virus on monday on "bulls and bears" on fox business network at 5 p.m. eastern time. we hope you can join us and, again, thank you for your trust, best of luck. god bless you. ♪ ♪ >> this is a fox news alert, we are now waiting for vice president mike pence to give an update on the coronavirus. he and the rest of the white house task force on the coronavirus had a meeting with president trump earlier today. welcome to "america's news headquarters," i'm laura ingle in new york. leland: good to be with you at home, i'm leland vittert in washington. much of that meeting included president trump in the white house situation room, now standing by in the white house briefing room, mark meredith, as we await the vice president to come out.

mark, what are we looking for today? >> reporter: good afternoon. we are expecting an update from the vice president as well as members of the task force dealing with the coronavirus within the next few minutes, the briefing room still fairly empty. they may be waiting for reporters to come in. this was a late-minute scheduled briefing. also meeting with the president this morning, but we something very interesting that i've never actually seen before. about half an hour ago, a member of the white house medical office came to each or us in the white house press corps and asked to take our temperature. this, we were told, was out of an abundance of caution for anybody who could be coming into contact with the president or vice president. it wasn't a panic of any sort, but it certainly was an indication they are taking things seriously. it appears one of our colleagues may have had a temperature that was of some concern and was not allowed into the briefing. however, we haven't been able to figure out exactly who that person is. it's a saturday here, not normal staff, and a lot of people are

coming in late because this briefing was just announced. back to you original question in terms of what we can expect to hear, obviously, an up update of the last 24 hours since the president declared that emergency freeing up some $50 billion to allow the federal government to work with state and local leaders about how they can, you know, move faster in terms of responding to this outbreak. we have seen so many different stories popping up all over the country whether it be school districts deciding to close down for several weeks, we've all seen the lines at costco and grocery stores. the white house is still trying to take such an optimistic approach saying that the country is going to get through this, that they believe those people that are most susceptible of getting sick, those are the ones they are most concerned with. the vice president leading the task force now for the last several weeks, and we've been getting these updates where they'll bring out the medical professionals. it's also possible we should hear from the surgeon general who believes hospitals should

delay doing elective surgeries right now to make sure resources are available. obviously, things will be changing minute by minute. but as we are awaiting the official word from the vice president, no indication yet we would actually hear from the president himself. he has been tweeting this morning, but no indication he's going to be at this briefing. as you can guess, leland, things change pretty quick. laura: hey, mark? this is laura ingle in new york jumping in here. i was struck by what you just said about from from the white e medical team talking the temperatures of everybody in the room -- taking the temperatures. what was the reaction, and i guess i need to ask as a mom, did you have a temperature? >> reporter: i did not. i was worried what it was going to be, to be honest with you. [laughter] the way it works, we are basically on the main level are of the white house press briefing room. underneath it are different offices for the different networks, cnn, fox, some of the radio, associated press. we were downstairs working on our story for this hour when all of a sudden we heard a commotion, and then we saw this

member of the white house press team, a young aide who's always been very kind, easy to work with who came down and said this person was with the white house medical office, is going to be taking your temperature. the person had a remote thermometer, not one -- >> we've got more information. leland: i'm going to jump in, mark, from the white house pool, a member of the press was turned away from the briefing because his temperature was too high. several photographers and reporters saw him turned away outside the briefing room doors. the same man from the physician's office was taking his temperature. the member of the press wouldn't share his name or outlet. he was led away by a wrangler and the man from the physician's office. did they tell you, mark, as they were talking your temperature, what they were looking for in term of a number, or was it simply saying you can go, you can go and, obviously, one person can't? >> reporter: well, it happened pretty quickly, to be honest

with you. the pool cameras, basically people filming, they were going throughout. my producer and i were sitting downstairs, and all of a sudden you have these people show up and say we need to tyke your temperature. there's -- take your temperature. there's not a lot of time to react. we are getting the two minute warning from the white house indicating that the vice president as well as the delegation will be out here in two minutes. right outside, maybe about 15 feet away, i could see the member of the white house medical office speaking with whoever that person was that was not being allowed in. i have no idea what that temperature was that he or she may not have been allowed to come inside. but again, the people we were dealing with were very friendly, however, identify never seen -- i've never seen this done before. leland: wait a second -- laura: i'm going to jump in, it's the laura ingle here in new york. i know that we're under the gun with the two minute warning. one of the things that my eyes, my ear was peeled to today because i'm in new york was hearing that the governor -- oh, we've got to go back to leland.

leland: all right. we're going to pause for one moment to let our fox stations around the country join us ahead of the news conference. leland: this is a fox news alert, with the coverage of the coronavirus, i'm leland vittert in washington. live pictures right now from the white house briefing room where we expect vice president mike pence along with members of the coronavirus task force to brief not only the media, but the nation as well. just about 18 hours after president trump declared a national emergency for the coronavirus. we would expect, certainly, dr. fauci among others, perhaps the surgeon general to be there. a huge change in protocol there at the white house has just happened which is that a member of the white house medical staff is now taking the temperatures

of every single reporter, photographer and journalist inside that briefing room, and we're told that also extends perhaps to people who have close contact with the president and the vice president as this continues. fox news' mark meredith inside the briefing room right now for us. mark, give us a sense of how unusual that was and the reaction of the press corps as that happened and then person wasn't let in. >> reporter: well, the news just happened as we were about to go on the air, in fact, we've seen members of the staff outside trying to speak with the press. we do not know who that person was who was not allowed in because we've been stationed right here. but about a half hour ago we saw a member of the white house press team as well as a member of the white house medical office come down to where the fox news booth is, where cnn, associated press, where all the networks are and take temperatures with a remote thermometer. it was not like it was -- it didn't feel like a panic situation by any stretch of the imagination. we were told it was done out of

an abundance of caution. you know, the president was asked yesterday whether or not he was going to be getting tested. he had indicated it was possible he could do it, but then overnight we got a statement from the white house physician indicating that because the president is not showing symptoms, they did not feel that was going to be necessary. back here at the white house today though, we know that the president's been having a chance to meet with the members of the coronavirus task force to get the latest information on what the government response is. leland, you mentioned we saw the emergency declaration happen yesterday. now the question's going to be what has happened since then, have we seen any new reaction from the states that are working with the federal government. we've got some new comments from the surgeon general telling hospitals to defer elective searchings. we're also going to be curious to hear how much contact the white house is having with members of congress because last night we saw the house approve the funding bill to help people dealing with the coronavirus, workers, businesses, people unable to go to work or open

their stores. we did see some members of congress vote against it, but it did pass overwhelmingly. now the question is how is it going to fare in the senate. mitch mcconnell oversight said they're expected to get back to work on monday, but the senate is not in session right now, so it'll be interesting to see whether or not things can change once we hear from the vice president in a few moments. leland: the president last night tweeted his support for the bill but, as you point out, 110-page bill, and there's a lot of members of the house who were saying they were being forced to vote on something they didn't even understand what was in it. and as you point out also, we have our folks here in terms of the senate out of session, many of them have already flown home for the weekend and expected back on monday. i'm interested, mark, as you were there in the white house, any idea whether this temperature taking extends to other members of the white house staff? have you heard at all about how they're going to change protocols and what is truly unprecedented times? >> reporter: that's a great

question. no, i have not heard anything different about the white house staff. you know, it is a saturday here, it's not going to be the normal business as usual as you find monday through friday. we have seen members of the white house press team, i haven't had a chance to ask them whether or not they're had their temperatures checked. in terms of the people out there, i don't know of anybody in the press team who decided not to get their temperature checked. it's certainly possible. we are in a small, enclosed space, they came to the door and said, hey, can we take your temperature. we are expecting to get more of an idea -- leland: interesting. and sometimes often as mark is standing out there the quite literally on a box in the front row right in front of the podium that you see on the screen to your left, you're sometimes the last to get the information. this now from the white house. you can see mark standing there. a statement, off the an abundance of caution, temperature checks are being performed on any individuals who are in close contact with the president and the vice

president. now noon plus ten minutes, 12:10 eastern as we await the vice president and the coronavirus task force to come out and speak with members of the press, etc. mark, in terms of how fast this story arc is moving, do you get the sense that the rest of the government has begun to sort of spin up for this? and also as we heard the president talk about so many different things happening yesterday, specifically this spin-up in testing, this public/private partnership, has there been any more information from the white house exactly how this is going to work? there were some questions of whether or not google was actually going to build this web site, etc. >> reporter: yeah, there's been a lot of questions because yesterday in the rose garden, we heard the president talk about the effort to reach out to google to build a portal -- sorry, just making sure we didn't see the vice president. in terms of whether or not google was really working with the administration on this in terms of there's still been a lot of questions about how that'll be rolled out, if it's going to be available to all

americans pretty quickly or is it something that's kind of in the beta testing. you brought up a good point about the partnership between the government and companies like walmart, target, cvs. the trump administration certainly extending those olive branches out to these companies saying they want to make sure that every resource that the country has is going in to make sure people have not only information they need, but also the resources they need. and we were talking a few minutes ago about what questions we want answered. i think the question people are asking about when they go to their grocery stores and they're seeing empty store shelves, costco people are lined up around the block, this is unprecedented, what's going to be done to make sure that americans have have a steady chain of food supplies, supplies that they need. we've all heard on social media about the rush on toilet paper, paper towels, how necessary is that. i think those are answers we still need to hear from this administration.

and to go back to what other information we've received from members of congress, we saw congress work late into the night on a friday, you know, you don't do that too often, be honest with you. so in terms of what the senate will do next, that's the big question. there were some members of congress that were not thrilled they got this bill potentially in the middle of the night, not even a chance to read it. i saw one member of congress calling it social welfare, essentially. whether or not that is going to be the general sentiment for most members of congress has yet to be seen. leland? the. leland: yeah. i got some of those same phone calls and texts from members of congress, wait a second, we have not been able to read this, how can we be expected to vote on spending almost $100 billion of taxpayer money, our money, as it were. you brought up the issue of store shelves, we have that coveredded with jacqui heinrich a little bit later. steve harrigan outside the cdc in atlanta. obviously, we'll go to the vice president when he comes out. steve, the cdc has come under a

lot of fire because of the lack and slowness of testing. have they sort of taken up the mantle now, and do they feel comfortable where they're at? >> reporter: certainly when we heard from the president, the speeding up of the testing was one of the key points he made in his national emergency declaration, that that would be now public/private partnership, that more than $50 billion would be released to the states to try to speed that up. so that's certainly been a snag. we were supposed to see a briefing from the cdc this afternoon, and that's been postponed til tomorrow. so the numbers as they stand from the cdc are still 145,000 confirmed cases world wild. here in the u.s., 49 states affected, 2,000 confirmed cases in the u.s., 50 depths. we just heard, of course, the news of another death in the state of new york, an 82-year-old woman with a precondition of emphysema just dying from the coronavirus. more dispiriting news too about shutdowns as far as businesses go, apple shutting down all its retail stores outside of china.

the chinese stores reopening due to a drop there in china, but all around now the apple retail stores shutting down. of course, a major employer here, delta airlines. delta reducing its capacity for flights by 40%, simply not getting the market share. and perhaps the biggest thing, the things that's affecting everything around the country are school shutdowns. fifteen states entirely shutting down k-12, causing a range of problems for working parents and also to try and feed the children who often depend on meals in those schools. this is going to affect more than 20 million children. so really life as we know it changing dramatic canically each day, leland. leland: yeah. a big part of the democrats' bill that was passed through the house late last night, early this morning is continuing to provide meals and what they call s.n.a.p.ed food assistance to those families that are underprivileged in terms of kids who have beginning normally either one, two or three meals a day at school, trying to figure out a way to transfer that so

that they're going to get the food and nutrition at home while they're not able to attend school. steve, as you're outside the cdc, interested in this: what are the protocols in terms of being able to stay staffed? we heard about the temperature checks for anybody who womans in close contact -- who comes in close contact with the president and vice president. do they have some kind of contingency plan for that? >> reporter: there's still access in and out, but as far as stepped-up measures, they have not made that public yet. we are seeing a dramatic shift in even world leaders and their etiquette. we saw the president in the rose garden on friday shaking hands, something very different today with temperature it is being monitored. this, of course, is a virus that doesn't discriminate between rich and poor, powerful or homeless, so it's reached into the halls of power which is why we're seeing dramatic shifts in normal protocol even among top elected officials, leland. leland: excellent point there, steve. as we look now to the

president's twitter field, 19 minutes ago he said the press conference would begin in 10 minutes. two minutes ago he tweeted a picture of himself in the white house situation room saying he just finished the meeting on covid-19, news conference coming up shortly. we go back to mark meredith there inside the white house briefing room. mark, what do you make of this divide, seemingly, between senate republicans when feel like they are really getting the house bill shoved down their throats and clearly not everything that the white house or republicans in the house wanted, yet the president late last night tweeted support for it? where's the white house on that? >> reporter: well, there was a lot of confusion about what exactly was behind the scenes because we saw in the 6:00 hour from nancy pelosi that the there was a deal, and then house democrats pushing back saying there had been a deal all along. you brought up the president's tweet that he fully supported the measure, this was what was needed for the country and he was working with both treasury

and the labor department to make sure workers as well as businesses have all of the resources that they need. but you asked specifically about what senate republicans and their feelings are going to be. i think, honestly, it's too soon to tell. we did hear from senator chuck schumer last night saying this was necessary but not wholly sufficient. it's also interesting, house speaker pelosi said last night they expect to begin work on a third bill soon. so this is not going to be a one and done situation. the needs of the country, leland, are going to constantly change. so i would imagine we'll see -- and, ladies and gentlemen, now the coronavirus task force coming up to the podium. leland: secretary mnuchin there, dr. anthony fauci of nih among others, dr. ben carson is walking out. we see chad wolf, the acting secretary of dhs, and now we await the vice president to walk out. one thing that has changed in

the past 24 hours significantly at the white house, and this is truly unprecedented, we are now being told that anybody and everybody who has close contact with either the vice president or the president will have their temperature checked, and today outside the white house briefing room one member of the press was turned away because their temperature was too high. not only do we have the vice president, we have the president of the united states as well. >> thank you very much. we just completed a very good meeting of the coronavirus task force, and we, we're really, they're really doing a great job, our professionals. the results are very, very, very good, and when you compare this to what's happening around the world, we're very proud of our people. it's been a tremendous amount of coordination with states, with cities, and they're a little smaller form of government, and

things are going well. they're coordinating with us and certainly in particular i think california's been terrific, the relationship. new york has been really good. we've had some really good relationships in terms of especially the hot spots, and we're focused on those hot spots. some areas we have no problem whatsoever, and we hope to keep it that way. before i turn this over to our great vice president to provide an update, i just want to express my appreciation for the hard work done by the people behind me and the people back in the various offices including back there, i just left the oval office. we have some people there the that are probably watching this, or they're just working. we're using the full power of the federal government to defeat the virus, and that's what we've been doing. last week we secured an initial $8.3 billion from congress for

the coronavirus, and that was quickly done and very efficiently done. i want to thank all members of congress. yesterday i declared a national emergency which was a very big deal because it opened up avenues that we would never be able to open up without it, and it will make it more, it'll make more than $50 billion available to us immediately in disaster relief funds, and that's available for states, territories and local governments. so that was really, really good. we also reached an agreement yesterday on a new legislative package that will provide strong support for american families and communities in dealing with the coronavirus. so that was done very, very bipartisan. it was very nice to see it. probably the cooperation, i want to thank secretary of treasury steve mnuchin who did a

fantastic job and worked with nancy pelosi and representatives, is so it was really great, worked out really well. a lot of provisions in the bill which they're going to be discussing with you today, and they're tremendous provisions. so that's something we should talk about. i was honored to see that the stock the market -- you were mostly there with us -- set a record in a short period of time over a 45-minute period that we had the press conference yesterday in the rose garden. that was a record, all-time record. i think we should do one of them every day, perhaps. how about five times a day? we'll do one five times a day. but that was something to watch. i had no idea. we walked back, i said so how did that work out. they said, sir, you just set a new record in the history of the stock market, so that was pretty good. and those great companies that were there, they couldn't have been too unhappy either when you

think about it because they're all very big, publicly-listed companies, so they did a good job. and more importantly, they're going to do a good job when you look at cvs and walmart and all of the tremendous people that were there yesterday. these are the biggest and the best, and they're opening up their facilities, they're opening up -- they're right now literally working right now on opening, doing something that's never been done before to the extent that we're doing it. and so we're very proud of them. also the bill provides for free coronavirus testing for all americans who should be tested. so people that are getting tested are getting this free. they don't have to pay. a lot of people that's a lot of money, and it is, you know, it's a pretty complex test actually. it costs money, and it's being provided free. so people don't have to worry about that. it also provides paid sick and and family medical leave for those who need it including for

those who have the virus, for caregivers and those looking after children affected by school closures. so that's all taken care of also. and we'll continue all of these different actions. every we have other things planned. we're going to also be working with companies that are affected financially. our country is in the best financial shape we've -- so different than in the past over the years if you look at some of the real big crises we had, it was financial problems and different things. we now are in very, very strong financial shape with all of the trade and all of the other things that we've been doing. it's been pretty amazing. we hope the federal reserve will finally get onboard and do what they should do because we're doing things that they should be doing, frankly, and we can all do them together. but they should be much more proactive. other boards in other countries

and people representing those countries are taking a much more aggressive action than our fed, and for the most part, so we'd like to see, you know, if you look at central banks yesterday what they did, we want to see our federal reserve be much more proactive. it's importantment but in the meantime -- it's important. but in the meantime, we're doing things that have been really well received. i guess you saw that yesterday at the end of the day with what we've done. we have a lot of things to tell you in terms of respirators, in terms of all of the different things, the maxes are being -- masks are being made by the millions, millions and millions. we have plenty now, but we're ordering millions. we're ordering worst case scenario. we always say worst case scenario. and that's where we're going. so i just want to thank everybody. i think the press has been really -- over the last 24 hours i think the representation's really been very fair for the

most part, been very fair. we're all in this together. it's something that nobody expected. it came out of china, and it's one of those things that happen. nobody's fault. we all will solve this problem, we'll solve it well. i think the american people have been incredible in the way they've acted. and if you look at companies and sports leagues and all of the things, what they've done is just something very special. with that being told -- without being told necessarily. in some cases perhaps they were told, but for the most part they want to get it over with quickly and with very little death. as of this moment we have 50 deaths which is a lot of good decisions were made or that number could be many times that. that's based on a lot of good decisions. one or two in particular. you know that europe was declared the hot spot yesterday, a big hot spot and number one,

and we, we made a decision quite a bit prior to that when we saw what was happening. but if you have you have any questions -- you have any questions, this group will be very happy to do it. but i just want to say they have been led by mike pence. they have been incredible. the job they're doing, they're working 20 hours a day. this man is working 20 hours a day or maybe more. is it more? tony's been working, i'm just looking at this whole group, and we've created a number of new stars including the gentleman right behind me. i watched him the other day. such a fantastic job you did. i really appreciate it. but they're going to be answering questions, and we have a lot of new information, so i think you'll find it very interesting, and i'll be going back to the oval office. thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> prime minister, there are so many people right now that are rushing to costco, rushing to grocery stores all over the

country, filling up their baskets. do you think people should maybe con verve as opposed to buy? also overnight apple said they're going to be closing their stores for two weeks. do you want to see other retail outlets do the same thing? >> i think, frankly, it's good if they do it. i i think what apple did is good. when it gets better -- >> [inaudible] >> well, people are going and buying things, and i understand that. by the way, i had my temperature taken coming into the room -- >> so did we. >> you did? good. let's compare. that means we're all looking good. i also took the test last night -- >> [inaudible] >> yeah. and i decided i should based on the press conference yesterday. people were asking did i take the test. i don't know, whatever it takes, a day, two the days, whatever it is. they sent it to a lab. >> [inaudible] >> mr. president, sending mixed

messages. you shook hands with people yesterdaying you have talked about five million tests being available but we won't need that many. has your own sense of urgency involved, and are you changing what you're doing? >> this was urgent for me right from the beginning. you know that because i closed up our country to china. >> but why are you shaking hands, sir? >> because it almost becomes a habit and you get out of that habit and, frankly, i was a non-handshaker for the most part. i never believed in it, and once you become a poll decision, political people come up to me, they want to shake my hand. >> [inaudible] >> just wait a minute. just talk it nice and easy, okay? just relax. people come up to me, they shake hands, they put their hand out. it's sort of a natural reflex. and we're all getting out of it. all of us have that problem. somebody comes up to you, they put their hand out, you probably tend to shake it. and we're all getting out of that. shaking hands is not a great

thing to be doing right now, i agree. but sometimes i'll put the hand out, or you don't think about it. people are thinking about it more and more. we have to think about it, it's important. somebody said yesterday i touched the microphone. i was touching it because we have different height people, and i'm trying to make it easy for them because they wouldn't be able to reach the mic, they wouldn't be able to speak in the mic. so i moved the mic down, and they said, oh, he touched the microphone. well, if i don't touch it, somebody's going to have to, so i might as well be the one to do it. but, no, we all have to get away from -- i mean, getting away from shaking hands is a good thing, and possibly that's something that comes out of this. maybe people shouldn't be shaking hands for the long term because it does transmit flu and other things. you know, we have flu in our country that kills on average 36,000 people a year. 36,000 people. and, you know, thats' something that we're not talking about -- that's something we're not talking about. as of this moment we've lost 50,

possibly less than, but probably 50 people, and we're going the try and keep that number as low as possible. [inaudible conversations] >> depending on, depending on telling service members and their families not to travel domestically, should all americans follow that advice? >> if you don't have to travel the -- we want this thing to end. we don't want a lot of people getting infected. we want it to end as quickly as possible. so far i think we've done a fantastic job. i really think that the people behind me have not been given the credit that they deserve, because they have done a fantastic job. when you see all the school close yours, they're very important, but it causes a lot of problems. the bill that was signed yesterday takes care of a lot of those problems with children staying home, parents are working, now we take care of that issue with what we passed last night. it has to go through the senate, and i have to sign it, but that will happen. i'm now going back to the white house. you have great professionals.

if there's anything that comes up -- [inaudible conversations] >> mr. president, thank you, mr. president. i just wanted to follow up on that. are you considering other travel restrictions perhaps domestically in that regard? >> yes. specifically for certain areas, yes, we are. and we're working with the states, and we are considering other restrictions, yes. [inaudible conversations] >> reuters is reporting that you're going to extend european travel to the u.k. and ireland on monday, that accurate? >> we're looking at it very seriously because they've had a little bit of activity, unfortunately, so we're going to be looking into that. we actually already have looked at it, and that is going to be announced. [inaudible conversations] >> if i could just get a little clarity on your thinking on this, it's been a hallmark of your presidency, you're always going after the fed. if you feel so strongly about

it, why don't you dismiss the chairman, or do you think you're powerless? >> well, i think i have the right to do that or the right to remove him as chairman. he's, he has so far made a lot of bad decisions, in my opinion. we had this great -- and we will soon have again because i think you're going to have a tremendous bounce when it's over. i think there's a pent-up bounce that's going to to be tremendous. no, i'm not happy with the fed because i think that they're following, not leading. we should be leading. i'm not happy because if you look at the central banks, you know, other central banks, largely they're lower than us, their rate, and their equivalent of the fed rate is is lower. in some cases by two points. in some cases -- that's a lot. in some cases very substantially. and i thought that the fed would be and should be much more proactive as opposed to following. our fed is following. we have the number one currently in the world by a factor of many times, as you know. we have the currency, we have the power, we have by far the

strong currency. also you look at the dollar, the strength of the dollar. of our fed is not doing what they should be doing. we shouldn't have a fed rate that's higher than our competitor nations. you look at germany, they're essentially under zero. they're negative. there are many countries negative. japan's negative, germany's negative, others are negative, and we're paying higher interest rates. and what i'd like to do is, frankly are, refinance our debt. we could refinance our debt very easily at a much lower rate. we have some tremendous opportunities right now, but jerome powell is not make it easy. no, i have the right to remove. i'm not doing that, no, i'm not doing that. i have the right to also take and put him in a regular position and put somebody else in charge, and i haven't made any decisions on that. [inaudible conversations] >> minnesota, was your temperature -- prime minister, was your temperature -- mr.

president, was your temperature normal, mr. president? >> totally normal. [inaudible conversations] >> well, good afternoon, everyone. as the president just said, we just completed the white house coronavirus task force meeting in the situation room, and we continue to implement the president's vision not just for a whole-of-government response to the coronavirus, but a whole-of-america approach. the focus of our task force today and going forward is on implementing the president's public and private partnership on testing, focusing on insuring that state and local authorities have the guidance and the support to insure mitigation particularly in areas where we've seen community spread. and we're continuing to lean in at the president's direction on addressing capacity issues in

our hospitals and with regard to equipment. let me reiterate the president's gratitude not just for the team behind me and the team behind them, all of our federal agencies that are literally working every day to bring a whole-of-government approach to this, but we also want to commend all of the governor across the country. i'll be speaking again to all the governors, all 50 states and the territories, tomorrow. but as the president said yesterday in the rose garden, we couldn't be more grateful for all of the governors, particularly in lawyers where we've had community -- in areas where we've had community spread for the seamless cooperation that's taking place. and we commend local health authorities and all of those who are literally on the front lines. also grateful for all the businesses that you saw i in high relief yesterday, businesses around the country in sports, in entertainment, in retail that are making decisions based on cdc guidelines and good

common sense to protect the american people. and lastly, as the president also said, we just want to thank the american people for listening to local authorities, listening to recommendations from the cdc. we'll hear more about that in a moment from dr. fauci and dr. burkes. but as we're seeing, not surprisingly as we've seen in the past, the american people are all responding to look after not only their own health, but their families and their communities. and one story after another is truly inspiring. to the president and to all of us. as you know, it's been a brisk few days. the president declared a national emergency yesterday freeing up significant federal resources for state and local authorities as well as our national response. the president announced that unprecedented public and private partnership on testing, and let me say that at 5:00 tomorrow we

will be detailing the progress that our team is making. i can tell you they are literally working around the clock with private companies. we are very pleased that thermal fissure was just approved by fda in record time, also providing what's called a high throughput test. but again, details on that in terms of when the local sites will be available at cvs, walgreens, walmart and other locations, what communities those will initially be available in, when the web site will go online as well as how this will continue to roll out. 5 p.m. tomorrow eastern standard time, we'll detail that. last night the house of represent thetives passed -- representatives passed legislation which addressed the priorities of president trump

had laid out for the american people in the weeks before that. i want to join president trump in thanking speaker pelosi, leader mccarthy, the republicans and democrats in the house of representatives who, as the president said earlier today, pulled together. pulled together to pass legislation. and they're meeting this moment in the bipartisan, health-first spirit that the american people would expect. the secretary of the treasury will detail the legislation, but to be clear, the deal that passed the house last night will head to the senate early next week. next week delivers on the president's plan for strong health and economic support particularly focused on those most impacted including hard working, blue collar americans who may not currently have paid family leave today. it provides free coronavirus testing for uninsured americans, and it builds on the decisions that president trump made

expanding coverage for medicare, medicaid and also getting a commitment from private health insurance companies to join with us to waive all co-pays on coronavirus testing. so now testing will be free for every american. those who have insurance, medicare, medicaid, other programs and even the uninsured. legislation also establishes tax credits the secretary of treasury will describe that will provide sick and medical leave for employment interruptions. if you are sick, now you need not be concerned if you're an hourly wage earner in america, you need not be concerned about staying home. if you're sick, stay home. you're not going to miss a paycheck because of this legislation that's moving through the congress. we'll make sure that your employer, including small businesses, have the ability to

provide paid leave to you. this also provides funding and flexibility to insure that senior citizens, women, children and low income families have access to emergency nutritional assistance, and it incentivizes states to ease access to employment benefits. again, the president and i are profoundly grateful for the bipartisan spirit that drove this legislation. and let mes also say how grateful we are for the secretary of the treasury and the long hours that he put in negotiating this measure. met me say -- let me say also last night at mud night the department of homeland security implemented the president's decision to suspend all travel from europe passing through 13 airports. acting secretary wolf will detail the implementation of that. to be clear, countries where we have suspended travel under section 212f, americans may still return to the united

states, legal residents may still return. they are being screened at some 13 airports as we speak. if they are identified as being symptomatic for any illness, there is an additional response on site. but those americans are being encouraged to return home and self-quarantine for 14 days. that was, that started at midnight last night, and the secretary will detail it. in a few moments, i'll ask dr. fauci the update us on cases as well as current cdc guidance for all americans. and all of you are already aware that this week we issued specific guidance to about half a dozen states where we've seen community spread. dr. burkes will touch briefly on the public/private partnership testing plan and also speak about what the data is showing at this moment about the best guidance for every american. acting secretary wolf and i both

want to join the president in commending the cruise line industry. they made a decision yesterday, 85% of all the domestic cruise lines announced that they would be suspending cruise line operations for a period of 30 days. and chad wolf will explain to you the importance of that decision. we want to commend the cruise line industry for working with us. and as we met last week on this day with cruise line industry executive, we're going to be working very vigorously over the next 30 days to implement new policies that'll insure that when the cruise lines start back up, they'll be safer and healthier places than ever before. but a great industry, the american people love it and enjoy it, and we're going to make sure that it's there for many, many years to come. also as the president just foreshadowed in our task force meeting today, the president has made a decision to suspend all travel to the united kingdom and ireland effective midnight

monday night eastern standard time. chad wolf will describe the details of that but, again, as the president just suggested, all of our health experts presented information. dr. fauci will reflect on some of those numbers, made a unanimous recommendation to the president that we suspend all travel from the u.k. and ire. that will be effective midnight monday night, eastern standard time. again, americans in the u.k. or ireland can come home. legal residents can come home. but as the secretary will detail, they will be funneled through specific airports in the process. we continue to emphasize that the risk of serious illness for the average american remains low are. but the data shows that seniors with serious underlying health conditions are our most vulnerable population, the people most susceptible to serious medical outcomes. seema verma, in a few moments, will talk about the president's

decision yesterday to restrict all visitors in all nursing homes around the country and other measures that we have taken. but it's so important, so important for all of us, all of us who are blessed with having senior citizens in our family like my 88-year-old mom. let's look after seniors with serious underlying health conditions and make sure every american around them is practicing the best kind of hygiene and the best kind of measures to insure that they're not exposed. we'll hear also from dr. carson and the surgeon general before we wrap up and take some questions. with that, let me recognize dr. tony fauci for an update on where we stand and recommendations and guidance. >> thank you very much, mr. vice president. just a quick review of the numbers as of late afternoon yesterday. let me start off quickly globally, and then we'll go to the united states. right now there are 129 countries that have involvement with coronavirus.

globally, the numbers are 132,000 plus, so it's a little bit more than 132,000, about 7500 of can are new cases. importantly, and this is something we've mentioned over the last couple of days, that if you look at what was formerly the main feared of this coronavirus -- feeder of this coronavirus outbreak was china, they have 81,000 new cases, but only 11 new cases and only 7 new deaths. things have switched over now to outside of china which has actually triggered the decision of the president to do the travel reductions in other areas besides china. and i think it's important to recognize that because when this is all over, and it will end, you will see a curve of how the coronavirus outbreak evolved. it's not going to be a uni-dimensional or homogeneous because countries are going to do this and then that. we've seen it already with china, we're starting to see it

with korea. which brings us now to what we can expect in our own cup. so if you look at the domestic cases, there are about 2226 including the repatriations, 50 deaths, 532 new cases and 9 new deaths which means we have not reached our peak. now, we will see more cases, and we will see more suffering and death predominantly as the vice president said among the vulnerables in our society, the individuals with the conditions that we spoke to and the elderly. but built in that is a challenge, and the challenge is we still have the opportunity to influence the course of that curve. so what we would like to see is that when this is all over, our curve was not like that. our curve was like this. so that's the reason why we're implementing the things we're talking about. and finely, i just want to make -- finally, i just want to make a comment about yesterday. as a physician, which is what i

primarily am, who takes care of patients every day before i was doing this -- [laughter] is that there are things that happened yesterday that i think are going to be really important to the people out there who are going to be impacted by this but particularly by the physicians. and that is the president declairing a state of national emergency -- declaring a state of national more than because that will be what i thought the word i used is essentially unshackling us from any of the things that are going to get in the way of our implementing, particularly the new powers given to the secretary of hhs, alex azar, and the departments within his agency, particularly cms which you're going to hear about shortly. and within that group, particularly the nursing home situation which we've really got to protect. the other thing is we always get asked about testing. you saw the ceo out there, now it's all systems go. let's look forward. the respondent's going to be with -- responsibility's going to be with us but also with them. because as we get knowledge about new testing, we'll alleviate the anxiety that we

have in the world about we don't know what's going on, but it also will give the individual physician and individual citizen the opportunity to understand what they stand. i'll stop there. i'm happy to answer questions later. >> thank you, dr. fauci. >> thank you. thank you, good amp. i just completed my second week, so i want to just start with the four things that i have learned in the last two weeks. one, we're at our best when the cup comes together in a bipartisan way, and that has really been extraordinary to witness. but secondly, what you may not have seen as much of is the willingness of state and local governments to work together with the federal government in a seamless way. independent of party affiliation. the third thing has been the remarkable decrease in bureaucracy e and red tape in order to get us to where we are today. this is particularly evident in the cdc. and then finally, the understanding that in order to unleash and serve every american, we have to create

public/private partnerships that bring together the extraordinary strength the of our private sector. so we saw issues with testing and, again, i want to remind everyone it was a surveillance system that was set up by public health institutions in the united states, our cdc, to be a surveillance test. we then, because there was no other, moved into a diagnostic test. but now we have the full power of our testing capacity. what do i mean by that. you're looking at what it will take to have consumer access. secondly, we had to have automated high throughput testing because we want the american people to be able to get their results quickly. and finally, we want to make sure that patients get results. and that was what was critical in that bill yesterday on reporting and requiring reporting because, obviously, as we decentralize, as we move out of state and local laboratories, public health laboratories, as we move out into the hospitals

and the communities, we need to know about the test results so that we can focus resources where they're needed the most. finally, i want to conclude with something that's very important. when you are tested and our results look very similar to south korea now to date with where south korea 96 plus percent of people with symptoms were negative, that means also that they had respiratory symptoms. let's remind all of us most respiratory diseases are contagious. so if you have any respiratory symptoms, you want to protect yourself and treat yourself, but you also want to protect others. and so let's everyone assume when they have a respiratory illness that you have a contagious illness. because if it isn't allergies, it's contagious. and let's use those precautions across the board. and let's, when you get a negative test, that means you're negative that day. that doesn't mean that you couldn't get the virus spreading

overnight, because it replicates in your nose and your nasal secretions, and you would have a positive test tomorrow. so if you have a negative test, that doesn't mean that you can discontinue precautions. it doesn't mean you can start taking risks because you are negative. so let's ensure that if you have symptoms, you are contagious. let's treat yourself as being contagious, and if you have a negative test, let's make sure that you're still protecting others from whatever you do can have -- do have. finally, i just wanted to conclude with a group of clients and patients that we are all very worried about. these are individuals that we call long-term survivors from hiv. they're here, across the country that have survived more than four decades with hiv. many of them still carry a level of immuno-compromise, so is please take care of yourself, please insure that you're doing everything possible to insure

you don't get exposed. thank you. >> thank you. great comments. mr. secretary, on the legislation that passed the house. >> thank you, mr. mr. vice president. so first, in particular, i want to thank ken mccarthy and kevin brady and all the republicans on the house side who worked with us around the clock. i'd also like to thank mitch mcconnell and his team who were providing us input as well. i especially want to thank speaker pelosi who was literally available to us round the clock for the three days and also want to just thank the vice president and the president who were very specifically involved in the details with us and providing guidance. so i will just highlight some of the issues here. the first thing i would just say is this delivers on what the president announced in his speech the other night. obviously, people who need to be quarantined and people who have the virus, we want them at home, and we want them to continue to get paid. we don't want to be in a

situation where they fear not getting paid during this two week period of time. so the first thing that this does is it creates a very seamless process for people that work for small and medium-sized businesses, they will continue to get paid by their employer. they don't have to worry about big government and coming to big government to get their checks. they will continue to get paid. we were also very sensitive to small and medium-sized businesses. many of these businesses covered sick pay, but they're going to have many more people that may be on quarantine than normal sick pay, and we didn't want them to have to bear the cost. so 100% of the cost for these limited situations will be taken care of by the federal government. and then finally, we wanted to think of, again, as i said, how do we deliver money to the people in the quickest way. we didn't want to take six months to implement some government system. so i want to thank everybody at the irs. the way we're able to do this, again, the irs will issue tax

credits for most employers, they'll just duct -- deduct the money from what they owe us. but i want to to emphasize for small and medium-sized businesses with cash flow problems, you'll be able to come to the irs, get the money in advance so you don't have cash flow issues. so we were very careful in balancing making sure people got paid with not creating undue burden. we also will have unique circumstances where schools are closed. in many places parents may be able to telecommute and take care of their kids and continue to get paid for their companies. but in certain circumstances that parents have to be home to take care of youngsters or elderly people, again, we wanted to insure that they had the ability to do that. and as the vice president mentioned, for kids that received meals in schools, the schools are closed, we wanted to make sure that those kids would continue to get lunches paid for. i especially want to thank the task force.

two things that were very important to us in this, there's a provision as it relates to masks. we can now ramp up to 30 million masks a month, and we wanted to make sure there was free testing, but there's also a provision that the states will communicate back to cdc these results. so we will very quickly get those results. last thing i want to say is i thank the house for sticking around til very late last night at i 12:30. i don't want people to be surprised, we will be doing a technical correction on monday morning. despite if us working very hard, we had language agreed with the speaker and with kevin mccarthy that didn't get into the final bill. last night at i 12:30 kevin, the speaker and i agreed they would vote on it and is have an agreement there'll be a it can call correction. so i don't want anybody to come back on monday morning and be surprised by that. so, again, thank you to the vice president and the president. and let me also just say i would describe this as like a baseball game. the first inning was the 8

billion, this is the second inning. we have a lot more we need to do with congress, and the speaker and i have acknowledged it. we will be working starting immediately. the airlines industry in particular no different than after 9/11 has a very unique circumstance. the cruise industry, the hotel industry, i would say we've got a lot more work to do, and we very much appreciate the bipartisan support and anticipate rolling things out very quickly. >> thank you, mr. secretary. and i know the president would want me to say again how grateful we are for all of your efforts on behalf of the american people. acting secretary chad wolf is going to speak about our cruise lines, the current suspension of travel and the expansion to the u.k. and ireland. many secretary? >> thank you. good afternoon. and if let me start off by thank the partnerships that we have with our private sector partners both in the airline industry and the cruise line industry for implementing a number of travel restrictions and security orders

over the last several weeks and months. as the vice president and the president have outlined, with we have issued new directives denying foreign nationals who have been in certain affected countries -- 28 countries to date -- from entry into the u.s.. at the president's request, and again as the vice president outlined earlier, we had a number of major cruise lines that have agreed to suspend outbound trips for 30 days. we've had a number of smaller operators follow that suit, and then we have also given orders to a very small handful to not sail, and that began at midnight last night as well. today, again, as the vice president outlined, the president made the decision due to the rising number of cases in the u.k. to apply these restrictions to both the u.k. and ireland. so as we move forward, again, these restrictions bar travel from certain -- for certain foreign nationals who have been present in the u.k. or ireland in the past 14 days. and, again, that goes effective midnight monday. to be clear, the president's

proclamation and these travel restrictions to not apply to -- do not apply to u.s. citizens. i want to be very clear about that, the vice president mentioned that. i think we saw some reporting of how do u.s. citizens get back from europe quickly. they don't need to. they will be allowed into. legal permanent residents, family members under the age of 21 is, foreign diplomats and other exemptions outlined in the proclamation can certainly travel back to the u.s. they will undergo some medical screening and some other questions when they arrive, and then they will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. these reductions to the u.k. and ireland, just like the zone in china and iran, to not apply to cargo and economic air cargo, air time cargo, economic shipping or the like. let me close again by saying the president has really taken unprecedented action to protect the safety and the security of the american public. these actions have never been taken before. and so the department, let me

thank the department of homeland security, the men and women of the department who are working day and night, 24 hours a day to implement these restrictions and to make sure that we do this in a very orderly and efficient process, and we also continue to look at all measures on the table, new measures that we have to implement as we go thank you. >> thank you, mr. secretary. and i know the president would want me to reiterate your thanks and -- and accommodation to men and women to dhs who are in the front lines of implementing travel policies and doing an outstanding job. with that i will direct to irma to talk about emphasis on seniors, particularly the risk to seniors with underlying conditions and the steps that we are taking relative to nursing homes and inspections and

guidance to protect those most vulnerable. >> thank you, mr. vice president. as the president and vice president said we did take action last night to indicate that nursing homes should restrict all visitors effective immediately and that includes all nonessential personnel and there are some exceptions for end of life. we are also canceling audiotape group activities and communal dining and there's active screening of healthcare workers that are in the facility. the emergency declaration as dr. fauci said is very important to our healthcare workforce. there's a lot more flexibility that they have, for example, they can have workers from across state lines, doctors and nurses that can help them, hospitals have the ability to move patients around and that would be helpful as they go forward with this. we talked a couple of weeks to double down around infection

control practices. we have come up with very specific guidance for surveyors and we have begun the process of going into nursing homes especially the once -- ones we've had a history of infection control. we have been doing those in washington state and california, new york and we will be increasing in the next couple of weeks. >> thank you, seema. let me just assure you that we are going to continue to take steps to assure that all the guidance from cms, tall guidance from cdc about preventing the spread of infectious disease remains low. and the threat as dr. fauci just said,i might just ask him to emphasize again, the threat is not to seniors particularly or

seniors that may be on certain medications but for seniors with underlying conditions are taking steps to suspect visitors, the purpose to protect most vulnerable, but all seniors who are watching from senior homes or otherwise healthy, dr. fauci, gave them a world. >> my degree of protecting against protections is not as good as it was when i was 30 but if you're otherwise healthy senior, you have less of a risk than if you have an underlying condition. >> thank you, doctor. a couple more updates for you. i want to hear from the surgeon general and dr. carson and we will hear to as many questions as you have, okay. surgeon general. >> thank you. yesterday was a very big, a very important day for our nation's providers and for our nation's patients in terms of the

emergency declaration and also in terms of the agreement with the house that secretary mnuchin negotiated and i want you all to understand, straight talk from the nation's doctor, we really need you all to lean into and prioritize the health and safety of the american people. no more bickering, no more partisanship, no more criticism or finger-pointing, they'll be plenty of time for that, but we all need to hit the reset button and lean forward, the health and safety of the american people are top priority. more people to get resources and less stories of what happened in the past, again, they'll be time for that. i want you to understand as dr. fauci said, this will get worse before it gets better but we are making progress to flatten the curve. we are making progress. three important points, number

1, almost all people will recover, 98, 99% of the people will recover. people need to know. we heard a great story of npr from 89-year-old in nursing home in seattle that recovered. those with chronic or severe medical conditions especially seniors. now is the time for us to lean into that and we are taking the measures to protect them at hhs, secretary azar, bob redfield. but we need your help. social distancing and mitigation, they're not to protect the 30-year-old or the 20-year-old from getting coronavirus. they are there to protect youren in -- your nana and grand daddy and finally we all have a role to play. if we are complacent, selfish, uninformed, if we spread fear

and distrust and misinformation, the situation will last longer and more people will be hurt. but if we pitch in and we share the facts, we will flatten the curve and we will overcome this situation. so finally, my prescription, know your risk, understand your circumstances, and get the facts to protect yourself at coronavirus.gov. >> well done, secretary and dr. ben carson. >> thank you, mr. vice president. sometimes you have to stop and think about what's unique of the united states and one of the things that is really wonderful and we should stop and think about more often is that we have so many people who are willing to put aside their self-interest for the good of the nation and i want to thank those people at the federal, state and local level who put their own lives on pause in order to try to help their fellow americans.

makes a big difference, but just as importantly, i want to thank the private sector. there are so many in the private sector who have volunteered their services, who have stepped up, who are willing to recognize that maybe they're going take a bit of a financial hit but they recognize that we have to create the appropriate environment so that everybody can succeed in this nation and so often we overlook those individuals. i want them to know how much we appreciate them. what we are facing now is a significant threat, you know, as a physician and surgeon i faced a lot of complex problems and most of them we were able to overcome, not so much because of me, but because of the fact that we had incredible people working on this together. it was the team work that made

the biggest difference. that's what i'm seeing here in the government right now. the people behind me with others who are willing to work together as a team to be able to accomplish the goals for the american people and i used to think we had long hours in medicine, working 24 hours straight, working at midnight, 2:00 in the morning. this team is working that way too. i frequently get called at 9:00, 10:00, 11:00, midnight about putting together some policies, doing various things and i just want to thank all of the people who are involved and i hope that, you know, we as a nation can use this as an opportunity to pull together for good. president trump is going to be recommending a national day of prayer, and, you know, we've gotten away from prayer and

faith a lot in this country. there's nothing wrong with godly principles no matter what your faith is. loving your neighbor, caring about the people around you, developing your god-giving talents to the upmost to become valuable to the people around you, having values and principles that govern your life. those are things that made america zoom to the top of the world in record time and those are the things that will keep us there too. >> thank you, mr. secretary. okay. questions? >> first of all, can you explain why secretary azar is not here and also can you indicate to us what are the things the president rolled yesterday was discussion of google partnering with the federal government and then later google said it was not aware that this was going to be an announced and it was not prepared in the same way the president forecast to the country, so where is the discrepancy about the website,

google's involvement and why is the health and human service's secretary not present? >> secretary azar was at the coronavirus task force meeting this morning and back to work. we -- we will have a changing round-up for these presentations so we can get quickly to your questions but secretary azar is doing a remarkable job and working 7 days for the american people and making a difference. with regard to google and other private partners, i know google issued a statement that they are planning to launch a website. i think they gave a date of monday, march 16th, we are working literally around the clock and i know that our whole team working on this public and private partnership couldn't be more grateful to all of the hard-working people at google that are helping to put this

website together but tomorrow 5:00 o'clock we will have very specific description tomorrow about when the website will be available, when the parking lot sites will be available for people to be tested and we are working right now with state and local communities to determine where it's best to roll those out. a number of -- the number of communities are already doing a great job meeting their needs so we are trying to flow the resources, but 5 lock tomorrow -- 5:00 o'clock tomorrow night we will have details. >> can you tell us whether you have been tested for coronavirus and can you or somebody else clear up the apparent discrepancy between the letter that was issued from the white house position's office just before midnight last night in which the physician concluded that you and the president did not need to be tested. >> i know the president announced that -- that he has been tested and i'm going to

speak immediately after this press conference with the white house physician's office. at this point, as of the last night the white house's physician office neither i would necessary nate -- necessitate testing. we want people to go to a website and determine whether test is in order. we want to make sure people that are being tested that have the symptoms. i will speak to the white house physician after briefing and ms. pence and i are happy to be tested. >> thank you, mr. vice president, for mentioning that, 96% plus were negative and that was with symptoms.

working hard to learn about symptoms and screening and that's going into the developing of the website. it's not just a simple check box website. it'll go through critical symptoms. so far in the united states from lab corp. and quest they are running 99 to 98% negativity. this always worries me because i've worked in public health for a long time. when you tell somebody it's negative, yes, it's we assuring but the last time we want them so reassured that they stop practicing critical practice that is will protect all of us. this epidemic will stop at community level. those are the individuals, americans and their response that will get us over the hump and that's why, yes, we will have testing available. we will have to know that many are going to be negative and you're going to have to help us carry the message, just at the moment you're negative and need to continue to do all of your

protection and protection of others to ensure that you remain there. >> follow up on the google question about the website. google said that the website they are developing and early stages and limited to san francisco bay area. that seems very different from what you and the president are saying. >> what google said is they are planning to launch website march 16th that would enable individuals to do a risk assessment and be scheduled for testing at pilot testing sites in the bay area with the goal of expanding to other locations. we are grateful for that. the objective here is to have a website up very quickly that -- that people in the areas that have been deeply impacted, washington state, california, new york, now we have seen community spread in massachusetts and also florida and so we want to make sure that we are flowing those resources as well as those remote testing

sites in the area, but that's a statement i was handed this morning from them and, again, i want to tell you, folks, we are working 24/7 on this. we will have very specific details on the rollout of this new public-private partnership and testing at 5:00 o'clock tomorrow. >> thank you, mr. vice president. could you give us more details on the potential financial assistance for the entertainment industries, for the cruise industries that the administration is looking at right now, and if i may on the temperature check, were all the members of the cabinet that are in here today, did they have temperatures checked? you're nodding, but is it also the white house policy now that anyone who, for instance, comes into the oval office needs to have their temperature checked at the door? >> i'd refer those questions to the white house physician's office. i have been informed that they're establishing new protocols for temperature checks and i had my temperature checked too. let me ask the the secretary of

treasury to address what maybe the next few innings. i thought secretary mnuchin put it very well. we got the initial support, $8.3 billion, from the congress, the house passed legislation to act on the president's priorities, but we understand, the president has made it very clear, airlines industry or cruise industries we expect to come back to congress to make sure that as we put the health of america first and as businesses make hard choices to make a priority of the health of their employees or those that they serve or their customers that we are going to make sure that they can come all the way back, mr. secretary. >> let me emphasize, this is a unique circumstance, this isn't like the financial crisis where people didn't know how long this was going on. let me just say there's no question because things we are

requesting people to do there are parts of the economy that are shutting down or slowing down dramatically, and as i said before and i said yesterday, we are committed to use all the tools and all the resources of the government to make sure that we protect the economy, so many of the industries that you've talked about as i said, the airlines are the most obvious because we have a unique circumstance where we have shut down travel and these of strategic importance to us. we appreciate there's many industries that are impacted by this and i would also say there's many individuals. the president has talked about a stimulus program whether through payroll tax cut or fundable tax credits. we are 100% committed and i can assure you there was bipartisan support. we have a lot of tools, the fed has a lot of tools. some of the tools we don't have that we had in the financial crisis will be going back to congress and one of the reasons why this bill was so important is this is just the second step

on bipartisan support. we will make sure that the economy recovers out of this and whatever -- >> if i may follow up, how much more money would you like to see -- i'm not talking about the previous bill. i'm talking about the future for those industries. >> let me comment it would be premature to comment. we are in the early innings. we have 100 different things we are looking at. yesterday the president announced on student loans, suspending interest. that was one of the things. he announced using the strategic oil reserve. this is a great time. we also have a unique circumstance having nothing to do with the coronavirus, parts of the economy are impacted by the temporary low price of oil. so the president, the vice president and everybody else is 100% committed. we have a 100 different ideas and whatever we need to do, we will do. >> mr. vice president, thank you so much, i have a question for

you and if i can for dr. birx. if i may, your language has changed a bit. you tweaked it a little bit. early on you said that there was allow risk -- low risk for the average american to contract and recently a risk of serious illness remains low and can you address why the change, the potential of contracting the virus for an average american no longer low, why the change, sir? >> i will let dr. birx address that. >> you are the vice president. if you don't mind, sir. >> everything that we are communicating to the public is based on what is the unanimous opinion of our health experts based upon the information that we have at the time. it's now a little more than a few weeks since we had our first instance of community spread in the united states and letting people know that the president

did everything to prevent coronavirus coming into the country. you can't overstate how unprecedented and extraordinary the suspension of all travel from china was when the president made that decision before the end of january and the travel advisories with portions of italy, south korea, the screening of personnel coming into the country. allow me to let dr. birx to address that but what we will tell american people straight from health experts the best information that we have to see to their own health, the health of their family and their community. dr. birx. >> yes, thank you, mr. vice president. every day we analyze data from around the world and look at age groups that are impacted, look at and try to get a sense of the amount of asymptomatic patients. remember, all the groups that are doing screening are screening on symptoms. we are trying to figure out based on that information and based on the profile of the

epidemic to really understand is there a whole group under 20 that really doesn't get significant symptoms yet we don't believe that uniquely people under 20 are naturally protected from the virus. so are they a group that are potentially asymptomatic and spreading the virus. because of that and because of that unknown, we don't want to say that the risk is low when we don't know how low the numbers are for people that are asymptomatic. we have a good sense of people who are having symptoms and we have a good sense of who is deeply impacted by this. if you look at all the data coming out of the countries that we triangulate, people at certain age are higher risk for certain outcome and that's why we have been so laser-focused on that. the other side of the epidemic is transmission and until you

understand how many people are asymptomatic, we think it's better for the entire american public to know that the risk of serious illness is low but they could be potentially be transmitting virus to others and that's why we are asking every american to take personal responsibility to prevent the spread and that's weigh we have made all of the recommendations broad even past people who have symptoms or no symptoms because we need to have everybody taking precautions. >> last question. go ahead. >> tomorrow you're speaking to all the governors -- >> monday. >> monday, sorry. speaking to all governors, are we looking at domestic travel restrictions coming down the pipeline any time soon and my other question for you, leader mcconnell statement that he was going to read the bill, speak to members over the weekend, are you confident that the senate is going to take up the house legislation and get it done quickly? >> well, the president expressed strong support for the

legislation and received a very large bipartisan vote in the house, but we -- we respect the process, grateful for the support that leader mcconnell has expressed for the process and the priorities of the president has outlined. we would be working with members of the senate to unpack the bill for them and why the president trump endorsed it yesterday and we believe they should move it expeditiously to passage. with regard to additional travel restrictions -- >> in the u.s. >> let me just say as the president said, we are considering a broad-range of measures, but no decisions have been made yet but i just want to assure the american people of two things. we are going to continue to follow the facts and continue to listen to to to the experts abot recommendations and we will bring as we did this week to

suspend travel from europe and bring best healthcare experts to the president and i promise you and promise the american people, this president is going to continue to take every step necessary to protect the american people and put the health of the american people first and together we will get through this. >> just a follow-up -- [inaudible conversations] leland: all right. the vice president of the united states wrapping up hour or so long news conference that included the president for 20 minutes. the headline that we just heard they are now considering domestic travel restrictions within the united states. that coming from a question by mark meredith, correspondent, quite simply life in america will probably change considerably over the next couple of weeks, possible additional travel restrictions in place domestically, people,

foreign nationals from united kingdom and ireland are banned from coming into the united states starting midnight on monday. we have always heard that there's going to be additional federal involvement in big parts of the economy including how paid sick leave is implemented and how people are able to pay for paid sick leave and companies will be involved in that. the vice president also announcing that there's going to be a second approved test now for coronavirus from the private sector that is going to be implemented in the next couple of days. the president's announcement yesterday about a massive public-private partnership was clarified in terms of how the website would work and how americans are going to go to drive-thru facilities in parking lots of walgreens and cvs's and wal-marts and indicated at least on friday that this was going to be ramped up pretty quickly. we are now learning from the vice president the details of the rollout as he called it is

going to happen at 5:00 p.m. tomorrow on sunday. please stay tune to fox news, foxnews.com and the fox station for continuing coverage. i'm leland vittert in washington. and a fox news alert on fox news channel, saturday afternoon, an hour-long news conference and briefing by the president. the vice president and members of the coronavirus task force at the white house. i'm leland vittert in washington. laura ingle standing by in new york. laura, as we went through the amount of topics and the way that life is going to change in america at least for the next couple of weeks, maybe even months is extraordinary. laura: it is extraordinary, one of the big questions that we saw from the press corp., so many people we wanted to know if the president, president trump had been tested for coronavirus. he revealed to us that he had been tested. he's waiting for those results.

i think that's the relief to many people who wanted to know, of course, we have been seeing a lot of meetings that he's had, public events where he's been in close contact with folks that should be getting that. as you mentioned the new information coming tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. eastern. vice president pence talking about the new test results, so many people have been tested beyond the president and they are going to talk about some of those results and give us details tomorrow. one of the most important things too at the top of the list coming from dr. deborah birx, she kept making the point, if you tested negative, if you go in and have symptoms, you've been tested and you're negative, don't just think that you can't possibly getting, don't stop making all of those precautionary measures in your household and with your family and friends. be very careful, because we have seen the stories repeated throughout the globe where people actually had coronavirus, covid-19 and they got better, they thought they were okay and they got it again.

this is something that could happen and it's something to be mindful of as we move forward with this. leland: being able to have mass testing around important point about the president, temperature checks being done by anyone who comes in close contact with the president, that even includes the press corp. at the white house. the president was asked at the end of his appearance there if he had had his temperature checked. he said he was fine and that his temperature was normal. obviously we will wait for the results from the test. the vice president saying he's been told he did not need to be tested. as we continue our coverage we go to new york city, mayor de blasio after cuomo confirmed someone's death. >> elder relatives need support and we don't want to leave them alone but we have to be smart about never subjecting to anyone who might be sick and when you

are visiting with someone older and/or with preexisting conditions, all those basics, washing your hands, using the alcohol-base sanitizer, covering mouth when you cough or sneeze, social distancing even when you're visiting, keeping distance, we really need that. they need it. and even down to the point of everything that is available in our stores. i want people to remember, of course, people are stocking up but there's older folks in your life, neighbors, folks you worship with, family members, of course, who may be low on supplies, share with them because we can't have those folks go without things they need. so everyone has to think of this and i said to you all yesterday and other times we are going into full crisis footing. this is a wartime dynamic and we have to help each other in different ways and it will take the people to solve the crisis and not just the government.

we have to look out for each other. okay, just a quick few sentences in spanish and then i i want to say something about the actions taken in washington as a preface to introducing senator schumer. [speaking in spanish] leland: we will continue to monitor what bill de blasio has to say and speaking in spanish. in new york there's been enormous amount of rumors what is and what is not shut down. even saw stuff from the mta that subways are going to be open and even though you have broadway shows shut down and so many office building telling people to work from home. laura: that's right. the streets as we came in here

today in new york city were relatively empty, though, there's still traffic and one of the things is happening that people are staying off the rails, the subway, long island railroad and you're seeing less traffic there in those stations but more on the roads, leland. leland: quick break in washington, check with mark meredith at the white house, team at cdc and also some folks wondering when they'll be able to get everything from groceries to toilet papers, around the country run and jacqui heinrich looking into that. we will check on the other side of the break. we will be right back

leland: continuing our coronavirus pandemic special here. we will get to some doctors and your questions at home as you try to protect your family and loved ones from coronavirus in terms of everything that you need to be doing, how often you wash your hands and what to do about the senior citizens in your life. first, we want to get to mark

meredith who is at the white house, the president, vice president and the rest of the coronavirus task force just wrapped up what is potentially one of the most interesting life-changing news conferences that we've seen in years, mark. >> leland, i completely agree with you. we heard from not only the president, the vice president but as well as member it was coronavirus task force. one we should start that president trump has taken the test for the coronavirus and right now he's waiting the results and feels fine. he got his temperature check. there's been a lot of questions over the last few days of whether or not the president was going to take a question, he says that he did. the vice president indicating that he will likely take one soon and was going to speak to white house's physician office and white house saying to keep

calm and elderly most at risk according to white house officials but the administration realizing that there's a broader effect here. people are not going on cruises, not going on airplanes, some people are worried about going to museum, grocery stores, things to that effect. one thing that we have seen not only washington but all over the country, people that have been going to grocery stores, trying to stock up on things as much as they can. we asked president trump about the specifically, what does that mean for people that may not have done that yet or worried about going to the store. here is what he had to say moments ago? >> mr. president, there are so many people right now that are rush to go cosco, they are rush to go grocery stores, they are filling up baskets. is that the right move, do you think that people should actually maybe conserve as oppose to buy and overnight apple, they will be closing stores for two weeks, retail outlets, restaurants do the same thing? >> you want to keep people away for a little white. when it gets better -- people are going and buying things and i understand that.

by the way i had my temperature taken coming into the room. you did, good. let's compare. good. that means we are looking good. you also -- i also took the test last night. yeah. and i decided i should base on the press conference people were asking did i take the test -- i don't know, whatever it takes, 2 days. >> that was the president talking about covid-19 testing. one thing that i've never seen happen before and sign of guess new normal you'd have to say is that moments before the president and vice president came to the podium, a member of the white house medical office as well as the press aide came to different rooms where the press work out of here at the white house and took temperatures, we were told that this was abundance of caution, people coming in close contact with elected officials, they we wanted to make sure that those people would not be at risk of showing symptoms whatsoever. it appears that there was one member of the press corp. that

did have a higher temperature, no indication that it was more serious than that but that person was asked to stay out of the briefing out of abundance of caution. we also had a chance to hear from the vice president specifically about what's going to be coming next, added travel restriction that is will bar travel from the uk and ireland, but very important to note that americans are overseas right now, the white house is making it clear, those people will still be able to get home. leland, certainly plenty of developments that we will be watching throughout the rest of the afternoon, a lot to come out of the news conference, leland. leland: the vice president said that he didn't feel as though he needed to take a coronavirus test and his temperature was normal and at least one report that that reporter did have 3 separate temperature checks before they were told not to attend the briefing. mark meredith there at the white house where things will change, waiting for 5:00 p.m. announcement about public-private partnership how you and your family will be able to get tested for the coronavirus if you feel the

need. laura, it seems as though that's really so big a part of this, is the unknown, unknowns and so many people are so worried about what they don't know and that's what scares so many folks? laura: absolutely. so many people have questions about this. we are making sure that you are getting all of the information that you need during coronavirus pandemic so we have brought in a team of doctors to answer your questions. so we want to thank you for that, joining us now dr. shashan, she's an internal medicine physician with california pacific medical center and dr. brandon carr, chair of emergency medicine from hospital system. we want to thank you both for being here on this very important day. so right to the questions, let's start with brandon, one question from the viewer, why this virus more important than the common flu that is killing more people faster than the coronavirus, dr. carr? >> first, thanks for having me. it's a great question. it's not more important than the

common flu. they are both critically important. maybe we start with the numbers. there are 20,000 deaths at least in the u.s. this year from the flu and 5,000 globally from coronavirus. it's an important number to think about as we think about what it means for us and our way of life. it's also important to think about the spread, you know, the flu spreads to 1 or 2 people for every person who gets it and coronavirus spreads to 2 to 3. it's more contagious and it's more dangerous, but it is not nearly as bad as other things. we think about measles spreads 15 to every infected person. laura: what is the average that has died? that's another question that we got from the viewers. did they have preexisting conditions, health problems, that's a tweet that came to us, what do you make of that? >> yeah, what i can tell you people over 60 and those with underlying serious health

conditions like lung disease, kidney disease, people who even have been long-term smokers are at highest risk for severe illness and death from the data in china, we know those age to 10 to 39 have a 0.3% and those age 80 or older this rises to almost 15%, again, that's from the numbers in china. so in other words, protecting the vulnerable including those with underlying health conditions and older adults is really crucial. laura: that is a lot of what we heard in the press conference today from the white house about protecting our elderly population, being careful. there are restrictions now on people making visits to senior homes and, you know, we want to think about those people and, of course, so many are vulnerable. another person tweeted to us,

how long does one stay sick with the coronavirus? that is a big question because it seems like you don't know that you have it or even have symptoms and, you know, for days, maybe a couple of weeks on end. >> yeah, it depends on how serious your case is. if you have mild symptoms it can be much shorter whereas you require hospitalization or you end up in the intensive care unit it can be weeks or months depending on how your organ systems are compromised and your individual underlying state of health. laura: right, as we move forward with all of this it is so important, again, to check in with each other, to check in with your family members and your maybes. one of the things that was brought up at the white house today was, you know, getting on facefull-time if -- facetime with your loved ones and that's going to be very important

moving forward. i want to keep both of you with us. we have a lot of questions from our viewers and we want to thank everybody from that. we will take a quick break and we will be back with our doctors right after this on fox news. wait, you're a lawyer? only licensed in stockholm. what is happening? jamie: anyway, game show, kumite, cinderella story. you know karate? no, alan, i practice muay thai, completely different skillset. adds to the legendary capability of the strongest, most advanced silverados ever. with best in class camera technology and larger, more functional beds than any competitor. the only truck that can compare to a silverado is another silverado. truck month is the right time

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for people with heart failure taking entresto, it may lead to a world of possibilities. entresto is a heart failure medicine prescribed by most cardiologists. it was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. heart failure can change the structure of your heart, so it may not work as well. entresto helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. and with a healthier heart, there's no telling where life may take you. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema,

low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto for heart failure. entrust your heart to entresto. leland: and what is so important during the crisis like this is not only getting the correct information but getting some of the basic questions that you have answered, with that we bring in our medical panel who is answering questions that you submitted on twitter and instagram among also the fox news website, internal medicine physician, dr. ungerlineer and dr. carr, so much has moved into italy in terms of hot zone, coronavirus outbreak rises 1421

from 1266 on friday. here is the question ungerlineer, why have so many people in italy died? >> well, what we know is that the italian population is actually the oldest in all of europe with about 23% of the people age 65 or older, so that's one factor and also people with mild cases in italy may not be getting tested and therefore counted, so in terms of a percentage of people who are dying, testing expands within a community more mild cases are found which lowers the overall rate of death. i think it's important for the people in the u.s. understand taking control of their lives right now is important and taking this very seriously especially to protect those who are the most vulnerable. leland: dr. carr, this brings us

into risk factors, people who are older and smokers, this is from aka casper 252 we believe, different. from jeanine on twitter. what is the effect of the virus with somebody from lupus or immune disease? >> for sure. you know, so we talk about particular diseases but it's important to think that it's a pretty broad list. people with lupus and lung disease. it's important to think about the fact that there are people that -- we the healthcare folks, all of these people are at risk and it's a reminder that we all need to be a part of the solution. leland: we also heard from dr. fauci who noted he himself he's older. as you get older you have such a harder time fighting.

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laura: associated press announcing that a dc bureau will close temporarily saying that, quote, a staffer who had direct contact with possible coronavirus patient showed symptoms of illness. staffer was attending a conference with hundreds of journalists in new orleans last week. so we have been hearing about this, it's now confirmed, leland, as we move through this and all trying to be careful with each other here in our news rooms, out on the streets and where we live. leland: as they noted in the press conference at the white house that went on for about an hour, life in america is going to change in over next 8 to 10 weeks and as the treasury secretary noted, you didn't know how long it's going to last and we have folks telling us that it may be difficult and we have to get through it together but at least we have a timeline 8 or 9 weeks that they hope if people take precaution that is the government is talk about and the doctors are talking about, life

will be able to get back to normal. laura: that's right. that sounds like a really long time. leland: yeah. laura: i couldn't help but notice within reading the materials about the coronavirus and covid-19 that it's blooming. as i noticed in your shots you have the cherry blossoms blooming and reminding us all it started off slow and it's blooming. leland: a lot more information to come out. you didn't get your questions answered by the doctors, another opportunity tomorrow. dr. anthony fauci joins chris wallace sunday and talk about the white house's efforts to contain coronavirus. eric and arthel with more coverage from new york now with nine grams of protein and twenty-seven vitamins and minerals. ensure, for strength and energy. . . .

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samsung galaxy 5g phones and get an s20+ on us. you can download a movie that normally takes 20 minutes in, like, 20 seconds. (vo) this is 5g built right from the network more people rely on. eric: the last hour, president trump updated the nation on the administration's response to the growing pandemic fears that are gripping the country about coronavirus. the president answered one of the main questions some people had about whether or not he has taken the test and he said he has. >> i also took the test last night. and i decided i should, based on the press conference yesterday. people were asking did i take the test. >> when will you have the results. >> i don't know, whatever it takes, a day or two days, they send it to a lab. eric: what do we expect, this is a brand-new hour of america's news headquarters. i'm eric sean. arthel: i'm arthel neville. today's news conference comes as we get new numbers on the