still this open question is on testing, who is being tested, who has access? when do you seek out testing? i assume vice president pence will try to give us more clarity on that. >> in terms of the multibillion dollar fund that's being provided, how does that money get dispensed? >> still um in the air. there were strides made in crafting this physical package the the open question is when will that be paced by senator mcconnell. >> and chuck schumer said please pass it as-is, verbatim. >> that's generally seen as a step in the right direction. i was struck yesterday that the president had to be asked about the package. it wasn't something he talked about before he went to questions from the audience. what the government will be reckoning with is figure out what systemically is important. he mentioned yesterday the cruise industry, in terrible

shape. the airline industry took a major -- they're going to have to take symptom how systemically important those things are. >> does this remind you of post-9/11 in terms of severity, but do we potential have a longer-term ramification? >> i think so. there was that massive shock then. the markets closed after 9/11 then, and people keep drawing the parallel to 2008. the economy is sounder now than it was then. coming in this morning, how empty the streets were, how much was closed, as we heard from tom a moment ago, restaurants closing down. that's pour tending an economic shock the likes of which we haven't seen, to your points, a sustained period of time. >> to the appointed you made,

these a's gone to chris -- it's a beautiful day outside, a bit chilly, but you would think you would have tourists there, going to theaters, which have now been shuttered what does it feel like, chris? >> reporter: i keep coming up with "surreal." as you mentioned, it's noon. it's a beautiful day in march, you know, approaches 50 degrees, and it's pretty part. this is normally what it would look like, they're starting to fill in. you're seeing a little more people, but i've been talking to vendors all morning long who say -- one gentleman said it reminds hem of 9/11 and truthfully it's a little quieter now.

normally these seats would be filled. it's lunchtime now. listen to one hot dog vinnor had to tell me. he's been out here 40 years. okay. he told me he thought it was kind of worse than 9/11. me's been out here for 40 years and said it's very, very slow. you can see the iconic red stairs here. not very full right now. a guy from ireland said he was considering not going to make his trip, but he decided to come with his wife and children, and they are glad they did, but everything they wanted to see, all of them canceled. so they're looking for other things to do here. it seems like new yorkers are

trying to figure out what's going on. it's a bit of half and half. >> okay. continue doing so for us, though, how long again was the hot dog vendor saying it was relatively unprecedent ed he sad in the days following 9/11. he came out the next day and even then there were more people than what he's seen today. >> thank you to you. david, the thing about 9/11, we were all in this together, but in a way that we were allowed to be together. we could embrace each other, hug each other, cry together. this is so different. yes, we're in this together, but we have to be singular entities. it's a strange anxiety associatewood that as well. you see people trying to maintain the social distance, and it is a strange thing, and

it's strange to have this go on in perpetuity. we're talking about a time frame that's so protrabted that has people concerned as they try to figure out how long it will last. we're hoping for answers. that's the white house briefing room, where we find kelley o'donnell as well, who awaits the vice president's arrival. kelly, do we have any time frame -- our e.p. said a couple minutes? >> reporter: yeah, we were just given the two-minute warning. we're here in the briefing room. one of the big developments is we were greeted by the white house medical's office and we each had our temperature taken. it is not social distancing by any imagination, though it is sparsely filled today, in all years i've been covering white

houses, it's the fewest that i've seen for a principal like a vice president. the president was in attendance at the meeting this morning. we don't know if he will choose to take part. the vice president is expected here to give us an update, where things stand, i certainly would expect discussion of the house bill passed overnight and where that stands as it moves to the senate. as everyone is trying to grapple with our changing lifestyle as we deal with preparations and the reality of the coronavirus and what it means for families, people working. obviously those patients who will be tested or are worried about being tested, so we'll have an opportunity to we believe one person was turned away due to temperature level.

he was escorted away from us. he's not someone i'm familiar with. he did have as appropriate press credential and so forth. based on just my observation, because we're not getting any answers, his temperatures was above a level they would alloy us in, it's the touch of head screening that you see in a lot of places -- in fact there's not even contact, so there's probably 50 or 60 of us in here now. there's 49 seats in this briefing room and most of them are not filled. we have our technical teams here as well. this is not social distancing, but a new practice here at the white house for adjournist it is. we've been told staff members who have had direct contact with the president or vice president have also had their temperatures taken. this is part of the changing lifestyle and set of protocols, and we certainly don't know how

closely they will hold to that two-minute warning, which i think i probably talk to at this point. >> kelly, a question about the environment there, the fact there are so many empty seats, have you been able to anecdotally talk to any of your colleagues if you have heard or they have heard news organizations are not sending people to cover this or is it because this was called relatively recently. this is your post today at the you see do you thinkist the last-minute nature of this press conference? >> reporter: you and i are always here on saturday. there's a core group of people who are posted here on weekends. we're here seven days a week, usually 12 to 14 hours a day for our team.

it's'y for the networks, the wire services, the major papers to be here for those individuals. there are certainly others coming in from their different news organizations, but clearly many news organizations like other kinds of businesses are encouraging people there will be a livestream on whitehouse.gov. so there may be a combination. i've been around a few administration, when something of this stature is called, there's usually a stampede to get here. that's usual that we don't have a full room today. i don't think any of us are disappointed frankly as we're all trying to get more breathing room between us day to day. and we have a limited supply of wipes in our booth, where we've been trying to wipe everything down, do all the same steps that people are doing in their own lives. we're trying to do that. we want to be in position, want

to have access to the room and want to have access to the principals. we are happy to be here. >> we have asked that remeatedly. staffers in a position to know are telling us they do not yet know. i think we have come to learn that the president makes these decisions himself and tends to alert staff when he's ready to. one of the clues would be the lectern which has the standard white house washington, d.c. sign in front of it. it does not have the seal of either the president or the vice president. and typically that does occur before they enter the room. that to me is also perhaps a signal we're not as close to two minutes as we might be, or that might be they're just overlooking today, given all the other priorities that exist. >> david gura joins me here,

kelly our colleague as well. everything about this is unique. when we get a two-minute warning in most administrations, it's two minutes. kelley has been very gracious getting us going here. just david -- just the unique nature, the feeling under way right now all of the trader got quiet. it was pumped up at loud volume. everyone was listening rapidly. what i'll say in the contact yesterday morning, it was the

treasury secretary steven mnuchin. he talked a good boom, having conversations with folks on capitol hill. shortly after he gave that interview. the president came out with a tweet focusing on something else altogether. ref seen that over and over again in the course of this administration. proxies speak and then the president sweeps in and changes the directive. yes, he wall street the points man, the task force is headed up by alex azar, but the president made mike pence as the point person on this issue. as we wait for the signal from kelly, another voice of authority, the medical officials we have here that we're able to

consult with. dr. corey ebare, and chief correspondent at the black news channel. doctor, i'm glad to have you here. what would you hope to? >> some certainly to people can take it down a bit, and what i think that people are so panicked, and that is because, you know we've had a voice of uncertainty for the last few years. so when the wolves are actually talking among the wolves, then it's okay.

what we're trying to do is flatten the curve by increasing the amount of actually infected people at one particular time, so that it doesn't burden the entire medical establishment and hospitals and doctors offices at one particular time. i want everybody to understand. people are going to get this. it is going to be something that we have never seen as far as the numbers of cases of people that are affected, but what we want to do is not burden the system so much at one particular time. i want to hear about the reality of how many test kids we're going to actually have. that's most important. also, i want to know what the president, what they're going to with the kids and college students who are food instable.

when you have food instability at a college or a very small school or very large school, also element tears schools, high schools, some people -- adults and children alike -- depends on this for their livelihood, their shelter, their food, work study, all these things, we're cancelling school and sending people home. particularly students at black colleges, first-generation students, you can't get a ticket at $500 to last minute go home. i want to know about that. there's so many questions out there. what we must know is if we panic, it implies we do not actually have a real cohesive thought process going forward. that's not true. we actually -- doctors, we know what we're doing, we just need the gasoline to put in our car so we can make it happen.

i want people to decrease the panic. when you increase panic, you increase the stress hormone cou cortisol. that's a steroid, which decreases your immune systems, which means you're more apt to get this virus. so i want people to remember that. you know, we talk about people that are older -- >> well, it sounds like when people get stressed out, that's just what you described. people get stressed out and become more vulnerable to illness. the president has just tweeted out a photo of him within that covid-19 meeting that he identified it as such and said the news conference will be started shortly. he did not indicate whether he would be attending. all of those things that you want to hear about, give some he your assessment on the efficacy of the drive-thru testing

centers. people can stay in the car. we've seen the photos of those covered head to toe with garb. how effective are those in your minds? >> you know, the test is a screening test. i want you to this think about it like a pregnancy test, you know a pregnancy test that's negative, you could still be pregnant because the levels haven't gotten up. this is a screening test, so if it's positive, that means you have been exposed and you have made antibodies to the antivirus, which means you are presumptive positive, but for all practice purposes you're positive. if the test is negative, you still may not have had enough time to make the antibodies at a high enough level for you to be tested positive. while the testing is very

important. i'm you have the ilk that testing is important, but let's all act like we've been exposed and have the disease. rot why, there's no cure for the disease, so all you can do is have supportive care. if you are among the people who get really ill, which is a small. . you will have to go to the hospital, get oxygens, iv fluids, possibly intubated. by and large most people that get exposed will never even have a symptom. i want people to remember this. >> doctor, i do want to double check as we see the officials walking out. you are asking people to not necessarily self-medicate or treat, but behave with social distancing in regards to the presumption we all have covid-19. i don't know that any others would be necessarily echos the sentiments because of a state of panic that could be induced

within something. but your point is well taken. in terms of social distancing, that's what we all need to be doing. everyone, we are seeing members there, faces that have become very familiar to us. we see now the main door opening once again and there we see the president of the united states as well as vice president pence. let's take a listen in. >> thank you very much. we just completed a very good meeting of the coronavirus task forces, and we -- they're really doing a great job, our professionals. the results are very, very good. when you compare this to what's happening around the world, we're very proud of our people. there's been a tremendous amount of coordination with states, with cities, and they're allege

smaller form of government and things are going well. they're coordinating with us. certain in particular i think california has been terrific. the relationship. new york has been really good. we've had some really good relationships in terms of especially the hot spots. some areas we have no problems, and we hope to keep it that way. before i turn this over to our great vice president, i want to express my appreciation for the hard work done by the people behind me and the people back in the varies offices, including the fact that i just left the oval office and we have some people there that are probably watching this or they're just work iing last week we secured

initial 8.3 billion from -- the very big deal, it opened up avenues we use never be able to open up without it. it could make funds available immediately, and that's available for states, territories and local governments. we also reached an agreement on a new legislative package. for communities in dealing with the coronavirus. it was done very, very bipartisan. it was nice to see it.

steve mnuchin did a fantastic job and worked with nancy pelosi and the representatives. it worked out very well. a lot of provisions in the bill which they will be discussion with you today. i was honored to see the stock market, you were mostly there with us set a record in a short period of time, over a 45-minute period that we had the press conference yesterday. that was a record. i think we should do one of them every day. how about five times a day? i said, how did that work out? they said, sir, you just said a new record in the history of the stock market.

that was pretty good. the great companies that were there, they couldn't have been too happy, either. more importantly they're going to do a good job. they're the biggest and the best. right now literally -- doing something that's never been done before. so we're very proud of them. also, the bill provides for free coronavirus testing for all americans. so people are getting this free. 24th don't have to pay. a lot of people said, gee,ed that's a lot of money. it's a complex test, actually. it costs money and it's being provided free. so people don't have the to

worry about that. it also provides paid sick and family leave for those who need it, including for those who have the virus, for caregivers, and those looking after children affected by school closures. that's also taken care of. and we'll continue all of these different actions. we have other things planned. we'll also be working with companies that are affected financially. our country's in the best financial shape -- so different in the past we nowsh in very, very strong financial shape. it's been pretty amazing. we hope the federal reserve will finally get on board and do what they should do, because we're doing things that they should be doing frankly. we can all do them together, but they should be much more

proactive. other boards and other countries, and people represents those countries are taking much more aggressive action than our fed. for the most pardon. if you look at central banks yesterday what they did, we want to see our federal reserve be much more proactive. it's important, but in the meantime we're doing things that -- that have been really well received. i guess you say saw that yesterday at the end of the day. we have a lot of things to tell you, in terms of respirators, in terms of the different things, the he masking are being made by millions and millions. we're orders worst-case scenario. we always say worth-case scenario. that's where we're going. i think the press -- over the

last 24 hours, i think the representation has been really fair for the most part. we're all in this together. it's something that nobody expected. it came out of china and it's one of not things that happened. it's nobody's fault. we all will solve this problem and solve it well. i think the american people have been incredible in the way they have act ed what they have done is something very special. with that being told necessarily -- and perhaps they were told, but for the most part they want to get it over with, over with quickly and with very little death as of this moment, that's 50 deaths, a lot of decisions were made, otherwise that number could be very -- we know that europe was declared

the hot spot yesterday and number one, and we made a decision quite a bit prior to that, but with he saw what was happening. if you have any questions, this group will be very happy to do it. i would say they have been led by mike pence, they have been incredible, the job they're doing. they're working 20 hours a day. this man is working 20 hours or day, or maybe more. tony has been working -- i'm looking at this whole group. we've create add number of new stars, including the gentleman right behind me. i watched him the other day. such a fantastic job you did. i really appreciate it. we'll be answering questions, and we have a lot of new information. and i'll be going back to the oval office. >> reporter: mr. president,

there are so many people rushing to costco, to grocery stores, filling up their baskets. is that the right move? maybe conserve as opposed to advised? apple announced they'll be closing their stores for two weeks. >> i think frankly it's good if they do it. what apple did is fine, and we want to keep people away. when it keeps better, people will be -- people want to buy things. by the way, i want my temperature taken coming into the room. >> so did we. >> good. let's compare. we're all looking good. i also took the test last night, and i decided i should based on the press conference yesterday. people were asking. >> reporter: when will the results be? >> i don't know. a day or two.

>> reporter: you've been sending mixed messages, respectfully you've been sending mixed messages. you shook hand yes, talked about 5 million tests being available, probably won't need that many. has your own opinion involved? railroad changing? >> this was urgened from the beginning. you know that, because i closed out our country to china. >> reporter: why are you shaking hands? >> it's almost a habit. frankly i was a non-handshaker for the most part. i know it, too political people walk up. this i want to shake my hand and i say, well -- -- wait a minute. just take it nice and easy. just relax. people come up to me, she put their and out. it's a natural reflex, and we're all getting out of it. all of us have that problem.

just shake is, and we're all getting out of that. shaking hands is not a great thing to be doing right now, but people put their hand out, sometimes i do, and you don't think about it. people are thinking about it more and more. we have to think about it. it's more important. somebody said yesterday i touched the microphone. we have different people with different heights. i moved the mic down and they said he touched the microphone. if i don't, somebody's going to have to touch it. but, no, we have all have to get amp from it. getting away from shaking hands is a good thing. possibly that comes off it. maybe people shouldn't be doing it for the long term. it does transmit flu and other things. we have flu in our country that kills on average 36,000 people a year. 36,000 people. and, you know, that's something we're not talking about.

we've lost probably 50 people and -- >> can you tell us how -- >> reporter: mr. president, the pentagon is telling service members and their families not to travel domestically. should all americans follow that same advice? >> if you don't have to travel, i wouldn't do it. if you don't have to travel -- we want this thing to end. we don't want a lot of people getting infected. we want it to end as quickly as possible. i really think that the people behind me have not been given the credit they deserve. when you see all the school closures, that's very important you, but it also causes problems. with. it causes problems, children staying at home. now we take care of that issue with what we passed last night. it has to go through the senate, i have to sign it, but that will

happen. i'm going back to the white house, you have great professionals. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. i just want to follow up on that. are you considering other travel restrictions perhaps domestically in that regard. >> yes. >> reporter: can the describe what type? >> we're working with the states and we are considering other restrictions, yes. >> reporter: sir, reuters is reporting that you're going to extend the ban to the uk and ireland. is that accurate? >> we're looking at it. they've had a bit of activity, unfortunately. we have looked at it, and that is going to be announced. >> reporter: if i could get clarity on your thinks on this,

it's been a hallmark of your presidency, if you feel so strongly about the fed, why don't you dismiss the chairman? or do you think you're powerless? >> i think i have the right to remove him as chairman. he so far has made a lot of decision, in my opinion. we had this great -- and we will soon again -- i think there's a pent-up bounce that would be tremendous. i think you saw that yesterday can the stock market. i'm not happy with the fed, because they're following, not leading. we should be leading. if you look at the centrals banks, largely they're lower than us, their rate and their quiltant is lower, in some cases by two appointments, and i thought that the fed would be and shoop much more proactive. our fed is following. we have the number one currency

in the world. we have the currency, we have the power, by strong the strong currency. you look at the strength of the dollar. our fed is not doing what they should be doing. we shouldn't have a fed rate higher than our competitor nations. you look a germany, they're essential under zero. there are many countries negative. japan is negative. germany is negative. others are negative, and we're paying higher interest rates. frankly i would like to refinance our debt very easily at a much lower rate. we have some tremendous opportunities right now, but jerome powell is not making it easy. i have the right to remove. i'm not doing that. i have the right to also take him and put him in a regular position and put somebody else in charge, and i haven't made any decisions on that.

we met in the situation room, and we continue to implement the president's vision, not just for a whole of government response to the coronavirus, but a whole of america approach. the focus of our task force today and going forward is on implementing the president's public and private partnership, on testing focusing on ensure state and local authorities have the guidance and support to ensure mitigation, particularly in areas where we've seen community spread, and we're

continuing to lean in at the president's direction on addressing capacity i want to commence as it is president said yet in the rose garden, we couldn't be more grateful. in the areas where we've had community spread for the seamless cooperation that's taking place. businesses around the country, in sports, in entertainment,

retail, that are making decisions based on cdc guidelines, and good common sense, to protect the american people. lastly, as the president also said, we just want to thank the american people for los angelesing to local authorities, listening to recommendations from the cdc. we'll hear more about that in a moment from dr. fauci and dr. burkes. the american people are all responding, and to the president and to all of us. freeing up significant 23er8 resources yesterday for state and local authorities as well as our national response.

the president announced an unprecedented partnership on testing. at 5:00 tomorrow, we will be detailing the progress that our team is making. i can tell you they were literally working around the clock with private companies. we are very pleased that thermo -- was approved in record time and providing a high thr throu throu throughput text, but details on that when the local sites will be available at the cvs, walgreens, wall martz, other locations, what communities those will initially be available in, when the web side will go online. 5:00 p.m. tomorrow, eastern standard time, we will detail that. last night the house of

representatives passed legislation which addressed the priority the president trump laid out for the american people. i want to join president trump in thanking speaking pelosi, leader mccarthy, who as the you want said earlier today, pulled together to pass legislation, and meeting this moment in the bipartisan health-first spirit that the american people would expect. the deal that was passed last night, delivers on the president's plan for strong health and economic support, particularly focused on those most impacted, including hard-working blue collar americans who may not currently have paid family leave today. it provides free coronavirus testing for uninsured americans,

and it builds on the decision that president trump made expanding coverage, and also getting a commitment to join with us to waive all co-pays on coronavirus testing. so now testing will be free no every american. and other programs and even the uninsured. legislation for coronavirus-related employment interruption, i expect dr. burks and dr. fauchi will reiterate this. if you are sick now, you need not be concerned if you're an hourly wage earner, you need not beg concerned about staying home. if you're sick, stay home.

we'll make sure that your employer, including small businesses have the ability to provide paid leave to you. this also provides funding and flexibility to enshuns the senior citizens, women, children, low-income will have emergency nutritional assistance. again the president and i are profoundly grateful for the bipartisan -- and how grateful we are for the secretary of the treasury and the long hours he put in negotiating this measure. let me say also last night at midnight, the department of homeland security implemented the president's decision to suspend all travel from europe passing through 13 airports. acting secretary wolff will implement the details of that.

americans may still return to the united states, legal residents may still return. they are being screened at 13 airports as we speak. if they are symptomatic no any illess, there is diagnose al response on site, but they're being encouraged to return and self-quarantine for 14 days. that started at midnight last night, and the secretary will detail that. in a few moments, i will ask dr. fauci to update us on cases as well as current cdc guidance for all americans. and all of you are all right aware this week we issued specific guidance for about a half a dozen at a time where we've seen community spread. we will touch briefly on the private/public partnership, and speak about what the data is showing at this moment about the

best guidance for every americans. 85% of the cruise lines announced they would be suspending cruise line operations you and chad wolfe will explain to you more. a great industry, american people love it, enjoy it and we'll ensure it's there for many years to come. as the president foreshadowed,

he's made a decision to suspend all travel to the united kingdom and ireland effective midnight monday night. chad wolf will describe the details of that, but again, as the president just suggested, all of our health experts presented information. dr. fauchi will reflect on though and made a unanimous decision to suspend all travel from the uk and ireland. that will be effective midnight, monday night, eastern standard time. again, americans in the uk or ireland can come home. legal residents can come home, but as the secretary will detail, they will be funneled through specific airports and process. we continue to emphasize that the risk of serious ilthere's for the average american remains low, but the data shows that seniors with underlying health conditions are the most vulnerable population seema in a

few moments will talk about the president's decision to restrict all visitors in auer nursing homes, but it's so important for all of us blessed having senior citizens in our family, like my 88-year-old mom. let's look after seniors with serious underlying health conditions and every american am them is practicing the best kind of hygiene and best kind of measures to ensure they're not exposed. we'll hear also from dr. carson and the surgeon general before we wrap up, and take some questions. with that, let me recognize dr. tony fauci for an update on where we stand. >> thank you very much, mr. vice president. just a quick reviews of the numbers late last afternoon. quickly globally, and then we'll

go to the united states. there are 129 countries that have involvement with coronavirus. globally the numbers are 132-plus thousand. so about 7500 of which are new case. importantly. this is something we mentioned over the last couple days, if you look at what was formally the main feeder of this coronavirus outbreak, china has 81,000 cases, but only 11 new cases, only seven new deaths. things have switched over now to outside china, which has industriered our decision, the decision of the president, to do the travel restrictions? other areas besides china. i think it's important to recognize that. when this is all over and it will end, you will see a curve of how the coronavirus outbreak evolved. it's not uni-dimensional or home

genous. we've seen it with china and starting to see it with korea. if you look at the domestic cases there's including the repatriations 50 deaths, 532 new cases and 9 new deaths, which means we have not reached our peat. we will see more cases and mower suffering, as the vice president said, among the vulnerables in our society. but built in that is a challenge, and the challenge is we still have the opportunity to influence the course of that curve. what we would like to see is, when this is all over, our curve was not like that, our curve was like this. so that's the reason why we're implementing the things we're talking about. finally, a comment about

yesterday. as a physician, which is what i primarily am, who takes care of patients every day before i was doing this, is that there are things that happened yesterday that i think will be really important to the people out there who are going to be impacted by this, but particularly by the physicians. that's the president declaring a state of national emergency. that will le -- the word i use is essential unshackling us from any of the things that would get in the way of our implementation, particularly the new powers given to the secretary of hhs, alex azar, and the depends within his agency, cms in particularly. particularly the nursing home situation. you saw the -- now it's all systems go. let's look forward. the responsibility is with us, but also with them.

as we get knowledge about new toasting, we'll alleviate the anxiety, but it will also give the individual doctor and individual citizen to know where they stand. >> the four things i have learned in the last two we're. we're at on you best when we come together in a bipartisan way, but secondly, what you may not have seen is the willingness of state and local governments to work together with the federal government in a seamless way, independent of party affiliation. the third thing has been the remarkable decrease of bureaucracy and red tape. finally the understanding that

in order to unleash and serve every american, we have to create public/private partnerships that bring together the extraordinary strength of our sector. now we have the full power. secondly we needed throughput test i testing finally we want to make sure on the recording and requiring recording, as we move

out of state and local laboratories, public health laboratories, as we move out into the hospitals and the communities, you we need to talk about the test results finally i want to conclude with something that's important. our results look similar to south korea to date, where 96-plus% we are with symptoms were negative. most respiratory diseases are contagious. if you have any respiratory symptoms, you want to protect yourself and treat yourself, but also protect others. when you have a illness, if it isn't allergies, it's contagious. use those proceed cautions across the board. when you have a negative test,

that means you're negative that day. that doesn't mean you couldn't get the virus spreading overnight. because it replicates in your if you have a negative test, make sure you're protecting others from whatever you do have, and rea sure you personally and you take -- i just want to conclude with a group of clients and patients that we were alps worried about. these are long-term survivors that have survived more than four decades with hiv. many of them still carry a level of immunocompromise.

please take care of yourself and make sure you're doing everything possible to not get exposed. secretary? >> first i want to thank kevin mccarthy and kevin brady and all the republicans on the house side who worked with us. i would also like to thank mvp mcconnell and his team for providing input. i especially want to thank speaker pelosi who literally available around the clock for the last three days, and also just want to thank the vice president and president who were very specifically involved in the details with us. >> i will just highlight some of the issues here. the first thing i would say is that it delivers what theobviously people who need to be quarantined, we want them at

home we want them to continue to get paid. we don't want them fearing not getting paid during this two-week period of time. it creates a very seamless process for people who work for small and medium-size businesses. we were also very sense tiff to small and medium-sized businesses. they will have many more people that may be on quarantine, and we didn't want them to bear the cost. so 100% of the cost for these limited situations will be taken care of by the federal government. finally we wanted to think, as i said, how do we deliver money to people in the quickest way. we didn't want to take six months to implement a system, so

we want to thank everybody at the i.r.s., they will issue tax credits for most employers they'll just deduckett the money from what they owe us, but for maul and medium sized businesses who have cash flow problems, we will issue guidelines, you can come to the i.r.s., get the money in advance so you don't have cash flow issues. parents mae be able to telecommute and take care of their kids but in certain circumstances parents have to be home to take care of youngster or elderly people, again we wanted to ensure they had the ability to do that, as ands vice president mentioned, for kids who received meals in schools, the schools are closed, we want to make sure those kids would

continue to get lunches paid for. i especially want to thank the tasks force. two things that were very important to us, there's a provision as it relates to mask. we can ramp up to 30 million masks a month and wanted to make sure there was free testing but also a provide that the states will communicate back. so we can get results quickly. i want to thank the house for being around late. we will be doing a technical correction monday morning. despite us working hard, we language agreed with the speaker, and kevin mccarthy, it didn't get into the bill. last night, kevin, the speaker and i agreed they would spoke and there will be a technical correction. i don't want anybody to come back on monday morning and be surprised by that. thank you to the president and vice president. let me also say, i would

describe this like a baseball game, the first inning was the $8 billion, this is the second inning. we have a lot more we need to do with congress. the speaker and i have acknowledged it. we will be working, starting immediately. the airlines industry in particular, no different than after 9/11 has a unique circumstance. the cruise industry, the hotel industry, i would say we have a lot more work to do, and we very much appreciate the bipartisan support and anticipate rolling things out quickly. >> thank you, mr. secretary. i know the president would want me to say again, thank you for all your efforts on behalf the the american people. acting secretary chad wolf will speaks about cruise lines. >> thank you. good afternoon. let me start off by thanking the partnerships that we have with our private sector partners both

in the airline industry. as the vice president and the president have outlined, we have issued new directives denying foreign nationals in certain affected countries from entry into the u.s. at the president's request, and again as the vice president outlined earlier, we had a number of major cruise lines that agreed to suspend outbound trips. and we have also given orders to a small handful to not sail. that began at midnight last night as well. today, again, as the vice president outlivan, the president made the decision to apply these restrictions to both the uk and ireland. as we move forward again, they part travel from certain foreign nationals who have been present

in the past 14 days. again that goes effective midnight monday. to be clear, they restrictions do not apply to u.s. citizens. the vice president mentioned that. i think we saw some reporting of how do u.s. citizens get back from europe quickly. they don't need to. they will be allowed back into the u.s. legal residents, foreign diplomats and other exemptions are outlined, can certainly travel back to the u.s. they will undergo medical screening and other questions when they arrive and they will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. they restrictions, just like the schengen zone, and do not apply to -- or shipping and the like. the president has taken

unprecedented action to protect the safety and security of the american public. these actions have never been taken before. let met thank the mope and women of the department of homeland security, who are working day and night to implement these restrictions and make sure we do this in an orderly and efficient process. we also continue to look at all measures on the table as we go forward. so thank you. >> i know the president would want me to reiterate your thanks and commendation to the dedicated men and women of dhs that are on the front lines of implementing these travel policies and doing an outstanding job. with that we're going to talk about the emphasis on seniors, and particularly the risk to seniors with seo serious

underlying health can this and the steps we're taking relative to nursing homes, inspections and guidance to froekt those most vulnerable. >> as the president and vice president said, we did take action last night to indicate that nursing homes should restrict all visitors immediately. there are some exceptions for end of life. the emergency declaration as dr. fauci said is also very important to our health care work force. there's a lot more flexibility that they have. for example they can have workers from across state lines, doctors and nurses that can help them. hospitals have the ability to move patients around, so that will be very helpful as they go forward. also with the nursing homes, we talked about this a couple weeks

ago, we had a call to action for all facilities to double down on infection control practices. we have come up with guidance for our surveyors. those inspections have already started. we've been doing those in washington state, california, new york, but we'll be increasing those over the coming weeks. thank you. >> thank you, seema. i'm mind of the fact there are likely many seniors in nursing homes we shouldo we could by watching, you let me assure you that we will make sure all the guidance about preventing the spread of infectious disease remains low, and the threat here, i want to be clear, as dr. fauci has said -- i might ask him to emphasize against, the

threat is not to senioring particularly or seniors who may be on certain medications, but seniors with underlying health conditions. we're taking the steps of prevented visit owes to protect the most vulnerable, but all seniors who may be watching from home who are otherwise healthy, maybe you can give them a word? >> yes. obviously when you're a senior individual like myself, my degree of protecting against infections is not as good as it was when you're 30. if you're an otherwise healthy senior, you have less of a risk than with an underlying condition. >> a couple more union dates updates. >> yes was a very big, very

important day for our nation ace providers and nation's patients in terms of the emergency declaration and in terms of the agreement with the house that secretary mnuchin negotiated. i want you all to understand some straight talk from the nation's doctor. we really need you all to lean into and prioritize the health and safety of the american people. no more bickering, no more partisanship, no more criticism or finger pointing. there will be plenty of time for that, but we need to hit the reset button and leaning forward that the health and saved of america people is the top priors. more people on how to protect themselves, to get the resources they need that we have unleashed. less stories looking in the past i want you all to understand this will get worse before it gets better, but we are making progress to flatten the curve.

we are making progress. three important points, number one, almost all people will recover. 98, 99% of people will recovered. we heard a great story on npr about an 89-year-old from a nursing facilities has recovered. now is the time for us to lean into that, and we are taking the measures to protect them at hhs, secretary azar and others are hard at work, but we need your help. social distancing and mitigation, they're not to protect the 30-year-old or the 20-year-old from getting coronavirus. they're to protect your nana. they're to protect your granddaddy, the people who you love in your lives, and we need your help. finally we all have a role to play.

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

lives on pause in order to try to help their fellow americans. it makes a big difference. just as importantly, i want to thank the private sector. there are so many in the private sector who have volunteered their services, who have they said up, who are willing to recognize that maybe they're going to take a bit of a financial hit, but they recognize that we have to create the appropriate environment so that everybody can succeed in this nation. what we are facing now is a significant threat. as a physician and a surgeon, i faced a lot of very, very complex problems. most of them we were able to overcome not so much because of me, but because of the fact that we had incredible people working

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

of prayer. you know, we've gotten away from prayer and faith a lot in this country. there's nothing wrong with godly principles, no matter what your faith is, loving your neighbor, caring about the people around you, developing your god-given talents to the utmost to become valuable to the people around, you having values and principles that govern your life. those are things that made america zoom to the top of the world in record time. those are the things that will keep us there, too. >> okay. questions. >> reporter: can you explain why secretary azar is not here? and also, can you indicate to us, one of the things the president rolled out yet was the discussion of google partners with the federal government, and later google said it was not aware this was going to be announced and that it was not prepared in the same way that

the president forecast to the country. where is the discrepancy about the website, google's involvement, and why is the health and human services secretary not present? >> secretary azar was at the task force meeting this morning. he's back to work. we -- we'll have a changing roundup for these presentations so we can get quickly to your question, but secretary azar is doing a remarkable job working seven days a week for the american people and making a difference. with regard to google and other private partners, i know google issued a statement that they are planning to launch a website. i think they gave a date of monday, march 16th. we're working literally around the clock, and i know that our whole team count be more

grateful to all the hard-working people at google working to put this website together. tomorrow at 5:00, we'll have a specific description tomorrow about when the website will be available, when the parking lot sites will be available for people to be tested. we're looking with state and local people to determine where that's best to roll out. a number of communities are already doing a great job meeting their needs, so we're trying to flow the resources. tomorrow night at 5:00. >> reporter: can you tell us whether -- also been tested for coronavirus, and can you or somebody else clear up the apparent discrepancy between the her issued from the white house physician's office just before midnight last night in which the physician concluded that you and the president did not need to be

tested. >> i know the president announced he has been tested. i'm going to speak immediately after the press conference with the white house physician's office. at this point, as of last night the white house figures's office had said that neither i nor mrs. pence had the symptoms or the contacts that would necessitate testing. i might ask dr. burkes to step up. as we expand testing across the country we want people to go to a website, there would be a questionnaire to determine whether a test is in order. but i'm going to spy to the white house physician right after this press briefing, and mrs. pence and i would be more than happy to be tested. >> thank you, mr. vice president, for mentioning that. as i told you in south korea there are 250,000-plus tests. about 96-plus percent were negative.

that was with symptoms. we're working hard integrating everything they have learned about symptoms and screening. that is going into the development of this website. it's not just a simple checkbox website. it will go through critical symptoms. that's we're giving ourselves the weekend. so far from lab corp. and quest, they're running about negative. when you tell someone they're negative, yes, it's reassuring, but the last thing we want is they're so reassures that think stop the critical practices. this epidemic will be stopped at the community level. it's americans, and their response, that will get us over this hump. yes, we'll have testing available s we'll have to know that many will be negative. you'll have to help us carry that message, that that means just at that moment you're

negative. you need to continue to do all of your protection and protection of others to ensure you remain there. >> reporter: follow-up on the google question about the website. google said the website they are developing is in the early stages and will be limited to the san francisco bay area. that seems very different from what you and the president are saying. >> google says he's planning to launch a website that will enable individuals to do a risk assessment and by scheduled for testing at pilot testing sites in the bay area with the goal of expanding to other locations. we're very grateful for that. the objective here is to have a website up very quick ly that first people in the area have been impacted. washington state, california, new york city. we have seen community spread in massachusetts and also florida.

so we want to make sure we're flowing the resore sources as well as the remote testing sites. that's a statement i was handed from them this morning. i want to tell you, folks, we're working 24/7 on this. we'll have specific details on the roll-out of this new public/private partnership at 5:00 tomorrow. >> reporter: thank you, mr. vice president. could you give us more details on the potentially financial assistance for the entertainment industry, for the cruise industry that the administration is looking at right now? if i may, on the temperature checks, were all the members of the cabinet, did they also have their temperatures checked? i see you nodding. is it also the white house policy that anyone, for instance, who comes into the oval office needs to have their temperature checked at the door? >> i would refer those questions to the white house physician's

office. i have been informed they're developing new protocols. i thought secretary mnuchin put it very well. we got the initial support from the congress. the house passed legislation to act on the president's priorities, but we understand the president's made it very, very clear, whether it's the airline industry, the cruise industries, that we expect to be coming back to congress to make sure that as we put the health of america first, as businesses make those hard choices to make the priority of the health of their employees or those they serve, that we're going to make sure they can come al way back. >> this is a unique circumstance. this isn't like the financial crisis where people doesn't know how long this was going to go on. let me just say there's no

question, because of the things that we're requesting people to do, there are parts of the economy that are shutting down or slowing down dramatically. as i said before and i said yesterday, we are committed to use all the tools and all the resources of the government to make sure that we protect the economy. many of the industries that you talked about, as i said, the airlines are the most often, because we have a unique circumstance where we have shut down travel. these are of strategic important, but we appreciate there's many industries that are impacted by this. i would also say there's many individuals. the president has talked about a stimulus program, whether through a payroll tax cut. we are 100% committed. i can assure you there's bipartisan support. we have a lot of tools, the fed has a lot of tools, some of these tools we don't have, will

be going back to congress. one of the reasons this bill was so important, this is just the second step on bipartisan support. we will make sure the economy recovers out of this. >> reporter: if i may follow up, how much more money would you like to see? i'm not talking about the previous bill. i'm talking about in the future for those industries. >> let me comment it would be premature to comment on specific money. i used the analogy we're in a baseball game in the early innings. we have a hundred different things we're looking at. yesterday the president announced on student loan, suspending interest. he announced using the strategic offensively reserve. this is a great time, we have a unique circumstance, having nothing to do with the coronavirus, part of our economy are very much impacted by the temporary low price of oil. so the president, the vice president, and everybody else is 100% committed. whatever we need to do, we will do.

>> reporter: mr. vice president, thank you so much, i have a question for you and doctor burkes. first for you, sir. your language has changed a bit, tweaked it a bit. early on you said there was a low risk for the average american to contract the coronavirus. >> right. >> recently your language has -- and the risk of a serious illness remains low. can you address the change? >> i'm going to let dr. burkes address that. >> reporter: if you don't mind, sir. >> everything we have is based on the information we have at the time. it's now a little more than a few weeks since we had or first instant of community spread in the united states.

letting the american people know the president took every step to prevent the coronavirus from coming into our country. i think you can't overstate how unprecedented and extraordinary the suspension of all travel from china was when the president made that decision before the end of january. the travel advisories with important of italy, south korea, the screening of personnel coming in. but let me allow dr. burks to address that. what we're going to do is tell the american people the best information we have to see to their own health. now, remember, all of the groups that are doing screening

are doing screening on, based on the profile of the epidemic to understand with the whole group that really doesn't get significant symptoms, yet we don't believe that uniquely people under 20 are naturally protected. are they ra group that are potentially asymptomatic and spreading the virus? because of that unknown, we don't want to say that the risk is low, when we don't know how low the numbers are for people who are asymptomatic. we have a good sense of those with symptoms, and those deeply impacted by this people of a certain ani -- we have been so laser focused on that.

the other side is how much transmission. until you really understand how many people are asymptomatic and asymptomatically passing the virus on, we think it's better for the entire american public to know the risk of serious illness may be low, but they could be potentially spreading the virus to others. that's why we're asking every american to take personal responsibility to prevent that spread. that's why we've made all these recommendations brought, even past people with symptoms or no symptoms, we need everybody to be taking precautions. are we looking at any sort of he was going to read the bill, he was going to speak to some members on the weekend. are you confident that the

senate will take up the legislation and deal with it quickly? >> the president expressed strong support for the legislation, received a very large bepartisan vote in the house, but we respect the process. we're grateful for the hope that leader mcconnell as expressed and we'll be working with members of the senate to unpack the bill for them and why the president endorsed it yesterday. we believe they should mo it expeditiously to passage. with regards to additional travel restrictions -- >> reporter: in the u.s.? >> as the president said, we are considering a broad range of measures, but no decisions have been made yet. i just want to assure the american people of two things. we're going to continue to follow the facts. we're going to continue to listen to the experts about recommendations. we'll bring as we did this week

when the president made the decision to suspend all travel from europe, we'll bring the best recommendations from our health care experts to the president, and i promise you and promise the american people this president is going to continue to take every step necessary to protect the american people and put the health of the american people first, and together we'll get through this. thank you. >> reporter: help those in public housing to end this -- all right. everyone, that was one long and detailed and meandering at times trying to hit the many points we need to hear in terms of what the task force is doing there. hello to all of you. i'm alex witt here in new york. we have passed the tap of our hour. we've been wanting this update from the white house. the president speaking as well. he kicked off this last hour. he spoke about the pandemic. the headlines perhaps from what

he had to share confirming he has been tested for that virus. >> and we want to keep people away for a while. you know, when it gets better -- well, people are going and buying things. by the way, i had my temperature taken coming into the room. >> reporter: so did we. good. let's compare. good, that means we're all looking good. i also took the test last night, and i decided i should based on the press conference yesterday. >> reporter: do you know the results? >> i don't know, whatever it takes, a day or two. they send it to a lab. >> reporter: mr. president you've been sending mixed messages. you shook hands with people yesterday, talked about 5 million tests being available, has your own sense of urgency involved? and are you changing what you're doing? >> no, this has been urgent

right from the beginning. you know that. i chosed up our country to china. >> reporter: why are you shaking lands? >> it becomes a habit. i was a non-handshaker for the most part. i never believed it, but you become a politics, people come up and shake your hands -- are. >> reporter:, with the -- >> take it nice and easy. just relax. they put their hand out. it's a natural reflex, and we're all getting out of it. all of us has this problem. you probably tend to just shake it. we're all getting out of it. shaking hands is not a great thing to be doing, i agree, but people put their hand out, you don't think about it. people are thinking about it more and more. we have to think about t somebody said yesterday i touched the microphone. i was touching it because we

have different height people, because they're going to have to touch it. they wouldn't be able to speak in the mic. they said oh, he touched the microphone. if i don't touch it, somebody has to. so i might as well be the one to do it. we all have to get away from it. getting away from shaking hands is a good thing. possibly that's something that comes out of this. maybe people shouldn't le shaking hands for the long term. we have flu in our country that kills on average 36,000 people a year. 36,000 people. you know, that's something we're not talking about. as of this moment we have lost 50, possibly a little less than 50, but probably 50 people. we're going to try to keep that number as low as possible. among those dizzy tails shared, in the u.s. there are at least 2,338 cases.

the only grate par is the state of west virginia, which has yesterday to document its first kay. we know 51 people have died. a death in new york city today, that's where mayor bill de blasio is holding a briefing. we have monitoring that and will bring you information from that when it becomes available. first, i want to introduce my panel and get their reaction to the president announcing that he has been tested last night, here on the set i'm joined by dr. natalie azar. joe safir, and dr. erwin is the director of the national center for disaster preparedness. on the far end, dr. sadiba, professor at nyu.

with a welcome to all of you when you get to the many, i mean thousands of e-mails and questions they want you to an. what i would like is your reaction that the president has tested. i know, joseph we were speaking about that he has yesterday to hear the results, he says. >> it takes around two hours completely, and i would think if the president was tested, it would be a two-hour turn around on the assay. i'm surprised that there are no results yet. >> with regard to the president being tested, is there something he should have been tested. >> i think the answer is complicated, because he is the president of the united states. >> right. >> even once we start to get more tested available, there

still needs to be some rationale for testing and some restrict n restriction. we want to take into account their exposure history, symptoms and underlying medical history. over the age of 65 places you in a higher risk category and to pinchal exposure. with that peripheral exposure, i don't know that they would necessarily be candidates for testing. >> do you concur? dr. azar isn't say it wasn't wise, but i think it's something that he should have done even sooner? given the people with whom he's interacted. >> i may be in the minority here, but i think all the presidential candidates should be tested regularly. they have jobs that require a a lot of contact.

and i just think it's a matter of prudence yes, i totally believe in the guidelines. doctor varma, is there a hesitation you find from a psychiatric point of view, people go in for testing, they must be anxious feeling if they may even need to do so. can you categorizes how you approach this? >> yes are. a lot of people who have health anxiety to begin with may find themselves wanting to get answers. when i'm watching this press conference, the accountability is really important. i do think we need to normalize and contextualize that we need

answers. there's definitely a psychological element that we need to provide, and we need to feel like the leaders are doing something for us. i don't think we should be promoting scare and fear about wanting to get tested. i do want to go to ken delaney, our national security and intelligence reporter for nbc news. i'm looking at a piece i wrote. i'm going to have you elaborate on the dizzy tails. mismanagement, missed opportunities, how the white house bungel d the response. >> they seemed to be taking this much more seriously than at least the president was a week ago. a week ago he was expressing skepticism about it. that misinformation and the president's posture is part what was we looked ache when we were trying to analyze the trump

administration's response to this outbreak. going back to december 31st, the first english language report about the outbreak in china. then you go to january 6th, 7th, 8th, when the cdc first flagged there was an outbreak that looked akin to the sars virus in 2003. we found they had disbanded the pandemic on the u.n. cowens council. president trump did not have those experts around him in the white house. you heard him talk today about the ban on travel from china. that took place at the end of january. there were many weeks between the time that disease broke out and the time of travel that the disease had time to spread around the globe. travelers around the country were bringing it to the united states. that's part of the mismanagement

and missed opportunitiesed other issue is the lack of widespreads testing. it can't all be blamed on president trump, but there was a lack of urgency. we have no idea in the united states to what extent this virus has spread. then lastly president trump himself has been a fount of misinformation. at one point he said anyone who wants a test can get a test. that's not true. he as been down playing the severity of it. today he seems to be taking a different tack. that's good news, but it's still our responsibility to look at how we got here and what opportunities were missed. >> so, ken, essential what you're saying is that the white house lack of staffer, lack of prone preparation with regard to

testing, that there was beyond that, did you find a sense of not wanting to acknowledge the severity of this? was anybody in the white house reticent about doing so? >> the president himself. that's what we were told by people involved in the process, he was continually pushing back. in fact when a cdc official bluntly told reporters that this virus was going to spread in the united states and change our lives, president trump was furious. he was talking about muzzling that person. he continued to say in public this was essential the message was this is no big deal. they continueded to have gatherings, for example at mar-a-lago, when ked knee was host po people who tested positive for the virus. to be fair. it wasn't president trump. it was fox news putting out that message to millions of people that you don't have to worry about this, this is a media plot, a democratic plot. it's unclear to what extent that contributed to the spread of the

virus. it wasn't a good thing, alex, for sure. >> ken delany, an eight-page very dense article. we appreciate you sharing the headlines. joins you is mayor suarez, who tested positive at interacting with the brazili brazilian -- this was not at mar-a-lago. i want to confirm that. >> this was at an event on monday and tuesday in a greenroom. and to be fair it's different to pinpoint how or where i cracked the virus. when i sauce a picture of myself in the same room with that person and was able to confirm was in close approximate imwith that with person, ib gan an immediate quarantine.

the department of health reached out and asked me to go in to get tested. i was somewhat asymptomatic. yesterday, which was the day after, i was notified that i tested positive, even though many people who are close to me or have been in close contact, thankfully have tested negative. winches el that's good news. can you tell me what sort of things earp do to battle covid-19? >> so it's day two for me. thankfully i've not gotten a fever. i've been hydrating, obviously eating. i tried to get some rest last fight. i'm obviously quarantined. i'm doing a person blog on social media on twitter and instagram, detailing the effects of the virus, how it affects me. obviously i'm 42 years old, relatively healthy. part of what i want to do is sort of give people hope and try to reduce anxiety, that if you

do get the virus they can at least see, you know, what i'm going through and what i'm experiencing to try to reduce the level of panic. >> okay. self-quarantining is supposed to last about 14 days. what are your plans? >> my situation is different, because i tested positive. nim it in a different protocol. the protocol is to see how long my symptoms are, and also getting through the quarantine period, they were i'll probably have to test at least two potential times, but yesterday was a whirlwind day. obviously being with my family, having to announce it to the public and having a continuing operation plan for the city of miami, we had multiple council

members that were also question and answer teen. our chief of police, our manager, so we should know the test results of those today. >> you feel fine at this point, right? you have no symptoms whatsoever? no sore throat, no runny nose. >> i do have a bit of a runny nose. i did seep a little less. i felt achy. i took 500 milligrams of tylenol last night, today, but other than that, i feel pretty asymptomatic. >> we feel very good about that. miami mayor francis suarez, best of luck. thank you for your candor. i'm going to analyze everything you have said with my illustrious panel. asymptomatic, went through it because of he felt he should. he was cognizant of those

arrange hem who had been affect ed. natalie is that something that anybody should do if you find that you've been in a picture with someone or in a room with someone? then what? >> here's the problem. in reality we would want to test people with symptoms. >> and he doesn't have anything. >> so there was a really interesting study out of germany that hasn't been peer reviewed, but experts are interpreting it with some excitement, because it gave us insight into exactly how much infectious-ness is early in the disease. they found people very mildly symptomatic had incredible amounts of what's called viral shedding, and it was incredibly efficient really early on in the disease. in fact they said 1,000 times more efficient at transmission that is sars was. >> so you can be asymptomatic

and transmitting the disease? >> we've always known that, but let's concentrate on early and mild, mild symptoms. i think that's really important. that paints a picture of this sluggish public health response. ideally we would like to be testing people if we know that in fact their capacity to transmit is quite high. we're going to take a break, but with regard to playing catch-up, you were somewhat critical about the initial response. is it too late to catch up? can we play catch-up? >> we can play mitigation, and we should do both. contain where we can and mitigate where we can, but containment will rely on the

testing. we have gone with two new nests between two companies. the way you get sped through that process is by how many tests you have done and what is the data. >> the w.h.o. test by par is the one districted around the world, the most daughters and considered the gold standard. we're going with two new companies to rush them through. that probably should have been done in january rather than march. there's nothing i can give as an excuse for that, but it is what it is. sit tight, everyone. we're going to pay a couple bills with a short commercial break. we've been going through all the questions you sent us. going the questions you sent us. i can breathe again! ahhhh! i can breathe again! ughh! vicks sinex. breathe on.

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my son, is he okay? your son's fine. thank you. there was something in the road ... it's okay. you're safe now. i'm back with our panel for rapid-fire questions. lenore asks -- just what are the underlying conditions that make

seniors more vulnerable? doctor, do you want a crack at that one? >> older age, lung problems of any type, dibeets are a risk factor, but the other big one is we have lots and lots of americans being treated that affect their immune condition, and the diseases themselves that could affect a person's ability to respond appropriately. those are the kinds of things, any other questions, check with your doctors. if you're in the age group and you have a preexisting medical condition, check with the health depend, the web sites our your doctor. here's our next question -- i have lymphoma. therefore with people not knowing for two weeks to have

the virus, is it possible for people to donate blood and be infected and not know it. >> the american red cross on their website is urging folks to actually donate. they're concerned we may actually require or have a higher requirement for blood. there is no past evidence that respiratory viruses are transmitted via our blood supply and no evidence that the coy individual is transmitted via the blood supply. if you get the virus, can you get it a second time, or are you immune? >> typically with any virus you get some kind of temporal community. humans have never been exposed to this particular strain. what i can say, even if you get covid-19, it will not protect you against the seasonal coronavirus that causes colds, or that won't cross-protect you

from covid-19. the fact that people know coronavirus has been part of flus -- >> not flu. but other issues we've had before. this is entirely separate. >> it is new to human beings, as far as we know, and new to science. we didn't know about this particular strain of coronavirus until it emerged in humans in wuhan. once a person becomes ill, how long are they contagious? >> it's sort of like the mayor was telling us from miami. once you are positive and especially if you have symptoms, you're waiting until you no longer have symptoms and you'll be retested at least once, i guess probably twice at this point before you're cleared medically. three times. >> and also when you're doing those tests, they found that people who had very, very mild disease that they looked like they were probably clear at about ten days after symptoms started, but there's a distinct

between -- they're still tests positive when they do a throat swab. that is just testing genetic material. whether that can actually grow virus in a dish are two very different thickets. the take home is some of these people are testing positive for weeks and weeks, because they checking genetic material, they may not actually be contain on this, but can't let them go. the mayor was informing not only the public bus hi family and loved once about you fact he has covid-19. talk about the strain that puts on mental health, for the family and loved ones. i have read case where is they share the news with family and they burst into tears with fear. >> and then keeping their distance and stigma advertitizi.

if you're living in close quarters, an apartment and peel. here's a question. do i need to sanitize food, fresh produce is handled by a lot of people along the food chain, not to mention market employees and shopping customers. who wants to answer that one? >> i'm happy to take a shot at it. we keep getting the question how long can the virus last on surfaces. the way that i should answer this from this point forward is pretend everything is infectious and wash everything religiously. and i'm not saying that to make people paranoid but that's the only thing that's going to ultimately keep you safe and sound of mind. make sure you wash fruits and vegetables. natalie had some data on boxes and things like that from amazon. >> there was a good study a couple of days ago that showed it could live 4 hours on copper,

24 hours on cardboard and two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. but again, existing and being found on does not necessarily equate with infectious. >> we're going to speak with someone right now who has been on the front lines of all of this. joining me, seattle mayor jenny durki durkin. what you heard from the news conference today, from the vice president and those on the coronavirus task force, how did ha help you in your attempts to battle covid-19 in your city? >> thanks for having me on. i was very pleased this week that the president finally declared a national emergency so he can unlock some of the fema dollars and some regulations will be relaxed. seattle has been leading the way on this. our region, it's been great having a unified voice with governor inslee, executive constantine and myself and other leaders making sure we give the

public the true information and take action. but we have some real shortages here that we're hoping that we can get fixed very quickly. and that other cities across the country can benefit from what we learn. we need testing, testing, testing. we still don't have enough testing available for us to have the right health care response for our community. i've got dozens of firefighters who have been pulled out of duty because they were exposed. we need to get them tested and taken care of if they have illness, and if not, give them the time to recover so they can get them back on the front lines. we also need equipment for our hospital workers. we are running dangerously low on masks and gowns and that type of thing. so we want to make sure that we get our front line health care workers and first responders protected and taken care of to support our health care system and then we need economic relief for our workers and our small businesses. >> mayor durkin, the $50 billion

situation the president has freed up those kinds of monies, are you confident you will get what you need now as a result of that? >> the vice president's office has been reaching out regularly to us. we've given them our shopping list and working with the governor, as you know, the aid flows in different ways. but we've got to get it on the ground as quickly as possible. so we have people working on it but we also are -- i will tell you one of the most inspiring things has been the breakout of kindness and the breakout of people trying to make the world a better place. we have businesses and community organizations, and when schools were canceled people came together to make sure kids got fed. we're making sure our senior citizens can be taken care of. so even in this very tragic and tough haul that we're in this region, we're also seeing people be kind and compassionate and that gives me the inspiration that knows we can get through this. >> i should note that i learned while watching rachel, my

colleague last night on her show, that you have spearheaded a conversation with some 100 plus mayors across this country based on your experience. what is the top piece of advice you have given them? >> the top piece of advice is, number one, take the actions now to limit gatherings and have people work from home. if you don't have the numbers in your community, it's only because you're not testing or seeing them yet. it is coming, if it's not there already. and the number one thing we have to do is limit the spread of this infection so we protect our health care and health care system and don't overwhelm it. number two, set up a testing system as quickly as you can and triage that quickly. but be looking for those places for resiliency both for the economically vulnerable and the people who have vulnerable health care situations. if you really try to work to protect those things. the other thing we're seeing is government has to be much more agile. we've done more in two weeks than sometimes governments do in a year. for example, today i'm signing an order that will prohibit any

evictions. >> mayor jenny durkin of seattle. you've been on the front lines. we're proud to have had you and have you share your expertise and experience and come with a positive attitude. best of luck. we'll be watching closely. >> thank you. >> with all of you, i am out of time, but is there anybody who is a big pet lover here? there are people that are concerned about whether you could get covid-19 from your pet. >> the reason we say that is there has been a dog that has tested positive out of hong kong for covid-19 and the owner had covid-19 as well. >> so you think it was -- >> we do not know if they can pass it on to other people. so out of abundance of caution, the dog is in quarantine and we're advising people. >> the dog isn't sick and there's no evidence that pets transmit to humans. it was probably from licking the owner. i didn't need to show you that. >> we do appreciate all the insights. dr. nat dee aczar, joseph fair,

dr. varma, you guys thank you so much. i know it was somewhat abbreviated because we had the white house news conference, but our viewers are very grateful and i am as well. so what the president said about getting tested for coronavirus and getting his temperature before today's briefing. coming your way at the top of the hour. ♪ ♪ so chantix can help you quit slow turkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems,

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in new york, a very busy saturday and a lot of news to get to. in just the last hour, president trump and vice president pence held a briefing at the white house where we learned quite a bit, including that the president has been tested for the coronavirus. we also learned that all travel from ireland and the united kingdom to the united states will be suspended. the state of new york with more than 500 reported cases of the disease has reported its first coronavirus death in new york city. right now worldwide there are nearly 150,000 confirmed cases and more than 5,600 deaths with rapidly rising numbers in places like italy which has seen a big spike in deaths in the last several days. we have reporters covering the angles from the economic impact to the government response here at home. we're going to get to all of that in just a moment. the trump administration revealed new details in its fight against coronavirus. mike pence, the vice president,