Gov. Jay Inslee announced new community strategies and social distancing plans Wednesday at a news conference in Seattle to minimize COVID-19 exposure, particularly in counties hit hardest by the virus.

Starting today, events that takes place in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties with more than 250 people are prohibited by the state. This order applies to gatherings for social, spiritual and recreational activities. These include but are not limited to: community, civic, public, leisure, faith-based, or sporting events; parades; concerts; festivals; conventions; fundraisers and similar activities.

“This is an unprecedented public health situation and we can’t wait until we’re in the middle of it to slow it down,” Inslee said. “We’ve got to get ahead of the curve. One main defense is to reduce the interaction of people in our lives.”

Inslee issues emergency proclamation that limits large events to minimize public health risk during COVID-19

Governor Jay Inslee

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Mar 11 • 3 min read

Gov. Jay Inslee announced new community strategies and social distancing plans Wednesday at a news conference in Seattle to minimize COVID-19 exposure, particularly in counties hit hardest by the virus.

Starting today, events that take place in King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties with more than 250 people are prohibited by the state. This order applies to gatherings for social, spiritual and recreational activities. These include but are not limited to: community, civic, public, leisure, faith-based, or sporting events; parades; concerts; festivals; conventions; fundraisers and similar activities.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced new community strategies and social distancing plans Wednesday at a news conference in Seattle to minimize COVID-19 exposure, particularly in counties hit hardest by the virus. (Office of the Governor photo)

“This is an unprecedented public health situation and we can’t wait until we’re in the middle of it to slow it down,” Inslee said. “We’ve got to get ahead of the curve. One main defense is to reduce the interaction of people in our lives.”

County executives and mayors from impacted communities joined the governor for the announcement, including:

            Dow Constantine, King County executive

            Dave Somers, Snohomish County executive

            Bruce Dammeier, Pierce County executive

            Jenny Durkan, mayor of Seattle

            Victoria Woodards, mayor of Tacoma

            Cassie Franklin, mayor of Everett

            Dr. Kathy Lofy, Washington State Department of Health

            Dr. Jeff Duchin, Public Health Seattle King County

“We recognize this new limitation will impact thousands of people, their plans, and their investments in these events,” Inslee said. “However, this is one of the most prudent choices we can make to keep people safe in this rapidly evolving health crisis. We want to do all we can to protect Washingtonians.”

So far, the virus has hit King County the hardest, with 24 deaths and 267 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday morning.

The governor also strongly encouraged state residents to practice social distancing, which means individuals should try to stay six feet or at least an arm’s length from each other.

In recent days, Inslee has encouraged older and vulnerable individuals not to attend large events. The governor is also asking for workplaces to look into telework options for employees, for people to sanitize and clean surfaces as they use them, and for people to bump elbows as a greeting instead of shaking hands.

Today’s announcement follows weeks of agencies and medical providers working long hours to get emergency communications and strategies to the public after the virus began to spread in Washington.

“We support the governor’s actions to slow the spread of this virus so the health care system has time to respond,” said Cassie Sauer, president of the Washington Hospital Association.

Scenario for the possible cumulative burden of COVID-19 infection in King and Snohomish counties. Based on data from China and other countries, deaths occur in approximately 1 percent of the infected population (averaged across all ages) with an average three week delay relative to infection. (Graphic courtesy of Institute for Disease Modeling, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute)

Additional recommendations

In addition to the mandatory social distancing strategy, Inslee also made strong recommendations such as:

            Ask high-risk populations to avoid social and recreational contact with others, including attendance at large events.

            Implement changes to the workplace such as maximizing telecommuting options for as many employees as possible, and implementing social distancing in the workplace within reason.

            Make considerations for public transit such as additional cleaning and sanitizing.

Schools

The governor is currently not planning to call for widespread school closures.

However, he is asking school districts to make contingency plans around how they could provide services to families in need if schools closed for several weeks. Potential issues to address include free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch, students completing school work at home, and child care options.

“Washingtonians have stepped up in a big way and come together to face this public health crisis,” Inslee said. “I know these community strategies and distancing plans might pose challenges, but they are necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19.”

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Total 115 countries and territories around the world, have been exposed with COVID-19 and Confirmed cases as of 11 March 2020, a total of 118,903 cases including on
three cruise ships:
(the Grand Princess, the MS River Anuket and the Diamond Princess).

FACT SHEETS

President Donald J. Trump Has Taken Unprecedented Steps To Respond To The Coronavirus And Protect The Health And Safety Of Americans

HEALTHCARE

Issued on: March 11, 2020

Together we are putting into policy a plan to prevent, detect, treat and create a vaccine against coronavirus to save lives in America and the world. America will get it done!

President Donald J. Trump

RESTRICTING TRAVEL FROM IMPACTED AREAS: President Donald J. Trump is taking further action to curb the spread of the coronavirus to the United States from other countries.

            President Trump is issuing a proclamation under section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to restrict travel to the United States from foreign nationals who have recently been in certain European countries.

            Section 212(f) of the INA only applies to the movement of human beings, not goods or cargo.

            The restriction applies to foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen Area, 26 countries in Europe with open borders agreements, in the last 14 days.

            Those who are exempt from these restrictions, such as American citizens, will be directed to a limited number of airports where screening can take place.

            There is extensive travel back and forth between Europe that heightens the risk here in the United States.

LOOKING OUT FOR AMERICAN BUSINESSES AND WORKERS: President Donald J. Trump is committed to protecting American businesses and workers from the impacts of coronavirus.

            The President is announcing an economic assistance package to help support businesses and workers who have been harmed by this outbreak.

            President Trump has instructed the Small Business Administration (SBA) to exercise available authority to provide loans to businesses affected by the coronavirus.

            These loans will help overcome disruptions caused by the coronavirus.

            The President is calling on Congress to increase funding for this program by an additional $50 billion.

            The President will be instructing the Department of the Treasury to defer tax payments for certain individuals and businesses negatively impacted by the coronavirus.

            This action will provide more than $200 billion of additional liquidity to the economy.

            President Trump is calling on Congress to immediately pass payroll tax relief.

            The President announced that he will soon be taking emergency action to provide financial relief for workers who are ill, quarantined, or caring for others due to the coronavirus.

            The President also called on Congress to take action to extend this relief for workers.

LEADING AN AGGRESSIVE, WHOLE-OF-GOVERNMENT APPROACH: President Trump has taken unprecedented steps to protect the health of Americans in response to the coronavirus.

            The President is leveraging all of our resources to respond to the coronavirus, bringing together government and private industry in a collaborative response.

            The Trump Administration declared a public health emergency in January to bolster response efforts.

            President Trump took early action to help curb the spread of the virus from other countries to the United States, providing important time for response and preparations.

            In January, President Trump acted quickly to restrict travel from foreign nationals traveling from China.

            In February, the President restricted travel for individuals recently traveling from Iran.

            The Administration put into place mandatory screening for all travelers coming into the country from Italy and South Korea.

            Travel advisories for severely impacted areas like Italy and South Korea have been raised to their highest level.

            Today, the President directed his Administration to make general-use face masks available to our healthcare workers.

            The Administration’s actions will help make millions of general-use respirators available to keep healthcare workers safe and mitigate transmission of the virus.

            President Trump signed into law more than $8 billion to fund response efforts.

            The Administration has taken bold steps to incentivize the development of therapeutics and vaccines to treat and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

            Working across the public and private sectors, the Trump Administration continues to drastically expand testing capacity.

            More than 1 million tests have been distributed nationwide, with another 4 million tests being shipped out by the end of the week.

            Testing is now available in every State lab in the country and commercial labs are now deploying tests, which will help generate a dramatic increase in availability.

            The Trump Administration has released guidance on how to keep businesses, schools, community gathering places, and families safe.

            From the start, President Trump has made keeping the public informed a top priority.

        The Administration has announced that health plans with health savings accounts will be able to cover coronavirus testing and treatment without co-payments.

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump in Address to the Nation

HEALTHCARE

Issued on: March 11, 2020

Oval Office

9:02 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  My fellow Americans: Tonight, I want to speak with you about our nation’s unprecedented response to the

coronavirus outbreak that started in China and is now spreading throughout the world.

Today, the World Health Organization officially announced that this is a global pandemic.

We have been in frequent contact with our allies, and we are marshalling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people.

This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history.  I am confident that by counting and continuing to take these tough measures, we will significantly reduce the threat to our citizens, and we will ultimately and expeditiously defeat this virus.

From the beginning of time, nations and people have faced unforeseen challenges, including large-scale and very dangerous health threats.  This is the way it always was and always will be.  It only matters how you respond, and we are responding with great speed and professionalism.

Our team is the best anywhere in the world.  At the very start of the outbreak, we instituted sweeping travel restrictions on China and put in place the first federally mandated quarantine in over 50 years.  We declared a public health emergency and issued the highest level of travel warning on other countries as the virus spread its horrible infection.

And taking early intense action, we have seen dramatically fewer cases of the virus in the United States than are now present in Europe.

The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots.  As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe.

After consulting with our top government health professionals, I have decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and wellbeing of all Americans.

To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.  The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight.  These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground.

There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval.  Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing.  These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom.

At the same time, we are monitoring the situation in China and in South Korea.  And, as their situation improves, we will reevaluate the restrictions and warnings that are currently in place for a possible early opening.

Earlier this week, I met with the leaders of health insurance industry who have agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments, extend insurance coverage to these treatments, and to prevent surprise medical billing.

We are cutting massive amounts of red tape to make antiviral therapies available in record time.  These treatments will significantly reduce the impact and reach of the virus.

Additionally, last week, I signed into law an $8.3 billion funding bill to help CDC and other government agencies fight the virus and support vaccines, treatments, and distribution of medical supplies.  Testing and testing capabilities are expanding rapidly, day by day.  We are moving very quickly.

The vast majority of Americans: The risk is very, very low.  Young and healthy people can expect to recover fully and quickly if they should get the virus.  The highest risk is for elderly population with underlying health conditions.  The elderly population must be very, very careful.

In particular, we are strongly advising that nursing homes for the elderly suspend all medically unnecessary visits.  In general, older Americans should also avoid nonessential travel in crowded areas.

My administration is coordinating directly with communities with the largest outbreaks, and we have issued guidance on school closures, social distancing, and reducing large gatherings.

Smart action today will prevent the spread of the virus tomorrow.

Every community faces different risks and it is critical for you to follow the guidelines of your local officials who are working closely with our federal health experts — and they are the best.

For all Americans, it is essential that everyone take extra precautions and practice good hygiene.  Each of us has a role to play in defeating this virus.  Wash your hands, clean often-used surfaces, cover your face and mouth if you sneeze or cough, and most of all, if you are sick or not feeling well, stay home.

To ensure that working Americans impacted by the virus can stay home without fear of financial hardship, I will soon be taking emergency action, which is unprecedented, to provide financial relief.  This will be targeted for workers who are ill, quarantined, or caring for others due to coronavirus.

I will be asking Congress to take legislative action to extend this relief.

Because of the economic policies that we have put into place over the last three years, we have the greatest economy anywhere in the world, by far.

Our banks and financial institutions are fully capitalized and incredibly strong.  Our unemployment is at a historic low.  This vast economic prosperity gives us flexibility, reserves, and resources to handle any threat that comes our way.

This is not a financial crisis, this is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.

However, to provide extra support for American workers, families, and businesses, tonight I am announcing the following additional actions:  I am instructing the Small Business Administration to exercise available authority to provide capital and liquidity to firms affected by the coronavirus.

Effective immediately, the SBA will begin providing economic loans in affected states and territories.  These low-interest loans will help small businesses overcome temporary economic disruptions caused by the virus.  To this end, I am asking Congress to increase funding for this program by an additional $50 billion.

Using emergency authority, I will be instructing the Treasury Department to defer tax payments, without interest or penalties, for certain individuals and businesses negatively impacted.  This action will provide more than $200 billion of additional liquidity to the economy.

Finally, I am calling on Congress to provide Americans with immediate payroll tax relief.  Hopefully they will consider this very strongly.

We are at a critical time in the fight against the virus.  We made a life-saving move with early action on China.  Now we must take the same action with Europe.  We will not delay.  I will never hesitate to take any necessary steps to protect the lives, health, and safety of the American people.  I will always put the wellbeing of America first.

If we are vigilant — and we can reduce the chance of infection, which we will — we will significantly impede the transmission of the virus.  The virus will not have a chance against us.

No nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States.  We have the best economy, the most advanced healthcare, and the most talented doctors, scientists, and researchers anywhere in the world.

We are all in this together.  We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family.

As history has proven time and time again, Americans always rise to the challenge and overcome adversity.

Our future remains brighter than anyone can imagine.  Acting with compassion and love, we will heal the sick, care for those in need, help our fellow citizens, and emerge from this challenge stronger and more unified than ever before.

God bless you, and God bless America.  Thank you.

END

9:12 P.M. EDT

PROCLAMATIONS

Proclamation—Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus

HEALTHCARE

Issued on: March 11, 2020

    On January 31, 2020, I issued Proclamation 9984 (Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus and Other Appropriate Measures To Address This Risk).  I found that the potential for widespread transmission of a novel (new) coronavirus (which has since been renamed “SARS-CoV-2” and causes the disease COVID-19) (“SARS-CoV-2” or “the virus”) by infected individuals seeking to enter the United States threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security.  Because the outbreak of the virus was at the time centered in the People’s Republic of China, I suspended and limited the entry of all aliens who were physically present within the People’s Republic of China, excluding the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States, subject to certain exceptions.  On February 29, 2020, in recognition of the sustained person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in the Islamic Republic of Iran, I issued Proclamation 9992 (Suspension of Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Certain Additional Persons Who Pose a Risk of Transmitting 2019 Novel Coronavirus), suspending and limiting the entry of all aliens who were physically present within the Islamic Republic of Iran during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States, subject to certain exceptions.

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a component of the Department of Health and Human Services, has determined that the virus presents a serious public health threat, and CDC continues to take steps to prevent its spread.  But CDC, along with State and local health departments, has limited resources, and the public health system could be overwhelmed if sustained human-to-human transmission of the virus occurred in the United States on a large scale.  Sustained human-to-human transmission has the potential to cause cascading public health, economic, national security, and societal consequences.

    The World Health Organization has determined that multiple countries within the Schengen Area are experiencing sustained person-to-person transmission of SARS-CoV-2.  For purposes of this proclamation, the Schengen Area comprises 26 European states: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.  The Schengen Area currently has the largest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of the People’s Republic of China.  As of March 11, 2020, the number of cases in the 26 Schengen Area countries is 17,442, with 711 deaths, and shows high continuous growth in infection rates.  In total, as of March 9, 2020, the Schengen Area has exported 201 COVID-19 cases to 53 countries.  Moreover, the free flow of people between the Schengen Area countries makes the task of managing the spread of the virus difficult.

    The United States Government is unable to effectively evaluate and monitor all of the travelers continuing to arrive from the Schengen Area.  The potential for undetected transmission of the virus by infected individuals seeking to enter the United States from the Schengen Area threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security.  Given the importance of protecting persons within the United States from the threat of this harmful communicable disease, I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to take action to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the Schengen Area during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States.  The free flow of commerce between the United States and the Schengen Area countries remains an economic priority for the United States, and I remain committed to facilitating trade between our nations.

    NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that the unrestricted entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would, except as provided for in section 2 of this proclamation, be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions.  I therefore hereby proclaim the following:

Section1.  Suspension and Limitation on Entry.  The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of all aliens who were physically present within the Schengen Area during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States is hereby suspended and limited subject to section 2 of this proclamation.

Sec. 2.  Scope of Suspension and Limitation on Entry.

(a)  Section 1 of this proclamation shall not apply to:

(i)     any lawful permanent resident of the United States;

(ii)    any alien who is the spouse of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident;

(iii)   any alien who is the parent or legal guardian of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, provided that the U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident is unmarried and under the age of 21;

(iv)    any alien who is the sibling of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, provided that both are unmarried and under the age of 21;

(v)     any alien who is the child, foster child, or ward of a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, or who is a prospective adoptee seeking to enter the United States pursuant to the IR-4 or IH-4 visa classifications;

(vi)    any alien traveling at the invitation of the United States Government for a purpose related to containment or mitigation of the virus;

(vii)   any alien traveling as a nonimmigrant pursuant to a C-1, D, or C-1/D nonimmigrant visa as a crewmember or any alien otherwise traveling to the United States as air or sea crew;

(viii)  any alien

(A)  seeking entry into or transiting the United States pursuant to one of the following visas:  A-1, A-2, C-2, C-3 (as a foreign government official or immediate family member of an official), E-1 (as an employee of TECRO or TECO or the employee’s immediate family members), G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO-1 through NATO-4, or NATO-6 (or seeking to enter as a nonimmigrant in one of those NATO categories); or

(B)  whose travel falls within the scope of section 11 of the United Nations Headquarters Agreement;

(ix)    any alien whose entry would not pose a significant risk of introducing, transmitting, or spreading the virus, as determined by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the CDC Director or his designee;

(x)     any alien whose entry would further important United States law enforcement objectives, as determined by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or their respective designees, based on a recommendation of the Attorney General or his designee;

(xi)    any alien whose entry would be in the national interest, as determined by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, or their designees; or

(xii)   members of the U.S. Armed Forces and spouses and children of members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

(b)  Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to affect any individual’s eligibility for asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the regulations issued pursuant to the legislation implementing the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, consistent with the laws and regulations of the United States.

Sec. 3.  Implementation and Enforcement.  (a)  The Secretary of State shall implement this proclamation as it applies to visas pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, may establish.  The Secretary of Homeland Security shall implement this proclamation as it applies to the entry of aliens pursuant to such procedures as the Secretary of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of State, may establish.

(b)  Consistent with applicable law, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Transportation, and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that any alien subject to this proclamation does not board an aircraft traveling to the United States.

(c)  The Secretary of Homeland Security may establish standards and procedures to ensure the application of this proclamation at and between all United States ports of entry.

(d)  An alien who circumvents the application of this proclamation through fraud, willful misrepresentation of a material fact, or illegal entry shall be a priority for removal by the Department of Homeland Security.

Sec. 4.  Termination.  This proclamation shall remain in effect until terminated by the President.  The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall recommend that the President continue, modify, or terminate this proclamation as described in section 5 of Proclamation 9984, as amended.

Sec. 5.  Effective Date.  This proclamation is effective at 11:59 p.m. eastern daylight time on March 13, 2020.  This proclamation does not apply to persons aboard a flight scheduled to arrive in the United States that departed prior to 11:59 p.m. eastern daylight time on March 13, 2020.

Sec. 6.  Severability.  It is the policy of the United States to enforce this proclamation to the maximum extent possible to advance the national security, public safety, and foreign policy interests of the United States.  Accordingly:

(a)  if any provision of this proclamation, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this proclamation and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby; and

(b)  if any provision of this proclamation, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid because of the lack of certain procedural requirements, the relevant executive branch officials shall implement those procedural requirements to conform with existing law and with any applicable court orders.

Sec. 7.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This proclamation shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-fourth.

DONALD J. TRUMP’’

Sources: White House, wikipedia,  youtube, yahoo,
 , Global News, State of Washington Governor site
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, March 11th, 2020,
Rev March 12th, 2020,

6:34 P.M. EDTE
THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you very much.  We just attended a very important task force meeting on the virus that everybody is talking about all over the world.  No matter where you go, that’s what’s on people’s minds.  And we are going to take care of, and have been taking care of, the American public and the American economy.

We are going to be asking tomorrow — we’re seeing the Senate.  We’re going to be meeting with House Republicans — Mitch McConnell, everybody — and discussing a possible payroll tax cut or relief, substantial relief — very substantial relief.  That’s a big — that’s a big number.

We’re also going to be talking about hourly wage earners getting help so that they can be in a position where they’re not going to ever miss a paycheck.  We’re going to be working with companies and small companies, large companies — a lot of companies — so that they don’t get penalized for something that’s not their fault.  It’s not their fault, it’s not our country’s fault.

This was something that we were thrown into and we’re going to handle it, and we have been handling it very well.  The big decision was early when we shut down our borders.  We’re the first ones ever to do that.  We’ve never done that in our country before.  Or we’d have a situation that would be a lot more dire.

Also, we’re going to be seeing Small Business Administration and creating loans for small businesses.  We’re also working with the industries, including the airline industry, the cruise ship industry — which, obviously, will be hit.  We’re working with them very, very strongly.  We want them to travel.  We want people to travel to certain locations and not to other locations at this moment.  And hopefully that will straighten out sooner rather than later.  But we’re working with the industries, and in particular those two industries.

We’re also talking to the hotel industry.  And some places, actually, will do well, and some places probably won’t do well at all.  But we’re working also with the hotel industry.

But the main thing is that we’re taking care of the American public, and we will be taking care of the American public.

And I really appreciate the professionals behind me and the professionals actually behind them, in a different room.  We have a tremendous team, and it’s headed up by our great Vice President, Mike Pence.  And I want to thank Mike because he’s been working 24 hours a day, just about.  He has been working very, very hard, very diligently, and very professionally.  And I want to thank him, and I want to thank the team.  And I’ll have Mike say a few words.

Thank you very much.  Thank you.  Mike?  Please.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Mr. President.  We just completed the day’s meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.  We had the opportunity to brief the President today on a broad range of issues.

And once again, because of the unprecedented action that President Trump took in January — suspending all travel from China; establishing travel advisories for portions of South Korea and Italy; establishing screening of all direct flights, all passengers from all airports from Italy and South Korea — we have — we have bought a considerable amount of time, according to all the health experts, to deal with the coronavirus here in the United States.

In fact, as I stand before you today, the risk of contracting the coronavirus to the American public remains low, and the risk of serious disease among the American public also remains low.

With that being said, the President did deploy not just a whole-of-government approach, but also a whole-of-America approach.  And last week, at the President’s direction, we met with leaders in industries, from nursing homes to airlines, pharmaceutical companies, commercial labs, and it’s had great, great impact.

Pharmaceutical companies are already working, literally around the clock, on the development of therapeutics; that will be medicines that can bring relief to people that contract the coronavirus.  And I know how pleased the President was to learn that the commercial labs in this country, led by companies like LabCorp and Quest, have already brought a test forward and are taking that to market effective today.

This week, at the President’s direction, we’ll be meeting with hospital CEOs, health insurance CEOs, and all — building on top of what the President will be announcing tomorrow with regard to economic relief for working Americans.

We also met today in a conference call with 47 of America’s governors.  We were able to brief them on the latest — the progress that we’ve made.  We were able to confirm with them that testing is now available in all state labs in every state in the country.  Over a million tests have been distributed.  Before the end of this week, another 4 million tests will be distributed.  But as I said before, with the deployment of the commercial labs, we literally — we literally are going to see a dramatic increase in the available — availability of testing, and that’s all a direct result of the President’s leadership.

Today, in a few moments, we will — we will outline community guidance that Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci will be publishing.  At President’s direction, we’re going to be providing guidance about how to keep your home safe, how to keep your business safe, how to keep safe and healthy at your school.  And we’ll be publishing that information and speaking about that.

A brief word about the Grand Princess: The Grand Princess has docked this afternoon in Oakland, California, at a commercial dock.  Twenty-five children, we were happy to learn through the screening over the last two days — the 25 children on the ship are all healthy.  Of the people that have contracted the coronavirus — 21 in all — they’re being dealt with in proper isolation.

Working with health authorities in California, we hope before the end of today to begin to disembark California residents to Travis Air Force Base in Miramar.  We’ve made arrangements with Canada and the UK to take their passengers back.  They’ll be transported directly to the tarmac, charter flights home.

And tomorrow, the remaining passengers will be transported, again, through very, very carefully controlled environments — buses out to the tarmac and flown to military bases in Georgia and Texas.

All the passengers will be tested, isolated as appropriate, quarantined as appropriate.  And I want to express appreciation to the Governor of California and his administration, the Governor of Georgia, the Governor of Texas, for their strong cooperation with us in resolving the issues around the Grand Princess.

It has been a — it has been a partnership which the President directed us from the very beginning.  And the process that Bob Kadlec will detail, and any questions in a few moments, continues to work and move forward.

The remaining people on the ship — the crew itself will push off from the dock, and they will be quarantined and observed and treated shipboard.  But the President made the priority to get — to get the Americans ashore, and we’re in the process of doing that, as well as returning the foreign nationals.

Let me just say one other point: As the President has spoken today to congressional leadership, one of the things that I informed the President that I’ve been hearing from governors is the concern about hourly wage earners in this country feeling that they had to go to work, even if they were ill.  And the President has tasked this economic team, and is working already with leaders in the Congress, to make sure that anyone is not — feels that they’re at risk of losing their job or losing a paycheck because they may contract the coronavirus.

When we tell people, “If you’re sick, stay home,” the President has tasked the team with developing economic policies that will make it very, very clear that we’re going to stand by those hardworking Americans, stand by those businesses large and small, and make it possible for us, as the President said from the very beginning, to put the health of America first.

We’ll be available to take any questions on any of these topics, but, Mr. President, I didn’t know if you wanted to speak a few more, in closing.

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I think what we will be doing is having a news conference tomorrow to talk about various things that we’re doing economically — there’ll be very major — including, obviously, the payroll tax cut.

And so we’ll be meeting again tomorrow afternoon.  We’ll be coming back from the Senate, and we have a lot of very important meetings set up.  And we’ll have a press conference sometime after that, and we’ll explain what we’re doing on an economic standpoint and from an economic standpoint.  But they will be very — very dramatic.  And we have a great economy, we have a very strong economy, but this came — this blindsided the world.  And I think we’ve handled it very, very well.  I think they’ve done a great job.  The people behind me have done a great job.

So I will be here tomorrow afternoon to let you know about some of the economic steps we’re taking, which will be major.  Thank you very much.

Q    Mr. President have you been tested?

Q    Have you been tested, sir?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, Mr. President.

Q    Has he been tested?

Q    Has he been tested?

Q    Have you been tested?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I have not been tested for the coronavirus.

Q    Has the President?  Has the President been tested?

Q    Sir, he’s been in contact with people who were in proximity to somebody who had the virus.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Let me be sure to get you an answer to that.  I honestly don’t know the answer to the question, but we’ll refer that question, and we will get you an answer from the White House physician very quickly.

Let me — let me ask Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx to come to the podium.  You all, and the American public, will have at their fingertips, very quickly, guidance that this is for every American.

We’re working with communities, like the Seattle area, like portions of California, New York, and Florida, that have what we call “community spread,” a concentration of coronavirus cases.  But we directed our team to come up with helpful recommendations for every American, every American family, every American business and school.

And if Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci step forward, they can outline that for you.

DR. BIRX:  Great.  Thank you.  Good evening.  We’ve been — it was good getting out last week, meeting with communities.  We know that the real solutions to this is every American has a role in stopping the spread of the virus, and so we wanted to really put out guidance for every American and every community that was practical and common sense, but detailed in a way that everyone would know precisely what to do.

The guidance will be around how to keep workplaces safe, how to keep school safe, how to keep the home safe, and how to keep commercial businesses safe, where people would eat or be present.

The importance about this is we believe that communities are at the center of this.  I came from a field where it was the communities that really solved our issues around HIV prevention.  And so we’re very much speaking to the communities and the American people about what can be done.

All of this information came from a paper that Dr. Fauci provided from the Australians — first, author Dalton.  So you can actually look up the scientific evidence that informed each of these guidelines.  But we will be providing that this evening in great detail so that every mother, father, child, son, daughter, caregiver will know precisely what to do and what to ask for.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Dr. Fauci?

DR. FAUCI:  Yeah.  Just to reiterate what Dr. Birx said, it was as simple as that: We have been speaking about the kinds of things that would keep our citizens safe in a variety of environments.

We’ve been speaking about on telephone calls.  We’ve been speaking about at conferences.  The CDC has been talking about this for a long time, as has Dr. Birx and I.  So we thought we would put it together in a neat-form way that would be available to the general public.

What Dr. Birx had mentioned is that, just the other day, I got one of many, many emails where some of my colleagues that I know from Australia actually decided they were going to write a paper on it and make a number of boxes, which was exactly saying what we had been talking about.  So we came up with the idea — it would be very good for clarity, so why don’t we just put it together, edit it a little, and put it in a way that people can look: “What about the home?  What about the school?  What about the workplace?”

These are really simple, low-tech things.  There’s nothing in there that’s complicated.  But it’s just stated in a way that’s clear, that people can understand.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I might ask the Surgeon General — is there anything about the guidance you want to reflect on?

SURGEON GENERAL ADAMS:  Well, one thing I want folks to know is that we have been looking at the data from around the world, and we now know more than we ever have about who is at risk.  Who is at risk — and I hope you will help us communicate this to the American people — are people over the age of 60; they’re much more likely to develop complications from the coronavirus and to be hospitalized from the coronavirus.  The average age of death is age 80.

Now, what we also want communities to know is that if you are a child or young adult, you are much more — you’re more likely to die from the flu, if you get it, than you are to die from coronavirus.  So there’s something about being young that is protective.  We want people to be reassured by that.

We want people to know that we are really focusing in on those groups that are at highest risk for complications, and helping them understand how to be safe.  And this new advice that’s going to be coming out tomorrow is designed to keep our community safe, to help keep the most vulnerable safe.  And it’s important to understand that even though young people aren’t at risk for dying from coronavirus, they can potentially spread that to older people in the communities and people with chronic diseases.

So it’s important we all take precautions: washing our hands, covering our cough, keeping our distance from people who are sick, and taking the steps that will be coming out in this new guidance to help make sure we’re doing everything we know possible to keep our most vulnerable protected.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Great.  Well done.  Thank you.

And I’m going to — I think the Surgeon General raises a very important point.  You know, my mother is 88 years young.  My stepfather is about the same age.  This is just a really good time — what Dr. Fauci tells us, what the experts tell us is to look after — look after family members, loved ones who are senior citizens, and particularly those who have serious underlying health conditions.  All the data, Dr. Birx confirms to us, that they — they’re the most vulnerable to serious consequences if they contract the coronavirus.

But the guidance that we would — we would ask members of the media and the American public looking on: You can go to Coronavirus.gov.  This information will be posted tonight.  And hopefully it will be useful, helpful, common sense for families, for schools, for businesses, and for commercial establishments that welcome the public in, just to — just to create the kind of practices that we believe will mitigate the spread of the coronavirus across the country as a whole.

But with regard to seniors, I might just ask Seema Verma to step up and speak about — last week, at the President’s direction, we raised the standards for every nursing home in America with regard to infectious disease.  And we are deploying all 8,000 of our inspectors in every state, as we told the governors today, to focus exclusively on infectious disease compliance at our nursing homes.

Our hearts break for the families at the Kirkland nursing home in Seattle.  The loss of life has been grievous.  But we are — we are sending the message out, working with our governors to make sure our nursing homes and long-term care facilities have the additional layer of protection against the spread of the coronavirus.

And maybe you can give us —

ADMINISTRATOR VERMA:  Thank you.  Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

As he said, that’s exactly where our focus is: It’s around infection control.  And we’re working with the entire healthcare industry.  Today, we issued more guidance to nursing homes about really upping their screening of people that are coming into the nursing home and making sure that, you know, they’re gloved and they have masks so that they — so that we can protect people that are in the nursing homes.

The other thing that we’re doing is, because we know that many of our senior citizens are vulnerable, we want to make sure that they know that the Medicare program is behind them and we’re here to support them.  We’re letting our patients know that they can get a coronavirus test and that there is no cost-sharing associated with that for our seniors on the Medicare program.

And we’re also letting them know that, because of the President’s leadership, over a year and a half ago, he took action to actually extend more telehealth benefits to our nation’s seniors.  And this is a very historic change that we made under the President’s leadership.

And so, if they’re sick and they’re ill, they can call their doctor, they can Skype with their doctor, and Medicare will reimburse for those services.  And we’ve also, in our conversations with governors today, we’ve talked about having telehealth services also available in the Medicaid program.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Great.  Let me — let me invite Bob Kadlec, who is Deputy Secretary of HHS, to come forward as well to fill us in on the latest on the progress on the Grand Princess —

DR. KADLEC:  Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — that is dockside now and is going through a very careful process of having Americans and foreign nationals come off, and everyone will be tested.

DR. KADLEC:  Thank you very much, sir.  And, yes, we began our medical operation to basically disembark those passengers.  On Saturday, we placed the medical crew on that boat to augment the physicians and nurses that were already on the ship.  We basically ensured that the quarantine on the boat and isolation were being enforced, and then evaluated first the children and those who are ill, identifying anyone who is severely ill, if possible.

When the boat arrived on dockside today, additional medical personnel came on board and began an orderly disembarkation.  Our intent is to basically disembark about half of the passengers on the boat today and the other half tomorrow.  And everyone will be medically screened before they get off.  If there’s any question about their physical or health, they’ll be screened again more additionally.  And then they’ll be transferred to one of the four quarantine sites in the United States: Travis Air Force Base, Miramar Naval Air Station, Lackland Air Force Base, and Dobbins Air Force Base in Georgia.

The foreign passengers will be transferred to — the Canadians will be taken back to Canada, and we’re working with the United Kingdom to return their passengers back to the United Kingdom.

But we’re doing this all in cooperation with the great support of the State of California, the City of Oakland, and with the support of the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Okay.  Great.  And on the subject of testing, we had a very good discussion today, as I mentioned, with 47 governors.  And I outlined for them all of the different testing methods that are available.  We have tests now in every state lab in America, but we’re rapidly expanding that.

And let me ask the Secretary of HHS to give us the latest on the availability of testing to the American public and at the states.

SECRETARY AZAR:  Great.  Thank you, Mr. Vice President.  So we continue with our strategic plan at HHS, across all of the components represented by many of the leaders here, which is to diagnose, to treat, to contain, to mitigate, to research, and communicate.  It’s what we do in a healthcare crisis situation.

One element of that is the test, which, of course, CDC developed in record time after getting the genetic sequence posted from China.  That then was available at CDC, and from that point on, there was no individual that a public health official needed to get tested that CDC didn’t have surplus capacity to test.  But we’ve been moving progressively to bring that test closer and closer and closer to the patient and to the bedside, and to make it as easy as possible for us to use testing, very much in line with our peer countries facing similar epidemiological circumstances.

At this point, we — as many of you who were here on Saturday for the briefing know — we have over 1 million tests that have shipped from CDC and to private contractors that are the CDC type of test.  Those are now out.  And as the Vice President mentioned, every state public health lab has validated in operating those tests.  In addition, hundreds of thousands of those tests are in hospitals, in private labs, in commercial labs.  We now have a total of 2.1 million tests that are available, either shipped or waiting to be shipped or waiting to be ordered.

We, by the end of this week, expect to be able to be producing up to 4 million tests per week in the United States.  And that is on top of what the private commercial entities — the companies you know of, like LabCorp or Quest — using their technology, the test that they’re getting out — which is an even better experience for the patient because those were –- they are able to actually collect samples directly in doctors’ offices, have a very sophisticated collection system to their labs, again, making it a very much more seamless patient experience.  They’re now validated and getting up and running.  And that, you’ll see even more of that.

So as I said, over the next week or so, you’re just going to see a progressively better patient and physician and provider experience connected to diagnostic testing here in the United States.  Thank you.

Q    So how many of the tests so far?  Do you have that number?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, let me — questions in just a moment.

SECRETARY AZAR:  Yeah.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’ll come back.  We’ll come back.

Q    Thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  With that, I want to — I want to invite the Director of CDC to come forward just to give you an overview of where we are in the country with regard to cases.  And then we’ll take questions on any of the topics.

DR. REDFIELD:  Thank you, Mr. Vice President.  We do continue to see an increased number in cases, again, as we said we would.  As time passes, we currently have over 500 cases now in the United States, outside of the repatriation cases and the cases on the Diamond Princess.  We now have cases in 35 states that have been reported and the District of Columbia.

I want to reiterate what the Vice President said, despite what I just said here, is that, at the present time, the risk to the American public does remain low.  We do have several community outbreaks, which we’re focusing on in the Seattle area; in the Santa Clara, California area; in Westminster, in New York; and in Florida.

And these are areas that we’re investigating heavily to try to understand the transmission mechanisms there and begin to help these jurisdictions begin to operationalize a series of mitigation strategies to help, again, to slow and contain the outbreak.  Thank you.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And let me say just before we go to questions: Coronavirus.gov.  For the American public, for healthcare professionals, it is a comprehensive website.  We’re adding to it every day.  And also, Dr. Birx — we’re working very diligently to establish a single website where we — where people can go to track all of the cases and where they’re emerging.

Questions?  Please.

Q    Mr. Vice President, could I ask you and Secretary Mnuchin, if I could, the stock market –-

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, please.

Q    — a huge slide today.  And people on Wall Street now talking about the possibility of a recession.  Some people saying it’s better than a 50/50 chance that that will happen.  How worried are you that that will happen?

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Well, let me just first say, today was an unprecedented move in the oil market.  So, you know, we saw a overnight reaction of over down 20 percent.  And that’s obviously what had a major component today on the stock market.

But let me just make a couple of comments, more broadly, about the economy.

First of all, we couldn’t be more pleased that coming into the situation with the coronavirus, the U.S. has the most resilient economy in the world.  You saw a very large economic jobs number last month, and we couldn’t be more pleased that the President’s economic programs of tax cuts, regulatory relief, and trade have put the economy in a very good position.

I would also just say that I am in daily conversations with Chair Powell.  We are committed, and we just had a meeting with the President and the economic team.  The President is committed that whatever support we need to provide to the U.S. economy, we will use all our tools, working very closely with the regulators.  The President has the bank CEOs coming in this week.  We’ll be talking to them about what they can do to help small businesses and companies that are impacted.

So let me just again emphasize: Our primary focus is there are parts of the economy that are going to be impacted, especially workers that need to be at home — hardworking people who are at home under quarantine or taking care of their family.  We’ll be working on a program to address that.

We will also be working with small businesses who need liquidity through SBA programs.  We’re looking at alternatives at the IRS.  We have large tax payments coming up of providing certain relief to companies and individuals for liquidity.

So the President is 100 percent committed that we will provide whatever tools we need, that the economy will be in very good shape a year from now.  This is not like the financial crisis where we don’t know the end in sight.  This is about providing proper tools and liquidity to get through the next few months.

Q    (Inaudible) the tax credit you’re looking at, sir?  What are you going to propose tomorrow on Capitol Hill?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Yeah, a follow-up.

SECRETARY MNUCHIN:  Well, let me just say there are certain authorities that the President has that we can do on our own, and we’ve already catalogued those tools.  We have a large group — a sub-task force of Treasury and NEC working on this.  We are also working with bipartisan leadership on a whole range of alternatives that we’ll be discussing with them tomorrow.  And, as you know, we had bipartisan agreement on the spending deal.  We will use the same approach to work with the leadership on the House and the Senate on this.

Q    Mr. Vice President, you just said that you have not been tested.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  No, I haven’t.

Q    You said you don’t know if the President has been tested.  But today we learned that the President has interacted with two lawmakers who have interacted with someone who is positive for coronavirus.  So why not get tested?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, I just simply don’t know what the White House physician has recommended to the President.  But I promise you we’ll get you that information.

Q    About when do you think you can let us know if the President has been tested?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’ll let you know tonight.  Right away.

Yeah, but look, this is a — obviously, the White House physician is — their directive is to see to the health and wellbeing of the President of the United States, and we’ll get you a very direct answer on that.

Q    Do you think you should be tested?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I’ve had no — I’ve had no recommendation that I would be tested.  And — but let me — let me just say to everyone: I really do believe that the guidance that we put out today would be very helpful and very encouraging to Americans.  It was fashioned by Dr. Birx, Dr. Fauci, some of the leading experts in infectious disease in the world.

And for families that are looking on tonight, to go to Coronavirus.gov. You can find information about how you can just make your home safer, your family safer, your school safer, your business safer.  And we recommend that to your attention.

Yes, please.

Q    Mr. Vice President, do you believe, and does the President believe, that what happened in the stock market today and what we’re seeing among American industry — some of which the President named today as being affected and in trouble here — are in any way a result of this White House’s reaction to the coronavirus crisis?  Is this the markets and American businesses saying that you guys are not enough in charge and didn’t think enough ahead?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Well, I have to tell you, I’m about a week and a half into being asked to lead the President’s White House Coronavirus Task Force, and the men and women standing behind me, and all the men and women standing behind them, have done a remarkable job responding to this.

The President’s decision to suspend all travel from China — Dr. Fauci, I think, reflected just last night, on national television, about the time that that bought us.  The decisive action in declaring a public health emergency.

I really do believe that the American people can see that this President is putting the health of the American people first.  But make no mistake about it: As we go forward, and particularly as we have more testing available, and we have these communities that have community spread, there will be more cases.

And — but we simply ask — we ask today for the American public to join with us in the commonsense practices that will mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, and also particularly, we’re asking every American to look after our seniors who have serious underlying health issues.  They are clearly the most vulnerable, and that’s where the focus of our energy is today, even as we do everything that we can working with governors at every level, and state and the local public health officials to limit the spread of the virus.

Q    Mr. Vice President, if I could ask a question of Dr. Fauci.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Of course.

Q    Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Dr. Fauci.

Q    You’re up, Tony.  (Laughter.)

More and more organizations, charities, are canceling fundraising events, other events.  Is that prudent?  Is that an overreaction?  Do you think the President should continue with campaign rallies?  And do you believe that people, even if they’re healthy, should get onboard a cruise ship?

DR. FAUCI:  Okay, so there’s multiple different questions, John.

So the idea about individual entities — governors, mayors, or whatever — canceling activities that are not coming from a direct recommendation from the federal government, I think that they have the — I don’t “think”; I know they have the authority to do that.  But what they’re probably acting on is what they would consider, for their citizens, an abundance of caution.

Most of the time when that happens, it usually is in an area where there is already documented community spread.  And Dr. Redfield mentioned the four areas right now that are having community spread that’s documented.  But you know there may be — as we know, it’s a rea- — it’s a possibility that there’s community spread going on in areas in which we’re not detecting it yet.  And I think that’s the response of the individuals, be they mayors or governors, who have you, who are doing that.  So I wouldn’t criticize them for that.  They’re using their own individual judgment.  And to me, I think that that would be prudent.

Q    Campaign rallies?

DR. FAUCI:  You know, I can’t comment on campaign rallies.  It really depends.  We are having — as we’ve all said, this is something in motion.  This is an evolving thing.

So, not sure what we’re going to be able to say at the time where you have a campaign rally.  If you’re talking about a campaign rally tomorrow, in a place where there is no community spread, I think the judgment to have it might be a good judgment.  If you want to talk about large gatherings in a place where you have community spread, I think that’s a judgment call.  And if someone decides they want to cancel it, I wouldn’t publicly criticize them.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  All right.  Let’s move on.  Let’s move on.

Go ahead, sir.

Q    I asked one last one about cruise ships because a lot of people are planning cruises over the spring break.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Oh, that’s — yeah.

Q    Would you recommend that anybody, even a healthy person, get onboard a cruise ship?

DR. FAUCI:  Yeah.  Yeah.  Yeah.  I think if you’re a healthy, young person, that there is no reason, if you want to go on a cruise ship, to go on a cruise ship.  Personally, I would never go on a cruise ship because I don’t like cruises — (laughter) — but that’s another story.

But the fact — the fact is that if you have — if you have the conditions that I’ve been speaking about over and over again to this group, namely an individual who has an underlying condition, particularly an elderly person that has an underlying condition, I would recommend strongly that they do not go on a cruise ship.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  And let me also say, John, I think you raise a good point.  We’re expecting a proposal tomorrow that DHS, the Coast Guard, all of our health officials are currently discussing with the cruise line industry.

I was in Miami on Saturday.  We made it very clear that we needed cruise lines to be safer; to establish and to embrace new protocols; screening onboard, screening off; new medical protocols; shipboard processes for evacuating people that may contract coronavirus or a serious illness.

And I know the President was grateful that our cruise line leadership all stepped up to the table.  They said they’re ready to go to the next level.  And so we’ll — we’ll be reviewing that proposal tomorrow with the objective that apart — apart from the Americans that Dr. Fauci just described, seniors with serious underlying conditions, we’re going to work with the cruise line industry to improve the safety, improve the health environment on cruise lines, in the short term and in the long term.

Yes, please.

Q    Last time President Trump was in this room, he told us that the number of U.S. cases was 15 and would soon go down to zero.  You guys are saying today that the number is going up and it’s more than 500.  What is the discrepancy?  And how was he so wrong on that number?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Oh, I — look, I think what the President was referring to is that we will have people that test positive, and then they get better.

President Trump wants the American people to know — and I’m going to ask Dr. Birx to reflect on this for a moment — the vast majority of people who contract the coronavirus will get better.  And the President has just challenged our task force, as the numbers grow — and they will — we’ll continue to test more and more Americans.  We are, as I’m standing here.  That it’s also important to remember that people — the vast majority get better, completely.  Some — some large percentage have mild flu symptoms, some have serious flu symptoms.

But then, of course, for the — for the Americans you heard the Surgeon General referred to, and seniors with underlying serious health conditions Dr. Fauci referred to, we’re committed to lean in and to make sure they have the support they need.

But the President’s focus here is just making sure people understand that, while the numbers grow, there are people that come off the list because they get better.

And, Dr. Birx, did you want to reflect on what we know about the cycle of the coronavirus?

DR. BIRX:  Yeah, thank you.  So we know the coronavirus reacts a lot like the flu in the way it spreads and in the way we prevent it.  And so when we put out the guidelines to the American people, they will reinforce the guidelines, and we hope the number of flu cases go down too, because people will really be situat- — what we call “situational awareness.”

I did want to add one piece to our cautions about people with preexisting conditions.  We also know that there are children with preexisting conditions, and we know that there are individuals that are undergoing chemotherapy for their treatment of cancer.  For those individuals, if they have what we call a “decreased number of white cells” — and they will have that discussions with the doctors — they are given often a sheet of paper that really describes how they need to protect themselves and how their family needs to protect them.

So I want to make sure that we understand: Yes, we’re concerned about the elderly, we’re concerned about others with preexisting condition, but we’re also concerned about anybody who may be in an immuno- — what we call an immunodeficiency state, having less white cells and less able to combat any virus.  We want to protect all of them from the flu, and we want to protect all of them from coronavirus.  And that’s why these guidelines are particularly important.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  It really is — it really is important, I think — and I want to ask all of the journalists in the room: Do what you can to distribute this information — Coronavirus.gov — because of exactly the reason that Dr. Birx just said so well: that we want to make sure that families have the tools, businesses have the tools, even in areas where we don’t have a significant outbreak of the coronavirus — we want to make sure that the American people have the tools to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, particularly with regard to the most vulnerable.

Q    Yes, Mr. Vice President, earlier, you said you’d tell us how many Americans have already been tested.  And as a follow-up to a question that was asked earlier, are the President’s tweets hurting your efforts at all?  Because he’s accused the Democrats and some of the members of the press of making more of this than he says it is.  He’s made lighter of it than you all have here.

So, has his tweets hurt you?  And you please tell us how many Americans have been tested?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I’m happy to do that.  Well, the President’s leadership has made the difference here.  I heard it again today from 47 governors.  Governor Larry Hogan joined me in the Situation Room.  He’s the chairman of the National Governors Association.

I think every American would be inspired if you could see the way, under the President’s leadership and in cooperation with governors in every state and every territory, we literally are working seamlessly on behalf of the health of the American people.

I’m going to invite the Secretary of HHS to come up and speak about how the number of tests that have been done, and where we are — the tests that are available he’s addressed, but in terms of those that have been conducted.

SECRETARY AZAR:  So we’ve told you we’ll tell you what we know and what we don’t know.  Okay?

Q    That’ll work.

SECRETARY AZAR:  So there are different types of tests that get sent out.  The CDC’s tests that CDC is sending out — that’s that 70- — enough to test 75,000 people that was sent out last week — those go to public health labs, about 80 labs in the United States — one in each state, at least.

Those report results back in to the CDC, because they’re part of the public health network.  The larger quantity of tests that shipped — about 900,000 of the tests that shipped by this weekend, and then so many of the remainder of that two-point- — total 2.1 million tests, those go to hospitals, private labs, others for testing.  They don’t currently have to report to us that they’ve conducted a test or what the result of that test is.

The CDC is actively working right now to build that IT connectivity with them so we can gather that information.  So, right now, I could not give you a number of how many Americans have received a test because many will have received a test through hospitals or non-public health labs.

And so, let’s — let’s work — we’re getting the system — the IT system up through CDC.  We want to give you accurate information as we go.

Dr. Redfield, is that fair?

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Let me, if I may — if I may on one: Thank you all for being here.  We will be back here tomorrow, and we’ll continue to bring the latest information forward to the American people.

Again, let me encourage all of you here, and everyone looking on around the country, to go to Coronavirus.gov.  You get really useful, practical, commonsense recommendations about how to make your home safer, how to make your school safer, how to make your business and any enterprise out there safer.  These are — these are practical recommendations from the best experts in America, and we commend them to your attention.

But let me also just have a word of encouragement to everyone.  I want to say, again: All of our medical experts, apart from the areas where we have community spread and we’re focusing resource, the risk of contracting the coronavirus, for the average American, remains low.  It will remain that way more so if all of us continue to practice commonsense habits in our home, in our businesses, in our schools, and our public institutions.

And so it’s important to remember what President Trump said: “We’re all in this together.”  It’s not just going to be a whole-of-government approach.  It’s a whole-of-America approach.  And, together, we’ll get through the coronavirus.

Again, details on all the latest information: Coronavirus.gov.  Thank you.

END

7:17 P.M. EDT

Sources: White House, wikipedia,  youtube, yahoo,
 MBC News,  CDC, Global News
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, March 9th, 2020,
Rev March 10th, 2020,

Sources: White House, wikipedia,  youtube, yahoo,
Fox News, Fox News Now, ABC News,  CDC, NC, Global News, KOMO 4
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, March 6th, 2020,
Rev March 7th, 2020,

Sources: White House, wikipedia, wikiHow, youtube, yahoo,

CDC, NC, BBC, Global News
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, February 27,
Rev February 28th, 2020,

Sources: White House, wikipedia, wikiHow, youtube, yahoo, CCTV,Fox News, CNN, China News, Chanel 4, AP, Reuters,UN and WHO AND BBC
catch4all.com, Sandra Englund, February 14th, 2020 Rev. February 20th, 2020,