got $10 million over the same program, what they are trying to avoid are instances like that were bigger players, some very, very big are getting money that should go to the small guys. that's what they are trying to do. we will see. here comes "the five." ♪ >> dana: hello, everyone, i am dana perino along with juan williams, jesse watters, greg gutfeld, and bret baier. it is 5:00 in new york city, and this is "the five." ♪ the white house coronavirus task force is getting ready for a briefing while a partisan fight plays out on capitol hill. the house voting now on a new stimulus bill that includes much needed relief for small businesses. republicans are pummeling nancy pelosi saying that she delayed the process for days causing unnecessary suffering. the g.o.p. also pinning last week's unemployment claims on the speaker after another 4 million americans lost their

jobs. take a look. >> to those 4.4 million americans that were laid off this week, congress owes you an apology. you put everything into your business to succeed, and government told them they had to shut down for the health of the nation. they made a sacrifice. but they got sacrificed for politics last week. >> dana: nancy pelosi says it is republicans who delayed the much needed money. >> mitch mcconnell likes to say that we delayed the bill, no, he delayed the bill. we are very pleased that he finally came around to the fact that we had to go forward with this. so he was the one wasting time. >> dana: all right, let's start with you, jesse. yesterday you said you are a nonpartisan guy. we will go to you for your take as to who is winning on the politics of this, because the republicans seem to me to figure out a way to really try to pin

something on nancy pelosi, but yet, she is blaming them. >> jesse: i don't mind that nancy squeezed mitch, i mind that it took her a week to do it. it does not take that long, but she drags it out. trying to steal trump's thunder and make democrats roll over at her parliamentary maneuvers. if she was a republican and try to posture up like this for a week during the pandemic, they would hunt her down like a dog. and he would see lower thirds on cable television that said, pelosi layoffs. but that's not what happen. here's how quickly she handled desperate to get mitch on the phone. and go, mitch, it's nancy. what we are going to do is this. i need a little bit more money for hospitals, testing, and small business loans, and we need it done soon. mitch says, hey, nance, we can't do this right now. time is of the essence. can we do it in a separate bill? nancy says, we do it now my way or the highway, and if you disagree with me i will sleep on

it for a week. mitch says okay, click. they called her aides and add language, they call steve mnuchin, say, treasury, we are going to need a little bit for this, that, and the other thing, and they get it done and an afternoon. but that's not what nancy did. she dragged it out so she could have the spotlight, so that she could claim credit for getting what she wanted and gets credit for the economic recovery. it's no surprise to me, she delayed it to the border. she delayed aid to farmers. she held up the u.s. nca. she did this with small business, with the unemployed. this is what she does. the republicans will complain, but they lost the house in 2018. their voters did not show up. so you show up in november, you kick her out. that's how you solve problems in washington. >> dana: greg, which side is more persuasive on this point? because what people really want is they want the money. they want the banks to be able to fulfill their loans. they don't only care about the

politics of it. do the politics matter at all? >> greg: i don't think either side is persuasive in this at all. america isn't divided like them. it's just disgusted. their lives are basically hanging in the balance while these partisan poop heads, and yes, i said poop heads at 5:00. they cannot shut them of their partisanship when people are dying. and a lot of them suggest chalk over job numbers, but they refused to say what they think one should do about it. so they have no skin in the game. they will sit there and they will go, oh, my gosh, okay, what would you do? well, we need to give more money. no, you need to make an adult decision. so we are watching essentially a slow disintegration of a civilization, right? which means on the upside, we might already almost be there,

because i think instinctively we know where we can go before poverty, anarchy, and ultimately war, because that's where it will go if we don't pull the nose up on the plane. so my optimism is based on how grim it's getting. because that means we are almost there, and we can't go on like this. it sounds like a terrible relationship, but we can't go on like this. it has to end. so here's a positive way to look at this. the bad news first. this will happen again. to the good news, it's going to happen again. which means that we are going to get through this one this time. and everything we learn is going to make the next time a piece of cake. we will pull back and know when the coast is clear. what we are going through now is not just for now. all the pain and suffering, it's for later. this is actually going to pay off her future generations when the pandemic comes around. so that's a good way to look at this. i just wish, because the american people are making the

sacrifices, the politicians would step up and make their sacrifices too. and stop being a-hols. >> dana: 's between one, the members of congress are speaking about each other in vitriolic personal terms in the middle of this pandemic. and obviously tensions are running high, but what do you make of all of that? >> juan: i just think it is bad form, dana. i think it is bad form to play the political blame game when people are suffering. basically i am echoing what jesse and greg said. i think that it is regrettable. and i think that what you really need here is to focus on what is necessary to help the american people and get them effective help. if so, when people talk about delay, i don't think that there is any delay to craft legislation that is effective in terms of delivering necessary help to people who are suffering

through a health emergency, and economic emergency. and what we saw last time by the way is that republicans and democrats signed on to a bill that did not get the job done, did not stop the job losses, for example, and instead what we are reading in the papers is that the big banks were rewarding the wealthy clients, and small business did not get the aid that they needed. and today you here, you know, senate majority leader macconnell saying, oh, let the states go bankrupt. forget the policy. why would you say such a thing? >> greg: that is a different point. it is a very constructive idea. it's an idea. >> dana: let me go there, because i think -- >> bret: let's just set the record straight. there was a clean bill that once they found out that the small business pot was going to be dry, there was a clean bill to put more money in.

nancy pelosi did not go forward with that period it, the end, stop there. so yes, they wanted to do other things, democrats did. but to have an answer that says that it was mitch mcconnell who delayed is really political jiu-jitsu. and you have to have somebody that pushes back and says, wait a second, in that time that there was a delay, there are x number of small businesses around the country that had to make the decision, i have not gotten the money, so i have to let these people go. so when the number goes up 4.4 million on unemployment, there is a reason that it goes up that way. and that delay is part of it. >> dana: i'm being told that we have extra time, do we have the macconnell thought, the point that juan got up about the states and what mitch mcconnell said about the funding for the states, and cuomo's response, we will get reaction on the other side. >> i was certainly in favor of

the issue for the backup route, and if it saves some cities. my guess is that their first choice for the federal government was to borrow money and send it down to them now so that they don't have to do that. that's not something i'm going to be in favor of. >> new york puts in more money to the federal pot than it takes out. his state takes out more than it puts in. senator mcconnell, who is bailed out here? it's your state that is living on the money that we generate. >> dana: greg, let me turn it over to you. there was a budget that was passed in new york state. i don't think there was a budget cut in it. this was before coronavirus, but this is going to be a huge issue, because there are a lot of states that were not in good financial state before the coronavirus, so what happens

next? >> greg: it's interesting that before there were viruses, there were cities run by democrats that were declaring bankruptcy without the help of a pandemic. they were just declaring bankruptcy or broke by spending. so i don't buy it. this whole segment just angers me, because we are getting, we are just falling back into the same mistakes that we make every time, but this time is different, because these mistakes can cost you the civilization. if this is not like, we are not like arguing over a government shutdown. we are not arguing over whether we, you know, close down some of the parks because we are having frustration. this is not even an encasement discussion. this is where our leaders cannot even make an adult decision without actually -- which actually could ruin everybody's lives. we could all be destroyed. that's why i have to stop every time i'm about to say something, because it's going to use 16

different words that begin with the letter f. >> dana: maybe we should just leave it right there, because that was a good way to end it. f word and all. the coronavirus task forces going to be out in just one moment. we will bring it to live as we always do, but why oh aoc thinks americans could boycott going back to work even after the cris is over. ♪

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♪ >> juan: there is a major divide in america over when and how to reopen the states. protesters across the country define stay-at-home orders. some clamoring to go back to their jobs. you are congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez calling for a national work boycott once the lockdown ends. >> when we have this discussion about going back, reopening. i think a lot of people should just say no. we are not going back to that. we are not going back to working

70 hour weeks just so that we can put food on the table and not even feel any sort of semblance of security in our lives. >> juan: bret, i wanted to ask you about the numbers we have seen today. the polling that 80% of americans think that it is right now to be staying at home. i think that reuters had it at 72%, how do you read that? >> i think that there is fear. i think that there is fear about how we talked about it, how the president has talked about it. and the reality of the deaths and the hospitalization. i will be interested to see where the polls are in two weeks after really the economic nuclear bomb continues to hit. the important thing about what congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez said it was not the fear over the coronavirus or the health, she is saying, don't go back to work because you are many hours.

you know, her pitch is not about the health and safety, her pitch is about a fundamental change about how workers work. and that's a different conversation. >> juan: yeah, that is clearly true. she is talking about what she sees as the inequality or injustice of people working 70 hours and still having income insecurity. but i wanted to ask you, jesse, about the partisanship in this, because in the polls, there is no difference, there is a slight difference, but both republicans and democrats think right now that's what the president has advised and what most governors are doing with the stay-at-home is a good idea. >> jesse: national polls don't interest me. if you look at the states, that will tell you about how people feel where they live. with the aoc thing, i feel bad, because her district is probably the hardest hit district in the entire country. so she has tough sledding i had

prayed i hope people in her district can stay healthy and hang on. but does it surprise me that she said that we need to boycott to the american come back? no. she was happy when jobs from amazon left new york city. she was cheering when the oil jobs were lost, when the price went below zero. and the green new deal, her baby, it pays people not to work. so if you look at right now, there is no air travel, people getting paid not to work. there is a drastic cut in economic activity and admissions, this is the green new deal right now. this we know now what the green new deal cost is, $6 trillion a month, and 30 million americans unemployed in one month. and that gets you to 6% admissions for the year. so if you continue on this path every year for ten years, no travel, no jobs, no production, you're going to hit the paris climate number that they wanted where you are only going to rise

the celsius to 1.5. this is it. this is the result of the green new deal. and that's just what the model said. and we know how accurate the models can be. >> juan: [laughs] , not always. so, greg, you know, i was thinking about it in terms of the schools. i have not heard any one in authority say, it's time to reopen schools. it seems that you would need schools to reopen in order to really get the workforce back, because most people have kids. you know, working age people. so what do you think? why is it that people, some people are saying, let's reopen, but nobody is saying reopen the schools? >> greg: it is interesting, because when you look at the latest research out of new york, nobody under 20 perished. that does not mean that they were really sick, but we do know that in terms of the risk

factor, it is age, it is obesity, it is hypertension. young people tend to be healthier. i believe that we should be doing this, getting people back to work by age. i think that if you are young, healthy, have no underlying conditions, if you are under 40, you should get back to work. and then you should practice social distancing with people who aren't under 40. so if you have an elderly elective coming to make sure that you keep your distance and you practice all the hygiene and all the work, i think that the reason why people are scared to say anything about going back to school or going back to work, no one once skin in this game, because they know that the media will come back to destroy you by laying the bodies before you. and saying, when you said this, we saw these people die. and i'm so tired of these hindquarters of hindsight. you know? it said that they would do this sooner, what it could've showed up.

bye-bye the way, everybody is doing this. and i went to a close travel? no, you would not. i would shut down nonessential businesses. no, you wanted to. i would ramp up testing, you never said that. by the way, everybody is doing it, because everybody is trying to cover their tracks. and let's say let's open up the barber shops, and somebody gets coronavirus, then somebody will go hot, see, you should not of done that. that's why people are afraid to say how they feel, because they know how the media works. and they are looking for some american to demonize. to some dumb redneck. >> juan: dana, oven or camp in georgia has -- is trying to reopen his state, take some steps even beginning tomorrow, friday. but president trump has come out to say that he disagreed strongly, he says with the steps that the governor is putting in place in georgia.

what is going on there? because the president has been talking about reopening things, and then camp does it and he says he strongly disagrees. >> dana: i think that all of this is super complex. when you are a governor or a president, and you are not just taking the health information, you are taking economic information. at some point i have to think that all of us as american citizens have to realize that we have a personal responsibility in this as well. we are going to have to make decisions. we are going to have to dip our toe in the water if it is safe to do so, maybe we can put our whole foot in and then maybe the whole leg. there's going to be stages of this that happen. when it comes to what aoc said, it's mind-boggling to think that she would be the spokesperson for the democrats right now. i know a lot of democrats are irritated that she get so much attention, because they are trying to win back the lunch pail crowd, and by suggesting something that is so unrealistic, that you will not

be able to win those of workers in terms of votes. people do want to get back to work, but it's also about survival. i would add another thing, routine is a good thing for human beings to have. human beings like routine. there is dignity and work. you feel purposeful. there is a fulfillment they are. and you look at some of those people today of the workers that spent 12 hour shifts over 38 days, making personal protective equipment and never leaving the factory, there is so much pride to be had and work. and i think that's what everybody is trying. i will leave you with this, look to leaders who can actually match the moment and ignore the media appear to something like kemp, he will have to see how it goes. he will have to take the good and the bad that comes with that, but don't forget, i have it before. governor from colorado, democratic governor, doing a very similar thing. based on the data that he has seen and he is making those decisions and not getting the kind of grief that others are getting.

such as kemp or governor desantis, and you have to wonder why is that? is it because colorado does not matter, or they have a democratic governor who is getting high marks across the board out there? it is an interesting thing. and i really would hope that people don't just try to pin bad decision-making, or in their words on southern republican governors. it's not fair. >> greg: can i add something, because i was not asked about aoc, so i just want to make a point. if she wishes to boycott, the first thing she can do is drop her six-figure salary and serve as an example. if she believes that people should not be working, she should give up her salary. by the way, you can explain this to aoc, her view of work is based on the idea that working is a sign of oppression. if you are working long hours, you are oppressed. but what is hilarious about that is why is it that the oppressed are itching to get back to being

oppressed. they want to get back to work. it does not work and her brain. she sees work as evil. give up her job. >> juan: she works, you are right. because she has a big salary, but i think she is talking about income and equality. >> greg: she is not. >> juan: oh, okay. we are still monitoring the start of today's coronavirus task force briefing. in the meantime, states are calling for armies of disease investigators to track and monitor any infected americans. more on that story on "the five." ♪ i know that every single time that i suit up, there is a chance that that's the last time. 300 miles an hour, thats where i feel normal. i might be crazy but i'm not stupid. having an annuity tells me that i'm protected.

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that liberty mutual customizes your insurance, i just love hitting the open road and telling people so you only pay for what you need! [squawks] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ >> bret: privacy concerns being weighed against the need to stop the spread of covid-19

as new york, california, and washington state are building armies of contract tracers. looking for the whereabouts of people who tested positive for the virus, then locating all of those they were in contact with. new york governor andrew cuomo explaining how it will work in his state. >> you trace, and you find more positives, then you isolate the positives. they are under quarantine. they cannot go out. they cannot affect anybody else. we have to put together a tracing army. this will be a massive undertaking. good news is, mayor michael bloomberg has volunteered to help us develop and implement the tracing program. >> bret: in epidemiology, this is how they do it. they trace the contact and try to isolate. this is how it happens. when being explained by some, it is scary on a privacy front, and jesse, you have a town in connecticut that is talking

about a drone that potentially could take temperatures from above, and there are all kinds of people wondering where this leads. >> jesse: i don't have any concerns with the right now, i am an open book. you can trace me all you want. it's not something i am too worried about. if it works, it works. but they had an eye-popping study come out of new york today that said as many as one fifth of new york city residents had the virus. i mean, that's close to 2 million people. so if you're going to contact trace 2 million and growing, you're going to have to hire 100,000 people. and if you are with mike bloomberg, i wish that he had the $1 billion back that he paid for a few delegates and americans, because it is an ambitious project to trace this many people, but going back to the last discussion we were having, states are going to do different things. right now, this thing is really focused in the northeast.

five of the top ten states are in the northeast with the most amount of cases. they are going to handle things differently, and a state like georgia that is done not dominic not nearly the amount of cases are going to do different things too, but we have the laboratory of democracy. each state can do something else with what works, and if it works, one state can lead, maybe it will pull back, and we can see what works and what doesn't. >> bret: dana, to jesse's point, we look at the autopsy in california that takes the first known case about a month and a half earlier, and how many people in california had coronavirus before we knew that they did. >> dana: even though it feels like we have been in our homes forever, and the sweep of history, this time that we have had so far, we know very little about the virus, we keep finding out more information about the symptoms and the effects of it, and the treatment of it.

when it comes to the contact tracing, and south korea it works very, very well. the difference in america is that we have for it written into our laws as well as by tradition, civil liberties that makes us cringe and be, well, i guess, skeptical to say the least about the government having this information. if it is voluntary, that's one thing, but i would say that there is another thing. let's take one of cuomo's army finding out that i had the virus, what does that mean? am i going to have enough antibodies that i get a green pass so that i can go to work? or am i going to have to isolate my husband who is 65? am i going to have to put him away? i feel like there are so many unknowns about how this will affect our lives, that's why people are a little bit concerned. but open and willing to be open minded and flexible on it.

>> greg: every story has a privacy angle on it. which is really good for rockwell, because we can play the "somebody's watching me" at the opening of the segment, which we always do when we talk about privacy. i wonder how many were killed by the slippery slope? oh, it is a slippery slope, but that's a terrible argument, because it is based on a hypothetical advent. dominant -- event. it could lead to something, so let's not do this. the bottom line is an illness map is not intrusive. only if someone goes in to check on you, which is why you would have mutually insured exposure. if some of the checks here status whether it is this or stds, you have to log in. and the person being snooped on can see who is snooping on them. this is what they did in norway when they made the tax returns public. everybody's tax returns or online print you can check on

your neighbor, but if you check on your neighbor, your neighbor can see that you are checking in on them. it's not going to be open the door way to knowing what you have. and by the way, this is nothing new. this is what you do to corral disease. this is what they do in college is when there is an outbreak of an std. they force everybody to call everybody and find out who they were with. so this is just good practice. don't ask me how i know that. >> bret: okay, i won't. in the way that there are 50 states that could do literally 50 different things. on one sense, that is good, because each one of them is doing what they think it's the best. in the other sense, you could have cross state borders when it comes to that stuff. >> juan: correct, but the principal concern is the privacy. and it is a lot like how the politicians were replaced if in saying to all of us it is time

to stay home, and most americans have bought into it. obviously, most people just rushed out of their house, it would be unenforceable. i don't know how the politicians could do anything. here is a matter of people voluntarily in most cases saying, here's my information and the question is, does the state to go beyond that voluntary expression of the american wish to corral this virus? facebook, mark zuckerberg, they've been talking about having people voluntarily give the information, and then they would allow people who are coming in contact with their cell phones or watches to know that they had been in touch with someone who had the virus. again, that is voluntary. in either case, it is good medical practice, as greg was saying. >> bret: we are waiting for the white house coronavirus task force briefing. when it happens, we will bring it to you on fox sports straight ahead, joe biden attacking

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♪ >> jesse: joe biden thinks he has a brilliant campaign strategy to take down president trump with this ad accusing the president of caving to china during the pandemic. >> trump rolled over for the chinese spread he took their word for it. he prays the chinese 15 times in january and february as the coronavirus spread across the world. >> jesse: it has the far left furious, claiming that the strategy is racist and xenophobic. and others thinking that it could backfire diplomatically. i don't think that it will backfire, because i do not think that biden will be president. but i was just shocked at how

angry the base of the democratic party was, and how out of step they are with the rest of the country on holding china accountable. what does this do to the biden campaign? >> bret: this is what the ad shows is that their internal polls must show lopsided way far that criticizing china is where people are in the country. so they launched this ad, because they look at the numbers, like 80% says that china covered up at the beginning of this virus, and that means that they see a vulnerability in the biden campaign, which is why they put out the ad. but with the far left raising concerns, that's what joe biden raised at the beginning of the china travel ban, and so, it is a tough line for the biden campaign to walk. >> jesse: let me ask you,

juan, with the surveys that bret just mention. we are talking 70%, 80% of americans want him accountable, and sued, and responsible for this. it's a very fine line for joe biden to walk without being so soft on china, but also responding to the anxiety of the american people. >> juan: yeah, i don't think it is a fine line. you have to be very clear here, jesse, that joe biden is talking about the chinese regime. the chinese communist regime that covered this up and has not been transparent. and what you are hearing from president trump, as he said, the ad was saying in january and february, he was talking with president xi. he trusts them. he thinks they have been transparent. but a lot of people fear that the biden ad could be heard in the way that the president talks about like a chinese virus. that it is attacking the chinese

people and not the chinese regime. if so i think that he has to be very clear that he is talking about the leadership, not the people. >> jesse: yeah, i don't think that is clear to the base, dana, because they see any criticism of communist china at any criticism as xenophobic. >> dana: i think that biden is smart to try to muddy the waters, because you see some of the polls that say americans are united on this more than anything else in america. they are united that china is a threat and a problem and that china lied in the situation, and that we should not stand for it. so biden is trying to do that. what is interesting is that biden is doing one of these 90 seconds ads, which is not an ad, it is a short film, because he wants to get earned media out of it. he is getting at here. but president trump's ad is running on television. joe biden does not have enough money to put ads on television

right now. i think it will be interesting to see over the next few weeks whether the trump strategy is moving the needle in any of the battleground states against joe biden. >> jesse: yes, greg. the president and his allies have about $250 million in the bank, and joe and the democrats have only 50. >> greg: don't you love that joe is getting a taste of his own medicine? that just a few weeks ago or a month ago he was demonizing trump, and they are doing the same thing to him? i love that. i love it when what goes around comes around. as far as the far left is concerned, when you look at three big historical threats, you look at the cold war, they were anti-communist. sanders loved cuba, he loved the ussr. then you look at terrorism, if you came out against -- like extremist islam, you are conflated with coming out against islam, and you are therefore islamophobic.

now if you are criticizing china, you are what, china-phobic, you come out against the people? no, we are talking about the fact that there is a huge problem going on right now in china that is leading to the pandemic. but you see what the left does. they can't support the america americans. they always have to support those who might be responsible for a problem. >> jesse: yes, took greg's point, you can see this coming a mile away. china is going to be the number one threat to america for the next couple of decades. the way that russia was for many, many years. the way that radical islam was for the last 20. it's a big problem for the democratic party, if you are going to have a significant amount of people in that party saying you can't even criticize that country. >> bret: it is. and the president campaigned before 2016 about china and all that china was doing.

and he was right. you know, and he wanted to get the trade argument to the point where a large portion of the democratic party when you talk about trade sides with president trump. >> jesse: we will have to cut you off because the president is coming into the briefing room. talking about the coronavirus. >> president trump: the paycheck protection program in health care. i'm grateful that congress is answering my call to deliver these additional $320 billion in relief to the american worker. after small businesses. at a time when many americans are looking at many economic challenges, the bill will help small business and keep millions of workers on the payroll. you see states opening up to now, and very exciting to see. it's very awe-inspiring. we are coming out of it, and coming out of it well. and we are really very happy that the the governor has been doing a really good job working

with us. and it is pretty impressive to see. i have spoken to new numerous leaders of countries over the last 48 hours, and they are saying that we are leading the . we are really leading the way in so many different ways. i'm also very pleased that harvard as you know, harvard, stanford, princeton, and numerous other universities and colleges, also large businesses have sent funds back to us. and in some cases, i stopped funds that i looked at and we are pleased to report that the funds have either not gone out, or about $350 million, and they have either not gone out, or we have renegotiated it. and they are not getting them. it is a couple of cases that they are sending them back and sending it back immediately. so i think that it was very nice. i want to think harvard in particular. they acted very quickly and

decisively. and they agreed when they heard the facts that they should not be getting it. we appreciate it very much from harvard, princeton, stanford, and other institutions appeared to the bill also includes $30 billion to support small lending institutions, serving distressed communities, helping countless african-american and hispanic-american, small businesses. as we continue to battle against a virus, the tracking on the ground suggest that we are making great progress heard in 23 states, new cases have declined in the peak week. 40% of american counties have also seen a rapid decline in new cases. 46 states reported drop in patients showing coronavirus-like symptoms. that's a big number. to keep america gaining momentum every citizen needs to maintain the vigilance that we all understand very well. we have gone over at many, many times. it includes practicing good hygiene, maintaining social

distance, and the voluntary use of face covering. phase 3 opening of the economy is very exciting, but it does not mean that we are letting down our guard at all in any way. on the contrary, and continued diligence is an essential part of our strategy to get our country back to work. to take our country back. we are winning this, and we are going to win. and we are going to keep watching. we are watching very closely for the invisible enemy. with each passing day, we are learning more and more about this enemy. the scientists at dhs have released a report offering a number of insights about how the virus reacts to different temperatures, climates, and surfaces. the findings confirm that the virus is better and colder and drier environments, and does less well in warmer and more humid environments. i have to say that very excitingly, we are going to have somebody up, the dash bill will

be up in just a little while. he is going to be talking about how the virus reacts to sunlight. when you are the numbers, you won't even believe them. u.s. trials of the covid-19 have been going on and approved in the united states, germany, u.k., china. that's big news. and a lot of trials are going on. we have a lot of great brilliant minds working on this. both from the standpoint of vaccine and therapeutics. we must be careful in all conditions, but we will get this done. we are very close to a vaccine. fortunately we are not very close to testing, because when that starts, it takes a period of time. but we will get it done. and i want to thank the head of dhs science and technology, bill brian for what he is going to be doing and what he is going to be saying in the report that he is about to give. i think it's going to be

something that nobody has ever heard of. it will be brand-new information, very important information. my administration continues to leverage the defense production act to decrease the manufacturing and delivery of critical medical supplies. we finalized three contracts to produce 39 million more n95 masks in 90 days. and as you know, we are also using a sterilization process, some great equipment that will sterilize the masks up to 20 times per mask. so that's like ordering 20 times more masks. and it is working very well. we just want to the hospitals in the institutions where it is to use it. a lot of people don't use it. they are so used to getting a new mask, they don't want to use it. they want to go and immediately get a new one, we are asking them to use the sterilization process. every bit as good. up to 20 times, think about that. in addition to ramping up the domestic assembly lines, we also have airlifted nearly 700 million pieces of personal

protective equipment into the united states through our project air bridge. which has been an incredible thing to watch. it is really a military operation. the vice president is now providing each governor with an exhaustive count by county breakdown of the privately distributive personal protection, and this is equipment and things that are incredible. it's personal protective equipment. it is incredible, and it is all brand-new and at the highest level. we are getting only the highest level. and also, we are looking at essential gear within the states, and it is being delivered to different states quickly and as we speak. this way the governor should know exactly what is being delivered through a private sector, supply chain within their states as well as through the project air bridge. we are trying to get it immediately from the plane to the stage when we can't do that, we bring it into our facilities and get it to the governors. and we are getting them fast,

and we are notifying them very strongly so that we know that it is they are. governors can use this information to quickly ensure that they get materials where and when they are needed. today i also want to extend my special thanks to our nation's incredible county emergency management teams who have been working relentlessly for weeks around the clock and on and to serve their communities, help distribute critical supplies and save countless american lives. we salute these heroic officials on the front lines as we continue to develop potential therapies, the fda has recently begun a national effort to expand access to the plasma donated from those who have recovered from the virus. the blood of these donors contains antibodies that can potentially reduce the severity of the illness, and those that are sick, and frankly, those that are very sick, nearly 3,000 patients are now enrolled in the

expanded access program receiving transfusions nationwide. and i want to thank all of the people that recovered for what they have done, as i said, yesterday, they raise their hand when they barely can walk, and they are saying, i want to donate blood. i want to donate whatever it is that you want, because we want to help people. it's really quite incredible. convalescent plasma will also be used to manufacture a concentrated antibody treatment that does not have to match with the particular blood type. this concentrated antibody treatment could be used as a preventative measure to keep health care workers and other high-risk populations from contracting the virus in the first place. very big deal. clinical trials of these products are slated to begin with in weeks, and we can maybe have a fairly quick solution. i urge americans to get in there and keep doing what you are doing. because again, we want those people recovering, or recovering

from coronavirus to contact to their local blood and plasma donation center to learn all they can help. they have been so great. and i just appreciate it. my administration is also partnered, and we have been establishing some great partnerships with leading technology companies and scientific journals to create 52,000 scholarly articles on the virus that can be analyzed by artificial intelligence. top ai experts are now using this wealth of data to gain insights into potential therapies, and we are collaborating with tech firms, universal ads to harvest supercomputers in the search for treatments and vaccines, that search is going on. it's being, i think you will see in the future that it is very successful. ultimately, it will be a tremendous success. great progress is being made at a rapid pace, a piece like none other. we have every hope that with the full mind and resources of

american science and technology coming in with the courage and devotion of the american people who have been so incredible, we will allow this plague and to restore the full measure of the strength and power of our country. we will do fantastically well. you see what is going on. there is a pent-up demand in our country to get it back right where it was, and maybe even better. that's what's going to happen. so with that, i would like to ask mike pence to come up, vice president to say a few words, please. >> thank you mr. president, good afternoon. today the white house coronavirus task force met and while our hearts are with the families of those who have lost their life to the coronavirus and those that are struggling with serious illness today, our team led by dr. deborah birx informs us that the data continues to show promising signs of progress. the new york metro area i'm in

new jersey, connecticut, detroit, and new orleans all appear to be past their peak, and we are seeing consistent declines in hospitalization and cases in regions across the country. our only conclusion is that we are getting there, america. because the american people have put into practice the president's guidelines of distancing, because you have been listening and adhering to the guidance of state and local officials, we are making meaningful progress. in a very real sense, sparing americans, exposed to the coronavirus, and in no less extent saving lives. our task force actually believes him, mr. president, that if we continue these mitigation efforts in the days ahead as states implement their policies, including phase three opening that will preserve those gains, we do believe by early summer, we could be at a much better place as a nation.

with much of this coronavirus epidemic behind us. earlier today we also had a conference call led by ben carson, and leaders from hud about the president's announcement yesterday that he is repurposed saying the white house opportunity and revitalization counsel to focus on the impact of the coronavirus on minority communities. they will reconvene the council tomorrow and will be reporting tomorrow afternoon on their progress. we want to thank more than 270 leaders of organizations dedicated to housing, homelessness, and improving the lives of people across our urban community. not only for being with us today, but for the way they have partnered with our administration, and partnered with state and local officials to put the health of all their constituencies first. as the president mentioned, we will, you