. we see nurses and doctors dying and people not taking it seriously and it feels like a slap in face sometimes. >> every one describes the critical care units as war zones because that's what it looks like. >> how many patients will we see? will we have enough ppe? >> it feels like playing dominos. every single minute over ten hours straight feeling like any one of your patients is about to fall. >> that's what this illness does. it separates people from their families at the times when they need them most. >> it's a difficult time for

this country especially for those in front lines of this fight, the doctors, the nurse, the first responders, the patient who s who are suffering the loved ones of all of those people, some of whom don't get to say good-bye. continuing the special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. we're standing by for today's briefing on day where it feels like we're getting a clearer picture of how unprepared our whole of government was for this war and how much we still don't know about the enemy we're fighting. president trump announced he was limiting travel from china at the end of january. the the 63 days the confirmed cases have spiked pov 230,000. the most of any world when global cases hit one million. there's the ast next to china.

we don't know for sure how many people have this virus. we don't know how many people are asymptomatic. 63 days into this war and we still don't know where the enemy is that we're fighting. all we know is where the enemy was. the new york times reviewed cdc data and found by time 50 cases of this virus were officially confirmed, at least 1200 people were already showing symptoms. associated press reported there's more evidence that people who do not show symptoms are spreading the virus as well. there's renewed concerned that the virus could be more transmissable by air than when he thought and public health officials may recommend that more members of the public wear masks even improvised ones but perhaps most frightening of all is we still don't know why one person who gets this infection might not even know it from it. >> it is very strange how one

individual can get infected and have either mild or no symptoms and another individual can rapidly deteriorate with viral pneumonia and respiratory failure. there's something in mechanism, whether it's genetic, immune response. the one thing i can say is we have to be humble. i've been doing infectious diseases now for almost 50 years, i don't fully understand exactly what the mechanism that is and we really need to figure it out. it could be completely devastating rapidly in one person and absolutely nothing in another person. >> compoundsing the many blind spots we have with this virus are the numerous failures to missupplied resources like focusing on border security at a time the virus had braechd oeac borders. officials at the front line like in new york state say they are six days if running out of vital medical supplies like ventilators and the ramped up

production that's been promised by the administration may not come until well after the peak of this crisis according to the house oversight committee account of what fema officials have told them. now with a staggering 6.6 million people filing for unemployment benefits last week alone, that's twice the size of the week before. nbc news has learned the stimulus checks, the $1200 individual checks from the irs to keep millions of americans afloat, they could take month, not weeks, months to arrive for some workers. as we await today breefsing at the white house, we still don't know the full extent of the threat we face, how bad it could get, how long it could last, how much relief we'll need and whether that relief will make it in time. the navy announced it leaved captain of command who sounds the alarm about an out aboard the uss teddy roosevelt.

the decision to fire the commander of the uss teddy roosevelt. he had been very public in sounding the alarm. you heard secretary esper yesterday seemed to be very clear about saying when you sign up for military, you know what you're siegning up for. this could be a chain of command. he would not be leaved of his rank but of his duty. shannon, you still, to me, ask the most pertinent question that's been asked all week and that be is, yes we have a million tests that have been conducted. where are the other 26 million? that's not supposed to be the center piece of today's briefing. the center piece is, i guess, about first of all, how to help small business owners figure out how to get assistance.

it seems an odds thing to be talking about that when we don't know how they will get the checks out the door for individuals. >> reporter: it might have seemed like an odds thing yesterday to be talking about drug cartels trying to take advantage of this situation to penetrate the u.s. border. i'm sure that is a problem, but that came the day after the president warned the american people that more people could die from this virus than the vietnam and the korean war combined and the next day we were talking about drug cartels. today we got those startling numbers of unemployment claims. the 6.6 million of unemployment claims. the secretary on the treasury our reporting could lay out the head of the small business administration could address those concerns as well. in addition to the issues you just laid out, we have this question of uninsured and how those people will be paying for their insurance. >> i was just going to say, i feel as if there's the theme of today's briefing may end up

being the economics security. we have a health security issue, the pandemic security issue which a lot of us believe continues to be front and center but the economic security including those that have fallen into the gaps plus this other issue of money, directly to them. i know you have been asking folks about the health insurance issue. it was remarkable exchange yesterday at the briefing when i think it was john roberts asked the vice president about the issue of reopening enrollment for obama care. he sort of dodged the question and the president called the vice president out for dodging. it sounds like the president does want to figure out -- would like to say yes. i'm going to help these uninsured. >> reporter: i followed up and asked the president. i said can you guarantee these people are taken care of. he said it takes congress. you got to get the help of

congress. suggesting this could be on phase four legislation. i asked sources again today, i said what are you guys talking about putting in a phase four piece of legislation. they said, we want to do something before congress can act. i said what would that be. we're still working on a plan. they know it won't be reopening the obama care exchanges which would help people who previously didn't have insurance and now see this virus and realize they could really use it. >> i think if they want to do something on their own, that might be the only thing they can do, correct. >> reporter: correct. i don't know all the interworkings of hhs and cms and i'm told that is who is trying to figure it out. you'll need the authority of congress because it involves money which is what congress controls. >> right. again, today, shannon giving us a preview of today's briefing.

i guess the economic security issue is about the best way to describe what the theme will be. thank you, shannon. let me turn to a couple of doctors for nar tatheir take on current situation. she's a general surgeon in teaneck, new jersey. dr. gupta let me start with you. i go back to we're still sitting in this testing choke hold. i feel like in some ways the reason the entire country may feel as -- i feel like we're all being held hostage over this testing debacle. is there any light at the end of the tunnel as far as anything you have been able to observe? >> from what i've seen, we're only a million tests in. it's important for your audience to really understand the difference between the tests that are coming online.

there's the tests where you stick a swab into your nose or somebody does it for you and that will tell you are you acutely infected? do you have the virus right now? then there's the blood test that says do you have immunity. it looks for antibodies for covid-19. the ability to do the test for acute infection we're having bottlenecks like swabs. we don't have enough swabs. that's the truth. to scale up test we need to know for acutely infected and are we transmitter or how do we get people back to work. it's ideal we have the swab test for everybody. that's the best way to ensure they still don't have active virus in their nose. the antibody test is being substituted. there's limitations to its use. >> the other thing i want to follow up with you on is what

was, frankly, felt like a punch in the gut to hear dr. fauci to say it. if he doesn't have the answer to why some people barely experience symptoms and why some die from the coronavirus, it was interesting. he said perhaps we'll find out its genetic. perhaps we'll find out there's another reason for how this virus may mutate in various people. walk us through a bit of the science of that and what kind of studying will go on in order to try to solve this mystery? >> it's a great question. i have no intelligent comments to add on the science of it if dr. fauci can't explain it. there's a bit of unknown there. what i will say is this is the challenge with social distancing. young people, even if you don't -- if do you get the

disease from someone who is asymptommatic doesn't mean you won't end up in the icu. we're telling people maybe they should wear a mask at home which is a contradiction or an about face from the guidance even a week ago. i think we need to think about what the guidance is. there's a lot of confusion. that's my biggest concern right now. >> dr. drgupta, on this mask issue, i went to the cvs earlier and i wasn't wearing a mask. some people were. i felt guilty about that. should any of us be going outdoors without a mask? what would you advise? >> i'd say we need consistency. right now the evidence does not suggest strongly for mask implementation, homemade or otherwise for the general public. you shouldn't be out in public

any way. there should be national lockdown. shelter in place means shelter in place. why do we need this off ramp where people will take this guidance as buying surgical masks. that's the fear. we should be savoring -- saving ppe for people that are at the front line. >> speaking of the front lines, i was toover. from when we talked a week ago, i think you've lived a year of your life, if not more. you were telling one of my colleagues today about a conundrum we have been wondering about. somebody that needs emergency surgery, and yet you don't know where to do it. walk us through the fact that right now in the front lines, if you have appendicitis in northern new jersey, you're in trouble. >> absolutely. it's right now the hospitals are

so overwhelmed dealing with covid, it's almost like they are not there. when you say it's a serious condition, you need to get to the e.r., they don't want to go. they are terrified that they know covid-19 is waiting in that er. i'm giving them oral antibiotics and trying to give them a ct scan. i literally have no idea where i'll do the surgery. that tells you the affects of covid aren't just on the covid. it's on the health care system in general. the whole world is almost flipped upside down. if i can take a step back with illness and why this disease hits some people more than others. i've been following a lot of the chinese literature, the chinese population to glean as much as we can. two interesting studies came out of italy and china and china's

study came out and said that blood type, believer it or not if you have type a you were 20% more likely to convert to the more se father or mothvere form, type o, you would be one-third less likely and type b you're less at risk. it is interesting. the nsaids, a lot of literature in italy, one doctor tested every up single one of his severe patients for the presence of advil and he found all the severely ill had that in their blood. i know that our government has moved to advice people to stay away from those drugs as well. >> dr. gupta, you just heard that blood type and this issue of ibuprofen. >> nsaids have been something we

have been concerned about as potentially the use of an nsaid like ibuprofen, could that worsen the course of a disease of somebody who is infected. the current guidance is there's not going to be any recommendation not to use an nsaid if you need it for arthritis. there's a big unknown as was mentioned about what is the exact pathophysiology of why some people do worse and some do better. there's a lot of unknowns here. >> talk about the impact on medical personnel. yesterday i think it was at this time we ended up reporting about an emergency room doctor from northern new jersey who died from coronavirus. how many of this is having an impact. are you running out of health care personnel?

>> yeah. i don't think it's at the mainstream media but i know we have lost two physicians in northern new jersey in the last few days to covid who passed away. i know a few are sick. these are all doctors, we shared patients. i was talking to one of them two weeks ago about a pashtient and found out he's gone. it's heartbreaking. it hits home when it's somebody you know. i can say when i first started call the first thing i did was make my last will and testament. you kind of realize -- we don't know how well it spread and if you can see the difference in the way we see the virus, we still don't know. there's a lot of unknowns. you don't know who it will hit. you don't know when it will hit. the only things you have to look to are the bright side of things when you find out a company that reached out to me after i was on last week who makes drones for military, they changed their entire production line to make

n-95 masks and that helps and make you feel more reassured in terms of people do care. people want to get us protected and realize that doctors and nurses on the front line are scared but it's important to keep us protected so we can continue to heal and stave off the worst out come of this disease. >> i think we all like to know we're not screaming into the abyss. that medipeople may be listenin. i like to think a lot of people are hanging on the advice and expertise that you guys are imparting on us. i appreciate it. please stay as safe as you can on the front lines there. thank you. the virus is up ending practically everything including the 2020 election schedule. the dnc announced today, not surprise, but that it's convention in milwaukee that's squ scheduled for july will take place the week of august 17th. just before the republican convention. also right now we're awaiting the start of the white house coronavirus task force briefing. once it begins we'll bring it to

you live. up ahead, the crisis grows more dire in new york. the state is near days before it could run out of ventilators. we'll have a live update from new york, next. a live update f new york, next won't be a new thing. and it won't be their first experience with social distancing. overcoming challenges is what defines the military community. usaa has been standing with them, for nearly a hundred years. and we'll be here to serve for a hundred more. and sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. but when you're with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, there's nothing to stop you from moving forward. and i live in san francisco, evecalifornia.clear,

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welcome back. new york reached a grim milestone in this pandemic today. its death toll topped 2,000 with 432 of those deaths reported in the last day. more than 92,000 confirmed cases, the state of new york is on pace to have more covid-19 cases within any country in days. it's my understanding we're about to go to the briefing. the president has begun his remarks. this is a briefing that will begin with a bit of an explanation of how the small business loan will work. there's already some confusion on that. we have interesting reporting that we'll bring to you after that portion of the briefing. the briefing will be in two

parts. one about the small business loan aspect of things and an undate on the virus. we're racing to develop new wei the virus. we're making a lot of progress. at the same time we're also racing to get relief to american workers and small businesses, as you know. i want to remind small business owners across america that the paycheck protection program is launching tomorrow. nearly $350 billion in loan will be available to businesses including sole proprietors. they are forgivable as long as employers keep paying their workers. you have to take care of your workers. we want social security beneficiaries to know if they are typically not required to file a tax return, they don't

have to file one in order to receive the direct cash payments that will soon be distributed to american citizens. the treasury will deposit the money directly into the bank accounts and don't forget, i will always protect your social security, your medicare and medica medicaid. we're protecting social security, medicare and medicaid. i always will. i'd like now to inviete sba administrator who is doing a fantastic job. she'll be very busy in a little while and secretary steve mnuchin to say a few word and we'll get on the the attack of the virus itself. >> thank you. mr. president, and mr. vice

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

employees. at sba we are working around the clock to support small businesses ensuring we are prioritizing energy capital for small businesses that are suffering economic harm as a result of this unprecedented situation. this relief will help stabilize a small business sector by providing businesses with the financial resources niethey neeo keep your workers employed. i want to ensure that small businesses all over the country know about the paycheck protection program and,000 they can benefit in this. simply put, the paycheck protection program is to help keep employees on payroll and small businesses open. sba will forgive the portion of the loan used toward job retention. we're working closely with lenders so businesses can go directly to their local lenders.

paycheck protection program is in addition to substantial work that the sba hand as will continue to do to help small businesses including providing advances on sba disaster loans and forgiving existing sba loan payments over the next six months. additional details can be found at sba.gov. we'll be updating these resources regularly. our hearts go out to those affected by this terrible virus. our communities around the country are stepping up and we will get through this together. at sba we know that every phone call, e-mail or application submitted has a small business ordinary reason, their employees and the communities they support around the other side. our most important objective is to allow small businesses to keep their employees on board and keep their businesses viable

through this unprecedented disruption. i want to reiterate the importance of patience through this process. we will continue working around the clock as we have done with our federal and private sector partners expanding capacity and working to make our systems as robust as possible to meet the needs. thank you, mr. president. >> thank you. very good. >> thank you. mr. president, you've made clear to us we need to execute. we need to get money to small business and american workers and that's what we're doing. the sba and treasury committed to get this program up and running tomorrow. people working around the clock, they literally, we had both teams working till 4:00 in the morning and start working again today. we have heard feedback from

lenders and we spent the last 24 hours making this system even easi easier. the will be up and running tomorrow. i encourage all small businesses that have 500 or fewer people contact your lenders and the fdic institution will be able to do this. any credit union, existing lenders and fentec lenders. you get the money, pay your workers. please bring your workers back to work if you let them go. you have eight weeks plus over head. this is a very important program. it's part of the program. we had announced it was going to be 50 basis points. we heard from some smaller community banks that their deposit costs even though the government's borrowing at three

or four basis points, this is on average a 90-day loan to make this attractive for community banks. we have agreed to raise the interest rate. i encourage everybody take out the paycheck protection program. i'm pleased to report the economic impact payments. i had previously said this would take us three weeks. i'm pleased to report that within two weeks, the first payments will be direct deposit into taxpayers account. as the president said, last night the president authorized me to say that anybody that has social security recipients won't need to file a new tax return and will have that. if we don't have your direct deposit information, we'll put up a web portal to put that up. it's a very large priority. the president has made clear. we want to get this money quickly into your hands. i'm also pleased to report we continue to work closely with the federal reserve. we're in the process of designing a new facility that we call the main street lending

facility. we're also looking at facilities for state governments as well. i'm also pleased to report the employee retention credit. it's up and running. the first $10,000 of wages. you get a 50% credit. that's $5,000 per person. for every one who has kept someone, you can immediately get that money. you can deduct it from what you owe the irs. if you don't owe us money you'll get refundable tax credit. i'm pleased to report we have the program up and running. we're taking applications from the airlines, from the cargo companies and from national security companies. thank you very much, mr. president. >> any questions? >> mr. secretary, chase bank sent a letter to its business clients saying they don't have the necessary guidance from the sba, from the treasury department to be able to accept loan applications starting tomorrow. the need is clearly enormous. one major bank says they are not

fully empowered yet to help. >> as i spoke to all the ceos yesterday, i had a conference call with them. we got input from them on what they needed. people were working until 4:00. i believe we just put up the federal register with the new guidelines for lenders. i can assure the banks will be proce process. i encourage all companies to go to sba.com. go to treasury.gov. you can see information you need immediately. >> there's a tremendous power struggle going on between the treasury and sba and that it's over processing forms is that lenders are opting out because they can't make enough money to service the loans. how are you going to make sure these small business owners get the capital they need to survive

right now. >> start working at 7:00 again. we have made the form simpler. i can assure you at five points i've told these bankers they should put them many the branches. >> the checks direct deposit. the irs is saying four to five months, you're saying two weeks. >> let me be clear. i don't know where you're hearing these things. i told you this would be three weeks. i'm committing to two weeks. we're delivering on our comm commitmen commitments. within two weeks the first money will be in people's accounts. >> sounds like those will go out quickly. the question is those that don't have direct deposit and a staff memo released by the house ways

and means economy scommittee sa could take you five weeks. that takes you to mid-august. >> when obama sent out the chex it took months and months. a if we have your information, you'll get within two weeks. social security, you'll get it very quickly after that. if we don't have your information, you'll have a simple web portal. up load it. if we don't have that, we'll send you checks in the mail. >> how many checks process? >> we can process a lot of checks. we don't want to send checks. we want put money directly into the account. >> this is you and the administrator. there's been some reports that business people will try to get access to the online site to submit the application, the website has been crashing. i've heard of webinars going

offline because there's too many people on them. how will you be ready to get these loans out? >> we brought in a lot of external resources at sba to make sure there's additional capacity. we heard a lot of good feedback yesterday to similar plplify th proce process. it's going be up and running. that doesn't mean everybody will get their loan tomorrow. the system will be up and running. we encourage people over the nec week. sign up. you can go on the web and see what information you need. very simple process. >> there are difference about another stimulus package. >> i have spoken to the leader and the speaker. when the president is ready and thinks we should do the next stage, we're ready. the president talked about the issue of infrastructure since the campaign. i think you know that's a big

priority for him. if we run out of money on the small business program, we'll be back right away to get this increased. >> does the unemployment numbers today increase the urgency of doing a phase four? >> let me just say, you know, we're going through something that we have never done before. the government has shutdown, big parts of the economy because of health reasons. our economies were in great shape. our companies were in great shape. americans will be protected by small business. they will be paid through this program. the direct deposit, there's also enhanced unemployment. we realize there are a lot of companies that because they aren't in business over a short period of time. we're working with states on enhanced unemployment and as soon as the medical professionals and the president gives the all clear, we're going to have a ton of liquidsty. we have about $6 trillion.

this has never been done between us and fed to put into the economy to support american workers and american business. >> in addition to the jobless numbers we saw today, phase three was signed before the social distancing guidelines were extended for another month. what additional relief are you going to give to americans as they stay out of work for all these extra weeks. what you are you waiting for? >> designing this program, we thought that we had liquidity for about ten weeks. that's what we have designed. again, i think the president has been very clear. if we need to go back to congress we will be doing that. >> house speaker nancy pelosi has formed a select committee to oversee the distribution of recovery funds. she wants to miake sure the funs are wisely spent.

do you think that committee is necessary? >> i don't. both parties wanted us to have oversight. wanted us to have transparency. we have full transparency. we have a oversight committee that the speaker gets to pick, the speaker gets to pick someone p, the leader picks someone. that economy will committee wil money we're spending. taxpayers should understand how we're going to support this economy and jobs. >> senator murkowski asked you to consider providing loans to energy companies. what are you thoughts? would you consider providing those loans to energy companies? >> thank you. let me clarify, i have very limited ability to do direct loans out of the treasury. i can do them for passenger airlines, cargo airlines, contractsers and national security companies. we work with the federal reserve

to create broad based lending facilities. our expectations will be able to participate in prod based facilititi facilitities. >> if question for clarity, how long before they have to wait for their check. >> people that don't have direct deposit, we'll have an easy way they put it up. on a rolling basis, within a couple of days we'll send the money out. we realize there are people who are under banked. again, we're working with all the digital companies, prepaid debit cards. we're wokking wi ingworking wit sure they have a process. this money does people no good if it shows up in four months. >> if it's matter of weeks, not months. >> as a matter of weeks and not

months. >> would you -- >> one area you can make direct loans is the airlines. how many do you expect the treasury department and the federal government will be involved in over seeing the operations of airlines as it pertains to which routes get cut back, how much they operate, what they do about their employees and the like? >> there are very strict requirements that is built into the bill. this was a bipartisan requirement. anything we do with the airlines they have to maintain substantially all of their employees. again, any money that we provide them will go to pay their employees. we'll be working with the secretary of transportation. there are requirements to maintain certain routes. again, we have a very clear process. we have hired three outside advisers. three law releasing that information. they are working for very little

money. they wouldn't work for free so they agreed to work for what they signed up for. again, no big fees to bankers. we got a great team of three lawyers and three financial advisers that will assist us. >> will you give us a list of the names of those people who are advicing you when you release the information? >> of course we will. >> the names right now other than blackrock. >> we have the pjt partners will do the passenger airlines. molas and company will do the cargo and contractors and perelo wineberg will do the national security. there will be law firms working in those sectors. we need to get this tone quicklquick -- done quickly. the airlines need money.

we have sevreceived contracts f a lot of the people. there's guidance up on the web. full transparency. we have asked for applications. >> on the airline issue again, speaker pelosi and others have said the government taking stakes in those airlines should not be a condition for the federal government to provide payroll support, specifically. what's your response to that? >> i spoke to the speaker last night about that. this was something that was highly negotiated between the republicans and the democrats. the president was personally involved in this. he was on the phone with us many times. mitch mcconnell, mark meadows, senators on both sides. there's a specific line in the bill that says that the secretary, meaning me, will determine proper compensation so this is not a bail out for the airlines and i will be working once we get our advice from our financial advisers, we get the applications from the airlines. i'll be working closely with the president and we'll make sure we

strike the right balance, not bail out, taxpayers get compensates but these airlines, these are national security issues. we want to keep our airlines intact. >> perhaps for the administrator, some small business, restaurant owners have finding that laying off their employees is better for them as business owners and for their workers. what incentury tifsecentives do keep their employees on the payroll if no one is coming into their restaurant? >> the incentury tisecentive is loans that turn into grants. if you're a business owner and you're a restaurant, you can hire your people back. you get money for their medical. you keep them on the medical plan. you get money for your rent. you get money for your electricity. you're motivated. waen we want you to have a business that you with reopen quickly

when it's appropriate. this doesn't cost the business owners anything. when people talk about i can't imagine any american worker who had a job, is offered to keep their job isn't going to want to have it. let me be clear, we have talked about this unemployment issue. you can only get unemployment if you don't have a job. unemployment is intended for those people that are, some of the mid size or larger businesses and very sympathetic to this. these companies can't afford and for those people that enhanced unemployment will be a significant benefit. we want to make sure. 50% of the american work force is small businesses under 500 people. the president, the vice president, the administrator and i want to make sure, this part of the economy is ready and intact when we're ready to reopen. >> small businesses you're concerned about, restaurants,

hair salons. >> we're concerned about every small business. there's 30 million small businesses that we're really focused on and working feverishly to make sure we can provide the available funds to them as quickly as possible. it's 30 million small businesses and the other businesses are being dealt with with the ppe, paycheck protection. also the economic injury disaster loan. there was an advance associated with that particular program as well. to answer your question, we're concerned about all businesses. as the secretary indicated, we're looking at employees being ready, not lost in this process. we want businesses to stay intact because they represent half the gdp. if we spend a trillion to support ten trillion or 11 trillion, i think that's significant investment. that's what we're focused on.

>> i want to make one comment for explanation. i want to make sure everybody understands this. if you're an independent contractor, if you're a soul proprietor, you're eligible for this as well. that program won't be up and running until next week. this is a very broad definition of small business. if you're an independent plumber, if you're an independent contractor, you're covered under this program. slightly more complicated, you have to come into your bank and give them more information but starting next week, that part of the program will be up and running. also charities. charities as well. very important. the vice president and president made sure we covered small charities in this. >> churches and nonreligious. >> it does but there are technical issues. this is under the ppe. the new sba program they are covered. >> thank you all. >> thank you, everybody.

>> thank you. okay. that begins right away. they start handing out checks. a lot of people will have their businesses built back up quickly, i hope. complicated -- >> i want to bring in stephanie ruhle very quickly. stephanie, you've been doing a lot of reporting both on the small business program. we heard a question two secretary mnuchin about the issue of whether it's going be as up and running as he's promising. what is the hold up between some banks and the government here? why are some banks not going to process these applications tomorrow like chase? >> as secretary mnu chin was speaking, we should fact check him. he said this is up and running tomorrow. you can call any fdic bank. that's not true. you're only allowed to apply

from this loan for your existing bank. from someone you have a relationship with. i know they are making this sound very cut and dry and clear but the banking industry is one of the most highly regulated industries there are. there are huge anti-money laundering and know your customer issues. thousands of smaller fdi insured banks have announced today and moments before secretary mnuchin started speaking jpmorgan chase said they cannot accept applications. it's not because they don't want to. congress, the president, steve mnuchin, all of these banks want to help the american people. the administration, the sba and the treasury department has not gotten the frame work, the actual rules that these banks need to understand to accept the applications. thus far, are you ready for this? i spoke to one of heads of these business banks and they have put together their solution of this is based on a guess. they are guessing what the actual requirements around this are going to be.

you better bet your bottom dollar, with $350 billion to go around that are going to be forgiven and steve mnuchin saying everybody call a bank, there's going to be huge frauds out there. there will be people applying for this who absolutely shouldn't be. they are standing there saying everybody get on the website when you have one of the largest banks in the world, chase, saying we want to help. we just can't do it, most likely. >> quickly, stephanie, if you, if somebody owns small business here katscatering company, lawne service and trying to figure out if this doesn't work for them tomorrow and chase is their bank, do they give up or what should they do? >> no, no, no. absolutely don't give up. you have to have some patience here. realize this, last year the sba had 3,000 employees. they did 58,000 loans. that's $28 billion. in the last week, the government has decided to take

unprecedented measures, bravo to them to put together a $350 billion loan program. it's going to take time. i realize it is such a stressful, anxious time. e people if they believe they're eligible for this. but it's really rough to watch the white house saying checks are coming, here we go when many of the largest banks want to help, but they just don't have the tools to do it get. just don't give up. >> it's a good reality check. these checks will come, but it's probably going to take a little longer perhaps than the promises being made. stephanie ruhle, thank you. we thought we would bring you that clarification. now we'll take you back to the president for part two. >> new york, on top of the 3,000 beds we're already providing to the javits center, the department of defense is adding another 48 icu beds. governor cuomo has asked that this facility go, and it's a big, beautiful facility. it be converted to a covid

hospital. >> and we hadn't done that yet. we hadn't thought in terms of doing that. but their use is, their real demand is for that. and we had meetings on it with the task force. we had meetings with the military. and i've decided to say yes, i'm going to do that, that i will be signing and agreeing to a yes answer so that we will be doing that, and also, we will be staffing it so the federal government is doing a lot of things that wasn't anticipated that it do. this is a 2,500 and/or 2,900 can easily be set up hospital built in javits center. and so we're going to be converting that to a covid-19 hospital. and it's going to be staffed by the military and by the federal government.

and based on the fact i agreed to that, we have two other facilities that were likewise asking for it. that would be in louisiana and also in dallas. and we'll be doing those. we spoke to the governor of louisiana. spoke to the governor of texas. and we've told them that we will be staffing those hospitals. again, above and beyond. but that's okay. we have to do that. in addition, the "usns comfort" is docked in new york to accept patients that is noncovid. to date fema has delivered more than 4 million n95 masks. think of that. 4 million. don't forget, we're a secondary source. the states are doing it and we're backing them up. but we've gotten 4 million n 95 respirators, 1.8 surgical

massing:00s, 1.4 million gloves and 4,400 ventilators just to the city and to the state of new york. and some of them now are being sent. i spoke with both governor cuomo and mayor de blasio a little while ago. and some of them are being sent to the city. all of america stands with the people of new york in this time of need. it's definitely a hot spot, but we have other hot spots also, and we're taking them. taking care of them very, very strongly, very powerfully. yes the finest people in the world in those locations. and i think the federal government has not only acted early, but acted quickly, professionally. there is no people like this. doctors, nurses, first responders and other health care providers who want to help new york at this critical time should visit website nyc.gov/helpnow.

nyc.gov/helpnow. they need help now. they need people to help them. we have great facilities, and we've built some brand-new facilities, big ones, but we need help. we need help for professional people. so if you're in an area that isn't so affected, you're a doctor, a nurse, a health care worker, please get to that website, and we would really appreciate your help. new york city needs it. louisiana, by the way, needs it. michigan needs it. whatever you can do, those are very strong hot spots. they need help. in recent week, as the virus has spread and economic hardship has followed, we have seen americans unite with incredible selflessness and compassion. i want to remind everyone here in our nation's capital, especially in congress that this is not the time for politics, endless, partisan investigation, here we go again. i' have already done extraordinary

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

we'll be able to help outside of our country. we think we'll be able to help. that's something you cannot easily reproduce. as citizens, we're linked together by the shared bonds of love, loyalty and shared affection. there is no earthly force more powerful than the patriotic pride that stirs in our hearts. that's so true. it's an incredible job that everybody has been doing everybody. they don't sleep. they don't go to bed. sometimes they get nothing. said to somebody recently on the task force, how many hours sleep have you gotten over the last couple of days. the answer was none. none. in one massachusetts neighborhood, citizens come out of their homes each night at 8:00 from their porches and they sing god bless america. others are spreading from house to house, down one street up to the next until their little town with a spirit of patriotism and reminding all americans that we're all in this together,

we'll fight together, and we will win together. we're going to win this. now what i'd like to do, i'm going to step out. we have a meeting on this subject, and i'm going the step out just for a few moments. i'll be right back. we'll answer some questions. but you some very hardworking people who have done an incredible job led by vice president mike pence, head of the task force, and then jared kushner is going to say a few words. and admiral, dr. birx and myself. i'll be right back. so i'll see you in a little while. i did take a test. it just came out. this is from the white house physician. you may have it. it just came out. i just took it this morning. and it took me literally a minute to take it. and it took me 14 or 15 minutes. i went to work. i didn't wait for it. but it took 14 minutes or something to come up with the conclusion, and it said the president tested negative for

covid-19. so that's the second one. i think i took it out of curiosity to see how quickly it work and how fast it worked. and it's a lot easier. i've done them both. the second one is much more pleasant, jeff, i can tell you that. much more pleasant. so i'll be back in a little while, and mike, please take over. thank you. thank you all very much. i'll be right back. >> thank you, mr. president. the white house coronavirus task force met today, but earlier in the day the president convened all the key elements of our supply chain team in the oval office for an update on the progress we have been making working literally around the clock to make sure that our h k health care workers, the people on the front lines have the personal protective equipment and also the ventilators to be able to meet this moment. and today you're going to hear from the people that are literally working, working each and every day to make that happen.

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

unprecedented step to direct the department of defense to use military health care personnel to operate all covid facilities. at the javits center in new york, at the convention center in new orleans, and at the convention center in dallas. and we informed each of the governors of those states today at their requests we were making those military medical personnel available to operate in all covid facility. but we would emphasize to people in that community who believe you've been impacted or have contracted the coronavirus, contact your local health care provider. we anticipate in the new york area that your local health care provider will make the decision whether you transferred to the javits center. and in all case, simply look to the guidance of your local governors about how best to receive the care that every american, every