high note. tells me the big guys are defending things here and hopefully that continues. >> it was the ultimate test. not bad. the dow up 1,100 points. one of the biggest point games in history. "the five" is next. >> dana: hello. i'm dana perino with katie pavlich, juan williams, jesse waters and greg gutfeld. this is "the five." joe biden curses out a blue collar worker in michigan and voters head to the polls for super tuesday 2.0. first, 352 delegates in six states are up for grabs tonight. joe biden with a big opportunity to build what could be an insurmountable delegate lead against bernie sanders in the fight for the democratic nomination. while the former vice president surges, his campaign is cutting down on the length of his speeches after another round of gaffes.

take a look. >> we're going to unit this party and unite this country. folks want to nominate a democrat, a life-long democrat, a proud democrat. a obama biden democrat. join us. >> we cannot win this re-election -- excuse me. we can only re-elect donald trump. if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad. >> together we can win back the house -- we're going to keep the house and flip the senate. we talked about that we're going to win back the united states senate. >> dana: while bernie sanders is shying away from attacking biden over his campaign slip-ups, he's saying this. >> when give a speech, often it's 45 minutes or an hour. because there's a lot of challenges the country faces and i have to talk about him. i think joe was somewhere -- where was he? michigan or someplace else the other day? he spoke for seven minutes.

i don't know how you say anything other than minimal discussion in seven minutes. >> dana: so both of the candidates have cancelled their events for tonight citing coronavirus as a concern. they'll be in ohio. that's where the voting will take place next week when there's another super tuesday. katie, what about this biden and bernie thing about how long their speeches are? >> i think that he has a point, bernie sanders, in the sense that look, we're trying to talk about deep issues, trying to determine why we're different from each other. it's difficult in seven minutes to lay out your entire platform as a moderate democrat and distinguishing yourself from someone like bernie sanders. now, whether bernie sanders is saying anything new, meaning how is he going to pay for things and getting to the details of what his policy proposals are for americans is a different story. joe biden being taken off the campaign trail in the sense of being limited in time is not a good look when he's trying to

make the argument that he's the one that can beat president trump that can speak for hours on end without stopping. >> dana: juan, you think it's much adieu about nothing and what about think about tonight? four years ago, bernie sanders had a very good night in these states, especially michigan, missouri, washington state. tonight biden is in the lead in some places and certainly on bernie sanders heels. >> juan: on the business about the attacks on his competence, i find it offensive. i'm stunned. i see that this is president trump's, you know, line of attack about joe biden of late. i just think -- >> dana: what about biden -- i mean bernie sanders -- >> juan: no. last night bret and martha asked him about it. he said he wouldn't do it. his backers are critical for not taking down his opponents including joe biden. he's not buying in. i think most democrats not only do they see it as joe biden that

they have known forever and ever and charming and authentic and all that, but secondly they see this as base personal politics that, you know -- >> dana: what about the results nor tonight? >> juan: think, i think, look, if you're a betting lady, you'd say oh, boy, i'll put my money -- all my chips on joe biden except for western states. looking at idaho and washington, i think idaho that biden is up but within the margin of error. in washington, sanders is up. everywhere else we're looking at michigan, mississippi, missouri, north dakota and then there's one exception. those are clearly heavily right now all the polls show for joe biden. one exception i was doing to say is there's something for people out of the country, democrats abroad. at the moment, that seems to be on sander's side. they could have voted early. it's not significant in terms of the delegate allotment. >> dana: one thing that hillary

clinton did bad four years ago in these states. she constantly talk about her books and shows that he's in people's consciousness. joe biden is already doing better. >> jesse: they're already hiding biden. he's in the home stretch in october. he has to do two to three events a day. debate prep, fund raisers, tv interviews. he's winded. he saying things like ar-14. that he's confusing family members. he doesn't know if he's in iowa or if he's in ohio. this is not good. now he's negotiating with the sander's team so he gets to sit for the debate. they don't want him standing for two hours one-on-one. they want him to sit. so he made donald trump take a cognitive test because he tweeted fake news after midnight a few times and he passed with flying colors.

they talked about the 25th amount. joe's brain should be fair game. that's the bottom line. bernie sanders, he needs to go for the jugular. because to act like something is all right there, that's not good enough. he did it with hillary with her e-mails. we don't care about them. and he's doing it again. it's like a guy, a boxner the late rounds, he's down on all the judge's score cards. he needs a knockout and still dancing around jabbing. benny has to hit him on stamina, he has to hit him on the gaffes, on family corruption. he has to go hard. if he doesn't do something big to change the trajectory of the race, it's over. >> dana: i'm going to have -- i have a prediction. if biden does well tonight, that he will move to say he doesn't need to debate sunday at 8 regarding sitting or standing. >> juan: i don't think he has to choice. he has to don't. but i think that joe biden's secret was on tv and had an

extensive interview last night. >> jesse: i didn't see that. >> greg: let's go to break. >> dana: it happens to me all the time. >> greg: new nickname, hidin' biden. there you go. that sticks. last week was super tuesday. this week stuper tuesday. you have a choice with a man that has been wrong on the core issues of our time or a decent guy that is experiencing identifiable cognitive decline. you might find that offensive but it is accurate. one is a socialist that has been wrong and one experiencing cognitive decline. it's there for everybody to see. the solution for this is you're going to support joe biden because he still wears the comfy sweater of american capitalism, not the failed hair shirt of socialism. so what are you counting on? joe biden's vp choice, which will be kamala harris or amy

klobuchar that will inherit the office in probably a year if biden wins, they will be president. here's the greatest analogy you'll hear today. for a democrat, this election is like buying a house, not for the structure, but for the land. because if joe wins, you're going to tear down the house, but you still get the lot in which you erect the kamala harris or amy klobuchar presidency. >> dana: you heard it here. >> and cory booker is out there. enthusiastic. vp choices are really important this time, katie? >> especially if joe biden is the nominee. interesting to look how democrats demand a far left candidate to be the vice president so the bernie wing is somehow represented and whether moderate democrats are going to get out and vote for someone like that with that person on the ticket is the question. i think we should pick up on what you brought up and the debate on sunday potentially being cancelled.

the biden team has to do a risk assessment here. this will be the first time that joe biden is on stage by himself. he doesn't have the other candidates to shield him from having to make lengthy statements -- >> dana: and how about having a comfortable delegate lead? why do you think he has to debate? >> juan: it's no question. it would be playing to exactly the offensive thinking that is so prevalent now as a result of the president's behavior. >> dana: if you want to win -- >> greg: the behavior began on your side. >> juan: by the way, people have said things liked this about president trump. i have never engaged in such chat. i don't think anybody -- >> greg: and his ability -- >> juan: job -- >> greg: you read his mind every day. you knew what he was thinking. >> juan: tonight you have a situation where, as dana pointed out, sanders won michigan. it's a 70% white electorate. heavy -- a third of the electorate is white, noncollege educated. these are sander's voters in other states. if he doesn't do something here,

there's just -- it's almost like the rest of the party is going to be quiet. >> dana: we had something else to bring to you, a very nice moment at the white house just moments ago. president trump presenting the medal of freedom to retired four-star army general jack keane for his service to the country. the nation's highest civilian honor. general keane, he's a senior strategic analyst. wonderful to see that moment for him. next on the "the five," democrats have been quick to attack the president over coronavirus. will their plans to stop it be any better? here's greg's take on that next. i saved hundreds on my car insurance

when i switched to geico. this is how it made me feel. it was like that feeling when you go to high-five a coworker, and you do a perfect high-five. everyone is really excited for you because it was such a great high-five. and then... ...the boss comes in. and she wants one too. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.

fifteen minutes could save you (sensei) beautiful. but support the leg! when i started cobra kai, the lack of control over my business made me a little intense. but now i practice a different philosophy. quickbooks helps me get paid, manage cash flow, and run payroll. and now i'm back on top... with koala kai. hey! more mercy. (vo) save over 40 hours a month with intuit quickbooks. the easy way to a happier business. to be our guest. with an invitation. the invitation to lexus sales event now through march 31st. lease the 2020 rx350 for $409 a month for 36 months

and we'll make your first months payment. experience amazing at your lexus dealer.

>> greg: you just groaned. if you want to see the deadly impact of the progressive mind, watch bernie from last night's fox news town hall. he said he wouldn't have shut down our borders to protect americans from disease because that would be racist. >> if you had to, would you chose down the borders? >> no. what you don't want to do right now, we have a president who has a propagated xenophobic

sentiment from before he was elected. you have to have the scientists take a hard look at what we need to do. there's communities where the virus is spreading. what does that mean? may mean self-quarantining, not having public assemblies. let's not go back to the same old thing. isn't it interesting that a president who has been demagoguing and demonizing dim grants the first thing he can think about is closing down the border. >> greg: imagine how clueless you have to be to say that as other countries endure chaos due to virus spread from one travel hub to the next. here you have a leading democrat saying spread would be racist against chinese and italians somehow. italians locked themselves down, you idiot. bernie has his head up his ass while he's hair burns. safety first, bernie. for a leftist, bernie is behind

the times. those that call trump racist for banning travel have changed their tune to a new smear. he didn't do it fast enough. black, white, gay, straight, male, female, undermining cooperation in community which prevents action to reduce death. how can you expect to fight any threat, a virus or world war, if you leader wants you to fight each other? funny how bernie thought it was nobody toll make a vaccine free once it was available. why not make it available now? as if things magically appear before the socialist takes control of distribution. take it from me, when a scientist makes a drug that helps the world, a socialist will call him a bigot for taking so long and then smoke it. leave it to bernie, katie, we would be screwed. the border action bought time

for us to spread out whatever the emergency -- the urgent hospital prep and actually make some mistakes. >> katie: how we're being lectured about common sense. shutting down borders during something that is a pandemic is a common sense thing to do. the president did it soon as soon as we knew what china was telling news january. he was criticized for doing so. you cannot as a democrat or anybody be an advocate for open borders allowing thousands come in unvetted and be taken seriously as a candidate for president who should be in charge who can do a better job than president trump and his administration has been doing so far. bernie sanders talks about scientists. every day the vice president has been standing up in front of the country and the world with a number of scientists and doctors that have been talking about this disease. now the media is gas lighting everybody because we call it a chinese virus or the wuhan virus. they're saying that is racist, which in return allows china to

get away with not having any accountability for the way this thing happened. can't talk about how this is china's fault because it would be racist which gives the communist party a pass for not giving us the dna code of the virus soon enough to work on a vaccine and see how fast it will spread, et cetera. so in idea that we can't talk about the facts because they're racist now apparently came from china, it's a chinese virus. we need to deal with it. also saying that not shutting down borders but also i should be in charge of preventing the spread of this is ridiculous and shouldn't be taken seriously. >> greg: at least the governor of california, gavin newsome admitted that what is being done by trump is good. i think we have this tape. >> we had a private conversation but he said we're going to do the right thing and you have my support, all of our support. logistically and otherwise. he said everything that i could have hoped for.

we had a very long conversation. everything that he said they followed through on. every single thing. his administration. it starts at the top. including the vice president has been consistent with the expectation that we repatriate these passengers. >> greg: it's refreshing, dana, to see some kind of unity from people from different political groups. >> dana: also because we have a federalist system which means the state and local governments, they're on the front lines. they have to coordinate with the federal government. if you're gavin newsome, you want to fight with president trump or get what you need to help your people. i think that when things get this serious and you're doing public health crisis, you can set politics aside if you want to. also governor ensley of washington state has backed off of his criticism because they realize we're in this together. the public health workers have said that the travel ban from china was actually very helpful.

gave them the time they needed to prepare. so actually i think president trump could have gone further. he could have said nobody from south korea, nobody from iran. initially. they were prudent and they waited. it could turn out that it was too late or something like -- somebody might make that argument, this is a fast-moving situation. you have the burden of leadership which means you're going to get criticized, but the facts will tell the full story. >> greg: yeah, jesse, bernie does have the luxury of his decisions not mattering. >> jesse: you can't trust bernie sanders. it's like an arsonist as your fire chief. you don't want someone that starts fires. you want someone that puts them out. you're talking about an international health scare and he wants to take away everybody's healthcare? he wants to lock up

pharmaceutical representatives for not finding a vaccine. if you want to open borders, it's crazy. it's all rationale. italy did it. they're trying to get a grip on it. when trump smut down the borders and flights from china, the democrats were impeaching him and calling him racist. they've been briefing congress about this since december. they've been pushing forth with new vaccines, quarantines, everything on tv every day. what do the democrats want to do differently? i don't know. i heard joe answer that on msnbc last night. two-minute answer, no clue what his plan was. i had to watch it twice. still don't know. >> greg: juan -- >> jesse: still don't know. >> greg: juan, i remember you questioning whether the travel ban was worth while. >> juan: i do. i still think -- it's not shutting down our borders. you say that. there's a different between containment, which is someplace

like italy and someone saying i'm going to keep everybody out because i'm worried they'll bring it here. the fact is the disease is already here. our issue is no longer about somehow containment as the surgeon general said, it's about mitigating the impact of the fact and trying to slow the spread. we have a situation here in new york. they're containing an or in new rochelle. it's trying to contain the spread. that's very different. so you have a situation where, you know, we had ebola come in and obama was asked to shut down -- yeah, shut down the borders. the medical experts said no. that would be ineffective and make it more likely that ebola would spread. >> greg: yesterday you talk about he didn't shut it down fast enough. >> juan: the fact is that president trump knew about this but was engaged it's not a big deal. we still hear it. >> katie: juan, it's so unfair for you to say that. it's not true. >> greg: that was after he shut

it down. >> juan: he sacrificed all of his credibility on this issue because he's engaged in happy thoughts. we're going to have a vaccine in a few weeks. >> juan: you want everybody to freak out and panic? >> juan: you want somebody to calm you down. you don't want -- lying and misinformation, he's just not good at sort of calming us. he's exciting us. >> greg: nothing he can do. >> jesse: the democrat's plan? >> juan: to rely on the scientists. >> jesse: so trump is not relying on the scientists. >> juan: oh, not a problem. go to work. >> greg: shut down the border, which was -- >> juan: he shut down the chinese border. >> greg: all right. all right. joe biden curses out a voter after being confronted about his second amount plan. don't miss it next. ♪ as a struggling actor, i need all the breaks that i can get.

at liberty butchemel... cut. liberty mu... line? cut. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. cut. liberty m... am i allowed to riff? what if i come out of the water? liberty biberty... cut. we'll dub it. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

so you don't have to stash antacids here... here... or, here. kick your antacid habit with prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. our retirement plan with voya gives us confidence. yeah, they help us with achievable steps along the way... ...so we can spend a bit now, knowing we're prepared for the future. surprise! we renovated the guest room, so you can live with us. oooh, well... i'm good at my condo. oh. i love her condo. nana throws the best parties. well planned, well invested, well protected. voya. be confident to and through retirement.

♪ >> jesse: super tuesday polls close in a couple hours from now. joe biden's embarrasses himself again. here he is swearing at a blue collar factory worker in michigan after being called out over his gun control plans. [inaudible] >> jesse: wow, greg. i guess his staff was trying to

control him. he shhed thing. >> greg: shhing a female staffer is sexist, i tell you. i don't know. this is going to be a fun time. he gets mad. he gets cranky. biden's message is not the party's message. he's message is vote for me and i will replace trump. the party message is vote for biden and kamala or amy will replace him. trust me. >> jesse: he also lied about not going after people's guns. here he is admitting it. watch. >> i want to make something clear. i'm going to guarantee you, this is not the last your seeing this guy. you're going to lead the effort. i'm counting on you. >> so to gun owners out there that so a biden administration says i'm going to come for your guns -- >> bingo.

the assault weapons should be illegal, period. >> jesse: so he either lied or he didn't remember what he said two months ago. >> katie: i don't think joe biden knows an assault weapon. you can look at the people that have endorsed him, beto who he said would be in charge of his gun policy has called for the confiscation of constitutionally protected ownership of firearms. >> jesse: door-to-door. >> katie: by force from the government coming to you and demanding if you don't turn it in, you'll go to prison. michael bloomberg has endorsed joe biden who has spent hundreds of millions to curtail second amendment rights. it's interesting to watch joe biden in this setting. these are the kinds of voters that democrats have to win back to win places like michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania. they're going to have a very hard time reconciling this woke attitude of gun confiscation to a group of guys like that. there's 50 people there and

probably feel the same and trying to win back blue collar workers. it's like putting a square peg in a round hole. this is not going to work. you can't be for gun confiscation in a crowd like that from the midwest and think you're doing to win their vote back especially when president trump has provided economic policies they like. >> jesse: juan, what if trump went up to a voter and told him he was full of [bleep] and let's take it outside. >> juan: i think you would applaud? >> jesse: really? >> juan: yes, sir, that's donald trump being direct and real. >> jesse: what do you think about joe doing that? >> juan: i thought he's a straight shooter. by the way, i don't think -- >> jesse: just not with an ar-15. >> juan: what you're saying is so wrong. joe biden in the interviews you just said said what he wants to do is not come and confiscate or take away anyone's guns. governor whitmire said -- >> jesse: anderson cooper --

>> juan: he said guns that -- let me finish. i think when you think about what katie was talking about, some strong nra backer, they weren't going to vote for a democrat anyway. his stand, biden's stand, is forceful, helps him with democrats that say you deliver a strong message, joe, you come through strong. i didn't see any dilly-dallying or mental incapacity. >> jesse: ar-14? did he say that right? >> juan: i now understand that joe biden is the democratic nominee -- >> jesse: he might not make to it be the nominee.dana? >> dana: the gun thing, bernie sanders was a supporter of gun rights and that set him apart in the senate. i don't know when it changed. as the party moved left, he moved with them. now it's pretty much party orthodoxy. the position that joe biden is

saying he has now is the one that he thinks can get him to the finish line for the democratic nomination. how does that play in a general election? for suburban women, maybe it's better. for those blue collar workers that were obama trump voters, i don't know that necessarily helps get them back. >> jesse: make he should have cognitived him a dog-faced trump soldier. >> greg: i can't recall a single instance of trump aggressively going after an individual. every single one of joe's tips, when he's talking to somebody, it's going after a person. trump goes after groups. fake news, the media. that kind of stuff. >> jesse: he snaps quickly. all right. we're waiting another coronavirus task force briefing. stay with "the five" for the latest on the outbreak. ♪ -i have a back rash. -alright. whoa, mara. i laugh like this.

[ laughs obnoxiously ] it's just not my scene. -i couldn't help but over-- -do you like insurance? i love insurance. did you know you can save money bundling home and auto with progressive, and renters can bundle, too? i know, right? [ laughs ] [ singing continues ] why'd you stop? i was listening. [ microphone feedback ] than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. as have tears in the stomach or intestines,

serious allergic reactions, and changes in lab results. tell your doctor if you've been somewhere fungal infections are common, or if you've had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. don't let another morning go by without asking your doctor about xeljanz xr.

yeah, i've had some pretty prestigious jobs over the years. news producer. executive transport manager. and a beverage distribution supervisor. now i'm a director at a security software firm. wow, you've been at it a long time. the thing is, i like working. what if my retirement plan is i don't want to retire? then let's not create a retirement plan. let's create a plan for what's next. i like that. get a plan that's right for you. td ameritrade. ♪

>> juan: any nomo -- moment we're going to get an update on the coronavirus. here's president earlier today. >> we're prepared, doing a great job with it. it will go away. stay calm. we're so strong with tax cuts, regulations and all of those things. the consumer has never been in a better position than right now. a lot of good things will happen. >> juan: the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread throughout the united states. there's more than 730 confirmed cases. the number of deaths now at 27. officials in new york state announced they're setting up a containment zone in a community outside of new york. all schools and major gathering placing in a one-mile radius will be shut down for two weeks. so the question begins with, you know, do you agree with containment zones, jesse? >> jesse: if the officials believe a containment zone is

effective, i support that. i think we're still learning a lot about the virus. for instance, matt gaetz was at cpac the other day, shook hands and took a selfie with a guy that was infected with coronavirus. he just got tested and he tested negative. that's a pretty good indication about how contagious it is, who is at risk. doesn't mean we know everything but we're learning more. in terms of what congress can do, they can only do so much. in the consumer doesn't go to dinner around the consumer stays in the house and the worker doesn't have to go to work, they're told to work from home, continue can't make people go outside and spend money. so they're limited in what they can do. they can do the payroll tax, do the loans, wave the co-pays. it's not the silver bullet. looking back at what the left says. what are they saying? what is the threat? global warming. how does that look right now?

global warming is the number 1 threat the human civilization. it just seems silly at a moment like this when you have a pandemic, terrorism and the o r overreliance on the chinese that are threatening this country. >> juan: dana, the president was talking to the republican conference at lunch. they're trying to come up with a economic plan. thinking stimulus a lot of industries that need help in the aftermath of this. he doesn't have any specific plan. he had -- except for what jesse talked about, the payroll tax. it's a tax that would until november when he's up for re-election. >> dana: they're trying to say how do you get ahead of it. you know it will have an economic impact. the payroll tax could allow you to have more of a broad-base support for people rather than picking winners and losers. if they say we're going to help

the oil industry but not cruise ship industry, they're showing that there's a willing. in washington d.c., it's not hard to pass a stimulus bill. everybody is always open for business to spend more money. in this case they might need to. if you -- forget china. people are travelling to south korea. their anybody's go up. they had cancelling big events, closing schools. all of that has led to them -- look at the charts now, their numbers have gone way down. things that we can do early and aggressive action is important. >> juan: greg, when i listened to the president there, i thought there he goes again. this is a president that in a time of crisis should project calm and trust. fox news alert. vice president pence and the coronavirus task force now holding a briefing at the white house. let's listen in.

>> good afternoon. we just completed today's meeting of the coronavirus task force at the white house. i couldn't be more proud of the efforts of the men and women standing behind me, all of those behind them. president trump said from early on this would be a whole of government approach and today gives evidence to the fact that it's a whole of america approach. we're bringing the full resources of the federal government and the full resources of this great economy and our great business sector to bear in protecting the american people and protecting american families. a few updates from today. as we expand testing a vail ability across the country, it's available at all state labs. by the end of the week, more than four million more tests made available in jurisdictions around the country.

one million are already in place thanks to the good work of our top commercial labs that president trump brought together yesterday. labcorps and quest are in the process now of distributing and marketing coronavirus tests all across america. we're working with state and local officials to ensure that that happens as rapidly as possible. as the testing is expanding, we want to make sure the american people knew that testing was available to them and that cost would not be a barrier. today president trump assembled the top health insurance executives in america. as we announced earlier today, all of our major health insurance companies have now joined with medicare and medicaid and agreed to waive all co-pays, cover the cost of all treatment for those that contract the coronavirus. they have committed to no

surprise billing and they have committed to encourage telemedicine. it was a year ago that medicaid expanded to pay for telemedicine, medicare pays for telemedicine. so now for seniors that may think that they're either at risk or have contracted the disease, they can get medical advice without having to go to the doctor or go to an emergency room. i know i speak for president trump when i say how grateful we are to see our health insurance industry step forward to meet this need so that no american should be concerned about being able to pay for or forward the cost of a coronavirus test if they deem and their doctor deems it to be appropriate and necessary. the president went to capitol hill today to meet with members of the united states senate republican caucus. there he talked about an economic package including --

he's calling for payroll tax relief. i think most important, we want to make sure hourly workers, hard-working blue collar americans that don't have paid family leave today that small and medium size buses in america would be afforded the resources to provide paid leave so that no one would feel that they have to go to work if they might be infected or exposed to the coronavirus. we had a good reception on capitol hill. our legislative teams have fanned out. we're working with republican and democratic leadership to move a package. larry kudlow will reflect on that in just a moment. we also talked about what are known as m-95 markets. senator deb fisher and others have important legislation that would extend temporary liability protection so that masks that are made for industrial use could be sold to hospitals to

ensure that our healthcare workers are properly protected and outfitted. we're grateful for growing bipartisan support for that measure and we're going to be working ernestly with democrats and republicans for reform that would make more m-95 masks available. i'm pleased to record that we received a comprehensive proposal from the cruise line street, improved screening, providing for airlift evacuation and land-based care at the expense of the cruise lines for anyone that might not only be infected the coronavirus but with any serious illness. we'll be reviewing that in the next 24 hours. the president's objective is for us to make cruise lines safer even as we work with the cruise lines to ensure that no one in our particular vulnerable

population is going out on a cruise in the near future. i'm going to recognize dr. fauci to talk about where we are. dr. burkes will give us some research that she's done on the scope. we'll have other updates. let me say again, this is a whole of government approach. from early on, president trump has insisted that our government at the federal level, all of our partners at the state level work in concert to protect the american people. as we stand here today, the risks to the average american of contracting the coronavirus remains low. we're absolutely determined to give every american the tools and the information that they need to protect themselves, their families, their workplace, their schools and we're going to work together. we're going to see our way through this and working with

leaders in both parties in congress, working with leaders at the state level across the nation we will. with that, dr. tony fauci for an update on the status. >> thanks very much, mr. vice president. just to give you a very brief sketch of what we do every day. the cases continue to increase globally. we're playing particular attention to the cases in europe and italy and france and which we're starting to see that up at the same time as the relative number of new cases come down from china. what we're seeing in europe, europe is in that upslope. that is something that is expected. that's the way these outbreaks go. this is not a surprise to anybody. if you look at the history of infectious disease outbreaks. in the united states we still have new cases. this morning, 712 i believe with 27 deaths guaranteed by the time of this evening. that will be up. there will be several more.

tomorrow there will be several more. so we realize this is something obviously that we've been saying all along that we're taking very seriously. now the question is what are we going to do about that. there's a number of things that one can do in order to blunt it. if you look at the curves of outbreaks, they go big peaks and come down. what we need to do is flatten that down. that would have less people infected, that would ultimately have less deaths. you do that with trying to interfere with the natural flow of the outbreak. what we're seeing today, although we keep saying appropriately as a nation the risk is relatively low, there's parts of the country right now having community spread in which the risk there is a bit more than that. you know the places. washington state, california, new york and florida. what i want to talk to you about today, just for a moment or two is that we would like the

country to realize that as a nation, we can't be doing the kinds of things we were doing a few months ago. that it doesn't matter if you're in a state that has no cases or one case. take seriously what you can do now that if and when the infections will come and they will come, sorry to say, sad to say, they will, but when you're dealing with an infectious disease, you always have that metaphor that people talk about. wayne gretzky. it's going where the puck is going to be. we want to be where the infection is going to be as well as where it is. what we have here, you can see it's here. if you go to coronavirus.gov, when dr. burkes yesterday mentioned some things that we put together. these are really simple. keeping the workplace safe, keeping the home safe and

keeping the schools safe and commercial establishments safe, this should be universal for the country. everyone should be doing that. whether you live in a zone that has community spread or not. when you have community spread, you ratchet up the mitigations. at a minimum, the minimum that we should be doing. so everybody would say all hands on deck, this is what we need to do. i'll stop there and answer questions later. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. vice president. thank you, dr. fauci, for that charity. we continue to monitor the situation across the county and the globe and we're fortunate tweep dr. fauci and i, we have a lot of contacts. we continue to review all the scientific literature to look for insights and to determine who is at the greatest risk. that is why we talked to you about people with immune deficiencies, people at any age

and the elderly. how important it is to take these precautions in the household to protect others. we have circulating flu and other respiratory diseases at this time. we all have to act like all of those diseases, any respiratory disease, can be transmitted to others. as we said yesterday, we're hoping that decreases all the respiratory disease we're experiencing. finally, we got new reports out of china on nine pregnant women during an acute covid infection and all nine were infected. and they delivered while they were infected and all nine babies were healthy and the mothers were healthy. we continue to look for data like that to be re-assuring to the american public. at the same time, ensuring every single person is participating in this response to this virus and taking those precautions that we should be taking every day. if we start doing this today, we will be ready next year for any of our respiratory diseases because i think we'll be able to

show that these simple household, simple works, simply school, simple business approach across the country can change all of our respiratory diseases. thanks for getting the message out and thanks for the participating and ensuring in your house holds and households around america that we're protecting all of those that need our support right now. >> thanks, dr. birx and dr. fauci. and this information is available at coronavirus.gov. we can't say often enough, the risk of contracting the coronavirus is low. but for senior citizens with serious underlying chronic health conditions, the potential for serious consequences is very real. make no mistake about it. by practicing these habits in your home, your schools and your business, you're not only

protecting your health but those that are most vulnerable. with that, for an update on the progress thattrump made with our health insurance companies, i'd like to recog -- >> we had a great public private partnership where they agreed to wave testing and cover the costs of the covid virus costs. they asked the president for more flexibility in medicare plans. the president agreed to do that. now not only can they waive the cost for the tests but remove prior authorization requirements, waive prescription refill limits, allow for mail delivery of prescription drugs and expand telemedicine services if they weren't offering that.

also, at cns, we continue to work with healthcare providers around infection control practices. we met with home health agencies and hospitals and today issued guidance to dialysis facilities and home infection control. >> a great deal of attention and the grand princess and the h department of defense and coast guard. currently working through disembarking american passengers returning, foreign nationals to their country. i want to ask secretary azar to speak. >> with regard to the grand princess, i want to express our appreciation to governor newsome, the people of oakland, the long shoreman, the people that helped bringing it in, clearing the dock area so we can do our operations there. we've got admiral abel here with us today who is leading the

coast guard and secretary vegan has done great work with our foreign partners to help with the nationals on board the ship. the data that i have as of noon pacific time today, this will have increased quite substantially since my last update, but as of noon pacific, we had 548 individuals that have been off-loaded from the ship, 228 canadians are already back in canada, flown i believe overnight. 171 californians that were taken by the government of california and are now at travis air base. 26 individuals were sick and they're being treated for various -- could be from the novel coronavirus, could be we had some frail individuals that were sick that needed treatment. our goal is to get all of the citizens of california off today to be in the care of the california state government as well as to get the u.k. citizens

off today so that they could be repatriated to the united kingdom. we continue to work with other countries on all of those maneuvers. we will have non-california residents that will be in transport to the bases at dobbins and at lackland today. we hope or tonight. so everything is progressing. seems to be progressing well. using the highest isolation procedures, medical screenings possible to ensure the safety ott not just the passengers but the local communities and the healthcare workers and emergency responders. thanks to all of our partners for their help with this very complex operation. >> let me echo the secretary's appreciation, governor gavin newsom, the state of california, the city of oakland, it has been a seamless partnership. everyone on that ship will be

tested, isolated, and quarantined as appropriate and provided with treatment. the crew on the ship, other than those who were ill will be quarantined on the ship offsho offshore. it represented a kind of partnership and cooperation from every level of government that every american i know is grateful to see. with that, on the economic front, larry kudlow. >> yesterday in a meeting with the president, he acknowledged there is going to be challenges on the health and economic side, we mentioned that he intended to bring the full power of the federal government to deal with these challenges. accordingly as the vice president said, at the republican senate luncheon today, he mentioned in this room yesterday president trump has unveiled his proposals, strong

proposals for a temporary payroll tax cut holiday which i think he would prefer to last through the end of the year. also administratively as treasury secretary steve mnuchin and others have suggested, we will use assistance to unpaid sick leave people -- very important point. if small and medium businesses, another important point, and to some distressed industries or sectors in the economy deferral might be a useful tool or other means. this is strong across the board package. we are consulting with leaders in the house or the senate, particularly the payroll tax holiday. let me just say coming into this difficult. matt, th