fema, and outline president trump's decision to have fema take the lead in our national coronavirus response. our nation's response through fema will be locally executed, state-managed, and federally-supported. on testing, we want the american people to know once again that testing is available in all 50 states and is becoming increasingly available literally every hour of the day. because of the public-private partnership that the president initiated several weeks ago with major commercial labs, i am pleased to receive a report today that tens of thousands of tests are being performed every day, and with the passage of last night's legislation, state and private labs are not required by law to report all coronavirus testing directly to the cdc. which will give the american public and also our researchers timely and important information. it's important for every american to remember that if you don't have symptoms, you don't

need to get a test. we want to make sure the testing is available for people who are experiencing symptoms or have a genuine concern about having been exposed to someone with the coronavirus. dr. birx will address county level data as well as the progress we've made on testing, and americans can expect to see how an increased number of cases as our tests come online should not be a cause of concern. she will explain the importance of taking into account our new testing system as new data arrives over the next several days. on supplies, the priority of the president has given to our task force, we continue to work with health care providers, businesses, and state leadership to identify available supplies. not merely in the federal stockpile, but much more importantly, available across the private sector. we are encouraged to see companies like honeywell and 3m, that i visited a few short weeks ago, take advantage of the changes in the law last night

that allow the sale of industrial masks directly to hospitals. those companies have no greatly increased by the tens of millions there production of so-called n95 masks that will give our health care workers the protection they need to administer to those who are dealing with the symptoms or the disease of coronavirus. i'm following the signing of last night's bill, all of those masks now have liability protection and the companies can sell industrial masks to hospitals. it is encouraging, as we call that yesterday, to see construction companies all across america that are, as we speak, checking their supplies and donating those industrial masks to the local hospitals. i know i speak on behalf of the president, who spent a lot of time as a builder, when we think builders across the country for partnering with our local health care officials. on the subject of ventilators, we are working with health care providers around america, and

suppliers. we are encouraged to lend that we've literally identified tens of thousands of ventilators that can be converted to treat patients. and we remain increasingly confident that we will have the ventilators that we need as the coronavirus makes its way across america. as we said before, we are all in this together. before i step away and give the podium back to the president and to dr. birx, i want to call every american's attention, again, to the president's 15 days to slow the spread. we continue to hear of one case after another, one city after another, where people are putting into practice the principles the president outlined this monday. make no mistake about it, while for the american people as a whole the risk of serious illness remains low, these guidelines should be practiced by every american in every community. not only to lessen the spread of

the coronavirus, but to protect the most vulnerable among us. i think americans from their hearts are not only practicing these principles of social distancing and avoiding social gatherings of more than ten people, using drive-through's restaurants, to protect their own health and the health of their family, but they are also recognizing that no american wants to inadvertently convey the coronavirus to someone for e quite serious. at the president's direction we will continue to marshal all the resources of government at every level. we will be reiterating that strong partnership with america's states this afternoon. with america's governors, pulling all of the private sector energy together. the innovation you just heard described. i know, on this first day of spring, that we will get through this and we will get through this together. thank you, mr. president. >> president trump: thank you very much. dr. birx? >> thank you, mr. president. i know you're watching the data carefully.

you can see the dramatic increases in the number of new cases based on our ability to test additional people. and this will continue over the next 2-3 days as we begin to have backlogs reduced of the testing. you all have heard the antidotes of people waiting 5-6 days for their test results. we are moving through all of that, as well as testing individuals. i really want to applaud the frontline health care workers, the nurses and the doctors and the testers, that have really prioritized -- and the american people, who prioritize those with symptoms. the number of tests positive is increasing. that is a dramatically important signature that everybody is doing their job. those with mild symptoms are staying home, self-isolating. those with serious symptoms are coming forward to get testing. our test positive rates are now into the 10-11% range. that still means that 90% of the illnesses out there, even the

severe ones, are not covid-19. i know many of you are looking at the state level data, still over 50% of the cases come from three states. this is why we continue to prioritize testing in those states. in addition, 50% of the cases come from ten counties. we are a very large country with very many counties, and i just want to applaud the local and state governments that are implementing their emergency operations centers and plans to ensure. i also want to really think that health care workers that have been asked to reduce all elective surgeries, medical, and dental visits. this will dramatically increase the number of ventilators that are available in hospitals, but also in ambulatory surgical centers, that can be converted and utilized. and also, to the construction industry. we are deeply grateful of the number, as the vice president said, of individuals who have come forward with their construction masks. there booties, there tieback

suits, and masks to contribute them to the health care sector. the president's request to make this available in the legislation changes the ability and increases our availability immediately by 75-90% range because the amount of construction use of those elements. thank you. >> president trump: thank you, dr. very much. >> thank you, mr. president, mr. vice president. today he wrote a wonderful announcement from the fda. i just want to give a shout out to steve, dr. hahn, and the folks at the fda. several hundred of my commissioned corps officers were clear. you are right, mr. president. they are tireless, they are doing things that have never been done before to bring the most prudent advances to the american people. i want to talk about something different briefly. we know many of you are home practicing the president's guidelines for social distancing. but one thing we should all

consider, especially our millennials and gen z, is donating blood. as an anesthesiologist who still practices at walter reed taking care of our wounded warriors and our soldiers, i know donated blood is an essential part of caring for patients, and one donation can save up to three lives. blood thinners are open now and in need of your donation. i want americans to know that blood donation is safe, and blood centers are taking extra precautions at this time based on new cdc recommendations, including spacing beds 6 feet apart, disinfecting surfaces between patients, temperature-checking staff, and encouraging donors to make appointments at other times we can space them out. social distancing does not have to mean social disengagement. so, give blood today. he will feel good about it, and you'll be helping her country and your community during this

crisis. you might even save a life. >> president trump: thank you. go ahead, john. >> reporter: mr. president, switching to the efforts to boost the economy, will you guarantee that the money, the billions, the tens of billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of dollars, even, that will go to these industries, will not go to executive bonuses or two more stock buybacks? >> president trump: we don't want that. in fact, some companies did stock buybacks and i was never happy with that. it's very hard to tell them not to, but i would tell them not to. i would say i don't like it for that reason. it turned out they could have waited a long time, it would have been much better off. >> reporter: you could make it a condition of the bill, that none of the money could go there. >> president trump: it takes many people in this case to tango. as far as i'm concerned, conditions like that would be okay with me. >> reporter: mr. president, a quick question for you and then a question for dr. hahn.

you enabled, i guess is probably the best way to put it, the defense production act yesterday. but you didn't pull the trigger on it. >> president trump: no, because we hope we're not going to need it. >> reporter: a lot of calls to pull the trigger on appeared with the rationale for not doing it? >> president trump: first of all, governors are supposed to be doing a lot of this work, and they are doing a lot of this work. the federal government is not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping. we are not a shipping clerk. the governors are supposed to be. as with testing, the governors are supposed to be doing it. we will help out and we will help out wherever we can. we can buy in volume. in some cases, great volume. the masks, as an example, which are really a problem. there are right now millions of masks being made. but this is really for the local governance and people within the state, depending the way they divide it up. they will do that, and they are doing a very good job of it. we have a problem with ventilators, we are working very hard trying to find -- nobody in

their wildest dreams would have thought that we'd need tens of thousands of ventilators. it's something very unique to this, to what happened. >> reporter: under what conditions would you put the defense production act into action? >> president trump: if we were desperately in need of something, and we frankly will know about that very shortly. we want to be ahead -- we don't want to do it as it happens, but before it happens. we will know a lot over the next two or three days. we'll know a lot. >> reporter: any idea when the remdesivir will be available to the market? and are there any drugs in the pipeline that you believe could qualify for a treatment? >> with respect for the first question, and prohibited by law to disclose confidential commercial information. what i can tell you is we are working very closely with the company on this and we will have additional information. they will, relatively soon. yes, there are drugs in the pipeline. we are looking at every one, everyone on this dais gets calls

every day about potential therapeutic options. we are looking at everything the one of them. reported not reported practical questions for you. when on coronavirus. are you confirming that austin ties is still alive? >> president trump: i'm not, we are trying to find out. this is been going on for years, many years they've been trying to find austin tice. he was in syria, as you know. his mother is an incredible woman. i'm doing it for him, but i'm doing it for his mother. his mother is an incredible woman who is desperate to find her son. i'm not confirming a lot. if he is alive, we would like very much to get them back quickly. >> reporter: okay. and on coronavirus, speaking of shortages of supplies, the cdc has put out guidelines for hospitals that are dealing with a shortage of masks, to use them beyond their shelf life, reuse them instead of getting new ones, and in a worst-case scenario, use a bandanna instead of a mask. how is that acceptable at all?

>> president trump: i haven't seen that, but i will let mike answer that question. >> vice president pence: i'm happy to, mr. president. i can't emphasize enough the incredible progress that was made with the passage of the legislation last night. the president had me go to minnesota and meet with 3m, that manufactures these n95 masks, a few weeks ago. and we learned of their production at that facility, of 35 million masks a month. less than 5 million of those were qualified to be sold to hospitals. the president worked with republican and democrat leadership, youth extended liability protection, so now that all the industrial masks that are manufactured as n95 are now available to hospitals. we are seeing a dramatic increase in production. honeywell alone is repurposed in a factory that was destined for mexico to produce another 120 million masks per year. 3m is increasing output to 420 million masks per year. we have put a priority, at the

president's direction, on making sure those that are providing health care services to america have the protection to keep themselves and their families safe. and with the legislation last night, with the incredible response among these great private sector companies, and as we mentioned repeatedly, construction companies around america eating the president's call to donate their industrial masks to hospitals. it's happening all over america. we know we'll meet that need. >> reporter: when will they be ready >> president trump: at least to start getting them ready. >> vice president pence: as i mentioned, 3m's increasing their output to 420 million a year, at production in january they made 35 million per month at that facility. we are prioritizing the distribution of those. the everything -- and will the sizes with governors this afternoon -- we are working with governors to make sure that health care providers, the hospitals, and the clinics in

their state are placing orders now that this tremendous increase in supply, particularly with industrial masks, is now available. we will make sure they understand that the supply has greatly expanded thanks to bipartisan legislation and the accomplishment of the president. the response by these companies is making more masks available, and we will make sure health care providers are purchasing those, and the federal government will also make sure that our stockpile properly reflects those increases, as well. >> reporter: the president's question, when will those masks be ready? because they need them, like, today. >> vice president pence: they are available to now. the 3m facility i was at told me that in january they went to full production on 35 million masks. the legislative change means that all 35 million of those that started to be produced at full capacity in january can now be sold to hospitals. that's the distinction here. it's a very important change, and it's part of the way the

president has been engaging the private sector, pushing the kind of regulatory reform, and the kind of liability reform that has greatly expanded the availability of masks. so they are in the marketplace now. we're going to make it clear to governors, as we made it clear to health care providers and conference calls yesterday, that those resources are now they are. we've vastly increased the supply of medical masks, and we will continue to put a priority on making sure that we are calling on industry at every level, calling on major suppliers that the president met with this week, to make sure those personal protective agreement are there. >> president trump: some of that has to do with the liability to the company. they had a big problem with liability, and much of it had to do with the liability to the company. >> reporter: mr. president, thank you. two for you and one for dr. hahn. the american hospital association just told nbc news that they need $100 billion in order to address shortages in equipment and other infrastructure there. you just signed two legislative

packages. they say it didn't directly give money to address this issue. why not, and will you commit to making -- >> president trump: we are looking at that issue directly with them. that's a separate issue, but we are looking at that issue very directly. we are looking at her directly. we are going to do our best on it. we are working with democrats and republicans, we are looking at that very specifically. >> reporter: can you bottom-line people, when can america inspect their lives to go back to normal? will that not happen until there's a vaccine? >> president trump: i hope very soon. we will see. this is uncharted territory, as you know. we think we have ideas. does it help to stay with the ideas are? i would hope to say very soon. we have pulled together as a nation. people are for the most part doing what they are supposed to be doing. social distancing is very interesting, a whole new term that has become somewhat of a hot term. the people are listening, and they are really doing a great job. this country is an amazing country. i think you are up to 141

different countries right now. so it's very uncharted territory. it could have been stopped, it could have been stopped pretty easily if we had known. if everybody had known about it the number of months before people started reading about it. excuse me, excuse me. before we started reading about it. it could have been stopped in its tracks. unfortunately they didn't decide to make it public. but the whole world is suffering because of it. >> reporter: you did say a few days ago that you did have a sense this was a pandemic that was coming. so why was the united states not prepared with more -- >> president trump: we were very prepared. the only thing we weren't prepared for was the media. the media has not treated fairly. i will tell you how prepared i was, i called for a ban from people coming in from china long before anybody -- in fact, it was your network, i believe they called me a racist because i did that. it was many of the people in the room, they called me racist and other words because i did that.

because i went so early. so when you say we weren't prepared, had i let these tens of thousands of people come in from china per day, we would have had something right now that would have been -- he wouldn't have even recognized it compared to where we are. how many people have passed away? how many people have died as of this moment? you could multiply that by a factor of many, many, many. so when you say that i wasn't prepared, i was the first want to do the band. no other countries are following what i did. the media doesn't acknowledge that. they know it's true. they know it's true, but they don't want to write about it. yeah, go ahead. >> reporter: i want to follow up on that question. so it's not just masks, doctors are saying now they are desperate for other personal protective gear. gloves, other equipment. governors are saying they don't have access to ventilators, they're terrified. what is your reticence -- >> president trump: the governors are supposed to get it, the states, but we are helping the states. for years they bought them and

not all the sudden they're coming to the federal government. we are working with the states. we are working with the governors. we are working with everybody. the relationships are great. one of the things that happened that morning, i spoke with carnival cruise lines. they are going to make ships available. in addition to the big medical ships that you have coming, if we should need ships with lots of rooms, they will be docked in new york and los angeles and san francisco, different places. i want to think carnival cruise lines >> what is your reticence about invoking the defense production act? >> president trump: i've done it. if we find that we need something, we will do that. you don't know what we've done, you don't know whether or not be ordered, you don't know if we've invoked it, you don't know what's been ordered, what's not been ordered. i can only tell you that, as an example, masks. nobody ever heard of the number of masks that's been ordered. they are being made now, many are available now. people in the media probably don't know that.

go ahead. >> reporter: could you explain the gap for the american people in what you are saying here today about there being tens of thousands of tests available, and the huge amount of masks available, and we are seeing on the ground? people are saying they can't get tested even when they have symptoms. people are saying doctors don't have access to vital equipment. can you explain that? >> president trump: i cannot explain a gap. i'm hearing very good things on the ground, and they had a ramp up. they had an obsolete system and a system simultaneously that was not meant for this. it wasn't meant for this, nobody knew there'd be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion. nobody's ever seen anything like this before. i can tell you that what we are doing is working with local governments, with states, governors, even mayors, on getting them to be able to get what they need. and the system is starting to work out very well. but we had a system like

breaking an egg, it was obsolete and didn't work. that was the system we inherited. now we have something that has really been very good, and certainly going to be great for the future, too. >> reporter: mr. president, there seems to be a backlash building among your supporters of a bailout. in particular, that it hearkens back to 2008, picking winners and losers. the colleagues might not become triple for that. what do you say to that? >> president trump: we don't want to pick winners and losers, we want everyone to benefit. we want more than anything else the workers to benefit. sometimes you have to go through company. if thousands of workers. if a company gets out of business, no fault of their own, those workers aren't going to be able to receive a check. our ultimate goal are the people. our ultimate goal are the great people of this country. and we will have things worked out. i think -- it's a very complex formula, you understand that.

it's very complex. but it's working out. i think we are going to have pretty uniform support for it. >> reporter: we are hearing the state department is going to put out an advisory telling americans not to travel overseas at all. are you putting in overseas travel ban? >> president trump: we are speaking with each state department leader. i can't say right now because we haven't had the meaning it. >> reporter: i wanted to ask dr. hahn about today's announcement, if i could. thank you so much. i wanted to ask how remdesivir -- i hope up or not set correctly -- can you say that it's currently approved for use on the virus? >> remdesivir is a drug made by gilead, that's in the press. it's currently in clinical trials here and around the world. we have also made it available by that approach they told you called compassionate use, where a doctor could ask the fda for that. the really positive thing about that, that gives it rapidly to a

doctor and a patient. but it allows us to collect the data. what we really need to do was understand the data and science are in order to make the appropriate decision about safety and effectiveness. >> reporter: so how do you make sure that it is safe? is there any concern at all that it will be safe, considering it's not going through the normal process? and could potentially cause negative effects? dr. fauci talked earlier about that we don't want to put out anything that could cause negative effects. is there any concern about those kinds of things? >> thank you for that question. i just want to be clear about this. remdesivir is going through the normal process. we are using our internal processes at fda to set up with the company, the protocols actually collect the data. you are right, we need to know about the safety and the effectiveness. that's done through the clinical trial process. it's those data that are going to inform the decisions that are ultimately made about safety and

efficacy. this is an unprecedented situation. this is really significant. one thing, with the president's leadership, that fd has done is say, "okay, how do we approach these extraordinary times with extraordinary measures?" knowing that we have a sacred trust of the american people about safety and efficacy. but still, at the same time, enable these treatments to get in the patients. that's what we are doing. >> reporter: mr. president, one for you and one for the doctors. how likely is it that the 15-day guidance you have put through will be extended longer than that? >> president trump: we will have to see. we will have indications later on. >> reporter: dr. birx indicated there are three states and ten counties, if i got that right, were 50% of the cases are focused. should those areas be doing more measures such as shelter-in-place? >> president trump: i think they are doing a lot. i know new york is working very diligently, they've been very strong. i assume san francisco is one of

the areas, and los angeles. the state of washington, obviously. that's one that has to be up there. they are all working very hard to quarantine. just about the equivalent of quarantine. >> reporter: what are the plans for government workers? removing for the government as well to start doing more teleworking? >> president trump: we are, and we are using the medical term of telemedicine. and it's been incredibly busy, and really -- some people can't do it anywhere. they can't get up, they can't see a doctor. but we are using this, and it's been telehealth. different names. i will tell you that it's been really successful. it's helped a lot of people out, where they don't have to -- even for a safety reason, if they are positive, if they are feeling poorly, they can't do it. or we don't want them transmitting anything to anybody else. >> reporter: mr. president, if i could come on china, they

reported for the first time since the outbreak no new cases over a 24-hour period. do you have any reason to disbelieve them? second to that, the national security council yesterday put out a tweet, very critical of the chinese government. saying the chinese communist party suppressed initial reports of the chinese pirates and punish doctors and journalists causing international experts to miss critical opportunities to prevent the global pandemic. could you expand on that? >> president trump: it would have been much better if we had known about this a number of months earlier. it would have been contained that one area in china where it started. certainly the world is paying a big price for what they did, and the world is playing a very big price for not letting them come out. everybody knows that, we all know that. as far as leaving what they are putting out now, i hope it's true. who knows? but i hope it's true, i really do. >> reporter: quickly, a question for you and also for the doctor, if possible.

you've been talking about china quite a bit, and talking about the "chinese virus," how if you had heard about this on day one had information you possibly could have stopped it. >> president trump: big difference. >> reporter: are you thinking about any types of repercussions for china, and are you rethinking the supply line for our manufacturing? >> president trump: i don't want to comment on that right now. >> reporter: mr. president, i have a question for you and also for dr. birx. american workers across the country are losing their jobs at an unprecedented rate. your former economists said we could see some of the worst jobs numbers ever. as the government prepared to see this spike in unemployment? >> president trump: worst-case scenario, you would have terrible job numbers. if we could get this thing wrapped up and finished earlier, things will go very nicely. and one of the things, as you know, one of the elements that is being worked on very much so on the hill is to keep the jobs going.

so that when we do get rid of the virus, we are going to be able to just really -- go like a rocket. i think the economy is going be fantastic. when he said that, he was using that as the ultimate bad outcome. i don't think anybody believes that's going to happen. go ahead. >> reporter: members of congress are now being tested positive for coronavirus, and you have almost two dozen who are self-quarantining. do you have any guidance for congress? >> president trump: i know all of them, and i don't know if they are sitting like you people are sitting. you are actually sitting also so close. really, we should probably get rid of about another 75-80% of you. i have just two or three are like in this repair that's a great way of doing it. we just figured out a great way of doing it. you're actually most dog much too close you should leave immediately. but look, i know all of them.

they tested positive. hopefully they're all going to get better. it's one of those things. it's congress, it's one of those things. i know some where they tested positive. they are in quarantine. and i know lindsay and many others, they didn't tested. until they got the result, they put themselves in quarantine. a number of people in congress are in quarantine. they don't know the results. when they get the result, they will either stay there and get better -- because people get better. most people are getting better. doesn't mean it's not a tough one? it is a tough one. many people in congress have felt not perfect, or them somebody that wasn't perfect. turned out to be positive. they put themselves in quarantine.

i think congress has behaved unbelievably well in that rega regard. >> on the stimulus, given what is happening to the economy, do you think a trillion dollar stimulus is enough? >> president trump: we will know about that later. it depends, so much depends on what's going on in this room in terms of the medical. if we can stop it in its tracks, the virus, it's plenty. if we can't, will have to go back and talk. >> do you support taking equity stake in certain companies? >> president trump: i do, really do. >> reporter: which companies? >> president trump: i'm not going to say, but i think so. look, if you are coming in for money. in some cases, it's no fault of their own. in some cases, where they did certain things over the course of the years, including buying back stock, they bought back stock in the paradise price for it, as they turned out i gave you it differently somebody that didn't come and some of you that built plans all of the united states. of which there are plenty of

them, too. >> reporter: airlines, boeing? what are you thinking of? >> president trump: we will be helping the airline industry, the cruise ship industry, will probably be helping the hotel industry. you don't want to lose industries like this. you can't lose them. we will be focused on many industries. i have to say, i can't say it strongly enough. we'll be helping small businesses pay that's where it's complicated. a lot of -- that's the engine of the country. we will be helping small business. >> reporter: these members of congress have tested positive for coronavirus, and this one truly toasting this package for the economy. do you expect this to slow down the delivery of checks for american families? and are you considering any executive action? >> president trump: no. there could be, we are looking at a couple of things i could do. hopefully we won't need it, that there's a lot of executive power if we don't have to use it will

be a good thing, not a bad thi thing. >> reporter: mr. president, one for you and potentially one for either dr. birx or dr. adams. right now the economy has essentially ground to a halt. >> president trump: thanks for telling us, we'd appreciate it. >> reporter: stores have closed, i was so down. reported michael had, was a question can make everybody in the room knows th that. reported by business have to make critical decisions. as it stands at this moment, how long does it take to play out? >> president trump: we will see where we are going. using the numbers, you see the grass. we will be able to let you know. the american public has been incredible, for the most part. not all cases, but for most part. you'll be able to see what's happening. as we said, we had a 15-day period. you'll be able to tell a lot in a week or so. not everything, but will be able

to see over a period of time. >> reporter: for all the parents at home right now, and this is a question for dr. birx or dr. adams, who are caring for their children and curious as to, "when my my kids be able to go back to school cannot post what you think is a realistic timeline? >> i think you know most of the decisions are made with the state and government level. each state and local government has handed it. that's where we put out folks will do my federal guidance about we think is important for the first few weeks. as we handle that data, we will see if it's having an impact. we've all seen the modeling studies. those were driven by the modeling studies showing that if you have these things together they have a bigger impact than separately. those are part of the decision-making. we have a whole group in of my looseness to repair their compositing the data together to look at it carefully. everyone has the same questions

of what the impact will be, and what pieces could essentially be removed. and you still have the same level of impact in decreasing the spread of the virus. the key to this as every single american looking at the president guidelines and taking it seriously. the acts of selflessness that i am seeing are so impressive across the board. if even ten or 15% of the population has decided that what they're doing today is more important than the health and welfare of the rest of americans, they can spread the virus and a very strong way. because you know the level of contagion. >> president trump: i have to say, if chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine works, or any of the other things they are looking at that are not quite as far out, if they work, your numbers are going to come down very rapidly. we will see what happens paper there's a real chance they might work. go ahead, please.

reporter mike quotas are message for leaders and laugh latin america, like the president of brazil, who just on sunday was taking photos with supporters in quarantine? it just yesterday, the president from brazil said that we should not be surprised if we see him in the next few days in a crowded subway in sao paulo or rio. because the president should be with the people. what do you think about that, what your message? >> president trump: is a friend of mine, number one. the identity of a night and everybody said he was positive, and he wasn't positive. he tested negative. so i was quite happy when i heard that. but i have no message for him other than he's doing a good job in brazil. he is doing a good job in brazil and is very popular. >> reporter: how about in quarantine to >> president trump: i can't tell you about that, i don't know about that. i have not heard that. he's doing a very good job. brazil was very troubled before he got there. people love him, he's popular. i think he is doing a very good job.

>> reporter: mr. president, there were americans traveling abroad who were essentially stuck, unable to come home. we spoke to -- >> president trump: where? >> reporter: we spoke to ten american women in morocco, for instance. all the flights have been canceled. there hotel is shutting down. they literally have no place to stay and no way to get home. they're asking you, the initiation, the government for help read what can be done? >> president trump: we have a group of young people in peru. we are taking care of that with the military. >> reporter: 's a military evacuation can back >> president trump: not evacuation, we are trying to get them out. they got caught. they were late with there. they didn't make it. probably from the military. we have a group of young people. i think young man or young people, could be women also come

up with them from alabama. the great state of alabama. and they are in peru, we are working on that right now, trying to get them out. it's a large group, about 300. we will work it out. jeff? >> reporter: two foreign policy-related question. in your talk with the leaders earlier this week, did you discuss ending or postponing th? >> president trump: we did discuss it. as you know, prime minister abe was on the call. that's a big decision for him. we don't know what his decision is, but we would live with his decision. that's a tough situation. they did an incredible job. japan has done an incredible job on building the venues, getting them built. you see so many olympic venues that have been a disaster over the years, where they cost five times more than they were supposed to. they weren't ready in time. japan has been just the opposite. they built it beautifully, they built it for what it was supposed to be built for. but then he got hit with the same thing the rest of the world got hit with unexpectedly. he has told us he has not made a

decision as to what to do. >> reporter: have you spoken to leaders from saudi arabia or russia and encourage them to stop this -- >> president trump: the one thing i will tell you, from the standpoint -- you always get a little bit torrent. until he became the leading producer, i was always for the person driving the car and filling up the tank of gas. it have gasoline, and the prices, if they were too high i would always raise hell with opec. i was somebody -- i never thought i'd see 22 and 24 and $28 a barrel. but that's what we have. in one way, our consumer is very much helped. it's like a massive tax increase paid that's bigger than any tax increase or decrease you could give. we could give all these big tax cuts, but they are paying so little for gasoline. on the other hand, it hurts a great industry and a very powerful industry.

i spoke with numerous people that have a lot to do with it, and we have a lot of power over the situation. we are trying to find some kind of a medium ground. it's very devastating to russia, because when you look, their whole economy is based on that. we have the lowest oil prices in decades, so it's very devastating to russia. i would say it's very bad for saudi arabia come up with their in a fight. they are in a fight on price. a fight on output. at the appropriate time, i will get involved, yeah. >> reporter: forgive me if i missed it, what will the carnival crew ships be used for? >> president trump: mickey called up and said, "if you need them --" i am devon said yes, i'll call governor cuomo and gavin newsom, the governor from california. i will call a few of the other governors, they will bring it up today. because we are meeting for your phone, through telephone.

telephonically, as they say. going to fume in a little while. you can increase places to say. if it works. i don't know, maybe people won't want them. they made the offer, it's a very generous offer. he said he has some ships that would be ideally suited for what we are doing. they have a lot of rooms, they are big and have a lot of rooms. so we appreciate it, from carnival. >> reporter: at what point will any american who wants a test be able to get a test? you talked about not needing a test right now if you are not showing any symptoms. >> president trump: not needing the tests? >> reporter: are only getting tested if you show symptoms. >> president trump: you should. i didn't have any symptoms and i got a test, but i got a test because you people were driving every buddy crazy. so that's the only reason -- i had no symptoms, but i had a test. my doctor told me, "don't get it, you don't need it." everybody said i didn't need it,

but i had to because the press was going crazy. then after i got it, they said, "you shouldn't have gotten it, you had no symptoms." the old things. in other words, if you get it it's no good. but i'm a unique case, unfortunately. but no, people who don't show symptoms in people who have doctors that say they shouldn't get it, i would rely on that. i would rely on that. >> reporter: mr. president, thank you. i have two questions. do you consider the term -- >> president trump: oh eight and, very good. thank you very much. >> president trumpreported backr that the term "chinese food" racist? on that note -- >> president trump: i don't think it's racist at all. reported back on that note, major left wing media in this room have teamed up with tommy's commies party narratives claiming our basis for making these games about the chinese virus. is it alarming that major media

players are consistently siding with a foreign state propaganda, islamic radical, and latin gangs and cartels? with direct access to you and your team? >> president trump: it amazes me when i read the things i re read. it amazes me when i read "the wall street journal," which is always so negative, it amazes me when i read "the new york times," i barely read it. we don't distribute it in the white house anymore. same thing with "the washington post." because, see, i know the truth. people don't know what it is. they use different slogans and different terms for me every week. you see me, there's no chaos. i'm the one telling everybody to be calm. there is no chaos in the white house, we have unbelievable professionals. i came up with the term, i hope i can move with the term. but it is fake news.

it's more than fake news, it's corrupt news. they write stories without calling anybody. they write a story today. i have a couple of stories where -- they never call me. ever, that i know of. at least nobody tells me. they read a story with the mic without even asking my opinion on anything. it's totally fake. there's a story in "the wall street journal" today about how we've done. we've done a phenomenal job on this. the governors, even gavin newsom, who i'm usually fighting with over the fires, that i think he should do a different kind of a job in the forests and lots of things, we argue a lot. but gavin newsom has been very generous. andrew cuomo has been really very generous. the phony story in "the wall street journal," or "the washington post" is going wild lately. i don't know what happened to them. we don't call them back or whatever.

but "the washington post," these are very dishonest media sources. they are dishonest. someday, hopefully in five years, i won't be here. that'll be fine. i will have done, i think, a great job. i don't think anyone has done as much in three and a half years as i've done. and the administration. this demonstration is done a great job. the press is very dishonest. >> reporter: and siding with state propaganda -- >> president trump: i think they do. they are siding with china. they are doing things they shouldn't be doing. china is the least of it. why they are doing this, you have to ask them. if we had on this media, our country would be an even greater place preladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. we are very excited about specifically what we talk about

with the chloroquine. i think it could be something very incredible. he could totally depress the times we had mentioned. excuse me, excuse me. it could totally depress any time you're talking. if it works. there are a lot of reasons i have to believe -- again, dr. hahn's expert -- but a lot of reasons i would have to think that it could have a very positive effect or a "positive" effect. maybe not very, but maybe positive. i think to me it's very exciting. the beauty is -- i think i can say this, steve -- the beauty is these drugs have been out there. so the danger part of the drugs, especially chloroquine, it's been out there for years. so we know it's something that can be taken safely. so it's very important. go ahead. >> reporter: dr. hahn, could you talk about the process by which folks are going to be able

to actually use these medicines? how quickly do you think they'll be able to use them? and if you could update us on the vaccine. i know its fast track. speak of the president has asked us to expedite this parade what you want to assure you, because of the questions that were asked, who want to make sure this is done well and write for the american people. the president's right, with an off-the-shelf drug we do have a lot of information about the side effects of the drug. that really helps in terms of expediting. i want to show you that we are working as quickly as we can. i don't to speculate about a timeline at this point. with respect to vaccines, that's in phase one trial, as i mentioned. we are expecting that to proceed moving forward. we're working with a number of different companies about vaccine develop meant. >> reporter: is a possible phase to turn and face 3 could be fast-track, that we might see a vaccine before that year that you said it could potentially be? >> this is a terrific question. we are really trying hard at fda to partner with great industry,

great academic partners to do exactly that. no promises can be made, but one thing that we are doing is really working hard to fast-track as much as possible. >> reporter: dr. hahn, on -- >> president trump: we will have other times to meet. we will meet hopefully not for very long. would like to see this get cleared up. to me, this was a very important conference. i really think there is great potential here. a lot of people are going to be trying it soon, like, literally very soon. literally in a matter of days if not sooner in some cases. it's already being experimented with, and there's been some very good results. we will see what happens. if we can be even partially right, maybe we will be fully right, but even partially right on it, this whole subject becomes a much more pleasant subject. so thank you all, and we are going over to fema now. i don't know who's going, but we are going to fema. we will be discussing with the governors and lots of other

people. i think that's enough, thank y thank you. >> you have just heard from the coronavirus task force. the president they are talking about some therapeutic drugs that will be released very soon, able to be used by the public, as they have sped up some of the regulation that is usually in pace on those fronts. please stay tuned to the fox news channel. this is the fox nation. thank you for turning in for continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. i'm melissa francis in new york. our coverage now continues on the fox news channel. president trump touting the work of the fda for bringing vaccines and therapies to the market, in "record time," as the nation sees an explosion of coronavirus cases from coast-to-coast. a shocking 455% increase in the past week alone. let's bring in our "outnumbered" panel. of course, we want to mention -- i want to bring in dr. saphier.

one of the reasons we see those numbers go up so dramatically as there is so much more testing, that there are more cases out there before then we knew. that's one of the factors. doctor, what is your reaction? >> dr. saphier: you know, we've been saying this all along. we start to ramp up our testing, we will see higher numbers. it's important to remember that the united states and italy, both had their first case around the same time. because of our initial efforts to halt travel from certain areas into the united states, he was able to slow our community spread. we are a couple weeks out since our first community spread. now all of a sudden we see significant a more testing. so we will have significant a more cases. this is a crucial time right now. we can go either way. we can either go to where china and south korea have, where we start seeing an equilibrium and possibly a decrease in cases over the next 4-6 weeks, we can go italy was. italy, there's a little bit of good news coming out of the epicenter of italy in the

northern area, the lombardi region. they are actually starting to see a slow down of their new cases. unfortunately, and more so than italy, there is less infrastructure. similar to what we are seeing in a spring breakers around here, people are not necessarily following the social distance measures. >> melissa: brian, let me ask you. one of the big points in the news conference was about the therapeutics. all of us have been interviewing folks on the therapeutics that are out there, that are being developed. chloroquine is one that a lot of people are talking about. the president was making the point that these are going to be available for people who want to try them, because in the past -- i'm looking for the specific term -- in the past -- compassionate use, that's what it is. they weren't allowing people until they been fully tested, but they say if you are already sick and you want to take the chance, you can be part of the trials as we make sure that these things might work. what's your take? >> brian: number one, i just know one thing. when it comes to therapeutics,

it'll be very hard to pronounce, but hopefully the payoff will be great. hydroxychloroquine -- >> dr. saphier: hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, remdesivir. come on, brian, you can do this! >> brian: i apologize. i almost went to med school but then i started doing radio. [laughter] this is the most encouraging thing. vaccines would be 15 months. if you get a therapeutic that can start putting people back on their feet, when they get tested there is a positive, you get this right away. it could be mass-produced because it's over the counter right now. when you have somebody interacting with the fda, while not giving up the fda's reputation along the way, that's what's going to turn around the market, the economy, and the world. >> melissa: that's huge. >> harris: one of the things that i caught the president really getting asked so many questions about, something he tried to spend the most time on, was that the defense production act -- at the very beginning of that news conference. i still have questions,

dr. saphier, about what is needed behind the scenes. because we continue to hear medical professionals, and their health failing. expeditiously, because they are on the front lines. when they get sick they get really sick. we don't have enough of what we need. what is your take on what the president said today, and what is needed at this point? >> dr. saphier: harris, this is of dire importance right now. we are seeing it italy is a large amount of health care workers not having the personal protective equipment, which is why there are so many infected. we saw that in china, as well. the president is being proactive, he is anticipating that we will run out of these at some point. he's absolutely right. by letting certain funding, through the emergency act, the stafford act, and now the defense protection act, he is temping up infection of this. right now we have enough. but the numbers are going up, we know they're going to. they are going to continue to go up for the next several weeks. so we have to prepare. hospitals are already coming up with their own plans on how they're going to divvy that out.

what we can do to make them last as long as we can until the reinforcements come. but it sounds like they are coming. >> melissa: carley, some of those number as we were hearing, he was saying that for 3m that they went up to full production in january. that they made 35 million mass in january and those will be directly sold to hospitals. so they will get them for people by them on amazon, basically. and saying that full capacity for some place like 3m is 420 million masks per year. i know he also talked to the automakers come of all people, saying they are shutting down production because they don't expect to sell a lot of calls right now. and they said they can switch over to making ventilators. as a business person, that was surprising to me, that you can make that kind of switch. but it does sound like they are working for private industry to try and relate step up production. >> carley: that's really been the ticket here. we also heard about cruise ships possibly being able to house patients in some sort of

capacity. i think that the strongest we saw the president in the press conference was when he answered that question that he constantly gets asked, why have things been so slow? and he said, "it's really because we were working on an old system." nobody was ready for a pandemic of this level, and now he is working on a different system. and hopefully we can ramp things up. but the best thing he's done, the best thing the administration has done, is really work on a bipartisan level. we hear even ilhan omar complement him. we see president trump complement and andrew cuomo. so i think that gives the american people the sense that if everybody is agreeing, that we can tackle this. it will take a lot. we understand what he's excited and happy about this press conference. there's a lot of interesting nuggets on a medical and innovation standpoint, as well. >> melissa: brian, i think that's one of the things that has been so missed in the media. maybe it's because people have been fighting with each other. maybe you are distracted by the

need for the masks, and the ventilators, which is obviously huge. but it seems like the answer to this is in the therapeutics. these different methods, especially because if you're already sick you are willing to take more of a risk and be part of the trial and see if this is going to work. because you really need help. and a vaccine takes so long and addresses people who don't have it. we really need help for people who have it, right? >> brian: yes, and we need the hope for people who do get it. that is not a death sentence. treaty directly. at the same time, in a parallel past, you're working on a vaccine. that's the way to solve the problem. you would know this better because you have a great business background, but this is the first time i can remember an economic crisis that had really nothing to do with the economy. you have this great team in the locker room who trained all summer and were ready to play their first game, and they locked the door. to me, the therapeutics, they unlock the door and get them in

the game. america was roaring, and they voluntarily have brought ourselves to her knees. i just hope that this is the only way to do this, and that is essentially to hide. we will hide from each other and from the virus until it goes away. it's almost everything that america has been told not to. when in crisis, face it and take it on. when in crisis, run and stay away. it's everything we are not used to doing. >> melissa: is really true. we were talking about the economy and even the market. we watched it throughout this hour. at one point, when this president was speaking, he turned negative. he came back as they talked about more of the therapeutics d more of the manufacturing of those masks and the like, and i you can see the dow was up triple digits about 274 points there. it's moving around. but, dr. saphier, brian hit on it. there are the right folks there to unleash the economy. they know how to respond, how to help people. you can't really improve the

economy until we get past the sickness. that has to go first. where do you think we are if we get the therapeutics out there? everybody keeps asking, are we there yet, are we there yet? no one knows, but where do you think we are now? >> to be honest, we will see more cases coming. we know that's going to happen. we have a lot of help right now, we have multiple antivirals and other medications that are showing some promise. we do have to be wary that some of this anecdotal success sometimes doesn't pan out for long-term outcomes. however, we are hitting this from my multipronged approach. you have treatments coming which would absolutely be helpful. we have a possible vaccine that could be out within a year. for the meanwhile, we have to continue this strict social distancing to be careful not to overwhelm our system. if we really, really bunker down and deal with this right now, we will be able to see these treatments take effect. and we will be able to get back to normal life. but right now in this short term

we have to follow all the recommendations. >> melissa: carley, i will give you one of the last words here. people are hunkering down, trying to connect on social media. we are looking a lot at the spring breakers weren't doing that. so much has been made of that. what is your overall take on how people are doing? are the in seclusion and we are just looking at a few unwise actors? >> carley: one of the biggest things we learned today, this is an ever evolving situation. we are constantly getting more and more information out of it. that 20% of the hospitalized patients, and 12% of the intensive care patients, are between 20 and 44. a majority of those people are millennials. yesterday we were walking around thinking that this really only affects 65 and older. so any young people who are listening to this right now, it's not just about your parents or your grandparents. it's also about you, which i think it's critical information. also critical was that young people should donate blood. you don't really think about this as something you should

donate blood for, but i thought that was very interesting that it came out in this press conference as well. >> melissa: thanks to all of you for joining us. thanks for the rest of the virtual account for this hour. we'll be back here at noon tomorrow here's harris ♪ >> harris: this is "coronavirus pandemic: questions answered." i'm harris faulkner. the number of covid-19 cases in the u.s. surged overnight, in part because of the more testing we are doing right now. now more than 10,000 confirmed cases, with the majority clustered in new york, washington, and california. at least 154 americans have died due to the virus. a short time ago, we showed you president trump speaking about the efforts to cut through the bureaucracy and ramp up the speed of treatment. here he is. >> and i've directed the fda to eliminate outdated rules and bureaucracy.