good day, everyone, it is high noon in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to everyone. we have breaking news this hour, as we are expecting an update from the coronavirus, we'll bring to to you live. the other breaking headlines this hour, there are 19,144

confirmed cases of coronavirus across all 50 states. the death toll climbing now to 247. new york governor andrew cuomo announcing that new york has over 10,000 cases of coronavirus. that is an increase of 3,000 since just yesterday. governor cuomo also says new york is taking more tests per capita than china or south korea at this time. threat -- at least 75 million americans are it under virtual lockdown today. several others states are expected to do the same. in florida beaching up and down the coast are shut down. any minute now we're expecting a briefing from local officials there on the closures. for the latest right now kelley o'donnell is at the white house, josh letterman on capitol hill,

shannon is in d.c., stephanie ruhle, and natalie azar will join me as well. to you, kelly, first of all. what do we expect today, and we have not yet, however, the president said, see you tomorrow that of course is a vice president leading it. other top officials who have now become very familiar to the american people here over the last few hours at the white house. so they've been doing meetings behind the scenes, preparing the latest information, and then we would expect the scheduled time now for this public briefing is now 12:30. we've been 208d to expect updates on areas like testing, and how u.s. manufacturers are taking part in some of the needed supplies.

those are, of course, key topics on everyone's minds as governors around the country are saying they're having a hard time locating masks and ventilators, gowns and other equipment needed for medical personnel. in addition, we'll be asking questions about where things stand with the rampup of testing that's occurred over the last many days as more tests have become available. and we'll look for all the other key points that are important for the public to know about this. of course, some of those questions deal with the president's direction responsibility, and some of them have to do with the expertise of those people standing alongside him. we heard from the via twitter already, when he was talking about the combination of medicines that are approved for other time that could be used for some help for patients of coronavirus governor cuomo also

talked about wanting to have a trial involving as many as 10,000 doses of that combination of medicines to try to get some of the scientific understanding that would make the use of these drugs more than just a hope and a desire his tweets saying, people are dying move fast. that's part of what has become part of the national conversation here. we'll be looking to others on where that actually stands and

what is possible. >> potential treatments, mel things to treat coronavirus, those seem to be the three big topics you have outlined. they're working on an agreement to offset some of the -- josh, what are you hearing about the negotiations? are any lawmakers actually there? >> some of them are here in the u.s. capital this morning. mitch mcconnell has been here. we've seen other senators coming and goods as well as officials such as treasury secretary steven mnuchin and others. the big headlines larry kudlow saying price tag for this piece

of legislation could top $2 trillion. that's roughly 10% of the gross domestic product, the size of our economy senators missed a deadline of midget need last night, but they're trying to do that today. we don't know yet if they'll come to an great today, but some of key issues have to do with the cash payments to americans that we've been talking about how do you -- as well as a payroll tax holiday for small businesses. as we wait to see, alex, whether they could come up with a deal. the key messages all morning is just this sent, to make a

difference for people who are struggle i struggling the days and weeks ahead? >> josh, thank you for that. joining me now, shannon petty, senior white house reporters for nbc news digital. in your latest article, you wrote that trump's coronavirus claims haven't matched response reality. talk about what you mean by that as of yesterday? >> something that reporters are going to press on. my good colleague kelley o'donnell will be in the chairs today doing that for nbc, as we just heard from her. this is a recurring theme, the many overselling what he's doing. we saw him tweeting about a drug that he says one of the biggest game changers potentially, an

experimental treatment. he's talked about a ship that would be off the coast of new york, that's currently weeks away from being ready to be there. he talked about the website roll-out that would be available soon and give the impression to people across the country could find a testing location. that site is valuable, but available for only two counties in california we're now talking about a public health crisis, where this is actually giving people false hope or a false sense of security to some extent. if people think there is a treatment out there, they're going to be going to doctors when in fact this is something that's still in early-stage testing. so that's a risk here amend that's a criticism the president

has been getting from democrats. when dr. anthony fauci, for example, even to some degree vice president mike pence come back and softly counter what the president has said, where do you think ears are tuned right now? >> will, it just creates, one, confuse among the public, which is scared, and experiencing something like none of us have experienced in our lifetime. it creates confusion, but also the president risking his credibility here, when he has to be, then, countered by the top infectious disease, and even hess own vice president is putting his credibility at risk. so far inside the white house we've seen good poll numbers that seem to suggest that the

majority of americans in an abc poll today approve of the president's handling of this. that seemed to have bolster spirit in the white house. 65% of people having confidence in the president's handling of a crisis seasonal exactly a great number. we saw numbers like 65%, 70% of president obama at the same tight. okay. shannon, thank you for that. i want to bring in stephanie ruhle. i'm glad you're here to join us. you may be dealing with this number already, josh letterman saying we're looking a potentially a 2 trillion -- put that han in perspective, and what you are expecting from what we need to hear about the economic stability in this country, steph.

>> so i realize that's a monster number, but what we need to realize is we basically had a healthy u.s. economy. through no fault of their own a couple weeks ago, the u.s. economy basically started to get ground down to a halt. that's where we are. thus star in terms of economic stimulus, we have learned that the gone was to pay they for the most part that make up to $99 those a year. and 50 billion is what the airlines industry was, but those aren't the only industries impacted. we know there's been an expansion of small business loans, but think about that. do you realize t.a.r.p. was just a handful of businesses? we'll have hundreds of thousands of small businesses now seeking unemployment and loans. our system is not going to be

able to take this. we need a much bigger economic stimulus. that's what we're hear from more complicits even in the last few days, thing about this. 67% of american businesses are small businesses. that's companies with 500 people or less. those businesses do not have the liquidity to take them another two, three months without making money. we're very close to april 1st. come april 1st, those businesses owe that creditors. they have to pay their rent. unless landlords and other creditors will offer some sort of forbearance, those businesses will be filing for bankruptcy. if we see that happen, you'll have scores of filings, a run on the court system like we have never seen. that of course will lead to throwing and thousands into millions of layoffs, which will only create more panic and economic uncertainty. when you say 2 trillion as mind

numbing, it is, about what we're experiencing now 57d the measuring whiff to take to stop the spread of corona, that's changing the life as we know it. more and more people are sag saying a month-long economic holiday, where the government steps in. >> rear seo we're talking below the -- you mentioned the airlines. i'm thinking tangentially related to them, hotels, what about retail? what about restaurants? i mean, is there any consensus out there as to how long generally speaking that these trying can't survive without declaring bankruptcy that you mentioned? >> shorter than you think. i promise all of the industries you mentioned and so many other don't have the cash to last that long. it's easy to say the landlords simply need to give them another

month, not all landlords are big business. our companies in america run just like we do, on credit. they don't have a long lead time. they also don't have visibility. we don't know if it will last a month, three months. some have said it could be 12 months. the former economic adviser who actually is coming back, kevin hassert, if people have to stay home for six months, this won't be a recession, it will be a depression. larry kudlow saying, yes, we have to do more, it's so much more. it's so much more than just the airline industry. more than we bargained for, stephanie, thank you very much. the coronavirus outbrack, is dealing a major blow to the businesses, with several major cities ordering millions of people to stay inside. as we talked about, the stores, the restaurants, retail industry, all of it, hotels have

been forpsed to close their doors leaving thousands in their industry and beyond without jobs. joining mess from new york city, nbc's lindsey rizer. it looks way too empty behind you. you have someone cleaning, but nobody to clean for. >> reporter: yeah, it is very eerie out here. >> frank owns five of these locations. one had to close near world trade because that whole maul area closed, but he said we are entering spring, the weather will be warming up, his business should be up a%, instead it's down 90% just in the last week.

he can only afford -- he's trying to have promotions to encourage people to come into the doors. that does that mean? 20% off online orders. people can go online and order directly from the web side. he's also offering, all right, it was a tongue in cheek, but if you order a bowl of poke, you get a roll of toilet paper. he says people were kind of joking about it at first, but yeah, all right, i'll take that. you never know. another thing that they're doing, health care workers, to really reward them, they come in, show their i.d., and they'll get a free bowl. come in on a lunch break before or after their shift, just a way of saying thank you to all the hard-working people on the front lines. there is some help for the

restaurant. governor cuomo said the state is barring all the evictions for 90 days, also no penalties or interest will be charged for anybody who pays their sales tax late. i asked frank, are those measures enough? and he said, you know what? we would appreciate some rent relief, and also some kind of it no-interest or low-interest loans. i account frank, how long can you keep going like this? you mentioned you see nobody in here behind me, we've seen some delivery people cup and go, and how long can you operate? >> he said a few months, but he said i'm not even worried about profits. i'm just trying to keep the doors open, these people employed. he said his workers run the gamut from people just out of high school, to people who are lifelong service industry employees. alex, we're going to be monitoring things outside

sweetcatch, but as you said, not a whole lot of traffic going on here. >> just for a glimmer of hope, it looks like within patron inside. can you see if that's a patron or somebody working there? >> reporter: these are all people associated with the business. i was hoping. lindsey reiser, thank you. anymoment aca news conference from the white house, plus a reality check on how much help the states are getting. i'll hear from the governor of delaware, next. r from the goverf delaware, next life isn't a straight line.

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we are giving you a live look at the briefing room, where the task force is expected to head there in eight, nine minutes from now. we believe the president will be there speaking to the nation, we'll bring it to you live as

well. also states are dramatically ramping up. ilnoil issue says state at-home order clover night impacting 123 milli million people. now several other states are expected to do the same. governor karney, thank you so much for being here. sir, as you see more states issues the stay-at-home orders, are you considering doing the same in your state? >> yeah, absolutely, we are considering that. >> yesterday, i went down to visit the beach communities in southern delaware, and what i saw was just disturbing, people not really paying attention to the need for social distancing,

staying six feet away from one another. so today we're closing the beaches and preparing an amendment to the executive order to shut down businesses and tighten up restrictions at the beginning of next week. we need to be consistent with what's happening in the region. i spoke with governor wolf in pennsylvania, governor murphy in new jersey, and governor hogan to the south and west of us. we need a consistent set of requirements and restrictions, and we're looking at that to be in line with what's happening across our borders. let me get, a lot of spring breakers? is that what you were finding? >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, it was a beautiful day in delaware yesterday, sunny, 80 degrees. folks were out just having a good time with families, but they were way too close. it was a party kind of atmosphere. i went down there. i had a sense that was going to be a challenge, and the beach

community town officials were communicating back to us. if you think about emergency management, it's executed at the local level, managed at the state level and our governors are stepping up, and then supported at the federal level. it was important for me to get out there and talk to local leaders. that's what we did, and we're closing the beaches today. >> so what about the announcement you made that a new statewide plan will be there to ensure that people with coronavirus symptoms have access to both safety and efficient testing. can you tell us a bit more how that will work? >> clearly we weren't doing enough testing a week, two weeks, three weeks ago. we know that here in delaware and nationally. we didn't have a good picture of infection rates. so there's a lot more test kits available.

so people with come and get an order. we direct them to a primary care physician, and if they don't have one, to one of the hotlines. will we be testing a lot more people? which means we'll see a lot more positive cases. people can expect that. we always know we're a couple days behind what is actually happening on the ground. governor, quickly as we away this briefs from the white house, what is it that you need from the federal government? are you getting all that you need. >> the big thing is, no, we're not getting everything we need. you mentioned it on the call, and we heard it from governor cuomo and other governors is the protective gears.

we can't stand up additional icu units without the staff to do that. they had need the protective gear. same with law enforcement, they could be out on the streets, parole and probation officers can't be visiting folks without protective gear. ventilators is a big issue and a limiting factor. testing kits that's starting to ramp up. it's the protective gear wee need as was indicated earlier on the program. >> govern op, economically speaking, how is the state of delaware faring? have you had to close a number of businesses as well? >> absolutely. bars and restaurants are all closed. we have asked all folks that can work from home remotely are doing so. we're going to issuing another amendment to tighten down to

essential businesses only being open. we've had a dramatic impact on those small businesses. just to give you an idea, in two days we surpassed the unemployment filings that was the measure for all time, 10,000 per month. we passed in two days just this week, and we're beyond that as well. we're seeing lots of people who are needing unemployment support, who are out of work. businesses aren't obviously having revenue coming in. it's a dire situation for a lot of small businesses. the action at the federal level has helped. we've come up with programs ourself, no-interest loans. i understand there's a program coming out in a federal package that's a loan that turns into a grant for small businesses. otherwise we're going to have a problem will. >> governor carney, thank you

for your time. thank you, sir. for all of you, we are eight wags this coronavirus task force news conference. i want to bring in our medical experts now to talk about things now, dr. natalie azar is an nbc news contributor and fika chima doctor, are we actually doing enough to start flattening that curve we've been talking about? >> you know, alex, to the point of the communication that's coming from the president. it just needs to be consistent and needs to be accurate. you know, just speaking personally i can tell you there's been a shift even within

new york hospitals from the last week where there was an expansion of testing offered to those individuals who didn't immediate criteria for hospitalization, to now we're finding out that, you know, hot spots like california and new york, by the end of next week may not being doing that and only offering to individuals who are sick enough to be hospitalized. not just because of the availability of the tests, which are clearly inadequate, but also because every time a test is performed, the person performing the test has to wear personal protective equipment. so are we testing young otherwise healthy individuals because we want to know from an epidemiological point of few to safely say to those people you do need to isolate, but we're testing folks who it may not change their management.

and for those individual sick enough. >> i'm going to get to you she's standing by for us at the white house. any indication of when this briefing is supposed to start? as you sagely mentioned before, they may say a 12:30 start, but it often is late. >> reporter: no update so far on the timing. they moved it from noon. what we do notice is there are video screens that are part of the backdrop today. we have used those in previous briefings where the administration wants to pit out information that can be in sort of a visual tool.

the topic and specifics to be determine. >> and a short time before we convened for our places here in the briefing room, we were checked again. that presumption, of course, is just making sure no one shows a fever if they're in the presence of the president, the vice president or the other members of the task force, and certainly a benefit to all of us, who are doing lots of extra cleaning and -- this briefing room has not been wiped down as much as in its entire history. there's a positive side to the temperature checks, as we wait for the updates from officials today. >> very curies. last saturday, about a week ago, there was one journalist who was not allowed to enter the briefing room because of that temperature check. anyone turned away today? >> reporter: not that i am aware of. we have also seen how different

news organizations have put limitations on how many people they're sending, so we have a smaller footprint than we typically would. of the 49 seats, we're going one other step. it's not six feet apart, but more social distancing and spacing. because of that the news organizations chosen to be here have a greater bush to make sure we're asking a wide range of questions, having many questions available, so the public gets the most out of this briefing. so we're all in some ways effectively working under our pool rules. where we work on behalf of our colleagues for the benefit of the public. they say we're all in this together, clearly you are working collaboratively. kelly. thank you so much.

you'll let us know when the members of the task force get to the podium. thank you. i want to ask dr. azar one more question as a follow-up. it was percolating in my mind. not sure if this is a completely pc question, natalie, but when you talk about those who need those tests if somebody has a mild case or if somebody is curio curious, they're showing some symptoms, but they are not severe, do they need to get a test to confirm it? does it come into almost a mental health issue, that they want to know they had it, does it watt all affect the tway they would tre-- way they would trea themselves at home? >> that's a great question, alex. i think we're getting to the point now where, you know, doctors and health care professionals taking care of

patients are saying if you come in with a flu-like illness as flu season is not receding, you can assume that you probably have covid-19, and if you're otherwise reasonably healthy and not elderly, the advice is to stay at home to isolate and manage your symptoms the way you do with flu, which is rest, fluids and perhaps fever reducers. but we're sacrificing that epidemiological data there, and we have to understand that. the people who do need the tests are in people for whom the positive or negative result will make a difference potentially in their.. will they be a candidate for a compassionate use? will they require more intensive treatment in the hospital? for young, otherwise healthy people, it might be night to know yes or no, but sometimes if

you're testing too early, you may miss it. it could be a false negative. even if your test is negative, assume you probably had it and isolate. >> and again complicated, because the flu season is definitely out there. hard to division. fika, this question to you, the president tweeted earlier that the hydroxyc chloroquine could be by a game changer. do we know if it works, and is it it's too early, is it dangerous to make a statement? >> i'm going to make the statement at this time there's no proven or approved treatment of this infection. the recommendations and mainstay of treatment is just supportive care, which means getting oxygen, mechanical ventilation for those who need it, and

taking measures to correct any abnormalities in the lab. however, there are some game changesers. the once we have seen is early with this drug chloroquine, and another drug used in the treatment of lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. there are early studies, that it decreases the shedding of the vire and may decrease the number of days you may be ill with this infection. there's still a lot that we need to learn a study and have some complete answers. everything is just early on, but we have some promise with this medicati medication, we need to follow up, for sure. we will take you to the

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the briefing. originally noon, moved back to 12:30, now scheduled in about three, four minutes, if indeed it's not rescheduled. so we're going to stay with this, everyone. the stock market is finishing off its worst week since the

financial crisis of 2008,eneding the week with a 17.3% loss. the latest sell-off wiping out the gains from one day earlier. anthony scare mariucciist joins me, founding member of skybridge capital. shannon pettypiece is joining us again, and josh joins us from capitol hill. also, you know, anthony, you know that room very, very well. let me get your analysis of the market, anthony. it is clear that the market remains fearful of coronavirus. what happens next upst. is that even a fool's question to ask. can you even tell? >> what is happening is a

deleveraging cycle throughout the markets. we've had terrific bull market performance, frankly since the president's inauguration, so what people end up doing is they borrow money on top of the equity gains. all of that is unwinding now in the market. unfortunately what we're learning is this is the aftermath of the volker rule. the commercial banks are not allow to do put up any principal capital to speak of anymore, so the liquidity in the markets is just not there, which is why the fed has been injecting liquidity. so they're trying to shore up the banking system, but many money managers are left over-levered. so we're sort of negative on the next two weeks, because we don't have a lot of visibility on the stimulus, and everything is shut down. it's very different from the global financial crisis. at least restaurants were open during the global financial crisis and stores. so we're sort of negative in a

defensive position, think there's probably another 10% or so drop, but the good news is that would spring load a recovery. >> so you're saying buckle up for at least another couple weeks. i don't know if you heard josh letterman, who report that this stimulus package will be in the ballpark of $2 trillion. what's your thought on that number? >> well, listen, ives saying repeatedly we need at least a 3.2 trillion. when they started at one, i said it's a good start. i'm so happy at two, but if you take the adjusted gross income throughout the 50 states, you take out the savings rate, and then you overlay it over a six-month period of time, the nation's consumers, just to stay together and to keep our system together, they're going to need

about a trillion themselves, and then in addition to that, about dhow $2 trillion, from the local barber up to boeing. you could make that an accordion. so in the last people about $150 billion immediately to shore up hospital supplies, hospital capacities, et cetera. i would like to see the white house and congress go way bigger. it would alleviate the concerns in the street for the average middle income and lower middle income american. i like the $2 trial way better, but i think we have to get it up more. >>. let me get josh letterman in here. when do we expect the details of the stimulus package to come out? when would there be a vote?

>> reporter: well, we expect to learn the details as soon as the senate figures out what the details are going to be, because this is still very much a work in progress. we just heard in the last few minutes senate majority leader mitch mcconnell saying as of now, no deal has been finalized. they're continuing to work through the day on this, but right now they don't have a final deal. to anthony scaramucci's point about the size of this, we are also hearing in the last few minutes from aiding walking back that $2 trillion number that had come from larry kudlow. they're suggesting what it might look like now is that that $2 trillion would be a combination of money from this package which could be somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 trillion, and then about another half trillion that could come through emergency lending that the federal government could do. all in all it could be an

unfights, but still clearly a work in progress how that will get divvied up and when exactly we will learn the details and whether it will go out to americans who need it. >> anthony, giving your history at the white house administration, how does this happened logistically. josh is saying we need to hear the details. how are the details figured out with the white house, what it's willing to do? can you give me insight logistically, where the meetings ear are, who attends them? >> thank god for steven mnuchin. he's an incredibly experienced market person, but also has great relationships around the world with the finance ministers around the world. i'm sure his economic team is doing the full-blown analysis.

i haven't talked to steven, but i would think he's done the same sort of analysis that i did with my economics team. so he probably wants more. up against that, though, is you have moderate democrats and you have a wing of the republican party that are probably pushing for smaller stimulus because of what's going on related to deficit spending. what i would point out to people this is a war. in world war ii we have deficit spending of about 20%, but we actually got it up to 26% when the war started in 1942. if you take a 20% number, it's about $4 trillion. that's the trillion we have on pro forma, but, but i'm guessing steven is probably request beening the meeting, some on capitol hill, some at the treasury market, and some at the

without. shannon, from a political perspective, how important is this to the president? >> the economy and the stock market were the keystone of the president's reelection campaign, so much so we got into a point where at rallies, he would regularly say you might not like me, you might disagree with what i have to say, but you have no choice to vote for me or the economy will crash or the stock market will go down. he was blaming dips in the stock market early on in the spread of this coronavirus for concern about the democrats, and bernie sanders or joe bijoe biden gettg elected. he's struggle to have a selling point to moderate voters. of course his base of supporters who like what he's done policywise will continue to vote for him, but the moderate swing voters, the states that probably

will get hit again heart by this, so it was such a selling point that it's certainly created a lot of concern among his advisers. there's optimism we have a way to go so that by june we could see the virus pass and see the economic jump back, and of course this is not the end of the economic repercussions are not directly linked to anything the president did. this virus is out of his control, though he could get criticism, of course, for his management going forward. there's hope that the economy could bounce back. what none of us know is how long it would take, because we've never seen anything like this happen to our economy. >> shannon, thank you. for all of you, it's approaches 12:52, that we are not looking at a 1:00 start here for the task force briefing here at the white house briefing room. we are watching it very closely. last question, anthony,

politically speaking, give me your perspective how much this means to the economy to this president in particular? >> well, listen, it's the whole beeswax, frankly. i would say to the president and his staff, if you go big with a $3 trillion stimulus package, he could come out of this as a hero. i do agree that it is not his fault that we have the virus, we can debate whether they managed it right. i don't want to debate that. what i want to do is help lower and middle-class people get through this. the president and his team could be a real group of heroes if they focus on the length and duration of the crisis and put on a much bigger stimulus than they're currently talking about. if they do that, i think he could be successful. anthony scaramucci, thanks for that. my control booth may ask you to stick around through this news

conference. shannon and josh, you being employees, i know you're going to. as we await this briefing is lyda krusen, the mayor of st. louis. awe look to the heartland of america, coronavirus cases in your state of missouri jumped to 73 confirmed cases. at least three deaths after of today. give me the status of your city and the measures you are taking. >> thank you. on monday we had eight cases and -- in our city we have about eight cases here in the city of st. louis and our adjoining county they have another 10 to 12 cases. there have been three deaths in the case. in the region here, limiting gatherings to ten people, we have also said restaurants and bars are carryout, pickup only.

i will just tell you just this morning i came from a meeting with the regional leaders. we are very seriously considering even more restrictions. we think that is necessary to stem the increase in the coronavirus cases. >> okay. what are you throwing around as a possibility there in terms of mower serious, stringent steps? >> nor limitations on people's activities. these are not decisions that have been made, but they will be made here very soon, and we're asking people to please stay at home except for your essential activities. now, that's the next step, the state of illinois, right across the river from us recently did that, and so we are seriously considering those. we're all trying to come together as we speak in order to make the best decision for the health of our community. >> may i ask what you say is the

number one need for you are right now there in st. louis, missouri? who's helping to fulfill that? is it coming from the state or federal level? >> we are certainly looking for the federal level to direct aid to individuals affected by this. we know that thousands of people have already been laid off and likely more to come as this epidemic plays out -- or pandemic plays out. so we are very concerned about direct eight, but we also need personal protective equipment for our police officers, our firefighters and for our hospital workers, which, you know, we have to keep our hospital system viable. >> absolutely, ma'am. the mayor of st. louis, thank you very much for your time here. best of luck as you tackle all of this. for all of you we are waiting for the new conference. once it begins, we'll take you there live. stay with us. begins, we'll takeu there live stay with us along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first

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welcome, everything. as we approach 1:00 p.m. eastern here in new york city, we're giving a look at the coronavirus task force that is present in the white house briefing room, as we expect to get under way shortly. kelley o'donnell at the white house for us, kelley, i understand we've had a two-minute warning. >> reporter: we're down to less than that now. with members of the task force are here, we expect the president, vice president coming any moment now.

this is of great interest, because we want to know what the latest developments include. peter navarro, the trade representative, dr. anthony fauci, who has been a part of so many briefings, hud secretary and so forth. i'm going to take my seat as to now about he in the way. we have to pause for the nbc network to join our coverage. please stand by. >> announcer: this is an nbc news special report. here's alex witt. hello, everyone. welcome as we await the start of is the coronavirus task force briefing there in the white house briefing room. we are expected to get under way at any time now, we've gotten that two-minute warning. it appears right on time as you're seeing the president come through the door followed by the

vice president. let's take a listen to president trump. >> thank you very much. a lot of things going on, and we're going to be going over to the hill and there's a lot of meetings, and from the financial, this is a medical situation, not a financial situation. financial, though, is moving along very nicely. i want to thank you for being here and update you on the progress we have made after a week of extraordinary mobilization in our war against the virus. governors, mayors, businesses charities and citizens are all working with urgency and speed toward one common goal, which is saving american lives. we're in communication with foreign countries, it's not at 148 foreign countries. can you believe that? you talk about a spread, you talk about a violent spread, 148 countries.

not even believable. there's been a week of national action and great national solidarity. people are getting along. we're getting along with republicans and democrats and independents, liberals, conservatives, and actually it's a very nice thing to see. we're all one beautiful big american family. that's taking place right now. last night i approved major disaster declaration for the state of new york. we are working very closely with governor cuomo. this is the first time in our nation's history that a president has used the stafford act in response to a public health crisis. and considering other areas where we may or may not be doing that. we're working very closely with gavin newsom, the governor of california, and others. we may be doing the same thing

depending on their needs and what they are asking for. there's been unprecedented action in new york and we've had a tremendous federal response all over the country. i want to thank all the people in the federal government and obviously in the state governments and local governments. we are working hard. everybody is working hard. the people standing alongside of me are working very hard, that i can tell you. we've also reached agreements with canada and mexico on new travel rules at our northern and southern borders to halt the entry of the chinese virus while continuing trade and commerce, and we've had very good talks. with prime minister trudeau, and today this morning with president lopez obredor.

we've talked about suspending nonessential travel. we had a great conversation this morning with the president of mexico, and our close cooperation with mexico and canada will keep our people healthy, keep their people healthy, keep everybody safe. yesterday i had a call with 12 representatives of small businesses. you read about the big ones, but these small businesses when you add them up together are the economic engine of our country. i assured them my administration is doing everything within its considerable power frankly to support them and their employees. nobody has ever done what qwest done. likewise i had calls with representatives of the hospital system. we spoke to many of the hospital coms throughout the country,

nurses and doctors' representatives, representing hundreds of thousands of nurses and doctors, airline and cruise ship companies. the business round table was fully attended, and it's all the top ceos of our country and beyond, frankly. these are world businessmen, businessmen who control the biggest countries in the world. many have taken hits and many are just going forward. their businesses have been great. some have been very badly affected, some not affected at all, and frankly some are doing well, they continue to do very well. walmart is an example. they have been helpful to us. doug mcmillan out of walmart very helpful. certainly people are buying more than even a clip at christmas by substantial numbers.

they put on tremendous extra staff. they don't have empty shelves. a lot of things have happened. restaurants, fast-food executives, grocery stores, all retailers, literally all of them in groups. we spoke with the g-7 leaders, as you probably no. we spoke to almost all of the governors in conference call, many of them individually. and importantly the religious leaders. the vice president and myself have a comfort winversation wit. yesterday we had a very, very significant call with the religious leaders of our country. i signed legislation providing american workers with paid sick leave and paid family medical

leave, at no cost to employers, and free testing for those who need it. the testing is going very well and the admiral will speak to that, along with tony. we're working quickly to pass additional legislation to provide massive relief to small businesses and affected industries, and give direct payments to our great workers and hard-working american families. there's never been anything like we're doing on the hill right now. they're negotiating. mitch mcconnell, chuck schumer, they're all up there, kevin mccarthy and nancy pelosi, they're all negotiating and they want to get to the right solution. i think we're getting very close. we have also announced we have moved tax day from april 15th to july 15th, which is a big deal, giving businesses and individuals extra time to file and pay without interest or

penalty. we have moved the day way back, and so it will be july 15th instead of your traditional april 15th. very importantly you will have a lot of time, but you're not going to have interest penalties or any kind of penalties by filing at that later date. hud announced disclosures and evictions are suspended for single-family homes with fha mortgages. ben carson will say a few words in a moment. the department of education will not enforced standardized testing, which is another big deal, requirements for students in elementary through high school. not fair to do that, so we're waiving that. i would imagine that's the first time ever it's been waiving, but i think it's only fair. it's also waiving interest and

others things that we're discussing right now on federally held student locals and direct that had borrowers be allowed to suspend payments without penalty for at least 60 days. we'll be talking about student loans. the students are under a great burden right now, so we'll be talking about that further, we're waiving during the 60-day period various elements on student locals. a big subject. i signed a executive order giving us powerful new authorities to help state and city hospitals for medical supplies. there's been a clear call of action to the private sector. the call is made right here. it's been pretty amazing what's happened with the private sector. they're really in sixth gear, which has responded in full force, helping to produce and

provide much needed masks, swabs, sanitizers, ventilators and everything else. there's a move on that's incredible right now. by way of example, hanes, a great company, a great consumer cotton products company, is retrofitting the manufacturing capabilities in large sections of their plants to produce masks. they're in that process right now. at my direction the fda has taken rapid steps to make these items available for medical use right now. most excitingly to me is what the fda has done in order to get possibly a very successful numbers, not just one or two, a number of therapeutics, medicines that can help people that are already sick, help people not get sick, and obviously you know about the

vaccine, and tony will discuss that a bit later, but the vaccine is moving along. but this is something that right now, for right now, this is what we really -- it's incredible. what the fda has done and dr. steven hahn, who is highly respected, came as a highly respected man. he's been fantastic. he's only been here for a couple months, but hess's really stood up, butt up, but the fda has moved mountains. this is really an example, where we're repurposing alcohol. they went out and repurposed the alcohol production capabilities in arkansas, kentucky, texas and west virginia to make hand sanitizer. that's a big difference.

they've been unbelieve. pinot richard. i think they're going to start in new york and work their way around. they're making a tremendous amount of hand sanitizish. we've activated the national response coordination to level one, which is the nerve center for our government's response to a cries, and they're coordinating with the nation's governors. many of you were there. i think you can see the relationship. we've had numerous calls, but the relationships are pretty amazing. they're loving what we're doing and the coordination between the federal government and the governors, states, and even

local, has been pretty incredible. the fema administrator will seen by providing you with an update on the center's operations. fema has been incredible. we got them involved last week, and now they're involved nationwide. we've dramatically expanded telehealth so americans can see a doctor without leaving home, something which more and more people are using, and now they're really using it. the ones who are using it are loving it. i think we're going to change the way our country functions medically, and probably in other ways, because of what's going on right now. this will reduce the chance of infection and hospital capacity. every american has a role to play in defending our nation from this invisible, horrible enemy. it really is. it's an invisible enemy. we will be very successful,

hopefully very much sooner than people would even think. we say stay at home and save lives. this is a time of shared national sacrifice, but it's also a time to treasure our loved ones and take shock of what's most important -- our faith, our family, our neighbors and our great country. i want to thank all the incredible people of our country. the way you're responding has been very special, something that we will never forget, that the history books will never forget. we're going to be celebrating a great victory in the not-too-distant future. now i'll introduce our vice president mike pence, who has led the task force, and i will tell you this. he has not slept much, maybe a tiny bit, a little bit, but not

much. mike, thank you. please. >> good afternoon all. thank you, mr. president. the white house coronavirus task force met today. we briefed the president on our latest recommendations. we continue at the president's direction to lead not a whole of government approach, but a whole of america approach. you heard the president describe one inspiring story after another, the way communities are responding. the american people are responding with common sense and generosity. people are heeding the advice of state and local authorities, and tens of millions of americans are putting into practice, 15

days to slow the spread. we are officially, mr. president at six day into our 15 days. as we look all across our country, while we strongly support the decisions that governors in states with significant outbreak have taken. we encourage every american to lynn to the authorities. for every american, this is what you can do to make a difference over the next week and a few days to protect your health, protect your family's health, but most especially slow the spread, and the potential for the coronavirus to impact the most vulnerable. as the president said, we've been -- we've almost been overwhelmed at the outpouring of support from american businesses. the president spoke yesterday to thousands of small businesses. we spoke to manufacturers

yesterday, and in fact as the president indicated, the fda in record time just approved one manufacturer. they'll be producing millions of surgical masks in a matter of weeks for the american people. the pastors we spoke to, we want to thank all the religious leaders from every community of faith in the country, making a hard choice to suspend services, have online services even while 9 ministries are continuing to support food banks and come alongside the most vulnerable, and the chorus of prayers is making a difference, as it always has. one of the things we promised is to remind people on the weekends you're not in the pews, it's still a good idea to, if you can to go ahead and make that donation. awful ministrying of continuing

to play a vital role, and we encourage your continued support. the president and i are grateful that the american people are listening to state and local authorities, and putting into practice all of the recommendations in the president's coronavirus guidelines. and as you with hear in just a few moments from the admiral, testing is expanding rapidly. state-run drive-thrus are expanding across the country. as you will hear this morning, more than 195,000 americans and more who have been symptomatic have been tested. that number does not include county hospitals or health care labs around the nation, some 15,000 in number. among the number of the more than 195,000 that have been test

testeds, it's important that only a little over 19,000 have tested positive. we continue to urge state and local health authorities to comment fema for the latest developments and innovations in testing, but we want to remind americans as dr. fauci will emphasize in a moment, if you don't have symptoms, don't do a test. it's another way that the american people can make sure we are preserving the resources that our health care workers need to admarch and support those dealing with the coronavirus and other illnesses. in a moment, pete gaynor will detail the efforts at fema. we have fema in the lead, as the president said, and we are working closely hour by hour through fema processing requests from states most impacted, like new york, washington state and

california, and we'll continue to work very, very closely with those states through the very traditional means of federal emergency management at fema. secretary carson will describe decisive action that the president alluded to to bring foreclosure relief to americans. and in a moment you will hear of not only the progress we are making on testing, but on monday we'll be detailing for the american people the progress we are making on the president's strategy of procuring more personal protective equipment and medical supplies, allocating them through the system of fema, and continuing to urge conservation by americans. in fact, i'm pleased to report to the president today that hhs just played an order for hundreds of millions of n95 masks that will be made available to health care providers across the country. on behalf of the president, we do renew our call for americans

to postpone elective medical procedures. this is another way to make sure supplies are available. by postponing, ufrearsing up medical supplies for those dealing with the coronavirus. as the president mentioned, our team is on capitol hill as we speak, working with members of congress in both political parties. they are making progress by all accounts on a bipartisan bill. they worked late into the night last night, started early this morning, and we are working to pass that legislation on monday in both the house and the senate. now, on a personal note, many of you may have been made aware that a member of my staff has tested positive for the coronavirus. we learned of that late yesterday. i am pleased to report he is doing well. he had mild cold-like symptoms for about a day and a half, has

not been to the white house since monday. neither the president nor i had direct contact with that staff person. we worked immediately with the white house physician and the cdc. we have done all contact tracing, and all the white house doctor has indicated is he has no reason to believe i was exposed, no need to be tested. given the unique position i have as vice president and as the leader of the coronavirus task force, both i and my wife will be tested for the coronavirus later this afternoon. let me say against how grateful that that the president and i are, we are six days into 15 days that, as dr. fauci may well reflect at the moment, is an opportunity for us on the footholes of this epidemic curve to lower the impact -- every american can do their part to he

sloe the spread. we encourage each of to you do that. the president says often, we're all in this together, and also remember that for most americans, the risk of serious illness from the coronavirus remains low. the reason we want to put into practice the president's coronavirus guidelines is because no american would want to inadvertently expose someone who is vulnerable, a senior with a serious underlying health condition, to the coronavirus. i did hear one story, mr. president, about a senior named geneva wood. she's at the life care center? kirkland, washington. she is not only a grandmortgage, but a great-great-grandmother, 90 years young. she tested positive, but by all accounts, she wanted to let

american nose there is hope. as the president said many times, we're going to come out stronger than ever before. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you very much. thank you, mike. admiral. thank you, mr. president, mr. vice president. as i told you earlier last week, we are in the process and are effectively transitioning to large-scale testing by leverages all the components -- when we started it was cdc only, now we're transitioning into the mainstream of american testing. so current ly this is our curve. i want to be very clear about

this, that this only accounts for cdc state public health laboratories and the laboratories that are members of the american clinical laboratory association. these are the main reference laboratories, lab corp, qwest, mayo, and sonic health care. it does not account for the well over 10,000, 15,000 hospital-based labs, many of which are doing testing for whom we will get data this week to give you an overall roll-up. over 195,000 people in america have completed their testing. that means tests plus results. this does not mean tests in process. this curve is going -- will continue to rise dramatically over the next period of time. the state and local public health laboratories, the

hospital system, which is not represented here and the main referenced laboratories. i do want to make it clear, though testing is becoming more available and dr. fauci will definitely emphasize this more, there are priorities for testing. clearly everyone across the country should understand those hospitalized are in an ico or a priority for testing. symptomatic health workers, for obvious reason, we want to make sure their health is preserved and will not spread. as the vice president has highlighted and we said many times, elderly in our society have a much higher serious complication rate. symptomatic individuals over 65, symptomatic individuals with underlying conditions like chronic heart disease, liver disease or other types of

chronic diseases. patients in public health investigations, and there are local authorities around the country, particularly health care workers for testing. dr. fauci will emphasize there about the types of people who may not need to be testing. testing is ramping up, but we should still have priorities. i know the community sites, which there's an acronym, cbts, or cbt sites. we talked about these earlier in the week. i wanted to emphasize against that these are state-managed and locally executed. the federal government is there to provide support, knowhow, blueprints on how to do this, but these are springing up at dozens and dozens of sites across the country. some are drive-thru, some are walk-up. some are geared to health care workers and emergency responders. so again what we see in the upcoming week is this curve will

continue to increase. this testing becomes more widely available as the great american health care industry continues to increase the availability of tests and the throughput of those tests. thank you. doctor. fauci. >> thank you. i want to connect some of the dots. first, the dynamics of the outbreak. you know the numbers. we have widespread infection, but to varying degrees throughout the country. for example, when you talk about the kinds of mountain base issues we have put forth and have emphasized, just as i mentioned the other day there's two dynamic forces going on at the same time. you're having the natural course of an outbreak trying to peak at a high level, then the mitigation strategies, which are aimed at dampening that. we often get asked, thousand do

you know if you're having an effect? there's two things going on at the same time, they may be confounding. i can tell you for sure from a public health standpoint and experience with other outbreaks, we know we are clearly having a effect, but we can't quantitate it accurately now, because looking forward, you'll know what the impact of the rate of this steep inclines will be. that's why we'll come back every day and keep you up to date about that. getting to the disproportionate of the response, i'll open the vice president's book with he permission, this is baseline for everyone. in other words, throughout the country, but then there would be areas, and you've heard them, washington state, california, new york city, in which the dynamics of the outbreak are clearly different and much more robust, if you want to use that word. that's the reason why we've seen the mitigation ratcheted up in

that regard. again, hopefully -- and i have confidence it will happen -- you will see an impact on that. next, getting to testing, you saw the numbers with testing. remember, there was always an issue with testing. i think we're getting to the solution that everybody in the country is looking for, but i want to emphasize one thing that admir giroir mentioned, now effort single person needs to be tested. let me tell you one of the unintended consequences of individuals who don't need to get tested that flood the desire to get tested. currently, and i hope we'll be able to change it and make it much less reliable on ppes, when you go in and get tested you are consuming personal protective equipment, masks and gowns. those are high priority for the health care workers taking care of people who have coronavirus

disease. so what we don't want to do is to have a situation where we will -- we do have disparities in available of ppes now, and we're working hard to correct that, but currently today, we want to make sure that the people who are taking care of people with coronavirus disease do not endanger themselves because they don't have the personal protective equipment. finally, one last thing, it was just mentioned, the surgeon general has been pushing this, please put off, cancel elective procedures. for the time being don't do them, because they not only consume personal protective equipment, they may also consume some of the things you might need, so i promise you, we will get through this together.

nema is now leading the federal response toal operations on the task force. hhs will continue to provide their expertise on health and pursuant to the nationwide emergency declaration, fema in coordination with hhs is assisting state, local, tribal, territorial governments with health and protective measures you are. as of yesterday, 50 states, district of column by use, five territories and one triber working with fema. in just 24 hours we have obligated $100 million to states, terr toirts and tribes. a bit about supplies. it is of the utmost importance that requesting for assistance get routed through proper

channels as soon as possible. we ask everyone to follow the normal procedures fema uses in a natural disaster. there's no different procedure for the covid-19 pandemic. but remember you can still order supplies from your regular vendors and buy it on the open market. buy it where can you find it. we will reimburse you. buy america does not apply to the stafford act except for washington , d.c. and puerto rico. you can first go to state, then to the regional fema offices, and then from those offices right here in d.c. where the national response coordination center is open and running. we're getting requests for mask

say and many more. were in lockstep with hhs to answer the requests. we will do whatever is necessary to get states, tribes, territories and others what they need. finally what we are doing here in washington, d.c., a whole of government response, likal emergency responses, it's most successful when it's locally executed, state managed and federally supported. additionally all ten fema region across the country have been activated. the regional administrators will work closely with governors, state public health officials to respond to this dynamic threat. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much. ben, please. thank you, mr. president and mr. vice president for your tireless leadership here. i also want to thank the fellow

task force members who have been working around the clock in a very patriotic way to serve their fellow americans. you know, part of the american dream is having a home and sometimes people say, what does house having to do with health? it has everybody to do with health, having a safe home. that is the reason that the president has authorized the immediate cessation of foreclosure and eviction proceedings for american citizens, single family forward mortgages as well as reverse mortgages. as you know, fhfa has decided to do the same thing for 60 days and the cfpb is very happy with all of this as well. it's really about helping our people recognizing that they're being severely impacted by the coronavirus, and we've also

asked the various services of mortgage loans to exercise forbearance for anybody who is having difficulty. it is important if you're having difficulty to you it can't will you contact. what does happen automatically is that we cover all 8.5 million people in terms of the moratorium on four closures and evictions. we want also for the ph a's to be protected. hud does not have authority, but we are in contact with all the ph a's and peating congress to have the power to enforce that.

most of the ph a's are actually one by people who care for other people, so we haven't seen much of a problem of forbearance, because people are stepping up and saying, what can we do to be helpful? as far as housing choice vouchers, section 8 is concerned, the april vouchers will be sent out next week and may vouchers are already being worked on, and we will also stay in contact with all the stakeholders, the advocates for low income housing, as well as other stakeholders to make sure that we're doing things that are most helpful to them. and additionally we've extended the deadlines for health care and multifamily financial reporting requirements. that's for over 20,000 multifamily and health care

borrowers, until april 30th. that provides them with more flexibility to deal with the issues that they are dealing with. i also want to thank our fha commissioner brian month 2k3w078ry as well as director mark calabria and the director of cfpb, who have all worked tirelessly with us to make this happen. what we are trying to do is bridge the gap, recognizing it's easier for us to take these measures and for congress to take the measures they are taking so that we don't destroy a very excellent system and have to start over again. so for those worried about the money that's being spent, if you don't spend the money and deal with this now, it's going to cost a lot more to try to build this all up again. as was mentioned by the president, there's been a sense

of unity we haven't seen for a long time in this country. let's hope and pray that that unity lasts far beyond this crisis. >> ben, thank you very much. your questions, please. >> reporter: mr. president, if you've lost your job now or you're you're worried you'll lose it tomorrow, what do you want people to do immediately? second question, sir -- you heard from the vice president that he's going to be tested. >> i just took one. >> reporter: how are you feeling? >> i feel great. those people are going on -- okay. >> reporter: for those people who have lost their jobs already, or they're worried about to lose it tomorrow, what do you want them to do now? >> what they do right now is keep receiving their paychecks. hopefully their country will been in a strong position.

we think we'll have a tremendous bounce back. some people agree with that strongly, some of our top economists say once we solve the problem, we're working on the medical problem. so we want them to keep their jobs, stay where you are, and we'll see what happens. if they don't, we unemployment, checks, a lot of very positive things. nobody has ever done -- this is working with democrats, republicans and democrats and myself working together. nobody has ever done a package like this. ideally we want them to keep the jobs, keep the pay coming. kelly, go ahead. >> reporter: mr. president on your defense production power, one of the features is that the government can control the output, get it to the most areas of need and control the pricing. one of the things we're hearing from governors they can't find supplies and prices have gone up. you have talked about the act,

sir, but you have not compelled yet any companies. why not? >> because we have so many companies making so many products. we have car companies without having to use the act. if i don't have to use -- specifically we have the act to use in case we need it, but we have so many things being male by so many, they have just stepped up. in fact mike pence and i were discussing it before, we've never seen anything like it, they're volunteer, like hanes -- i brought that up as an example, general motors. >> reporter: but on the open market, sir? >> they're going to go on the open market. we want them on the open market from the standpoint of pricing. >> reporter: direct them to the places of the greatest need? >> we are directing states and sometimes we'll be competing against states, which i don't want, and we'll drop out of the bidding. we want the states to go first. what we're doing is helping states. that's what we want to do.

same thing with the testing. we're helping states get to where they want. we've made tremendous progress. >> reporter: but this happening for a governor who needs equipment today? >> it's happening fast right now, and the governors are trying to get, if they compete, we immediately drop out. please. >> reporter: forgive me if i heard you wrong, but you said we're going to the hill. are you going yourself? >> my people are. i'll be staying here in the oval office and various other places in the white house. >> reporter: you're asking congress to essential pass a series of legislation that's been around, about $2 trillion. what do you say to members in both parties who say this is just too much to debate and get done in 48 hours or so? also, have you spoken directly with speaker pelosi at all about any of this? >> okay. i'm not going to say who i spoke he with, but i have spoken to everybody many, many times directly or indirectly.

i think we're doing well. i think the democrats and republicans will come up with a package that's going to be something special. this is the first time there's ever been a case where you want people not to work. i want to create incent to work. the fact is we're asking people not to work, because they have to stay away from each other. if we're going to kill this horrible, hidden enemy, we have to stay away. other nations are doing similar things, some effectively, some not. they're doing similar things. we are creating a package that's going to keep companies together, keep workers paid so they can live and sustained. we'll see about the timing. the biggest thing we can do is getting rid of the problem, the medical problem. we want to have this whole incredible situation that it can start right away. now that all these companies break up, you can't put them

back together and it would take years to put them back together. we had the greatest economy until we got hit by this problem. we can be back very, very quickly, and it's our intention to be back very, very quickly, so we're doing a package the likes of which nobody has ever done. i obviously have to approve the different things and the recommendations of the different things. like buybacks and stock buybacks. i didn't like it the first time, and this time i'm saying you're not going to do that. i don't want money to be doing that. i want to keep workers and businesses open. i am strongly recommending a buyback exclusion, you cannot buy back your stock, you can't take a billion and just buy back your stock and increase the value. please. >> reporter: the vice president announced hhs was orton hundreds of millions of masks.

when can we expect to receive the masks? >> hhs is completing a half a billion order of n95 masks. this is being coordinated through fema, and we're -- we are responding specifically to state requests where the needs arrive. as dr. fauci said, we want to make sure the people that are providing health care services to people who may have celted coronavirus have the protection to keep themselves and their families healthy. but i want to emphasis, the supply of so-called n95 masks has been vastly increased in the country, because the president insisted that we extend liability protection to industrial masks. what all the experts told us earlier on, the masks used on construction sites are perfectly

appropriate to protect health care workers from respiratory illness, but they didn't have the liability protection, because they weren't created for hospitals. we worked with leaders in both parties, we added that protection that runs through 2024, that now the industrial n95 masks can be purchased by hospitals, purchased by states, purchased by hhs and distributed through our system. so we're making those available. the supply has been, as i said, vastly increased, and it was another step forward in a bipartisan accomplishment, and we're continuing to use all the creative means of american industry to make sure that we're leaning into this effort, and that we do whatever it takes to make sure that our health care providers have the protective equipment. >> reporter: when exactly can doctors and nurses expect to receive the masks?

>> let me let pete gaynor speak to that, they're being priority iced to those areas. >> so one the national coordination center we have a supply change task force. it basically says we're trying to identify the universe of what is out there. whether we hold it at the federal level, in the private sector and then match that up with demand, and ask people to be creative. we're excel locals and states to do your share locally, and then we'll prioritize those scarce resources, because every single governsor across the country is looking for the exact same thing. we're examination the entire supply chain. >> when will the masks start coming in? >> they're out there now.

we want to get out of the middle. >> that's the -- >> we're trying to match supplies with demand. that's what we're doing right now. it's happening today. >> reporter: they can expect them today? >> there's a range of requests across the country and we're trying to match those again. supply and demand, every day. >> i have to tell you the throws away of the marv, being in private business, they're throwing away, when you hear 55 million masks, how could it possibly be such a number? they say that's just a small fraction, and i say why aren't we sanitizing the masks? some don't lend themselves to doing that, ybut many do. we have very good liquids for sanitizing the masks. that's something they're starting to do more and more, sanitizing the masks.

>> there's contracts guidance about how you can minimize the use of masks, and how you might reuse them. >> reporter: do you think there's a solution to this other than buying more masks? >> there's a couple things. for example, we are moving towards getting testing, where you don't have to have ppe. i'm not going to tell you the day it's going to be there, but a swab you can still in the nose of the person who's ever infe infected or not. so if you can do a self-administered test, stick it in a vial, hand it over, you don't need a mask or ppe. >> i would like that much better, personally. this is another story about great american industry. the president and i literally

heard directly from apple that they're donating 2 million industrial masks to this effort, and working with our administration to distribute those. it might be a good opportunity distribute those. and it might be a good opportunity for us to renew our call, as the president and i have delivered this message to businesses yesterday and manufacturers and small businesses, this is a great time to go to your storeroom and if you have n-95 masks, if you've got 100 of them or 10,000 of them, is to load them up, drive them over to your local hospital. that story is literally happening all over the country. and now, with more americans stepping away from elective surgery, including elective dental care, we're urging dentists around america to look at their supplies of n-95 masks and make those available to our hospitals. but the great news is, as the

president said, the american people are all doing this now. so allow me to say on behalf of the president, thank you for what you all are doing today. but we want to encourage people in business, encourage people in dentistry in particular, look at those supplies of n-95 masks and pack up as many as you can spare and drop them off to your local hospital. >> i just want to read you what some of the doctors on the front lines of this crisis are saying. >> you mean the ones that are saying good things or bad things. >> these are doctors that are talking about the shortage of medical supplies. they're saying there's absolutely no way to protect myself. a surgeon in fresno, california, says we are at war with no ammo. they're saying if this is a wartime situation then now is the time to act. i know you're talking now about increasing production at so many of these facilities to get the masks out. but given that this is one of the wealthiest most powerful

countries in the world, should this even be happening? shouldn't this have been resolved weeks ago. >> i'll tell you the way i look at it. many administrations preceded me, for the most part they did very little in terms of what you're talking about. this is unprecedented. you can speak to tony or anybody. this is unprecedented or just about unprecedented. as time goes by we're seeing it's at a level that nobody would have believed or thought possible that this could happen. and we are making much of this stuff now and much of it is being delivered now. we've also gotten tremendous reviews from a lot of people that can't believe how fast it's coming. when i hear they have an order of 55 million masks and that's one order out of many and that there are many millions of masks beyond that, i keep saying how is it possible to use so much. and part of that is because they're using masks for a short period of time and they throw

it. the fact is that we are doing a tremendous amount, we started with very few masks, we had some but nothing for an event like this, and now we're making tens of millions of masks. and i think it's unprecedented what we've done and what we're doing and many doctors, and i've read many doctors, they can't believe the great job we've done. kelly, did you have one? >> it's been three months since your administration learned about this virus. >> well, if you remember, i was the one that closed the country down. i was the one that closed -- you don't write that or say it too much, certainly on cnn, but i just read an article yesterday -- i just read an article yesterday that by closing the country down so early, very early, we saved tens of thousands and much more than that lives. so you might want to report that, too. go ahead, please. >> i would just like to address for a moment. again, i'm an icu physician,

rand health systems. and first of all, i want to thank everyone who is on the front line in the emergency room and in the icus and hospitals. i speak to my colleagues daily. we need to preserve our ppe to the degree that we can. cdc guidelines has had that, the president has talked about it. but i also want to say we are making product as the president said, but we are also responding through the fema system to distribute the strategic national stockpile resources according to requests that come in. stockpile has been distributed to many states, first order, second orders and on a daily basis adjudicating that. if there are shortages in your hospital system, i can't tell you of doctor x, y, z, that needs to be clearly it rated to the local emergency management. >> are you seeing that happening? are you seeing those hospitals talking about the shortages -- >> we were on the phone a few

nights ago with over 2,000 hospitals or hospital systems, sharing best practices from seattle where they've been very innovative pioneering some of these areas. when there is a shortage they need to go through emergency management and it goes directly up to the fema system, which really rocks and works very well. and then there's a distribution of the stockpile. the spock pootockpile is being by all the orders and mask orders go out on a daily basis as they are needed and requested through the fema system. and i don't know whether you want to add to that. >> just to reiterate what brett said, we don't take lightly what you just read. i mean, i get the calls every night, the way you get emails. it's a serious issue. we don't want that to happen. but it is happening. you're not making things up. i know that because i'm experiencing it myself. but what you just heard about

the different avenues, some of which aren't even recognized about how you can get help through the fema process, in addition to the large amounts of additional ppe that's coming into the system. we hope that very, very soon we're not going to get those kinds of real life difficulties. >> a matter of weeks? it seems like there's a question about the timeline and even fema can't answer what the timeline is, days, weeks. >> sooner than weeks. it's going to be days, i would hope. we're going to try to make it days to the best possible way we can. >> again, what we're doing is trying to help the states get things faster. we're implementing. and the magnitude of this, it's a tragedy. it's an absolute tragedy. but the magnitude is something that no matter who you were, no matter where you come from, nobody ever thought a thing like this could happen. you read about 1917 and you read about certain things, but you

think in a modern age a thing like that could never happen. well, it comes back. it is genius. it comes back. and it's too bad. but i think the people working on this have been incredible. the job they've done has really been incredible. but there's tremendous amounts of not only masks, of ventilators and respirators and everything you can think of. it's all being -- much of it and i can say almost all of it is being manufactured right now. steve, please. >> yesterday there were questions about the use of this malaria drug. have those questions now been resolved? >> i don't know resolved. i can say that it's going to be distributed. i know new york is getting i think 10,000 units and numerous other people. it could be the malaria drug plus the z-pack and we're going to find out. we're going to find out. look, i feel, as the ex expression goes, what do we have to lose? because i feel very -- i feel

very good about it. tony would feel, you know, like he would like samples done in a certain way, and i understand that, too. many doctors agree with that. we don't have much time. we have a lot of very sick people right now in hospitals all over the place, in speaking with the governor of new york, cuomo, i said how is it looking. he said he's got a lot of sick people. so we're going to be delivering a lot of samples to new york and other places and we're going to find out very shortly whether or not it's going to work. i feel very confident. i mean, i've seen things that surprised me, frankly. there are -- as tony said, there are other things we're looking at, too, a vaccine, of course, is incredible. but this is more immediate. right now this, to me, would be the greatest thing that could happen. this would be a gift from heaven. this would be a gift from god if it works. so we're going to pray to god that it does work. it will be a fantastic thing. >> please in the back.

>> mr. president, on the economic front there are reports that the coronavirus is hurting businesses, especially your hotels. >> my businesses. >> is that true? >> i wouldn't say it's this rri when you decide to close down hotels and businesses. but i'm very under-levered in everything so that's good. but, yeah, it's hurting me and the hilton and all of the great hotel chains all over the world. it's hurting everybody. there are very few businesses that are doing well now. there are some that are, like as an example, the walmarts of the world because everybody is lined up to get things and stock up their house and this and that. but sure, it hurts my business. >> did you or anyone in your administration talk to anyone at the trump organization about the potential effects of the coronavirus? >> no, i didn't speak to anybody. i speak to my sons, but i talk about the coronavirus, but not as it pertains to my business. they basically follow the rules. when they say close them down in new york, they close them down or wherever they may be.

i actually have them all over the world. and when they say close them down, we close them down. what, kelly? >> will you no longer go to mar-a-lago? >> i have nothing planned at mar-a-lago. right now i think mar-a-lago -- i haven't asked, but i imagine that's closed down just like a lot of other businesses in florida. >> go ahead. >> would you expect your family companies to seek government assistance? >> i don't know. i mean, i just don't know what the government assistance would be for what i have. i have hotels. everybody knew i had hotels when i got elected. they knew i was a successful person when i got elected so it's one of those things. i guess i get paid 450,000 a year, i give it up. i put it back into the nation. i usually -- by the way, you have to designate where you want it, so i oftentimes give it to opioid