4/3/20: Members of the Coronavirus Task Force Hold a Press Briefing

The President: I just met with Kevin McCarthy, hopefully future Speaker of the House. And he's done a fantastic job for the people of California. And also, the people of California have done a fantastic job, if you look at the hurdle. You take a look at the bump and how they're doing there. So congratulations to everyone who is there. But I thought Kevin would say a few words. So Kevin, please. Leader McCarthy: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I would like to thank you. Based on California, Governor Newsom says the work that they're doing together, they're working very closely together, it's also been effective in California - the vice president and the president.

You know, today, Mr. President, I want to thank you, especially for the work that Secretary Mnuchin has done, especially for small businesses. Just today, I saw that Bank of America had over 10,000 loans in two hours. And for anyone who is in a small business: my first small business was when I was 20 years old. You have no income right now, you get a loan, but the rent, paying your employees, and paying utilities are a subsidy. That's part of the CARES Act. And I think you'll find that a lot of small businesses will hire people again, keep them afloat for the next couple of months, and get this economy moving again as we get through this virus.

So I just want to thank you for all that work. The President: Thank you. Great job you are doing. Leader McCarthy: Thank you. The President: Thank you. Keep going. I'll talk to you later. Okay, thank you very much everyone. And I want to start by saying that our hearts go out to the people of New York who are bearing the brunt of the

coronavirus

pandemic in the United States. That seems to be the critical point right now. But there are others, as you know, who are very... very bad. Very badly. Louisiana is suffering a hard blow.

Parts of Michigan are being hit very, very hard. New Jersey is, surprisingly, much larger than anyone would have thought. They are doing a very good job. The governor is doing a very good job. New York's first responders, paramedics, doctors and nurses are demonstrating incredible courage under

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ure. They are the best in the world. We will take all necessary measures and will not spare resources: financial, medical or scientific. We will not skimp on anything. We'll get him back in shape. The Empire State... the governor is doing an excellent job. Everyone is working very hard together. At the request of the governor, as you know, the Javits Center has 2,500 beds and we are going to allow it to be a system where this horrible disease can be cared for, patients can be cared for.

This would be for common medical problems, such as accidents. And, you know, it's very interesting, the governor is telling me that we don't have too many accidents and very few people driving. So we're going to get that facility up and running, which is a large facility. The ship will remain as is, but we are going to put that facility into play to help them. And today, in addition, the CDC announces additional steps Americans can take to defend against transmission of the virus. From recent studies, we know that transmission from people without symptoms is playing a larger role in the spread of the virus than previously thought.

So it doesn't seem to have symptoms and it still transfers. In light of these studies, CDC recommends the use of non-medical cloth face coverings as an additional voluntary public health measure. So it's voluntary; you do not have to do it. They suggested for a period of time. But this is voluntary. I don't think I'm going to do it. But there are many ways; You can look at it this way: The CDC recommends that Americans use a basic cloth or cloth mask that can be purchased online or simply made at home. Probably stuff you would have at home.

These masks can be easily washed or reused. I want to emphasize that the CDC does not recommend the use of medical or surgical grade masks, and we want them to be used for our excellent medical staff who are working so hard and getting some work done. Medical protective equipment should be reserved for frontline healthcare workers providing those vital services. The new guidelines on wearing masks also do not replace CDC guidelines on social distancing, including staying home when possible while maintaining a distance of at least six feet for a period of time. Once again, we will all be together here again.

We will all be together again. And practice hand hygiene, which we should be doing anyway. I think many things are going to overflow. It is possible that the handshake will remain in our country for a long time. One of our great doctors was telling me that, as you know, we get the flu every year and the number of people who die from the flu is very substantial. And he said that if they didn't shake hands, that number would be substantially smaller. Then maybe he'll stay. Maybe some of these things, in the long run, are good. But those guidelines are still the best and safest way to avoid infection.

So with masks, it's going to be really voluntary. You can do it. You do not have to do it. I choose not to, but some people may want to, and that's okay. It may be good. It probably will. They are making a recommendation. It's just a recommendation. It's voluntary. We are also taking steps to ensure that there are no barriers to any American seeking testing or treatment for

coronavirus

. The country's largest insurer, BlueCross BlueShield System, has now announced that it will not require any copays, which is really something; That's a tremendous statement from patients about treating the virus over the next 60 days, similar to commitments from Cigna, Humana and Anthem.

They are big companies and they all do the same thing. So, copays. For them to do that is... it's a big statement. We appreciate it. Today I can very proudly announce that hospitals and healthcare providers treating uninsured coronavirus patients will be reimbursed by the federal government using funds from the economic relief package that Congress passed last month. So that was according to yesterday's question and, in fact, the day before yesterday. This should alleviate any concerns uninsured Americans may have about seeking coronavirus treatment. I think that answers the question quite well and very much in favor of our great people.

I will also sign a directive invoking the Defense Production Act to prohibit the export of scarce medical and health supplies by unscrupulous actors and profiteers. The Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of Homeland Security will work with FEMA to prevent the export of N95 respirators, surgical masks, gloves and other personal protective equipment. We need these items immediately for home use. We have to have them. But we have done very well with the purchase of items and you will find out about it shortly. We have already taken advantage of the DPA to stop hoarding and price gouging of crucial supplies.

Under that authority, this week, the Department of Health and Human Services, in collaboration with the Department of Justice, took custody of nearly 200,000 N95 respirators, 130,000 surgical masks, 600,000 gloves, as well as bottles (many, many, many bottles). . - and disinfectant sprays that were being hoarded. All of this material is now being delivered to healthcare workers. Most of it has already been distributed. And we have given a lot to New York, a lot to New Jersey and a lot to other places. In addition to ensuring New York's healthcare workers have the protective equipment they need, the federal government, on behalf of the Department of Defense, is providing about 8.1 million N95 respirators.

Defense Department. And we've already donated 200,000 of them to New York City. Mayor de Blasio needed them badly, so we took them to Mayor de Blasio in New York City. And they were very grateful. 8.1 million. And we are going to increase that number from 8.1 million to more. That's a lot of N95 respirators. Today, my team spoke with the CEO of Ochsner Health and the CEO of LCMC, the two largest health systems in New Orleans. They said they feel like they currently have enough ventilators (I think a lot of people will have enough ventilators) and masks, and they appreciate what we did and all the things we've been doing with them, working with them. .

Ochsner CEO Warner Thomas, who has been really fantastic, I must say, indicated that 230,000 surgical gowns were needed. And I ordered FEMA to deliver them tomorrow. Then they will have the 230,000. That's Louisiana, New Orleans. Two hundred thirty thousand surgical gowns; They will have them tomorrow. We are expanding the role of the military in our response effort because no one is better prepared to win a war than the United States military. And we are in a war. The invisible enemy... remember. More than 9,000 retired military medical personnel have answered their nation's call and are now supporting field hospitals and medical facilities across the country, as I just told you, Governor Cuomo requested that we do something at Javits, where We take control.

And we're going to have that run by the military, because it's very difficult to get people, more people in the New York area. So we're going to have it staffed by the military: the Javits Center. Members of the National Guard have been activated to help states build new treatment centers and assist in the smooth distribution of medical supplies. That includes the National Guard. The National Guard is helping heavily because, in many cases, states were unable to have delivery capacity from warehouses and other places where we put supplies. So I have given my approval to use the National Guard, the different National Guards in the different states.

And they are doing a fantastic job not only protecting people but also delivering material. The Army Corps of Engineers has evaluated more than 100 facilities in all 50 states and is rapidly constructing temporary hospitals and alternative care sites in many states: in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Ohio. They're doing a lot of work in just those states, plus additional ones that will likely be announced tomorrow. But they are doing some work. The Army Corps of Engineers... what a job they are doing. And FEMA... what a job they are doing.

As we deploy the power of our military, we are also deploying the skill of our doctors, scientists and medical researchers. We continue to study the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine and other therapies, and the treatment and prevention of the virus. And we will keep the American people fully informed of our findings. Hydroxychloroquine. I don't know, it seems to be having good results. I hope... that's something phenomenal. But we have it right now, about now, it has increased to 1,500 people. I spoke with Dr. Zucker in New York; A fantastic guy, by the way. He... we're doing a good job.

And I spoke with Governor Cuomo last night and this morning about it. He's been there for about three and a half days, but I think he's testing himself in a lot of other places as well. And we have a huge supply of it. We have asked for it in case it works. And it could have pretty big impacts. And we'll see what happens. My administration is also working to provide relief to American workers and businesses. The first day of the Paycheck Protection Program, like Kevin said, over $3.5. Billions in secured loans have been processed to help small businesses keep their workers employed during an unprecedented time: this unprecedented time.

And Bank of America has been incredible. Of the big banks, Bank of America has really stepped up and done a great job. And then there are the community banks, the smaller banks. And we've already reached $3.5 billion for incredible people. But that's much sooner than expected. The SBA and Treasury work 24 hours a day and our banking partners are truly amazing. And they're making sure that the money gets to small businesses as quickly as possible, and then the small businesses, in turn, take on the employees that they would have had to lay off and now keep them. And this is good.

And then they will open their doors and have their employees. And we will try to get back to where we were. Over time, we will replace where we were. The energy industry has been especially affected by the crisis. This afternoon I met with Greg Garland of Phillips 66, Dave Hager of Devon Energy, Harold Hamm of Continental Resources, Jeff Hildebrand of Hilcorp Energy, Vicki Hollub of Occidental Petroleum, Mike Sommers of the American Petroleum Institute, Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer Partners. , Mike Wirth of Chevron and Darren Woods of Exxon Mobil. I informed them that we will make space available in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to allow American producers to store excess oil that can be sold further.forward.

There is a huge abundance of oil, mainly due to the virus. The virus just stopped demand for everything, including oil. That's why we're working with our big energy companies. These are big companies. They employ tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people. And they have kept America going for a long time. And there won't be any big price increases or anything major. I mean, they've just kept it. And now they were beaten. But with all the work and all the good they do, we will make sure they stay in good shape. The United States is engaged in a historic battle to safeguard the lives of our citizens, our future society.

Our greatest weapon is the discipline and determination of each citizen to stay home and stay healthy for a long time. And we want them to stay healthy for a long time. So stay home. This is ending. This will end. You'll see some bad things and then you'll see some really good things. And it won't be long. We will heal our citizens and care for our neighbors, and we will unleash the full power of the United States of America to defeat the virus. And with that, I would like to ask Mike Pence, Vice President, to come forward and say a few words.

And we'll have some other quick chats on a couple of topics and answer questions. And it's a beautiful Friday in Washington, D.C., and our country is a great place and we're getting better. We are improving very quickly. This was artificially induced. We just said... they said, "Shut it down. You have to shut it down." We closed it and we are healing. Let's improve it quickly. So, Mike, if you can come up, say a few words. Please. THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr. President. The President just described a series of decisions he made today by unanimous recommendation to the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Also, Dr. Deborah Birx will reflect on some good news in a moment. And some of the areas in the United States where we see evidence that mitigation efforts - the American people implementing the president's coronavirus guidelines - are having a positive effect. In fact, today, California and Washington state, where the coronavirus first emerged in our country, remain: cases remain at a constant but low rate. And we know, as Governor Newsom said yesterday, that they are not out of the woods yet. We continue to flow resources. But we want to congratulate the people in those states and across the country who are practicing social distancing and all the measures that state and local leaders are advising and that the President has been advising in the coronavirus guidelines for the United States. . .

We also continue to track major outbreaks in New York State, New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, and Boston. And as the President indicated, we are prioritizing resources to support health care workers and those who are dealing with the coronavirus in those communities. On the topic of testing, more than 1.4 million tests have already been performed nationwide. And as everyone knows, about 266,000 Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus. Abbott's instruments, which can now perform a 15-minute test nationwide, have literally 18,000 of their machines nationwide today. But by order of the President, FEMA is acquiring more than 1,200 more machines to distribute to all state public health laboratories in the United States and also to our Indian Health Care Service.

And the big news, of course, of the last few days was that the FDA, once again, in almost record time, approved an antibody test developed by Cellex. And we continue in the White House Coronavirus Task Force to examine ways that we can expand these rapid tests and these innovative new tests not only to meet this moment, but to lay the foundation for testing across the country in the next months. As the president mentioned, he met with energy executives today and continues to interact with business leaders across the country. We also held a conference call today with commercial retailers.

On behalf of the President, we thanked you for the way people who operate shopping centers across the country have adopted and enacted the coronavirus guidelines for the United States. It has had a huge impact on their businesses and their industries. But I heard, I heard from them their patriotic commitment to putting the health of their associates and customers first. And it was deeply inspiring. On the topic of inputs, the President detailed our work in that space. It continues to this day. As part of our airlift, a flight from China arrived today in Columbus, Ohio. We continue to work every day, looking at data on cases, to ensure that, in particular, not only personal protective equipment is available for frontline healthcare workers, but also that ventilators are available as. ..as this epidemic makes its way through regions and communities.

We literally work hour after hour, day after day to make sure patients, families and healthcare providers have the equipment and support they need. As the President mentioned, today we have seen more than a billion and a half dollars in loans awarded through the Paycheck Protection Program. We have the CDC director available for questions today to discuss the new guidance on cloth face coverings. And Secretary Azar, in a moment, will explain how the President's decision to ensure that no American ever has to worry about paying for coronavirus testing or treatment works. I am pleased to report that, under the President's direction, Medicaid and Medicare have already expanded to coronavirus treatment and testing early on.

And of course, the president just indicated that major insurance companies across the country are not only waiving co-pays for testing, they are now waiving co-pays for at least 60 days on any coronavirus treatment . But now, as Secretary Azar will list, we will ensure that any American, even those without insurance, will be able to receive treatment in a hospital and never have to worry about the bill. I'll just give a general reminder to all Americans: There is evidence across the country that coronavirus guidelines for the United States are being put into practice. Every American has a role to play.

And I want to thank you on behalf of the president and all the American people for the way you are stepping up, engaging in social distancing and doing the things that will slow the spread. We encourage you to continue forward. And we will get through this, America. We will overcome the coronavirus until we reach that day of renewed health and renewed prosperity that the President always describes. But we will get through it sooner and we will get there when we work together. Dr. Birx? Dr. Birx: Thank you, Mr. Vice President, Mr. President. Thank you for your words of discipline and determination.

I guess that really describes what we ask every American to be: disciplined around these guidelines and really determined to stay in that execution space. You know that we are only in the third week of this comprehensive guidance measure. We really appreciate the work of the citizens of California and the state of Washington, because we see that their curve is different. Its curve is different from that of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. And we truly believe that the work that every citizen is doing in those states is making a difference and will make a difference for frontline healthcare providers.

We are also deeply grateful that despite the way their curve looks today, they continue to prepare for a different potential, so that they can ensure that patients, if they get sick, have options and availability. To all the frontline healthcare workers in the areas, what we have called "hot zones," where the number of cases is quite significant: New Orleans; the New York City metropolitan area, including New Jersey and Connecticut, the incredible work that frontline healthcare workers are providing. We're really working now at a much more granular level, talking directly to hospitals to make sure they have the supplies they need in coordination with state and local governments.

And to work, I think we discussed it yesterday, but I think it was also pretty clear, and reiterated today by Governor Cuomo, that we have to support each other as each of these different metropolitan areas, and other areas, move forward. through its peak of new infections. When we talked about it earlier this week, we talked about how this week and next will be incredibly difficult. And we want to recognize the number of Americans who have lost their lives to this virus and recognize the sacrifice that healthcare providers are making to care for them, but I think I'm very encouraged by hearing your messages to the families and your compassion. by others to provide that kind of support to people in the hospital.

Additionally, we continue to monitor the Chicago area, the Detroit area and have some developing concerns in Colorado, the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania. As you can see, each of these will follow their own curves. Over time, we will get more and more information about those cases in a very granular way for each and every one of you so that we can follow these epidemiological curves as each of these states, counties and communities move through this together. in solidarity and really ensuring that we can creatively move supplies across the country to meet the needs of both frontline healthcare providers and all Americans who need our support right now.

Thank you. The President: Thank you very much. Secretary Azar: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for your continued leadership as we fight the coronavirus. First, I want to thank all HHS team

members

and frontline healthcare workers across the United States, including those who...those service workers who serve in our hospitals, in our healthcare facilities, those who clean, those who give birth, those who stock the shelves, all those who go to battle every day against the virus. Your country has asked you to serve like never before and you have responded heroically. I'm going to provide a brief update on the administration's plans to cover testing and treatment for those without insurance.

Getting uninsured people access the care they need is a top priority for President Trump. We are already deploying the $1 billion in Families First Coronavirus Response Act funding to cover providers' costs to test and diagnose the uninsured. The CARES Act, signed by the President, includes another $100 billion for health care providers. At the President's direction, we will use a portion of those funds to cover providers' costs of providing COVID-19 care to the uninsured, sending the money to providers through the same mechanism used for testing. As a condition of receiving funds under this program, providers will be prohibited from balance billing the uninsured for the cost of their care.

Providers will be reimbursed at Medicare rates. We will soon have more details on how the rest of the $100 billion will be allocated to suppliers. We are working to ensure these funds are distributed in a quick, fair, simple and transparent manner. I would also like to remind people that if you have lost your employer's insurance coverage, you have insurance options to consider. You would be eligible for a special enrollment period on the health care exchanges and, depending on your state, you may be eligible for Medicaid. Just as President Trump works to ensure that COVID-19 treatment is paid for, he is also working to support new treatment options for patients.

Thanks to the president's leadership, many providers are trying different experimental therapies and we need as much data as we can gather as quickly as possible on how these treatments are working. Today, Oracle has developed and is donating to the government and the American people a web portal and platform to collect real-time information from providers about how patients respond to potential therapies. While this does not replace the important work of clinical trials, it gives us data quickly. If you are a doctor or healthcare provider and would like to help us, you can sign up today to start reporting on your work.

There is a special registration page for providers at COVID19.Oracle.com. Thank you so much. The President: Thank you very much. Okay, let's go. Steve? Press: If we could tell you a little more about the advice on masks. What would people do when wearing a mask? And why are you opposed to wearing one?same? The President: Well, I just don't want to use one. It is a recommendation; they recommend it. I feel good. I just don't want to be... I don't know, somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful Resolute Desk... the great Resolute Desk...

I think wearing a mask while greeting presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings , queens, I don't know. Somehow, I don't see it myself. I just... I just don't do it. Maybe I'll change my mind, but this will pass and hopefully it will pass very quickly. Now, that being said, if someone wants to... I mean, most people can just make something out of a certain material. It is very well designed and very easy to do. I won't do it personally. It is a recommendation. Well? And would you like to say something about it? Surgeon General Adams: Sure. Absolutely. The President: Surgeon General, please.

Surgeon General Adams: Well, thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Mr. Secretary and Director of the CDC, Redfield. I especially want to thank the people at the CDC. And it's a great question you ask; It's a fair question you ask. I want to look at the evolution of our guidance on masks because it has been confusing for the American people. First, I want people to understand that the CDC, the World Health Organization, my office, and most public health organizations and professionals originally recommended that the general public not wear masks, because, according to the best evidence available at the time, it was not considered that would have a significant impact on whether or not a healthy person wearing a mask would contract COVID-19.

We have always recommended that symptomatic people wear a mask, because if you cough, if you have a fever, if you are symptomatic, you could transmit illness to other people. What has changed in our recommendation? Well, it is important to know that we now know from recent studies that a significant portion of people with coronavirus do not have symptoms. They are what we call asymptomatic. And even those who eventually become presymptomatic, meaning they will develop symptoms in the future, can spread the virus to other people before they show symptoms. This means that the virus can spread between people who interact in close proximity: for example, by coughing, talking or sneezing, even if those people do not have symptoms.

In light of this new evidence, the CDC and the

task

force

recommend wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain. These include places like supermarkets and pharmacies. We especially recommend this in areas of significant community transmission. This is critical. And the president mentioned this, the vice president mentioned this: It's critical to emphasize that maintaining six feet of social distancing remains key to slowing the spread of the virus. But the CDC also recommends using simple cloth coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and don't know it spread it to others.

Recommended cloth face coverings are not surgical masks or N95 respirators. These are critical supplies that should continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as current CDC guidance recommends. As the President also mentioned, cloth masks made from house

hold

items or made at home from common, low-cost materials can be used as an additional voluntary public health measure. This recommendation complements and does not replace the President's Coronavirus Guidelines for the United States, “30 Days to Slow the Spread,” which remain the cornerstone of our national effort to slow the spread of the virus. The CDC is always analyzing the data.

We told them that from the beginning (Dr. Birx says this at every

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conference) we are analyzing the data, we are evolving our recommendations, and new recommendations will emerge as the evidence dictates. So I want to tell you that if you choose to wear a mask, very important, wash your hands first because you don't want to cover your face with dirty hands. Don't touch your face while wearing the face covering because, again, you could pick up surface materials, surface germs and bring them to your face. If you choose to wear a face covering, leave the N95 mask and medical supplies to medical professionals, healthcare workers, and frontline workers.

Please know that this is not a substitute for social distancing. And remember, it's about me protecting you and you protecting me. It's about us coming together as communities. And if people voluntarily choose to wear face coverings, they do so to protect their neighbors from contracting the coronavirus because, again, they could have asymptomatic transmission. Mr. President, thank you very much for that. The President: Thank you. Thank you. Surgeon General Adams: I appreciate the opportunity to update everyone. The President: Good job. Thank you. Well. Jon? The Press: Mr. President, Dr. Fauci recommended last night...he said that all states should have stay-at-home orders right now.

Do you agree with that? Should every state in this country have the kind of stay-at-home orders we see now in places like Washington and New York? The President: I leave it to the governors. The governors know what they are doing. They have been doing a great job. I guess we're close to 90 percent anyway. And the states we are talking about are not in danger. No, I would leave it to the governors. I like... I like that from the government's point of view, and I like it even from the point of view of our Constitution. Please. La Prensa: Mr.

President, to address the shortage in the blood supply, the Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday. The President: Well, I pointed it out. Good? Press: Thank you, Mr. President. The President: I knew it (inaudible). I heard a different voice. I heard a different voice. Forward. We'll catch you later. La Prensa: You previously attended the meeting on oil. The President: Yes. The press: -- Is the United States willing to reduce national oil production? What came out of the meeting? What was the consensus? The President: Well, many things came up. It is a great industry, it is an important industry, it is a tremendous industry that generates employment.

And it is simply vital. And it was also very interesting because everyone was tested before entering the room. So you have the head of Exxon Mobil, you have all these guys taking the test, and they all passed with flying colors. So that was good. They left happy, at least in that aspect. There is simply an overabundance of oil right now: oil and gas. Tremendous overabundance. And it was caused: they were doing a great job. They were producing a lot of energy. But then the virus hit and wiped out another 35 percent, maybe 40 percent, of the market. So there is too much oil.

There is an excess. And these are big companies and they will figure it out. It's free market. We will resolve it. Press: You spoke with President Putin. I mean, what's on the table here with him... The President: And with the Crown Prince. Both. The Press: Yes. The President: They were having a competition. We'll see how everything turns out. I think it's going to work very well. It's going to take a long time to get rid of that. There is a huge excess of oil and gas. Massive. There probably never has been. So where that works well, you could say, is for the drivers.

I think in certain places right now on the highway the price has dropped to 90 and 95 cents a gallon. But we have a tremendous industry, a great industry. A tremendously important industry from an employment point of view. And we are energetically independent. We have to make sure we keep it that way. Okay, please. Forward. La Prensa: Mr. President, as I was saying, the Food and Drug Administration, to address the blood supply shortage, announced yesterday that it would ease restrictions on certain donors, including gay men, who are now required to be abstinent for 3 months, instead of 12 months, to donate.

Did you have anything to do with that change? The President: No, I didn't know anything about that. That was done by the FDA, very capable people at the FDA. Please go ahead. Press: Yes, Mr. President. Both the Government of Canada and 3M are pressuring this DPA not to export N95 respirators. The President: Yes. The Press: 3M says... The President: I don't blame them. They can go back if they want. The press: Yes, but they say... The president: We are not happy with 3M. We are not happy. And the people who directly dealt with it are not happy with 3M at all.

Then we'll see if we do it or not. I heard what he had to say today. I don't know the gentleman. But we are not happy with 3M. Forward. Press: And where is Dr. Fauci? The President: I don't know. But every time you ask that question, when he's not here, you look and say, "Where is he?" And you'll say, "Is there a problem?" No problem at all. Whenever he's not here, sometimes I ask him to come over because that's the first question you and a couple of other people in the fake news establishment ask is, "Where is Dr.

Fauci?" We are doing very well together. La Prensa: A different topic, if I may ask. The President: Except today we are covering a different topic. Forward. La Prensa: A different topic, if I may ask. The President: Go ahead, Jim. Try another. Press: Mr. President, you have said that no one could have seen this pandemic coming, but, in fact, Secretary Azar, at a biodefense summit in April 2019, said: "Of course, people" - "Of course , which people ask: 'What keeps you up most at night in the world of biodefense?' “Pandemic flu, of course, I think everyone in this room probably shares that concern.” The Secretary of Health and Human Services himself was aware that a pandemic of this nature had the potential to become a very large problem around the world.

Who dropped the ball? The President: Well, I always knew that pandemics are one of the worst things that can happen. There hasn't been anything like it since probably 1917. That was the biggest one in Europe. In fact, he started here and went to Europe. Probably. I've heard about... The press: You also said that no one could see it coming. The President: Excuse me. Wait a minute. Let me finish. I've heard about this for a long time: pandemics. You don't want pandemics. And I don't think he was talking about a specific pandemic. He was talking about the threat that a pandemic could occur.

And it could happen. Most people thought it wouldn't be like that and most people didn't understand the seriousness of it. This is very severe. What happened is very serious. But I'd let you answer that. I assume he was referring to the concept of a pandemic. Secretary Azar: Thank you, Mr. President. Actually, absolutely, for 15 years now, this country has undertaken a massive federal, state and local pandemic preparedness effort. Now, to a large extent, as I said in those comments, this is pandemic flu preparedness. We knew about SARS, we knew about MERS, which were earlier modifications or variants of the coronavirus.

None of them achieved anything like what we are seeing today. But that's why, under successive presidencies, including President Trump's leadership, great attention has been paid to pandemic preparedness. In fact, I think it was just in November that the President signed the pandemic flu preparedness executive order that we have, and we also updated the Pandemic Crisis Action Plan, which has been the manual that we've been working from. the Pandemic Flu Plan. Again, the action plan that we have been working from and that coordinates the whole-of-government and whole-of-economy approach here. So we've all been very focused on pandemic preparedness.

That's what we do. But this particular strain of pandemic, who would have known this particular strain? Press: But, Secretary Azar, if you were preparing for a pandemic, if this government was preparing for a pandemic, why don't we have enough masks? Why don't we have enough medical equipment in this country? The President: Previous administrations gave us very little ammunition for the army and very little shelf space. Let me tell you... La Prensa: But you have been President. The President: You know it. La Prensa: You have been President. The President: You know the answer. Press: --three or four years now.

The President: In the previous administration the shelves were empty. The shelves were empty. Press: You had time to stock the shelves. The President: So what you should do is talk to the people in the previous administration, Jim, and ask them that question, because... The Press: Mr. President, you have been in office... The President: -- The shelves were empty. La Prensa: -- for almost four years. The President: And you know what else? The military shelves were also empty. We literally had no ammunition. And that was said by one of your favorite generals. "We don't have... sir, we don't have any ammunition." Guess what?

We also had very little medical supplies. Alright. Come in please. Press: But isn't that an evasion? HePresident: Go ahead. Press: Isn't that an evasion? The President: We will get it back. We will get you back. The press: But, Mr. President. The President: We will get it back, please. La Prensa: But what about that question? The President: Jim, I said we'll get you back. Please go ahead. Press: I want to ask you about the DPA. So you said there will be a ban on exporting everything. What does it cover? So masks, gloves? What else is included in that order?

The President: Covers everything. La Prensa: And are you worried? The President: But if someone ordered... if Italy, if Spain, which has great problems, these have... they are countries with tremendous problems: France. If they ordered, if they have long-term orders and they're there and they want to get certain things, I let them out, in certain cases, because I think it's fair. They have problems that are proportionally or relatively greater than our problems. So if you ordered something and are waiting for, for example, masks made here and shipped to Italy, I'm not going to stop that. I think it would be very unfair.

And by the way, speaking of justice and injustice, two very large cruise ships, as you know, I have allowed to dock today. We worked with the governor of Florida, as you know, Ron DeSantis, we worked on it and we had tremendous security. And we take the sick and we are working with them. We have doctors. We have great doctors, military doctors. And from a human point of view, it's not that we are in love with this (they are two huge ships), but we have to take care of the people. We have to take care of ourselves.

We sent many back to Canada. Canada…the Canadians came and worked very closely with us, as did the UK. We had a lot of people from the UK. And we took... we took care of the Americans. We took care of the sick. We had some very sick people. I think we have three to four, maybe five people who died on the ship. One of the ships, actually. And we had to take care of these people. So we couldn't let them float aimlessly in the ocean, searching for port, as they have been doing for a long time.

And I made the decision: we had to welcome them. And Homeland Security and a lot of other people did a great job. But we had to help people. These are people who were very, very sick. Some were dying. Some died. Please. Press: Mr. President, about DPA. Can I finish please? The President: Go ahead. Yes, go ahead. The Press: Mr. President, his staff said that people close to you and the vice president will be tested for coronavirus. I'm wondering, are you worried that the people you've been hanging out with may have the virus? The President: No, I'm not worried.

No. Yesterday they gave me a test. Press: But what is the reason for the order for people to meet or talk to you? Why should they require coronavirus testing? The President: I don't know. I mean, I just... heard from oil executives. It's about people; most of them had not been tested. And, frankly, I think they left the room feeling good about a lot of things. But they felt good about the test. This was a test that took, I guess, 13 minutes to finish. They did the test. I don't know. I didn't know they were doing that. Maybe they did it just for themselves.

I don't know. But... La Prensa: But will they always have to take a test? The President: It seems like a lot of people, because now we have tests that really work well. Abbott, in this case. Abbot. Other tests are currently being developed that are also fantastic. The original tests, the ones we inherited, Jim, for example, were broken. They were obsolete. They were not good tests. And that's what we're stuck with. We have developed some amazing tests. But this took between 13 and 15 minutes. And they were all fine. La Prensa: About the DPA, sir. The President: Go ahead.

Finish, finish your question. Press: Thank you. Yes. So the problem that some people have raised is that if the United States stopped exporting, what could happen is that other countries mutually decide that they are going to stop exporting. The President: Sure. The Press: -- and that the result of that will be a net decrease in the amount of supplies that American doctors and hospitals have. How do you approach that? The President: Well, I will put it this way: we are really very well supplied. We are not the main ones, it is the hospitals, the states, the cities.

They're supposed to get everything they can and stock up in case something like this happens. But no one could have expected something like this to happen, so we started supplying. We brought huge quantities to New York today and in the last few days. We brought them to Louisiana. We brought them to Michigan. We brought them to Los Angeles. Lots of equipment. You read the number of masks we had. I think I said over 8 million masks. N95 masks. You know, the more expensive, more complicated, better masks, the ones they want to wear in hospitals. Now we have millions of them and we have given them to many.

Today we sent 200,000 of them to Bellevue, New York, for Mayor de Blasio. But we have 8.1 million; We're going to have more than that. And we get them from various sources, including the military. So we are replacing them quickly, because we have to replace them in case there is another emergency. I would be too... dresses. We have many dresses that are being delivered and have already been delivered. Our people have done an incredible job. Most people have said, now, and I said it yesterday, the governors have said, "Thank you very much. Great job." If it's a Democratic governor, in some cases;

Not in all cases, if I said: "Here you have 1,000 ventilators. How many do you want?" "We want 1,000." "Here's 1,000. You've got them. But you know what we're going to do? We're going to add another 5,000. Okay?" They said, "Wow, that's cool." And then if Jim Acosta goes and says, "Are you happy with the president?" "No, he should have given us 10,000." That's what's happening. You know why? Because that's a standard political response. And that's a shame because we've done a job like no one has ever done before. But we just delivered a lot of masks. We just delivered a lot of gowns and protective equipment.

But, you know, you're talking about a huge number... you're talking about a huge number. But, as of this morning, people were very, very happy. Steve? Press: Did the oil executives ask you for some kind of ransom? The President: No, they did not ask for a ransom. No. Press: What did they ask for? The President: Actually it was more of a discussion than a question. We discussed - you know, we discussed the concept of tariffs because, as you know, this was a dispute between a couple of countries that I think they want to be able to resolve.

They had a dispute. They had a competition. But they want to solve it. Russia -- Press: You mean tariffs -- tariffs on -- The President: -- and Saudi Arabia, I think they want to get it -- Press: -- Saudi Arabia and Russia? The President: Yes. I think they want to solve it. I think they are working very hard. I mean, they told me they want it resolved. They are working very hard. Forward. Press: President Trump, thank you. Yesterday, Jared Kushner said that the notion that the federal arsenal was "our" arsenal. They are not supposed to be state reserves that they then use.

What did you mean by "our"? And... The President: Well, why don't you ask him? La Prensa: And even the fact that the taxpayers of all states pay for it. The President: What is that? A "gotcha"? "I have it." You used the word "our." Press: No, it's not a "gotcha." What did he mean by that? The President: "Our"... you know, what does "our" mean? United States of America. That is what it means. It means... La Prensa: So it means the states? The President: Ours. Our. It means the United States of America. And then we take that "ours" and distribute it to the states.

La Prensa: So, why did you say that we are not supposed to... The President: It is not that we have to be... La Prensa: -- that they are state reserves that they can later use? The President: Because we need it for the government and we need it for the federal government. La Prensa: To give to the states. The President: But when the states are in trouble... no, also to maintain... La Prensa: So who do they give it to if not the states? The President: Maintain it, maintain it for our country, because the federal government also needs it, not just the states.

But we often choose outside of that; For example, we have almost 10,000 fans and we are ready to go with those fans. We are going to take them to various areas of the country that need them. But when he says "our," he means our country. He is talking. Press: But he makes the distinction. The President: Excuse me. La Prensa: And, sir... The President: he is talking about the federal government. I mean, it's such a basic, simple question, and you try to make it sound so bad. Press: Not bad. I'm just trying to... The President: You should... you should be ashamed of yourself.

The press: - understand. No. By the way, Secretary Azar. The President: You know what? You should be ashamed. It's such a simple question. He said "our." And "our" means for the country and "our" means for the states. Press: But then he said that these are not state reserves. The President: -- because the states are part of the country. Don't make it sound bad. Don't make it sound bad. Go ahead, Steve. Go ahead, he comes back here. Press: But, Mr. President, HHS even changed the language on the website. The President: You just asked your question. You just asked your question in a very unpleasant tone.

Press: I don't think it was unpleasant. The President: Let's go. Press: I don't think you gave me an answer. The President: Please. The Press: Mr. President. The President: I gave you a perfect answer. You know it. Forward. Press: Well, just to follow up on that: When we have the federal reserve, I mean, isn't it designed to be able to distribute it to the states that need it? The President: Sure. But it is also necessary for the federal government. We have federal reserves and they have state reserves. And, frankly, they were: many of the states were completely unprepared for this.

So we had to resort to the federal arsenal. But we are not in charge of placing orders. They have to have it for themselves. Now, some of the states were in good shape. Some of the states were not in good shape. That's probably something you could expect. We have been helping the states. We have invested an enormous amount of time, effort and billions of dollars to make sure they have what they have. I mean, take New York: we built them hospitals, I built them four hospitals, I built them medical centers, we sent them a ship with 1,000 rooms and 12 operating rooms and, on top of that, we provided them with a large number of ventilators and a large number of quantities of surgical gowns, equipment, masks, everything else.

They now had the opportunity to order ventilators over the years. They had the opportunity to order a very large one, but they did not choose to do so. We were there and we helped them. And I think the governor of New York is very grateful for the help we gave him. But we have a reservation. It's a federal reserve. We can use it for the states or we can use it for ourselves. We use it for the federal government. We have a very large federal government. Forward. La Prensa: So you've decided not to use your powers to essentially be a traffic cop for all the essential medical supplies needed in this?

The President: Well, we are not traffic police. We are a humanitarian police. We help, it's like ships. Do you think we wanted to introduce two large ships that have obvious problems into our country? And you know what problems I'm talking about. So I have to make a decision: do I take them in or save lives? Well? Do I welcome them or keep them? I decided to welcome them. And we have tremendous protection. We have great doctors there to help people. They had four or five people who died. It was last night. They died on the ships.

We take care of it. And now people are in the process of... and many are already back in Canada, they're back in the United Kingdom... United Kingdom. And many of them were American citizens. Some were very sick. We are caring for the sick. We are testing all the others very, very carefully... very, very carefully. They are being tested like you wouldn't believe. And we solved a humanitarian catastrophe. You know why? Because no one else would accept the ships. No one else would accept them. So we docked it, I think, in Fort Lauderdale. Press: I think some people are wondering why you don't say "We are the federal government and there is a shortage of masks and other things and...

The President: We say that. The Press: --we are going to... The President: We say that. La Prensa: -- approves each shipment. The President: We say that we are... we say and use the Law. La Prensa: -- that has to go to the places where it needs to go. The President: Excuse me, we say that and we use the law. And we have used it several times in a very powerful way. And a lot of times we don't have to use it because we say, "We'll use it if you don't do this or that." And then we also have companies that perform incredibly well.

We have a lot of them, mostly. But we have used the Law in a very powerful way. And many times it is not necessary to exercise the Law; All you have to do is tell them, "Look, if you don't do this, we'll use the Law." and we have donea good job with it, maybe a great job. Yes. La Prensa: Mr. President, there is news that you want to sign the stimulus checks that will come out here in several months. Alright? Do you want to sign those checks? The President: No. Do I sign? No. There are millions of checks.

Am I going to sign them? No. It is an initiative of the Trump administration. But do I want to sign them? No. People are getting... people are getting their money. There are many stimuli that are given in many different ways. There is also stimulus for companies that, if it weren't our government, wouldn't do it, and some companies that were very strong a month ago. Once again, we had the strongest economy in the world. We had our best moment. We probably had the best economy in the history of the world, bigger than China, bigger than anyone. And one day we'll have to say, "Shut it down.

Stop it. Everybody go home." And you know what? It's quite difficult to do that. La Prensa: That's another thing: that there are rumors that these checks might not go out for another four months, as if you don't have a direct deposit. The President: I don't know. All I can tell you is that small businesses today are way ahead of schedule. There is a problem where... and... that I pointed out; I said, "You shouldn't do it this way," with unemployment, where states have 40-year-old equipment. We are sending the money to the states. Once the money is sent to the states, the states, whether Republican or Democrat, have to get the money to the people.

I hope they can do it. But many of those states have computers that are 40 years old. I don't know if they are equipped. I wanted to give them money directly, if that's what you're talking about. I wanted to give the money directly. It would have been much easier. But Democrats and some people said, "No, let's do it the hard way." Press: I'm referring more to the stimulus checks. He... like... The President: Very well, well, I was talking about... La Prensa: --When will people receive their money? The President: Excuse me, I was talking about both. The press: Yes.

When will people receive that money? The President: Yes, they will understand. They are going to. Forward. Please. Press: Thank you, sir. I would like to ask questions, both for myself and for some of the other reporters who are not in the room, about social distancing. The President: Sure. Press: First of all, and this is for you and Dr. Birx: What percentage of the population do we suspect is asymptomatic at this point, period? Is there a way to solve it? It seems like antibody testing could help determine that number. The President: Go ahead, Deborah. Dr. Birx: Yes, thank you.

So, while we work diligently in the midst of the crisis to make sure that health care workers and all the sick receive care, at the same time we are working on tests and trials that will be critical for surveillance, and at the same time, working on plans about what we need to do as this moves through the population and we find ourselves on the negative side, where we are, in some ways we're not there yet. And hopefully most states will do so, say, like California and Washington. And then what we need to do to be prepared for fall.

So all three things happen simultaneously and there are people working in each of those lines of work. The antibody piece is critical, as you described, because right now, we can't, if we have, let's say the asymptomatic state is reversed; Symptomatic status is inversely related to age, so the younger you are, the more likely you are to be asymptomatic - we have to know that because we have to know how many people have actually been infected. So when we spoke, about five days ago (I think Monday), I asked universities to work on an ELISA-based test to test their healthcare workers and really get through it.

At the same time, the private sector is working on tests. And what do we want those tests to be? We want those tests to be like the ones we use for HIV and malaria: finger prick on a cassette. You get a line if you are positive and you get a control line. Negative, the line is not there and the control line is there. That's... that's our dream rehearsal, because it's a prick in the finger. In the meantime, we are not waiting. I mean, we're pushing for that. At the same time, we are asking to develop an assay, the ELISA-based assay, which requires a tube of blood.

And that's why we're also talking about whether we could use dried blood spots. We also made a direct call to the military, because of the Roosevelt, to actually test all sailors on the Roosevelt with an antibody test to get to this critical issue of asymptomatic and already pre-existing antibodies. That would be...if first responders knew they'd already had it and had protective antibodies. If the nurses knew it, the doctors knew it, if your school teacher knew it, then it's a very different dialogue. So we understand the importance of that and we understand how important it is in relation to understanding this epidemic.

One more comment, because I know we always say, "Who knew what and when?" I just want to be clear: there are over 150 countries working collectively on this. It is devastating for all countries. When we get past this, we will be able to go back and look at what happened, where and what this epidemic is like. And when you overcome it, you will be able to validate every model known to man. When you're in the middle of this, you have to focus on addressing the needs of every American and what that need looks like. At the same time, there are other lines of work on surveillance and how to be prepared, both from a scientific, therapeutic and vaccine point of view, for next fall, if this happens again.

So I think these things are happening together, but I just want us to really focus on the fact that, around the world, country after country is dealing with this. And we can talk about: "Why didn't Italy do something, or Spain do something, or Germany do something?" Or we can really say, “Right now, we can all do something.” We can do social distancing and all the pieces that we know are starting to work around the world, country after country. And then when we get through all of this, we'll be able to ask ourselves questions about, "Could we have done any of this better as a global community?" I will remind you that on February 3, the head of the WHO said that there was no reason to ban travel.

You know, it wasn't until January 14 that we knew there was human-to-human transmission. Remember: Press: Dr. Birx, the president said this was going away. Its April. The President: It's going to disappear. It's disappearing. Press: The President... But, Mr. President, you said that he was going to disappear in April. The President: It's going to... I didn't say a date. The press: You said: "When it was warmer in April..." The President: I said it was going to disappear and it was going to disappear. Well, are you... Press: Dr. Birx? Dr. Birx: Yes. Thank you Sir. La Prensa: But... if I am...

The President: Well, that was a good answer to your question. No no no. No no. No more. That was a long answer, but a very good one. That was enough for you. Press: I have a question about insurance coverage (inaudible). Mr. President, in terms of insurance coverage for treatment, the way your government is going is trying to make sure that people are covered in treatment for COVID. The President: Yes, we are going to do that. Press: Does that include the 11 million people who are in this country illegally? Will they be covered too? The President: We will talk about that another time.

Yes please. Forward. Press: Yes, Mr. President, will you release... will you authorize the publication of the underlying data to conclude that between 100,000 and 240,000 people are succumbing? Maybe Dr. Birx can talk. The President: Well, that's up to Dr. Birx. You'll decide when... Dr. Birx: We can release all the... I... The Press: Some disease experts have expressed concern that they haven't seen the underlying data. They're not questioning... The President: I'm sure they'll talk to you about that, and also to Dr. Fauci. Please go ahead. Press: Thank you, Mr. President. This is for you and Secretary Azar. Ten million people say they have lost their jobs in the last two weeks.

So how is this stimulus money for free treatment going to absorb the new number of uninsured people and... The President: Go ahead, if you want... go ahead? Press: -- Wouldn't it be easier to reopen Obamacare markets or expand Medicaid? Secretary Azar: So for a person who had insurance through their employer, that's what I mentioned in my comments, if you were employed and had insurance through your employer, and now you've lost your job and you've lost that insurance, you now have a period special enrollment program where you can enroll in the individual Affordable Care Act exchanges. So that is the existing law.

So what we're doing is we're taking that hundred billion dollars to the providers, taking money and saying, "If you're a provider and you take care of someone who doesn't have insurance, we're going to compensate you for doing that, and we're going to compensate you with Medicare reimbursement rates and you are not allowed to bill that uninsured person anything. So in many ways, it's better for those people who don't have insurance. They will get first dollar coverage, they will receive care in the United States, and the provider will benefit from this program. So it's really unprecedented: What President Trump is doing here with this money is unprecedented, disease-specific support for people's care to make sure they get treatment.

The press: Will someone continue to be billed if the test is negative? Or what about non-COVID conditions? Press: So I just have a couple questions about supplies, one specifically about New York and the ventilator issue. Governor Cuomo says New York may be days away from running out of ventilators. Can you assure New York that starting next week they will have the ventilators they will need? The President: No, they should have had more ventilators at that time. They should have had more fans. They were totally neglected. We're trying to do it, we're doing the best we can for New York.

You know, we have... we have states, we have many states. We also have territories. But we have many states that need to be taken care of, some much more than others. We have worked very well with the governor. We happen to think he is well cared for on ventilators. We're going to find out, but we have other states to deal with. We have a big problem in Louisiana, we have a big problem in Michigan, we have a big problem in seven other really strong hotspots, but we're doing the best we can. I wish they made the original orders three years ago.

They would have had all the ventilators they needed. Although even then they wouldn't because if you look at what the original request from New York was, it was much bigger than anyone had ever heard. And we have provided a lot. I told you we supplied some today to New York and yesterday we supplied some to New York City. Did you have one back? Yes please. Press: Mr. President, if I may say so, this is why the question about reservations that was asked earlier is so important. The President: I don't think that was the question (inaudible). Press: No, it was a very important question because what Jared Kushner said yesterday is that the federal reserves are for use by the federal government, not for states to have access to.

So it sounds like you're saying something different. So, did Jared Kushner misspoke yesterday? The President: No, no, he didn't... he didn't speak badly. La Prensa: Is that federal reserve available to the states? The President: He used the word "our." Well? "Our" - "our" refers to our country. The Press: Yes, but he said...he said it's not for the states to use. The President: The states, as far as I know and as far as you know, are part of our country. We're taking what's in the federal reserve and helping states across the country. But we also want to keep some because when that surge comes, when those peaks are hit, we're going to need them.

And we have to be able to have the flexibility to take those ventilators and bring them to Louisiana, New York, Detroit and different places. That's all. Press: But will you use them for the states that need them? The President: Oh, of course. We will not use them anywhere else. We won't use them, Jon, anywhere else. But we want flexibility because we don't even know when the surge will come, but it will come soon and it will be big, and some areas won't have it. Some areas will be pleasantly surprised, as has happened to us. You look at the graph.

States that I thought maybe would have been a disaster turned out to be one. Really, they have done a great job. Some states are really worried, but you don't know it. You do not know. We have great flexibility. I would have preferred to hand them all over. We would have nothing. And now, when we have an increase, we can't get them back from where we gave them because it's very difficult to get them back. So we have tremendous flexibility. And it could be New York. It could be Louisiana. Those are two that arereally hard. New Jersey is very tough.

And they've done a very good job in New Jersey, but New Jersey is very tough. Go ahead, please, go back. Press: Yes, the question or... the question is about the CDC guidelines. I know they changed over time starting in February and there are... The President: The guidelines regarding what... the masks? Press: For example, social distancing and the number of people who can gather in a group, etc. And now we have this measure on the use of masks. And I know you told Steve why he doesn't want to wear a mask, but I'm wondering if he can tell us more about why, because that would establish...

The President: I just don't choose to. The press: -- an example. The President: They are not mandatory guidelines; They are guidelines. They suggest you could use them. You don't have to use them. In fact, the director is here. If you want to say a couple of words about it. You don't... you can if you want. There's no need. La Prensa: But what I really am (inaudible) is your decision not to wear one. The President: But basically it is something voluntary. Say it, director. He's doing a good job. Dr. Redfield: Thank you very much. I guess I just want to emphasize again (I've said it before) that we are not defenseless against this virus.

We have a powerful tool, a powerful weapon: social distancing. And we have continued to embrace it with the president's initiatives to slow the spread of the coronavirus. We are constantly looking for new data. And as the Surgeon General said, one of the new pieces of information that became clearer to all of us is that there are a greater number of people infected asymptomatically than we previously thought. As Ambassador Birx said, this may be inversely related to age. And really, the purpose here is, first and foremost, to embrace social distancing. That's the number one thing. That is the powerful weapon.

And this virus has a great weakness: it cannot jump from one person to another if it has to swim more than two meters. And that's why we really want that. That said, we now know that there may be people in significant areas of significant community transmission who may be infected asymptomatically. And we know that a facial barrier can actually disrupt the number of virus particles that can pass from one person to another. So, as the vice president said, this is, and the president, the purpose of the face covering is to be another complementary mitigation strategy to protect someone from spreading the virus from themselves to another person.

The President: And they just gave me the test too. So I assume I don't know I have the virus, so I don't have to worry about spreading it. Well? Please go ahead. Press: Mr. President, I want to make sure we are clear. When he mentioned tariffs before... The President: Yes. ElPrensa: - that came up in a meeting: Are you considering imposing tariffs on Saudi Arabian oil? And then also... The President: Well, I can always consider... look, tariffs have generated an enormous amount of money for our country. I put it on China, I put it on other places, and other countries impose tariffs on us and take advantage of us and have done so for many years.

Look, countries have taken advantage of the United States for years. We've been ripped off like no one can even believe, whether it's manufacturing, whether it's exporting, whether it's pretty much anything, including the military, where we provide virtually free military assistance to countries that, frankly, take advantage of us, you don't even like us. Well? So this has been going on for years. They charge us fees. They create artificial barriers, one could say non-financial, which are worse than financial barriers. You can't sell your product, you can't take care of our farmers, they won't accept us, and yet they will accept us and sell to us, and we won't charge them anything to do it. .

Look, they've taken advantage of us for years. Tariffs are a way to even the score. Tariffs are simply a form of neutralization. They have tariffs on us. And now we can impose tariffs on them. Am I using it for oil? It's something we can. No, am I doing it now? No. Am I thinking of imposing it from this moment on? No. But if we are not treated fairly, it is certainly a tool in the toolbox. Press: And what about Russia? Would you consider lifting sanctions or easing them if...? The President: Well, it would be the same.

It would not be the same. They are having a dispute - the two countries - and it is hurting the rest of the world because it is really hurting the energy industry. Russia is suffering incredibly serious damage and Saudi Arabia is suffering incredibly serious damage. Because oil and gas are primary, that's where they make most of their revenue. And this is a price like from the 50s, okay? It is a price in the 50s. They are being hurt very badly. I think they will resolve their dispute fairly quickly. Press: Why? As for oil, why do you think it hasn't been more successful in getting the price up?

The President: Go ahead, please. Press: Why...why do you think you haven't been more successful in getting them to increase production in Russia and Saudi Arabia if (inaudible)? The President: Well, they have increased production. That's what they've done. They have increased it so much that... you wanted to say the opposite. The President: I meant... yes. Why do you think you haven't been successful in increasing (inaudible) production? The President: Yes. Look, look, so... well, they will stop because of the market. Ultimately, the market will get them to stop. But they both did the opposite. They increased production to a level where water is now more valuable than oil.

Who would have ever thought that, right? La Prensa: You have relations with... The President: If you go to... if you go to some of these kingdoms, water is much more valuable than oil. There is so much oil. It's a tribute, in a way. The press: (Inaudible.) The President: But what happened is that there were a lot of things to start with, and then the virus arrived, and it knocked down the market, in terms of demand. So there is no demand and there is tremendous supply. So, I mean, you saw numbers where it went down to 20 and, frankly, below 20.

It was even below 20. It's an incredible thing, the market. But ultimately the market will take care of it. But I think they'll fix your problem pretty quickly. It's OK, go ahead. Press: Mr. President, thank you, Mr. President. We are already talking about phase four of a stimulus, right? But you, Pelosi and McConnell are already talking about different things that should be included in it. Now, last time, people were telling me that the fact that you didn't talk to Pelosi was a hindrance and it really slowed things down. Are you... The President: I would talk... if it was important to talk to her, I would talk to her.

La Prensa: Are you going to talk to her during...? The President: If it was important to the American people, I would talk to her. But other than that, I can get other people to talk to her. Look, are you ready? Infrastructure is a big thing for me. I think the infrastructure for this country... we have old, broken infrastructure. Fifty years ago we were the envy of the world. And then we spent all this money so stupidly in the Middle East. We spend... it's going to be very close to $8 trillion in the Middle East. How stupid was that decision?

But they spent it on that and other things. We have to fix our infrastructure. La Prensa: But Pelosi is already downplaying it. The President: That means roads, highways, tunnels, airports, everything. We have to fix our infrastructure... La Prensa: But Pelosi is already downplaying it. The President: And the beauty is due to the fact that we are so strong as a country that we are indebted to zero. We never had the opportunity to borrow at zero. Even in this country, we had never had the opportunity to borrow at zero. Let's borrow: this is a great moment. Then we can fix our infrastructure and we will have almost no interest costs.

This is the moment to do it. Steve, one more question. Press: The total death projection that he shared with us earlier this week, are we still on the current trajectory for that? Or have social distancing? The President: What trajectory... what? I have many trajectories for many things. La Prensa: The 100 - 100 to 240, 100 to 240,000. Are we still on that trajectory or have we made any improvements? Or maybe not enough time has passed? The President: Say it... say it. Say it, Steve. That? Press: Have we made enough improvements? The President: About what? In what? La Prensa: About social distancing.

Press: Have the models changed? Have the models changed? The President: You would have to ask Dr. Fauci and you would have to ask Deborah. Have the models changed? Dr. Birx: As you can see, a lot of the projections are based on... there are a lot of different ways to look at this. And as we discussed on Sunday, part of that is based on current global experience. We are, I think, 6.5 or 5.5 times the size of Italy, a different factor in Spain. And we look at all of that: what their projections are, where they are currently, and where they're going.

So a lot of the work is based on how this virus has moved through other populations. That's a very direct way to see how the virus is impacting a population. There are also great models. And so, every day and every night, one of the models that really looks at the mortality-related model is the data from HealthData.org. And they update it every night and you can see where we are in that projection. I think in the last run of that model, they were at 93,000 or something like that in the model. Now, all of this can be changed through our behaviors.

And so on, and everything can be changed in a different way if we don't follow those behaviors. If another major metropolitan area ends up having an epidemic like the New York metropolitan area, that could dramatically change not the model but the reality of the impact of this virus on Americans. La Prensa: And where are the models? The President: And, by the way, the models show that hundreds of thousands of people are going to die. Do you know what I want to do? I want to go out under the models. The professionals made the models. I was never involved in a model, but... at least, in this type of model.

But you know what? Hundreds of thousands of people, they say, are going to die. I want much less than that. I don't want any, but it's too late for that now. But I want very few people, in relation to what the models say. Those are projections. I hope they are wrong. I hope we are below those projections. Press: Mr. President, two questions about the continuity of the government. To... The President: How come you always have two? Why can't you have one? Press: Well, they are related. The President: Every time, "I have three questions. I have two questions." Can you give me one instead?

Because we have a couple more people. Forward. La Prensa: Well, I'll go with the second one. Wisconsin's governor is now talking about delaying the primary, at least not having in-person voting. So my question is, and I asked this a couple of weeks ago; I want to see if you've made any progress on this. Looking ahead to the fall, are you taking steps to ensure that a general election is held even if this pandemic has re-emerged or not gone away? And... The President: The general elections will take place on November 3. The press: And you... is that you?

The President: In Wisconsin, what happened was that I, through social media, the media issued a very strong endorsement of a conservative Republican judge who is an excellent and brilliant judge. He is a judge. And I heard that what happened is that his poll numbers skyrocketed. And that's why I think they delayed the elections. Press: Don't you think the governor is worried about people going to vote in person? The President: I don't know. Why didn't he do it sooner? He was doing well before the election. La Prensa: But, do you think that everyone...? The President: Excuse me.

Why didn't he do this two weeks ago? Suddenly... Press: But, right?... because of the pandemic. The President: Excuse me. Suddenly, an election that will be held very soon is delayed. Now, today I supported him and it was a very strong endorsement. According to surveys, it has risen very high. And all of a sudden the governor (the Democratic governor, by the way) comes out and says, "Oh, we're going to flip this election." Then I do not know. I'm sure...I hope you're right. I hope you're well. The Press: But... do you think that all states in this country should be prepared for voting by mail in case we find ourselves in a situation?

The President: No, because I think many people cheat with voting by mail. vote. I think people should vote with ID, voter ID. I think voter identification is very important. And the reason they don't want a voter ID is because they're trying to cheat. When you get something, when you buy something, you look at your cards and credit cards and different cards; you have your photo in many of them. Not in all of them, but in many of them. You should have a photo on your... on your... to vote. It should be called "Voter's Card". They should have that.

And it shouldn't be by mail. Press: But how are you going to do it? The President: Excuse me. It shouldn't be a vote by mail. It should be: you go to a stand and show yourself withpride. He doesn't mail it where people pick it up; All kinds of bad things can happen at the time they signed it, if they signed it, if they signed it at the time it arrives and is tabulated. No, it should not be sent by mail. You must vote in the box. And you should have a voter ID, because when you have a voter ID, that's the real thing.

Thank you so much. See you tomorrow.