because oil prices went up. the president intervening in getting in the middle of the saudi-russia riffed to get things under control. and prices jumped a lot. here comes "the five." ♪ >> juan: hello, everyone. i am juan williams, along with jesse watters, dana perino, greg gutfeld, and katie pablo. it is 5:00 in new york city, and this is to be 25. the white house coronavirus task for its set for another briefing with the top health experts. as the united states faces its most devastating day in the fight against covid-19. more than 1,000 people in the united states killed by the virus in just when he four hours. cases here and now topping 230,000, and the death tolls are

passing 5600. meanwhile, the economy is being battered by the record 6.6 million americans filing unemployment claims this past week. 10 million americans have asked for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks. and food banks across the country, they are struggling amidst the surge of people in need as a result of the coronavirus crisis. in washington, d.c., speaker of the house nancy pelosi creating a house committee to oversee the trump administration covid-19 response. that committee will be able to subpoena the white house for records. the democrats saying now is the time to advance some of their priorities. watch this. >> we want to include some infrastructure that directly relates to the coronavirus crisis. for example, clean water. >> we will do infrastructure. we need it big, we need a bold, and we need it futuristic, which

means clean. >> what is the opportunity to your question? reimagining a more progressive era as it relates to capitalism. we see this as an opportunity to reshape the way we do business. and how we govern. >> juan: jesse, i wanted to start with you and just say, these numbers. the unemployment numbers, you know, they are staggering. senator rubio of florida says, in fact, he thinks the numbers are even higher. because the phone lines are jammed as people are trying to get in there. so jesse, how do you understand these numbers? it seems almost unbelievable. >> jesse: we have never seen anything like it. americans are getting slaughtered. businesses are being shuttered. we are on the precipice of a recession or another depression. there is no way to sugarcoat this thing. and nothing the federal government can do is going to be good enough. this is going to be a dark and painful chapter in the history

books. there is a lot of sacrifices that are being made by all americans, we are sacrificing for ourselves, but also for other people. because in this country every life is valuable. we are hurting tens of millions of people to save tens of thousands of lives. it is sad, but also inspiring. and it is something the american people should be proud of. there is still a lot of work to do. the checks from the treasury need to get out a lot faster. trump will get murdered if they take a long time to get out. the other things with the small businesses, they need to get out the door a lot faster. and there will be a huge price to pay if they are slowed up. america, i have said this in a joking way, you have to social distance. one to save lives, but to save football season. it's not necessarily a joke, but it is kind of a joke. we have to have something to look forward to. and right now americans are getting a little stir crazy. nancy is now appointing people

to oversee the money going out there from the treasury, that's fine. that's the way things are. i respect the oversight. do i think that the democrats are going to abuse their power and try to knife trump in the rib cage to hurt him politically? of course i do. but if they try to destroy capitalism and get their little tentacles into everything by exploiting this tragedy, the american people are watching. they have nothing else to do except watch. this is under the bright lights of everything. they can't get away with stuff in the shadows anymore. if they try to slip in these little goodies, or try a little vote fraud shenanigans like they have been trying to do, they are going to get called out. and it will not be pretty. >> juan: so, greg, what do you think the federal government's response it should be? this is something now that looks like it will be bigger than what we faced in '08 with the

recession, even after 9/11. so what do you think the federal government should be doing? maybe even if you had a thought on what local government should be doing with the high employment -- unemployment numbers. >> greg: before that it was 3.5%. you had about 5.7 million people, then you add 10 million on top of that and you get 9.6% unemployment. if so imagine the economy had sucked. if it was not 3.5%, but if it was at 10% like it was in october 2009, we would be a disaster. and we aren't quite there yet, because luckily, this economy is like a squirrel that buried a lot of knots, and now we are going to dig up those knots. they will come in handy for the next month. i want to maintain a sense of optimism that we are in pretty good, we are in good spirits, and we are not falling apart, because we came from a strong

place. i also think it is a really good idea if you want to talk about what government can do is we joke about that mysterious infrastructure bill. right now it is smart. president trump saw the idea. maybe he saw it on twitter. who knows? that is th the american mind the days. the idea of an infrastructure bill where you take the unemployed and you employ them. and where do you employ them? outside. remember, this illness, a lot of experts say it is an indoor disease, where people are living on top of each other, you are seeing the highest numbers of infections. the infrastructure means that thousands of outdoor jobs can be created for people so that they can work for a living, do something, but not be next to something. lastly, i want to congratulate "the five." they deserve some credit. san francisco ban reusable bags. i think they must have seen that segment on "the five" when we showed how reusable bags can spread disease, because people

don't clean them efficiently enough, and during the pandemic, the reusable bags can be dangerous. i think it is a feather in our cap that we probably saved some lives and the city by the bay, to quote journey. >> juan: i know, it is one of your favorites. dana, i wanted to ask you about what is going on with the food banks? because right now they are overwhelmed from pennsylvania to california, i just was reading about one outside of disney, and you know, disney has pledged to pay employees, but the hotels, the restaurants, even stores right now macy's, kohl's, and others are closing and not paying people. what to do with the food banks? how do you interpret the fact that these institutions are under such pressure? >> dana: i'm glad you asked, there is a woman who was on "the daily briefing," her name is

betty thomas. she runs a food bank in new orleans. she was saying how they open up at 11:00 a.m. and right now they have a 3-mile long car or line of people that starts at 6:30 in the morning for people to arrive. i asked her what is your greatest need? do you need food or money or people and volunteers? she said they have enough food. she said they really need people to try to get the food safely to people who are asking for it. she also said that most of the people that are in those lines are first-time recipients of food bank aid. and one of the things i think it's really important to remind people is that this is not welfare. the government has basically, as i heard ben shapiro said, rammed an f-150 into your house, and now the government has to pay you for the damages. it is not a handout. it is something that you should think about is you are being owed.

if you have the capability to help and donate to a food bank, whether it be money or time, they might have to call out the national guard to get some help. >> juan: thanks, dana. katie, this is a tough one for you, but i saw a poll today that the kaiser foundation said 45% of americans are having trouble and feeling anxious, even depressed, not sleeping well. and i just thought, what is katie pavlik doing right now to keep her spirits up? >> katie: i am petting my dog, hanging out with my husband, going for walks when we can appear to still working and try to provide information to people who are watching us every day when we are on "the five." that's what i've been doing, juan, but to the point of people feeling like they are getting anxious if they weren't already, the choices right now feel like a horrible virus that can be

lethal, or destitution due to poverty that the government is forcing on tens of millions of americans. the choice right now is that they have to go into destitution by force from the government. that is a very difficult thing to accept. people don't want to be standing in line for food banks at 6:00 in the morning. they want to be at work. business owners want to be able to pay their employees. the issue is balancing the public health crisis with the economy. aei came out with a pretty significant plan that is 20 pages long about how to do that and steps that is written by doctors and people with an economic background and getting people to that point will be very important. not just for the issue of stopping the spread, which is the number one priority right now, but avoiding this massive public health crisis that we may have as a result of millions of people losing their jobs overnight and feeling like they are trapped in a corner quite literally and not able to provide for themselves. when just a week ago, two weeks

ago they were capable of being independent individuals in america making a difference for their own lives. now they have to rely on someone else to do it for them. that's not a good feeling to have. >> dana: we are still waiting for the coronavirus task force to step up to the podium. coming up, the latest on the cruise ship with covid-19 passengers docking in florida. ♪ i don't add up the years. and i don't count the wrinkles. but what i do count on is boost high protein. and now, introducing new boost women... with key nutrients to help support thyroid, bone, hair and skin health. all with great taste. new, boost women. designed just for you. new, boost women. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car

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>> jesse: fox news alert. a live look now at the cruise ship docking in florida. corona virus outbreak killing two people on board. 26 passengers will have to have to stay quarantined for 14 days.

florida governor ron desantis was opposed to letting the ship docked, but has changed his mind. phil keating reporting from the everglades in fort lauderdale, phil. >> jesse, for about 1250 passengers who began march 7th, what they thought was a seeming two weeks vacation which ended up being stuck out at sea with more than a dozen countries denying them access or help. well, they are finally back ashore and it is happening here at port everglades in fort lauderdale, as the sister ship which is now moving and getting ready to tie up, as it came in minutes ago, but pretty much every balcony full of passengers waving and whistling and so excited to have this journey which ended up being a cruise from hell finally come to an end. most of the sick people are on the ship on the left that came in about an hour ago.

there some ambulances pulling up to the side of the ship. the ten critical people will be taken to a hospital and admitted. there are 45 people on that ship with mild illnesses and the plan is that they will stay on the ship for several days until they improve enough, meeting cdc health standards where they can then get off the ship. the first 1200 people that do get off the ships will be the healthy people. the people that have passed their screenings this afternoon on the ships. there are medical staffs on board both ships including doctors. they have been getting treated. the sick ones. it could take a while. but it will go into the night. all of the passengers were told to pack their bags last night, and they were also told to carry two days worth of clothes in their carry-ons. the plan is that the healthy passengers get off wearing masks, go right into decontaminated shuttle buses and

go directly to the airport, to the tarmac to hop aboard planes that will take them to the various countries where they live or the various cities. so all of these people can finally get home. remember, it has been hell of and experience the last 12 days. they were prisoners in their cabin. they were not allowed to leave. all of the food and drinks would be delivered to the door. they would open the door, slide it in. always keeping difference from the crew. though a joyous appearance as they will finally be able to make their way home. >> jesse: thank you, phil. at any moment, president trump and the coronavirus task force will give us an update on the pandemic. as a virus gets deadlier, more disruptions to the daily lives could be on the way. the president contemplating potential domestic travel restrictions from the virus hot spots. listen. >> i am looking at hot spots. i am looking at where flights are going into hot spots. to some of those flights i did

not like from the beginning, but closing up every single flight on every single airline is a very, very, very rough decision. but we are thinking about hot spots. we go from spot to spot, hot. and we will let you know fairly soon. >> andrew cuomo is warning that americans could be living with the consequences of the virus for a very long time. >> we are never going to be the same again. we are not going to forget what happened here. the fear that we have, the anxiety that we have, that is just not going to go away. when we get back to normal, i don't think we get back to normal. i think we get back or we get it to a new normal. >> jesse: president greg gutfeld, what would you do in the situation? would you shut down all flights in and out of new york city?

>> greg: probably yeah, and permanently. [laughter] i was kind of grimacing as governor cuomo was talking. i don't need opinions about how we are going to live in the future. i want to know when is there going to be an antibody test so that we can figure out who has got it. who can go back to work, who needs to be quarantined. we need to know what the holdup is on the masks and ventilators. we are always told how many things we have, but never the context of how many do we need. so we need to know what the holdup is on this equipment. where is everything? we need to know about the drug treatment. do we have enough of the drug? when should we be giving the drug out? these are real questions i would like to know. it is interesting in times of crisis that adult thinking comes into play. and adult thinking is reflected in restrictions pretty were not supposed to do that. you are supposed to close the

borders. you are supposed to have -- you know, you're supposed to not have sanctuary cities. all of those things are earnest and almost childlike. all of that goes out the window when you have a crisis. you have to think the hard thoughts that governors and presidents have to think about. and it's amazing how they almost think alike. >> jesse: yes, thinking like adults. president juan williams. >> greg: that's a nightmare. >> jesse: let's process that, if that happens, we are doomed. >> juan: that's a good one. if you can raise the money, i want to get into those deep pockets with jesse and dana and greg. >> jesse: they are not deep anymore, juan. >> juan: you guys can give. the only thought that i had about this is that it is feasible. because how do you enforce such a law? if somebody wants the drive, no

more airplanes, no more buses, and they get on the car, somebody is mom is sick in the hot spot, how do you prevent that person from going to the side of an ailing relative? i don't know. and you have to keep in mind, sometimes as we have learned from watching the coronavirus -- >> jesse: juan, we are going to the white house right now, from the white house briefing the country. >> president trump: it is vital that every american follows the guidelines over 30 days to slow the spread. the sacrifices we make over the next four weeks will have countless american lives saved. we are going to save a lot of american lives. we are in control of our own fate. maintaining social distance, practicing vigorous hygiene and staying at home are your most effective ways to win the war and escape danger. while you are fighting this battle from home, we are working

with the best scientists, doctors, and researchers anywhere in the world. we are racing to develop new ways to protect against the virus, as well as therapies, treatments, and ultimately a vaccine. we are making a lot of progress. medically a lot of progress. at the same time, we are also racing to get relief to american workers and small businesses, as you know. i want to remind small business owners across america, that the paycheck protection program is launching tomorrow. nearly $350 billion in loans will be available to small businesses including sole proprietors. these loans are up to 100% forgivable as long as employers keep paying their workers. you have to take care of your workers. furthermore, we want social security beneficiaries to know that if they are typically not required to file a tax return, they don't have to file one in order to receive the

direct cash payments that will be distributed to american citizens. the treasury will deposit the money directly into the bank accounts. and don't forget, i will always protect your social security, your medicare, and your medicaid. we are protecting social security, medicare and medicaid. and i always will. i would like now to invite jovita carranza, who is doing a fantastic job. she will be very busy in the next little while, and secretary steve mnuchin to say a little bit about these vital initiatives, and then we will get on to the act of the virus itself. and please, i will invite you both. >> thank you. thank you, mr. president. and mr. vice president, secretary mnuchin, ivanka trump, and all who i have been working closely with in this effort.

a small business is the backbone of the american economy. and the president has put the nations 30 million small businesses front and center in the response effort. and we are working hard to get the money them quickly. this is an unprecedented effort by this administration to support small businesses. and we know that there will be challenges in the process. secretary mnuchin and i are working in tandem to ensure that feedback from our partners is being heard and implemented. the private and public sector must work closely together to ensure that small businesses and their workers across the country are put first. the administration believes wholeheartedly that if you are a small business, you are a critical part of the economic fabric of this country. and your viability is critical to the economic well-being of your employees. at sba, we are working around the clock to support small

businesses ensuring that we are prioritizing emergency capitals. for small businesses that are suffering economic harm as a result of this unprecedented situation. this relief will help stabilize the small business sector by providing businesses with the financial resources they need to keep their workers employed, and keep up with their day-to-day operating expenses. today i want to ensure that small businesses all over the country know about the paycheck protection program, and how they can benefit from this. simply put, the paycheck protection program is to help keep employees on payroll and small businesses open. sba will forgive the portion of the loan that is used towards job retention and certain other expenses. we are working closely with lenders so that businesses can go directly to their local lenders. paycheck protection program is

in addition to substantial work that the sba has and will continue to do to help small businesses, including providing advances on sba disaster loans, and forgiving existing sba payments over the next six months. additional details on these radically important programs can be found at sba.gov, and we will be updating them regularly. our hearts go out to those affected by this terrible virus. our communities around the country are stepping up and we will get through this together. at sba, we know that every phone call, email, or application submitted as a small business owner, has there employees and communities they support on the other side. our most important objective is to allow small businesses to keep their employees on board and keep their business is through this unprecedented disruption. i want to reiterate the

importance of patience in this process as we work together to ensure that businesses are able to access his credit. we will work around the clock as we have done with her federal and private sector partners expanding capacity and working to make our systems as robust as possible to meet the needs. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you, mr. president. thank you, mr. vice president. thank you to jovita. mr. president, you have made clear that we need to execute. we need to get money to small business and american workers. that's what we are doing. the sba treasury committed to get the program up tomorrow. and when jovita says people are working round-the-clock, they literally, we had both teams working until 4:00 in the morning, and start working again today. we heard feedback from lenders, community banks, regional banks, and we spent the last 24 hours

making the system even easier. so this will be up and running tomorrow. i encourage all small businesses that have 500 or fewer people to contact your lenders or the sdi cd institution will do that. any credit union, sda lenders and fintech lenders. he will get the money the same day. you use this to pay your workers. please bring your workers back to work if you have let them go. you have eight weeks plus overhead. this is a very important progr program. i am pleased to announce we will raise the interest rate on the loans. they are paid for as part of the program prior to the bar does not have to pay this to 1%. we announce that it will be 50 basis points. we have heard from some smaller community banks that there deposit costs, even with the government borrowing at three or four basis points, this is a 90 day loan to make it attractive for community banks.

we have agreed to raise the interest rate. i encourage everyone to take out the paycheck protection program. i am also pleased to report that the economic impact payments, i have previously said that it will take three weeks, i am pleased to report within two weeks, the first payments will be direct deposited into taxpayers accounts. and as the president said, last night, the president authorized me to say that anybody that has social security recipients won't need to file a new tax return, and will have that. if we don't have your direct deposit information, we will be putting up a web portal so that you can put that up. it is a very large priority. the president has made clear that we want to get this money quickly into your hands. i am also pleased to report that we work closely with the federal reserve. we are in the process of designing a new facility that we call the main street lending facility. we are also looking at facilities for state governments as well. i am also pleased to report the

employee retention credit is up and running. the first $10,000 of wages. you get a 50% credit. that is $5,000 per person. for everyone who has kept someone, you can immediately get that money. you can deduct it from what you owe the irs immediately. if you don't owe us you will get running. i am pleased to report that we have the program up and running and are taking applications from the airlines, the cargo companies, and from national security companies. thank you very much, mr. president. >> president trump: thank you, steve. for jovita or steve, any questions? >> reporter: the chief executive sent a letter that they do not have the guidance from the sba and the treasury department to except loan applications. the need is clearly enormous. one major bank says they are not fully empower you to be able to help there. >> i spoke to the ceos

yesterday. i had a conference call, we had very good input from them on what they needed. people were working until 4:00. i believe we just put up the federal register with the new guidelines. four lenders. i have been assured that the banks will be in the process starting tomorrow. again, it will take a little bit of time. but we committed that this will be available tomorrow. and i encourage all companies to go to sba.gov, go to treasury.gov, you will see it immediately. >> there is a number saying that they were on the conference call, and that there is a tremendous power struggle going on between the treasury and sba. and it is over process and forms that they tell me. that lenders are opting out because they can't make enough money to even service the loan. are you going to make sure the small business owners get the capital they need to survive right now? >> first of all, i can ensure that jovita is here, she worked with me as the treasurer, there

is no power struggle. we worked together until 4:00 in the morning. started working at 7:00 again. we have made the form simpler. i can assure you at five points, i've told the bankers that they should take all of the traders and put them in the branches. there will never be an opportunity to earn five points on a 90 day government guaranteed loan. >> reporter: the checks to direct deposit, irs saying it takes 4-5 months, you are saying two weeks. >> i don't know where you're hearing these things. i told you this would be three weeks. i am now committing to two weeks. we are delivering on our commitments. the irs that i oversee within two weeks, the money will be in people's accounts. >> reporter: it is not about the first to check, but those will go up pretty quickly, the question is folks who do not have direct deposit, they were released by the committee saying that that process could take up to five weeks. that takes you to made august.

>> again, let me just say again, when obama sent out these checks it took months and months and months. i am assuring the american public, they need the money now. what we are going to do again if we have your information, you will get it within two weeks. social security, you will get it very quickly after that. if we don't have your information, you will have a simple web portal where you will upload it. if you don't have that, we will send you the checks in the mail. >> reporter: how many checks per week? >> we can process checks, in this environment we don't want checks, we want money directly into their account. >> reporter: this is for you and the administrator, the arab and antidotal reports that business people are trying to get access to the online site to submit the application, it has been crushing. i've heard of webinars going off-line because they are too many people on them. how are you going to be ready tomorrow to get to these loans

out? >> we brought in a lot of external resources at sba and us to make sure there is additional capacity. we heard a lot of good feedback yesterday to simplify the process. it is going to be up and running. let me just be clear, that does not mean that everybody will get their loan tomorrow. but the system will be up and running. we encourage people over the next week, sign up. right now you can go on the web and see what information you need. very simple process. >> reporter: on a separate subject, have you been in touch with leader mcconnell and nancy pelosi about their differences -- differences of a stimulus package? >> i've spoken to the leader and to the speaker. i've spoken to the president constantly. when the president is ready and thinks we should do the next stage, the president has talked about the issue of infrastructure since the campaign. you know that is a big priority for him. and if we run out of money on

the small business program, we will be right away to congress to get it increased. >> reporter: the unemployment number today does it increase the urgency? >> let me just say that we are going through something that we have never done before, where the government has shut down big parts of the economy because of health reasons. our economy was in great shape. our companies were in great shape. there are three ways that americans are going to be protected. for small business, they will get paid to their business through this program. direct deposit. there is an enhanced unemployment. we realize, unfortunately, there are a lot of companies because they are not in business over a short period of time, again, we are working on enhanced unemployment. and as soon as the medical professionals and the president give the all-clear, we are going to have a ton of liquidity. we have about $6 trillion that has never been done between us and the fed to put into the economy to support american

workers and american business. >> reporter: in addition to the job numbers today, before the social distancing guidelines were extended for another month, so what additional relief are you going to give to americans as they stay out of work for all these extra weeks? what are you waiting for? >> in designing this program, we thought that we had liquidity for about ten weeks. and that's what we have design designed. again, i think the president has been clear. if we need to go back to congress to support the american economy and american workers, we will be doing that. >> reporter: secretary mnuchi secretary mnuchin, what about nancy pelosi's direct committee of the recovery fund, she says that she wants to make sure that it is run widely and efficiently, do you think that that liquidity is necessary? >> i don't. both parties wanted us to have

oversight. wanted us to have transparency. we have full transparency. we have an oversight committee that the speaker gets to pick someone, the leader gets to pick someone. i believe there are five people on it. again, that committee will review the money that we are spending. and again, we support full transparency. taxpayers understand how we will support the economy and jobs. >> reporter: senator murkowski has asked you about providing loans to energy companies, what are your thoughts on that? >> thank you, and let me clarify. i have very limited ability to do direct loans out of the treasury. i can do it for passenger airlines, cargo airlines, and national security companies. outside of that, we work with the federal reserve to create broad-based lending facilities, which we will do. our expectation is the energy

companies like all of our other companies will be able to participate and broad-based facilities. whether it is the corporate facility or the main street facility. but not direct lending out of the treasury. >> reporter: the question for clarity about the direct payment. for those folks who do not have bank accounts, direct deposit information on file with the irs, how long would they have to wait for their check? >> for people who do not have direct deposit, there will be an easy way to put it up. we can on a rolling basis within a couple of days when they give it to us, we will send the money out. we realize that there are people who are under-banked. we are working with all the digital company is, debit cards. we are working with all of them to make sure that we have a process that every american gets their money quickly. this money does know people any good if it shows up in four months. >> reporter: so it will be weeks not months. >> quickly as a matter of weeks and not months. >> reporter: mr. secretary,

one area where you can make direct loans to the airlines, how do you expect the treasury department and the federal government will be involved in overseeing the operations of airlines as it pertains to which routes get cut back? how much they operate? what they do about their employees and the like? >> they are under strict requirements built into the bill. this was a bipartisan requirement. one, anything we do with the airlines, they have to maintain substantially. all of their employees. anyone we -- money we provide tm will go to their employees. we work with the secretary of transportation. there are requirements to maintain certain routes. we have a very clear process. we have hired three outside advisors, financial advisors and three law forms will be releasing that information shortly. i want to thank them. they are all working for basically very, very little money. they could not work for free. so they are working for what they would sign up to work for

charitable organizations. again, no big fees to bankers. we have a great team of three lawyers and three financial advisors who will assist us. >> reporter: to follow up on that, will you give us a list of those people who are advising you when you release the information? >> of course we will. i will give them the names as well as the contracts. >> reporter: can you give me the names right now. >> again, i am happy to announce that we have the pgt partners that are going to do the passenger airlines. melissa and company is going to do the cargo and contractors, and perella weinberg will handle national security. three law firms that we will announce that will work in the sectors. and let me just speak clear. we need to get this done quickly. the airlines need money. we will work with the department of transportation and get this done quickly. we have already received contracts from a lot of the people. again, there is guidance on the

web. full transparency. we have asked for applications. >> secretary, on the airline issue, speaker pelosi and others have said that the government taking stakes in those airlines should not be a condition for the federal government to provide payroll, what is your response? >> i spoke to the speaker last night about that. this was something that was highly negotiated between the republicans and the democrats. to the president personally involved in this. he was on the phone with us many times. mitch mcconnell, mark meadows, senators on both sides. there is a specific line in the bill that says that the secretary, meaning me will determine proper compensation. this is not a bailout for the airlines, and i will be working once we get our advice from our financial advisors, we get the applications from the airlines and i will be working with the president, and we will make sure that we strike the right balance, not a bailout.

taxpayers get compensated. but the airlines our national security issues that we want to keep the airlines intact. the porta mack perhaps for the administrator if not for you as well, some small businesses, restaurant owners, for example are finding that laying off their employees so that they can start collecting unemployment is better both for them as business owners, and for their workers. what incentives do they have right now to keep their employees on the payroll if no one is coming into the restaurant? >> the incentive that you have, and we want american business to be kept in intact. these are loans that turn into grants. if you are a business owner and you are a restaurant, you can hire your people back and you get money for their medical. you keep them on the medical plan. you get money for your rent. you get money for your electricity. so you are motivated. we want you to have a business that you can reopen. quickly when it is appropriate. so it does not cost the business owners anything. when people talk about it.

i cannot imagine any american worker who had a job is offered to keep their job is not going to want to have it. and let me just be clear, we have also talked about the unemployment issue. you can only get unemployment if you don't have a job. so unemployment is intended for those people that are the midsize or larger businesses. and we are sympathetic that companies cannot afford. and for those people the enhanced unemployment will be a significant benefit. but we want to make sure. 50% of the american workforce is small businesses under 500 people. the president, the vice president, the administrator and i want to make sure that this part of the economy is ready and intact when we are ready to reopen. >> reporter: is there a area of small businesses that you are most concerned about, restaurants, hair salons, things like that? >> there are 30 million small

businesses that we are focused on. and we are working feverishly to make sure we can provide the available funds to them as quickly as possible. it is 30 million small businesses, and the other businesses are being dealt with with the ppp, the paycheck protection. we call it to the injury or economic injury disaster alone. and there was an advanced associated with that program as well. so to answer your question, we are concerned about all businesses. as the secretary indicated, we are looking at employees being ready. not lost in this process. we want businesses to stay intact, because they represent half the dep. so if we spend 1 trillion to support 10 trillion or 11 trillion, i think that is a significant investment. that's what we are focused on. >> reporter: -- >> i want to make one comment for explanation, because i want to make sure that everybody

understands this. if you are an independent contractor, a sole proprietor, you are eligible for this as well. that program will not be up and running until next week. but this is a very broad definition of small business. if you are an independent plumber, if you are an independent contractor, you are covered under this program. slightly more complicated. you have to come into your bank and give them more information. but starting next week, that part of the program will be up and running. also charities. charities as well. very important. the vice president and president make sure that we covered small charities in this. >> reporter: does it count for nonprofits? >> it does, even though there are some technical issues. but it does include faith organizations. this is under the ppp. the new sba program, they are covered. thank you, everybody. >> president trump: thank you, steve.

thank you. okay, so that begins right away. and they start handing out checks. a lot of people are going to have their businesses back up quickly, i hope. and we will see. it's complicated. big, small business is actually big business. so i think them both. and please, good. we have some great gentlemen, thank you very much. today my administration is issuing new guidelines to protect elderly americans who remain the most vulnerable. by now nursing homes should have suspended the entry of all medically unnecessary personnel. today we are further recommending that all nursing home facilities assign the same staff to care for the same group of residents to minimize any potential spread. and we are also urging facility

is to designate separate facility is for sick residents. this is a practice we will probably be recommending into the future long after the enemy is gone. this particular enemy is gone. we are making every effort to provide our great veterans. we take very good care of our veterans at my direction. will e any authority at his disposal to extend deadlines for benefits and to postpone debt collections. we are now conducting well over 100,000 coronavirus tests per day. over 100,000 tests a day. and these are accurate tests, and they are moving rapidly. which is more than any other country in the world, both in terms of the raw number and also on a per capita basis, the most. the fda has also authorized to the coronavirus antibody test developed by salix, a key that will help people who have

recovered and to understand their immune response and their immune system. moments ago i asked them to use all authority under the defense protection act to ensure that the domestic manufacturers the supplies they need to provide ventilators for patience with severe cases of co -- covid-19, you know what that is, right? a very famous term. covid-19. it will help general electric, medtronic, massachusetts med, royal phillips, and fire medical provide obstacles of the supply chain that threaten the rapid production of ventilators. we have over 100,000 being built right now or soon to be started. we anticipate issuing more orders under the defense production act in the very near future.

in addition to the one that are just signed against 3m for face masks. we assigned an element of the act against 3m. hopefully they will be able to do what they are supposed to do. just spoke to mary barra of general motors. she said that they are very soon going to be able to start production of the ventilators. they have a lot of ventilators they have committed to build. and they will be starting very, very quickly. fema continues to deliver resources to areas most affected by the virus, including new york. on top of the 3,000 beds we are already providing to the centers, the department of defense is adding another 4800 icu beds. governor cuomo has asked that the facility go, and it is a big beautiful facility, a be converted to a covid-19 hospital. we had not done that yet.

we had not thought in terms of doing that. but their use is the real demand for that. and we had meetings on it with the task force. we had meetings with the military. and i decided to say yes, i am going to do that. that i will be signing and agreeing to a "yes" answer. we will be doing that. and also, we will be staffing it so the federal government is doing a lot of things that was not anticipated that a do. this is a 2,500, and or 2,900 that can easily be set up hospital and center. and we are going to convert that to a covid-19 hospital. and this is going to be staffed by the military and by the federal government. and based on the fact that i agree to that, we had 200 facilities that were likewise

asking for it. and that would be in louisiana, and also in dallas. and we will be doing those. we spoke to the governor of louisiana. we spoke to the governor of texas, and we told him that they will be staffing the hospitals. again, above and beyond. but that's okay. we have to do that. in addition, the u.s. has asked new york to accept patients as a noncovid. fema has delivered 400 masks and respirators. think about that, 4 million. we are a secondary source. we have gotten for a million and 95 respirators, 1.8 million surgical masks. 450,000 face shields. 1.4 million gloves, and 4,400 ventilators just to the city and

to the state of new york. and some of them now are being sent, i spoke with both governor cuomo and mayor de blasio moments ago, and some are being sent to the city. all of america stands with the people of new york in this time of need. it is definitely a hot spot. we have other hot spots also. and we are taking them, taking care of them very, very strongly. very powerfully. we have the finest people in the world in those locations. and i think the federal government has not only acted early, but act acted quickly, e, people need this. doctors, nurses, first responders, and other health care providers who want to help new york in this critical time should visit website nyc.gov/helpnow. they need help now. they need people to help them. we have great facilities, and we

built some brand-new facilities. but we need help. we need help for professional people. so if you are in an area that is not so affected and you are a doctor or nurse, health care worker, please get to that website and we would really appreciate your help. new york city needs it. louisiana, by the way, needs it. michigan needs it. whatever you can do. those are very strong hot spots that need help. in recent weeks as the virus has spread and economic hardship has followed, we have seen americans unite with incredible selflessness and compassion. i want to remind everyone here in our nation's capital, especially in congress that this is not the time for politics. endless partisan investigations -- here we go again, have already done an extraordinary damage to our country in recent years. you see what happens. it is a witch hunt after witch hunt after witch hunt.

and in the end, the people doing the witch hunt have been losing. and they have been losing by a lot. and it is not any time for witch hunts. it's time to get the enemy defeated. conducting these partisan investigations in the middle of a pandemic is a really big waste of vital resources, time, attention, and we want to fight for american lives, not waste time and build up my poll numbers. because that's all they are doing. everybody knows it is ridiculo ridiculous. so we want to focus on the people of this country, even the people all over the world. we will be able to help them. because right now is an example, we are building so many ventilators. very hard to build, but we are building thousands, thousands of them. and a lot of them will be coming at a time where we will not need them as badly because it takes time. very complex and expensive. and we will be able to help outside of our country. we will be able to help. if that is something you cannot

easily produce. as citizens, we are linked together by the shared bonds of national love, loyalty, and affection. there is no earthly force more powerful than the patriotic pride that stirs in our hearts. that is so true. it's incredible, the job that everybody has been doing. they don't sleep. they don't go to bed. sometimes they get nothing. i said to somebody recently on the task force, how many hours of sleep have you gotten over the last couple of days? the answer was none. and one massachusetts neighborhood, citizens come out of their homes each night at 8:00 from their porches and they sing "god bless america." others have joined in down one street up to the next until their little town with a spirit of patriotism, reminding all americans that we are all in this together. we will fight together, and we will win together. we are going to win this. now, what i would like to do is i'm going to step out. we have a meeting on the

subject. and i'm going to step out just for a few moments. we will be right back. we will answer some questions. we have some very hardworking people who have done an incredible job, led by vice president mike pence, head of the task force. jared kushner is going to say a few words. and peter navarro, dr. birx, and myself. we will be right back. i will see you in a little while. i did take a test that just came out, this is from the white house physician. it just came out. i just took it this morning. and i took it. it took me literally a minute to take it, and it took me -- i guess it was 14 or 15 minutes, i went to work. i did not wait for it, but it took 14 minutes or something to come up with the conclusion. and it said the president tested negative for covid-19. so that is the second one. i think i took it out of curiosity to see how quickly it worked and fast it worked.

it is a lot easier. i've done them both. and the second one is much more pleasant, i can tell you that. much more pleasant. i will be back in a little while. and mike, please take over. thank you all very >> thank you, mr. president. in the white house coronavirus task force met today earlier in the days, the president convened all of the key elements of our supply chain team in the oval office for an update on the progress that we have been making, working literally around the clock to make sure that our health care workers, the people on the front lines have the personal protective equipment and also the ventilators to be able to meet this moment. and today, you're going to hear from the people who were literally working each and every day to make that happen. dr. deborah birx is also with

us. she will reflect in a few moments on the progress that we are making analyzing the data each and every day in county by county, state by state consulting with governors and local health officials. at the present moment, more than 1.3 million tests have been performed and as you all are aware, some 236,000 americans have tested positive for the coronavirus with now the losses over 5,000 americans and our hearts are with their families. beyond that, we have been focusing not just on ensuring that testing is occurring, but that supplies are flowing. the president just announced he made a decision today to deploy thousands of n95 masts directly to new york city's public hospitals and our team will speak about that in just a moment, and also the president took the unprecedented step to direct the department of defense

to use military health care personnel to operate all covid-19 facilities at the javits center in new york, at the convention center in new orleans, and the convention center in dallas. and we informed each of the governors of those states today that they request they were making those military medical personnel available to operate in all covid-19 facilities. but we would emphasize to people in that community who believe you've been impacted or have contracted the virus, contact your local health care provider. we anticipate in the new york area that your local health care provider will make the decision whether you are transferred to the javits center and in all cases, simply look to the guidance of your local governors about how best to receive the care that every american is entitled to have. beyond that, let me say th