetera, but, they are taking billions and billions of dollars worth of loans and in the very near future the banks will be

relieving the money, paying out money. please. reporter: thank you very much, sir, are you still expecting the usmca to take effect on july 1st? and considering fact that the auto industry is hurting these days are you ready to -- new rules? >> the deal is with canada, the deal with mexico, we have a deal. obviously the deal is different from the standpoint that production will be lower but we have a deal. it is a signed deal. it is a deal that is one of the worst deals that we ever had was nafta, one of the worst trade deals ever made by any country anywhere. we'll be terminating that, the new deal is a great deal for our country. that is something. we get hit by the virus and we'll see where that all goes. but certainly car production will be down for a little while. ultimately good for our farmers, great for our farmers. we'll be helping our farmers by the way. we have money going out to our farmers in the pretty near future having to do with, you

see what's happened. the farmers got hurt very badly by all of this. people are eating less from the standpoint that there is no restaurants are open. no businesses are open. no hotels are open. they will start to come back. but we're going to be helping out our farmers, yeah, please. go ahead. reporter: phil wagner, "real clear politics." earlier you mentioned project skybridge. we're hearing through that project a lot of ppe sent out to other countries is coming back to this country. do you know when we'll be able to bring a majority of that back? and then are you frustrated that usa allowed a the aid to go out the door in the first place? >> no, i'm not. we're in very good shape. you will be speaking with mike pence about this in a little while. you look at the hospitals, you look at what's going on. i spoke to yesterday, yesterday i spoke with the governor of louisiana. i'm saying do you think we need extra 1000 beds we're in the process of building?

we are really in good shape. you're not hearing people are needing ventilators much. in fact we'll start helping other countries with ventilators. we'll end up having a lot of ventilators for the future should something happen for hospitals ideally to keep and have. but no, i think we're in very, very good shape. we have calls with governors all the time and the governors are in very good shape now. we have sent billions and billions and billions of dollars between ventilators and equipment, protective equipment, masks. we have 500 million masks coming, 500 million from one group, 500. it will be 300 million and 200 million over a short period of time. no i think we're in very good shape. please much. reporter: thank you, mr. president, speaking of testing, some experts including scott gottlieb talking about 750,000 tests per week to be needed before the economy is open. can you address that? do you agree with those numbers?

if not, how many tests per week do you think we should have before the economy -- >> i don't like using word needed because i don't think it is needed. we'll try to hit a number like that, that is a very high number. we'll try to hit it. we probably might be able to do that. please, go ahead. go ahead, please. reporter: thank you, mr. president. today the democrats pushed for more rescue money for states an hospitals which are complaining that they need it to fight the coronavirus pandemic. do you think hospitals and states need this money? would you support it? >> i do, i support something but i support it for the next phase. much simpler in the next phase. whether that phase is infrastructure or whatever. so i'm going to leave you now with mike pence and with eugene scalia. if you would i look forward to see you tomorrow. we'll see you tomorrow. i think we have a lot of very big news to report. we've had a tremendous day between, i believe, what is happening with the energy industry and i believe what's

happening with airlines. i look forward to seeing you, thank you very much, everybody. [reporters shouting questions] >> good afternoon, everyone. at the present moment we have now cleared more than two million tests across the country and i'm pleased to report we're testing more than 100,000 people a day now. but we're working around the clock to scale up the new types of tests that the fda has approved in record time. and every american can be confident that we'll continue to buildout that structure going forward for the weeks ahead and the months ahead. at the present moment there is more than 450,000 americans who have tested positive for the coronavirus and sadly more than 16,000 americans have lost their lives. and as president trump just

said, our hearts go out to the families that have lost loved ones and i want to assure you that all of us working at every level understand these are not numbers, these are lives. and our heartfelt condolences during this heart-breaking week go out to every american family that has lost a loved one to the coronavirus. it has been a difficult week but as dr. birx will reflect in just a few moments, as we look at the data, literally on a county by county basis every day we continue to see evidence that, that in areas where the epidemic has impacted most, greater new york city area, louisiana, the detroit metro, the denver metro, we continue to see evidence of stabilization and it appears as dr. birx suggests

that we are close to the peak in each much those areas so impacted. we also express gratitude and appreciation for the people of california and washington state who continue to be low and steady in the number about of cases that are emerging there. we're watching the chicago metro area, we're watching the boston metro area, and as dr. birx will discuss we discuss continue to urge every american to put into practice the president's coronavirus guidelines. because all evidence indicates from the west coast to what we're beginning to see in major outbreak areas on the east coast, it's working, america and it is working because you're doing it and we encourage you onward in that. now today the white house coronavirus task force met but most of the team also met with republicans and democrats in two

separate conference calls of the united states senate. secretary mnuchin, our health experts, admiral polowczyk, dr. hahn joined us as we discussed a broad range of issues. the treasury secretary touched on the paycheck protection program now in stay five, reporting $125 billion has been approved so far. 30,000 new individual users and 3900 lenders are participating. treasury department will issue a new frequently asked document tonight, an faq as they're known, to clarify how seasonal businesses can participate in the paycheck protection program as well. with regard to direct payments to americans, the treasury secretary assured senators and we assure every american that we remain on the timetable where the first payments and direct deposits will go out by the end

of next week. for the average family of four that will be $3400 in direct financial support. it will no doubt be welcome news. anyone who is interested in additional information on any of these programs can go to treasury.gov or sba.gov. since we last spoke i spoke with governor laura kelly of kansas, governor andy beshear of kentucky. i also spoke to governors of texas and rhode island. i assured each one of them as we continue to work through the process of making sure that we distribute the resources at the point of the need, at president trump's direction, our objective working through fema to make sure states have what they need when they need it. and to see the progress that we've made, president just reflected on in new york panned new jersey, louisiana, the partnership we forged with governors in those states. california and washington state

before we trust gives confidence to governors and leaders ever states across the country. most importantly our dedicated health care workers will meet that need should that need arise. at the present moment fema reports that the president approved 54 major disaster declarations and states around the country have stood up 29,000 national guard, 11,000 fully funded by federal government under title 32. speaking of our military, at the present moment we received a report from the department of defense that 4100 active duty military medical personnel have been deployed in new york, new jersey, and connecticut. and, they are personnel working on the ground, at the javits center, working of course at the usns comfort ship but because at the present moment the

utilization of both of those temporary facilities has been fairly modest the dod actually worked with the city of new york to establish what amounts to a uniform temp service. they call it the bullpen and today they literally deployed from the ship and from the javits center 75 medical personnel to relief dedicated health care workers within the hospital system in the city of new york and will continue to do that. to make sure those federal temporary hospital and javits center is fully staffed. we'll make sure the usns comfort is staffed but the physicians, those military personnel are going to be also be deployed across the city to bring much-needed relief to our health care workers in our system. from the va standpoint we opened up a va facilities in new york city, east orange, new jersey,

detroit, michigan, and we're opening up the va facility to coronavirus patients in shreveport, louisiana. finally i mentioned that today we exceeded more than two million tests that have been performed across the country and also literally working with the u.s. public health service state around the country stood up hundreds of drive-through testing site. just this week fema and the u.s. public health service announced that we will give an option of states to transition from a federal testing site, dozens of which have been assembled around the country to a state-managed site. i want to emphasize this is an option. we believe it gives states greater flexibility to style sites, manage sites in areas they think are most important but, but we're also processing requests for continued federal participation in states from new jersey to louisiana to illinois, colorado and texas and we want to assure people in communities all across the

country that we'll continue to partner with states to the extend that they prefer us to be a part of it. with regard to the air bridge three flight were scheduled to arrive today in chicago and new york and dallas fort worth. 49 flights are scheduled over the next three days. we continue to work supplies. we continue to literally leave no stone unturned around america and around the world an we're literally in the process of acquiring tens of millions of supplies being brought into a distribution system organized out of fema and focused on the areas most in need. we're also bringing real innovation. and at the, at the white house coronavirus task force today, we tasked the fda and cms to review the feasibility of allowing hospital workers to use cloth gowns for performing procedures. it was observed that 20 years #,

most physicians, most surgeons, washed cloth gowns and lawn dered them. but it transition toddies poseable gowns. we're working very rapidly in next 24 hours and we'll have guidance for hospitals an healthcare workers to in effect recycle gowns and make sure we have supplies that we need. as president mentioned today, the president and first lady and i and my wife care return were hon noord to be part of a conference call with mental health professionals around the country. families are struggling with the coronavirus and struggling with heartbreaking loss from the coronavirus we understand this is a very challenging time for every american but, most especially americans who struggle with mental disorders or struggle with addiction and the president brought some incredibly dedicated people together to make sure we know

we're with them. earlier on the president expanded access to telemedicine. we used guidance for technology to remain connected to social support groups. we just urge every one, everyone who may be feeling a emotional burden or vulnerability during this time to reach out to the many resources that are there and know you're not alone. that we're with you and we'll get through this and we'll get through this together. so despite heart-breaking losses that continue this week in communities from new york to new jersey, to louisiana, there are signs of progress and hope abounds. reality is that we see new projections from the experts and if the projections are right, it's because it is working, america. because the american people are putting into practice the social distancing, caring for their neighbors and their loved ones and their family members and putting their health first. we have just want to urge every

american to continue to put those principles and guidelines into practice every day. with that i will invite dr. deborah birx up for an update and dr. fauci and we'll take a few questions. >> thank you, mr. vice president. i wanted to cover today not only what we're seeing across the united states but some of the testing data to assure from the prior question, if we're testing, i'm sure you're following our numbers every day, and amount we're going up about 118,000 to 120,000 per day are being tested. to go we're way over the 750,000 per week currently. we have some statistics, now remember we required this thanks to congress to be reported. we have about 75% of that test

data in now. 1.5 million of those tests have been reported in. i just wanted to give you some ideas because sometimes we think we're only testing in the hospitals, that this should give you an idea of the quantity and types of tests that have occurred. so we've tested over 200,000 young people up to age 25. they have about 11% positivity rate. over half a million people between 25 and 45. they have pa 17% positivity rate. remember in order to get tested you have to have symptoms. so this gives you an idea of the number of people who have symptoms that are not infected with coronavirus. another nearly half a million people between 45 and 65, their positivity rate is 21%. another nearly 200,000 between 65 and 85, 22% positive. and small group of about 30 plus thousand individuals over 85 and

they have a 24% positivity rate. this gives you an idea we're testing throughout all age categories. i see a lot of men in the audience today. i just want to remind them about the importance of health care. of the male-female ratio, 56% of the people who are tested are female. 16% positive. 44% male. 23% positive. so again it gives you an idea of about how men often don't present in the health care delivery system until they have great symptomatology. this is to all the men out there, no matter what age group, if you have symptoms, you should be tested and make sure that you are tested. we appreciate you engaging in that. and also really recognizing the issues about comorbidities, making sure that we're addressing those. i had a series of great calls with, about 17 states that are

in our more rural areas. elizabeth: i'm elizabeth macdonald, you're watching "the evening edit" on fox business. that does it for us. thank you so much for watching. join us tomorrow night as we stay on this >> a mysterious death. >> the story of my strange inheritance occurred when they fished my cousin's body out of the gowanus canal. >> a flood of questions. >> you think it's something sinister? >> i do think there's something going on. >> are the answers locked in storage? >> i just shook my head and i go, "oh, my god, this is a nightmare." >> he was, one might say, an idiot savant. nobody has what he had. howie frank had the best. >> he was sitting on a photo collection potentially worth $10 million. >> they dubbed him the "million dollar beggar." is it worth a million dollars? >> don't change that channel. it's a made-for-tv "strange inheritance." >> dy-no-mite! [ door creaks ]