Coronavirus outbreak: Donald Trump, CDC addresses U.S. preparedness for possible COVID-19 threat

and now thank you all very much, thank you very much before we begin. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims and families in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Earlier today, an evil killer opened fire at a Molson Coors Brewing Company plant, killing five people, several people were injured, some seriously injured, our hearts break for them and their loved ones, we send our condolences, we will be with them and it's a terrible thing, a terrible thing, so our hearts go out to the people of Wisconsin and their families. Thank you so much. I just received another piece of information from a great group of talented people about the virus that is circulating in various parts of the world.

We made some very good early decisions, decisions that were actually ridiculed at the beginning and we closed. our borders two flights coming from certain areas areas that were affected by the corona virus and they were quite tough and we did it very early a lot of people thought that we shouldn't have done it so early and we did it and it turned out to be a very good thing and the number one priority from our point of view it is the health and safety of the American people and that is how I saw it when I made that decision because of everything we have done the risk to the American people remains very low and We have the greatest war experts here of the world, the people that other countries turn to when things like this happen.

We were ready to adapt and we are ready to do whatever is necessary as the disease spreads. spreads, as most of you know, the level that we have had in our country is very low and those people are improving or we believe that in almost all cases they are improving, we have a total of 15 that we take. some from Japan found out because they are American citizens and they are in quarantine and they are also getting better, but we felt like we had an obligation to do it, it could have been up to 42 and we found out that we were it was just an obligation that we felt like we had, we could have left them and that It would have been very bad, very bad.

I think the American people and they are recovering from the 15 people, the original 15, as I call them, eight of them have returned. their homes to stay in the houses until they fully recover one is in the hospital and five have fully recovered and one thinks he's in pretty good shape and he's between the hospital and coming home so we have a total of 15 people and are in a recovery process and some have already fully recovered. We start by analyzing certain things. We have been working with the hill very carefully and very forcefully and I think we have a very good bipartisan spirit for the money we were. asking for two and a half billion and we think that's a lot, but the Democrats and I guess Senator Schumer want us to have a lot more than that and normally in life I would say we'll take it, we'll take it if they want. to give more we will do more we will spend what is appropriate hopefully we don't have to spend as much because we really believe that we have done a great job keeping it to a minimum and again we have had tremendous success, tremendous success beyond what people would have thought.

Now, at the same time, there are some

outbreak

s in some countries. Italy and several countries are having difficulties. China, you know where it started. I spoke with President Xi. We had a great conversation. working very hard I have to say that he is working very, very hard and if you can count on the reports coming out of China, but that spread has slowed quite a bit, the infection seems to have decreased in the last two days instead of increasing. it's actually gotten smaller in a case where we think we can be, it's kind of reliable, it seems to have gotten a little smaller with respect to the money that's being traded, they can do whatever they want, I mean they can, we'll do the tuna.

If we're asking for two and a half, some Republicans would like us to get four and some Democrats would like us to get eight and a half and we'll be satisfied, whatever it is, we'll bring in a very highly regarded specialist. Tomorrow, who works at the State Department, has a tremendous talent for doing this. I want you to understand something that surprised me when I saw that I spoke with dr. Fauci on this and I was really shocked and I think most people are shocked to hear that the flu in our country kills 25,000 to 69,000 people a year, which was shocking to me and so far, if you look at what we have with 15 people and they are recovering, one is quite sick but hopefully will recover, but the others are in very good shape, but think about between 25,000 and 69,000 in the last 10 years we have lost 360,000, these are people who have died because of the flu of what we call the flu, hey, did you get the flu vaccine?

And that is something that we have now done: we have prevented non-US citizens from coming to the United States from China, which was done very early, we are screening people and We have been screening at a very high level people coming into the country. from infected areas. We have quarantined those infected and those who are at risk. We have many excellent quarantine facilities. We are rapidly developing vaccines and they can talk to you. Professionals can speak. telling you that the vaccine is working well and then talking to doctors, we think this is something we can develop quite quickly, a vaccine for the future and coordinate it with the support of our partners.

We have excellent relations with all the countries that We are talking about a fairly large number of countries, some are one person and many countries do not have any problems and we will see what happens, but we are very, very prepared for anything, whether it is of a rupture of greater proportions. or whether we are or not, you know we are at that very low level and we want to keep it that way, so we are at the low level, as they improve, we take them off the list so that we can Very soon we will only have five people and we could be just one or two people in the next short period of time, so we've had very good luck.

Johns Hopkins. I guess it's a great, well-respected place. They still did a study. complete, the country is better and worse prepared for an epidemic and the United States is now ranked number one, we are ranked number one for being prepared. This is a list of different countries. I don't want to get in your way, especially since you do. what a great job this is a list of the different countries United States is ranked number one most prepared United Kingdom Netherlands Australia Canada Thailand Sweden Denmark South Korea Finland this is a list of the highest rated countries in the world by Johns Hopkins we are doing something else that is important to me because it has been great in many ways, but it is also very good in healthcare and we really follow it very closely.

Many states did it when Mike was governor. Indiana's Mike Pence. They have established excellent medical care. a great system, their system that a lot of other states have really looked at and changed their systems, they wanted to base it on Indiana's system. He's very good and I think he's really very expert in the field and what I. What I've done is announce right now that I'm putting our Vice President Mike Pence in charge and Mike is going to work with the professionals and the doctors and everyone else that's working on the team, it's brilliant. I've spent a lot of time with the team over the last few weeks, but they're absolutely brilliant and we're doing really well.

Mike will be in charge and Mike will report to me, but he has some talent for this and I. I'll ask Mike Pence to say a few words, please, thank you, thank you, sir. President Trump made clear from the first stage of this administration that we have no higher priority than the safety, health and well-being of the American people and from the first word about a corona virus

outbreak

, the president took unprecedented steps to protect to the American people of the spread of this disease, has been briefly told, but the establishment of travel restrictions, the aggressive quarantine effort of Americans, the return of the declaration of a public health emergency and the establishment of the task force on the

coronavirus

from the White House reflect the urgency. that the president has taken a whole-of-government approach as former governor of the state where the first MERS case emerged in 2014.

I know well the importance of presidential leadership, the importance of administration leadership, and the vital role of state associations . and local governments and health authorities to respond to the potential

threat

of dangerous infectious diseases and I look forward to mr. president to serve in this role, I am bringing together all the members of the corona task force that you have established HHS CDC DHS, the Department of Transportation and state, this team has been under the leadership of him, mr. The president will meet every day since it was established, my role will be to continue to bring that team together to provide the president with the best options for action to ensure the security, well-being and health that the American people will also continue to extend. to the governor's state and local officials, in fact, in recent days, the White House met with more than 40 state county and city health officials from more than 30 states and territories to discuss how to respond to the potential

threat

of the corona virus that we will be working with them in renewed ways to make sure that they have the resources to be able to respond and as the president said, we will add additional staff here at the White House to support our efforts on behalf of the president, we will work with them as well.

Members of Congress to ensure that resources are available for this entire government response and we will work very closely with Secretary Azar and his team who have done an excellent job communicating with the public to ensure that the American people have the best information. . on ways to protect themselves and their families and also for the public to have the most timely information about the potential threat to the American people, mr. President, as we have been informed while the threat of a spread of the corona virus to the American public remains low, you have directed this team to take all necessary measures to continue to ensure the health and well-being of the American people and the The people of this country can be assured that under your leadership we will continue to bring the full resources of the federal government in coordination with our state and local partners to see today and as we continue to respond effectively to the corona virus here in the United States. of America with that the president asked me to recognize the Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex as czar and also the deputy director of the CDC as a doctor and Chaka for the moms, well, thank you sir. vice president and thank you mr.

President for bringing together your public health experts here today and for your strong leadership in keeping America safe and I just want to say that I couldn't be more delighted that you've asked the Vice President, my old friend and colleague, to lead this whole thing. government approach. with us under emergency support function number eight as of today we have 15 cases of kovat 19 that have been detected in the United States with only one new case detected in the last two weeks we also have three cases among Americans repatriated from Wuhan and forty-two cases among repatriated Americans who had become trapped in the Diamond Princess in Japan.

The president's early and decisive actions, including travel restrictions, bought the United States incredibly valuable time. This has helped us contain the spread of the virus. Handle the cases we have and prepare. Faced with the possibility that we may need to mitigate a broader spread of infections within the United States, the actions taken by the president with the strong support of his scientific advisors have proven to be appropriate, wise and well calibrated for the situation, we are grateful for the health care workers, first responders, communities, state and local leaders have been involved in the response so far because of this hard work and the president's leadership, the immediate risk to the American public has been and continues being low, our containment strategy has been working at the same time.

What each of our experts and leaders have been saying for more than a month remains true: the degree of risk has the potential to change rapidly and we can expect to see more cases in the United States, which is why we have been reminding The American public and our state, local and private partners, who need to be aware of what a broader response would look like. The CDC has recommended that the American public, and especially state and local governments, businesses, and other organizations, inform themselves about how they would respond in the event the situation worsens, we encourage Americans to learn what future steps may be necessary to stay safe in their communities.

Knowing that these

possible

steps now can helpkeep the risk low for you in your community. Americans can find helpful information at the CDC. gov /co vyd co VI d 19 and we are working closely with government and private sector partners to educate them on

preparedness

. We have finally begun working with Congress to secure the funding we need. There are five main priorities in the White House request. to Congress that the White House made on Monday these priorities are first expanding our surveillance network second supporting state and local governments third and fourth developing therapies and vaccines and fifth manufacturing and purchasing personal protective equipment such as gowns and masks as Chairman of the President's Coronavirus Task Force, I am committed to providing regular updates on our coordinated interagency process, we have had our top public health leaders, like those with me here today, speaking to the media many times a day to inform the American public that the Trump administration will continue to be aggressively transparent by keeping the American people and the media informed of the situation and what everyone can do with it.

I'm going to hand it over to dr. and he shook it, doctor, he shook it, he is the senior career official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the principal deputy director with more than 30 years of career at the CDC in public health and as a member of the Corps in charge of the United States Public Health Service, so doctor. I took it off. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, as you know, this has been a difficult and challenging time and our hearts go out to the people who have been directly affected by the virus and to all those who have been working tirelessly to respond to our aggressive response strategy. containment here in the United States. has been working and is responsible for the low levels of cases we have so far, however, we expect more cases and this is a good time to prepare.

As you heard, it's the perfect time for businesses, healthcare systems, universities and schools to take a look at their pandemic

preparedness

plans, dust them off and make sure they're ready, and we have a lot more information on the website. the CDC and in partnership on how to do it, but it's also a very good time for the American public to prepare and for you to know what this means for you, the

coronavirus

that we're talking about is a respiratory virus that spreads similar to the common cold or flu, it is transmitted through coughs and sneezes and therefore those common sense everyday measures that we tell people to take every year with flu are important here cover your cough, stay home when you are sick and wash your hands.

Tried and true measures, not very exciting, but really important ways to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, so this is the trajectory of what we're seeing in the coming weeks and months is very uncertain, but many of the steps that We have taken over the past 15 years to prepare for pandemic influenza and our experience during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic reminds us of the types of steps. that our healthcare system, our businesses, our communities and schools may need to take, we are in this together, the entire government, the public and private sector and the CDC want to make sure they have the best information available.

Thank you, I just want to give you a very quick update on my name is dr. Tony Fauci I'm the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, just a very quick update on the development of countermeasures in the form of vaccines and therapeutics. I told this audience at a recent press conference that we have a number of vaccine candidates and a prototype to give you an idea of ​​the time frame of a vaccine and what its impact could be now and in the years ahead, I told them that we would have a vaccine that we would test to see if it is safe and if it induces a response that you would predict would be protective in about three months, I think it will be a little less than that, it will probably be closer to two months, which would then take about three months to determine if it is safe and an administered enik that gives us six months, then you go from a trial that is phase one of 45 people to a trial that involves hundreds, if not thousands, of people to determine the efficacy what as soon as

possible

and the efficacy trial would take an additional six to eight months.

So even though this is the fastest we've gone from a virus sequence to an assay, it still wouldn't be applicable to the epidemic unless we really wait a year to a year and a half, that means two things, one. the answer to containing it is public health measures, we cannot rely on a vaccine for the next few months to a year; However, if this virus, which we have every reason to believe, is quite conceivable to happen, we will go beyond just one season and come back and recycle next year if that is the case we hope to have a vaccine and then finally and briefly therapies There are a number of antiviral drugs that are being tested a few days ago we started a randomized controlled trial of a serious drug kill quorum that has antiviral activity in vitro in an animal model.

The good news is that it is a randomized trial to receive placebo or standard treatment and drug and standard treatment, which means that we will know reasonably soon if it works and if We will then have an effective therapy to deploy a scientific and medical team behind you and keep America for sure. Where do we go from here after we deal with relations with India and also with the present? You are very famous in India and in the United States. We won't talk much about it other than what I did. I just laughed like it was a long flight.

He is a great gentleman, a great leader. It is an incredible country. They treated us very, very well and we really enjoyed it very much. Progress has been made in terms of relationship, our relationship with India is extraordinary at the moment and we are going to do a lot of business with India. They are sending billions of dollars now to the United States, but they would rather talk about this right now. The CDC said yesterday that they believe it is inevitable that the virus will spread in the United States and it is not a question of if, but when, they agree with that assessment.

Well, I don't think it's inevitable. I probably will. It could possibly be on a very small level, it could be on a larger level, whatever happens, we are fully prepared, we have the best people in the world, as you see, according to the study, we have the best prepared people, the best people in the world. world, Congress is willing to give. we a lot more than what we are asking for is good for a change but we are totally ready willing and able is a term we use is ready willing and able we have we are going to be very well under control now it can grow and make it a little bigger it may not gets any bigger at all, we'll see what happens, but regardless of what happens, we are fully prepared, please, you told me earlier about the supreme ages, that you put in place, a little trip with stretches that you can. place preparing China at this point has the virus present Italy and South Korea are you planning to add those countries?

Well, Justin, you know I'm the president of the United States, I'm not the president of other countries, other countries, some on the list that are very respected in what they do in terms of what we're talking about, but I really want to be responsible. of this country if that means placing a very strong situation on the border so that people cannot enter our country from one country. That is infected, we are doing that and we have already done it with numerous countries, but we have to focus on this country. I don't think it's right to impose ourselves on others, but if others don't care or think.

They're doing it incorrectly, you know we're dealing with global health and we have fantastic people and the CDC helps other countries give them recommendations on what to do, but they're working in the countries that we're working on. our countries and so far, so simple, it has really worked very well. Can you clarify whether you are considering restricting travel to and from South Korea, Italy and other countries at the appropriate time? We may do it now, not the right time, but at the right time. at the right time and we are reviewing people who are coming specifically for the problem, the problem that we are dealing with, so we are reviewing a lot of people who are coming from South Korea and they have been very affected.

Italy has been quite difficult. China is obvious. what happened in China, but again the numbers seem to be leveling off and going down in China, which is very good news, so we'll see what happens with denying that they go to a SAR point to execute the coronavirus response today. Secretary Hayes R testified that he didn't think it was necessary, they were going to remove him from HHS and you yourself have been downplaying this, so why are you now selecting the vice president? Well, Mike Estime is the area vice president, he's in management, but I'm having everyone report to Mike.

Mike has been very good, very knowledgeable. Anyone who knows anything about healthcare looks at the Indiana model and it has been a huge success. He's been a tremendous role model in terms of healthcare and this is really an offshoot. of that, so this is blue. I don't see my cases being Mike as part of the administration, but I will have them report to Mike. Mike will fill me in. In some cases, they will also inform both. I will be. Attending meetings quite a bit depending on what they want to do and the message we want to convey, but we have done a really extraordinary job when you look at a country this size with so many people coming in with the number one in the world for people coming to a country by far and we have a total of 15 cases, many of which almost in one day.

I will tell you that most of them are fully recovered. I think it's actually a pretty impressive mark now that we took 40 people who were Americans and they're also recovering, but we brought them in, so I call I have a different group, but we felt like we had an obligation to American citizens outside of the country that we We're trying to get back, we think about it. was very important has taken a big hit in the last few days, what can be done about it? And if the CDC is right that the spread is inevitable, are you going to have to deal with stock market and economic issues for some time?

Well, I really think that the stock market, if it's something that I know a lot about, I think that it was affected, maybe for two reasons. I think they look at the people that you saw decline last night and say if there's a chance that that could happen, I think it really takes a was affected by that and certainly was affected by this and I understand that also because of the chains of supply and various other things and people coming in, but I think the stock market will recover, the economy is very strong and a consumer is the strongest there is.

Has there ever been or the consumers are incredible there and it is incredible, that is why we are doing well in other countries, even before the virus we are not doing very well in other countries they have not done very well our consumers are very, very strong, very powerful economically, any plans that involve small foreign cities like we saw in China and what would have to happen to take them, we have plans on a much or much larger scale in case we need to we are working with states, we are working with virtually every state and we have larger scale plans if we need them, we don't think we're going to need them, but you know you always have to be prepared and again Congress is talking to us about funding and we're getting a lot more than we asked for. and I guess the best thing we can do is take it, we'll take it, are you willing to give it to Congress if they do well?

We'll see, but we'll deal with the states because the states are working very hard. hospitals and states offering rooms and building quarantine areas, areas where people can be kept safe, we are working very well with the states, it is a very important part, so you know my attitude if Congress wants to give us the money . so easy it was not very easy for the wall, but we did it, if you want to give us the money and we will accept it, we will do a good job with it, yes sir. President, should Americans go out and look for protective equipment like etc.

And, if so, what is the situation in the US? By doing to increase mass production, we can get a large quantity, in fact, we have ordered a large quantity in case we need it, we may not need it, you understand, but in case we are facing the worst of the cases. we're going to be ready very quickly, but I don't think we're going to be close to that, I really don't think we're going to be close to our borders being very controlled, our flights from certain areas that we're talking about very controlled, I don't think Let's never get close to that, please go back to the marketof values ​​per second, travel-related stocks have been especially, yeah, hammer here in the last few days, what would happen?

You tell Americans who right now are looking forward to summer or the next few months and saying to themselves, should I make plans for summer? Should I travel abroad? I will be able to do it? We think we hope everything is in good condition. at that point, but you know they're going to have to remain a little bit flexible, yeah, I would say travel-related businesses certainly at this point, they would be hurt at the same time, this will end, hopefully, this will end. It will be sooner rather than later and I think the business they lost will be recovered at a later date, but you know, now I think they probably won't go to China.

It will go to certain countries where the problem is much greater than in the United States, what it will do is keep people at home and they will travel to places where we have the largest tourist country in the world. world, so instead of leaving our country and leaving our shores, they will stay here and again when you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days will be reduced to almost zero. It's a pretty good job we've done today. You don't know what you're talking about about coronavirus. I'm also wondering if you want to address the critics.

Well, I guess you don't want your administration to be safe. I think Speaker Pelosi is. Incompetent, she lost Congress once. I think she'll lose him again. She raised my poll numbers up to ten points. I never thought I would see that so quickly and so easily. I'm leading everyone. We are doing very well. I don't want to. do it that way, it's almost unfair if you think about it, but I think she's incompetent and I think she's not thinking about the country and instead of making a statement like that where I've been routinely hitting her on everything, instead of making a statement like she should say we have to work together because potentially we have a big problem and maybe it's a very small problem.

I hope it is a very small problem, but instead we have to work together. She wants to do that. Same thing with Brian Chuck Schumer, he comes out and says the president only asked for two and a half billion dollars, he should have eight and a half, if this is the first time I've been told we should take more, it's usually us. we have to drink less and we should work together, he shouldn't make statements like that because it's very bad for the country and Nancy Pelosi, I mean, she should go back to a district and clean it up because if you look at it, she's number one. with a small percentage, it was one of the best in the world and now you look at what is happening and I'm just saying we should all work together.

She is trying to create panic and there is no reason to panic because we have done so well these professionals behind me and here and there and back here and in some conference rooms I just left a group of 45 people They are the most talented people in the world. In some parts of the world they ask us in a very nice way if they can participate and Help them, Nancy Pelosi should not do it and she knows that is not true. She knows it. All they are trying to do is gain political advantage. This is not about political advantage.

We are all trying to do the right thing that we shouldn't. To be saying this is terrible, President Trump is not asking for enough money, what a stupid thing to say if they want to give us more money, okay, we'll take more money. Some Republicans think we should have more money, okay, we'll do it. take more money, but they shouldn't degrade the people who are on stage, who are the best in the world, they are not degrading me, they are degrading the best health professionals in the world and the people who do exactly what they we do.

Speaking of your campaign today, sue the New York Times over an op-ed, yes, is it your opinion or is it your argument that if people have an opinion contrary to yours, they should be sued well when they have a completely wrong opinion Like the New York Times? Times did and, frankly, they've gotten it wrong a lot in recent years, so we'll see how that allows that to play out in court. I see that it goes beyond an opinion, that it is not an opinion, that it is much more than an opinion. He did something bad and more Tokyo will come later, why do you expect what we can be?

I hope so because Shinzo is obviously a very good friend of mine. I love the people of Japan and I hope he is in good shape like you. I know there are several people in Japan who have been infected. I heard they're doing a very professional job, which doesn't surprise me at all with Shinzo and all the people you have. I know Japan very well, I think we're going to handle it very well, it's a little tight, you know, it's a little tight, they spent billions of dollars building one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life and your Prime Minister He is very proud of it.

I hope everything is fine, we hope. Could it be that the CDC doctor just talked about dusting off the preparation plans with that which comes from you and has more weight. Do you think US schools should prepare for the spread of the corona virus? I think so. I mean, I haven't talked specifically. about that with the different doctors, but I think that yes, I think that all aspects of our society must be prepared. I don't think we'll get there, especially with the fact that we're going down, not up, we're going very. substantially down, not up, but yeah, I think the school should be getting ready and you know, get ready just in case the words are just in case we don't think we're going to be there, we don't think we're going to be close and Again , if you look at some countries, they are going down to go in the other direction, this will end, this will end, look at the flu season.

I said 26,000 people. I had never heard of a number like that. 26,000 people rise to sixty-nine. thousand people doctor, you told me before 69 thousand people die every year from 26 to 69 every year from the flu now think it's incredible so far the results of all this that everyone is reading and part of the thing is that you want to keep it the way it is you don't want to see panic because there's no reason to panic but when I mentioned the flu I said I actually asked several doctors and I said is this like the flu because people die from the flu.

And this is very unusual and it's a little bit different, but in some ways it's easier and in other ways it's a little bit harder, but we have it very well under control. I mean, we've really done a very good job. You mentioned the stock market. Before we get back to that, to be clear that the Dow Jones fell over 2,000 points this week, are you suggesting that was overstated? Our financial markets overreacted here. I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democratic candidates who are in that scenario. making a fool of themselves and they say that if we ever have a president like this and there's always a chance that it's an election, you know who knows what will happen, right, I think we're going to win, I think we're going to win by a lot, but when you look the statements made by the people behind those podiums.

I think that has a huge effect. You have to do it right. I think so. I think so. But I think you can add a little bit of a sell-out to what they say because they're seeing the potential you know again I think we're going to win I feel very confident about it we've done everything and a lot more than what I said we were going to do look what we've done What we've done is incredible with cutting taxes and regulations and rebuilding our military, taking care of our veterans and giving them choices and accountability, all the things we've done to protect our Second Amendment.

I mean, they see that the Second Amendment was going to destroy the Second Amendment when people look at that, they say this is not good, so you add that really that is a factor, but no, this is what we are talking about, it is of the virus, that's what we're talking about. Okay, I guess that's what I believe in terms of CNBC and in terms of Fox Business. I think that's a factor, yes, and I think after I win the election, I think the stock market is going to grow like never before. like it happened, by the way, after I won the last election, the stock market the next day went up like a rocket, we're not going to have travel restrictions, that's what saved us if I hadn't had Mike allude to it If I hadn't made a decision. very early so as not to take people from a certain area we would not be talking in this way we would be talking about many more people would have been infected.

I got a lot of pressure, I mean, some people call me racist because I made a decision. so early and we had never done that before as a country let alone early so it was a bold decision it turned out to be a good decision but the Democrats criticized me they call me racist because I made that decision yes I can believe we all have to work together , we can't say bad things and especially when we have the best team in the world and we really gave it an early start, we gave it a very early start because we can do it. money and we can increase if we know all the people we know all the good people is the question I asked the doctors before some of the people we cut have not been used for many years and if we have a need and we can get them very quickly and instead of spending the money and I am a business person, I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them, when we need them we can get them back very quickly, for example, Tomorrow we will bring some people who are already in this great government that we have and very specifically for this we can build very, very quickly and we have already done it, I mean we have really built it, we have a great staff. and using the microphone I do it because he is in the administration and he is very good at doing what he does and doing the things related to this with his administration he is only testing less than 500 people and health officials are wondering if that is enough compared With other countries testing more than tens of thousands of people, do you plan to test more people?

Well, we're just testing and we're finding very few problems, very few problems. Now they treat this like the flu. In fact, we could ask. have one of the doctors come over and explain it to you you want to wash your hands a lot you want to stay if you don't feel well if you feel like you have the flu stay inside, quarantine yourself, don't go out, but there are certain steps you can take that we won't even be necessary you know that in many cases when you realize this it is very mild you don't even know there is a problem sometimes they just get a cold sometimes they just get something where they are they don't feel at all well and sometimes they feel very bad, but that's a little bit like the flu, it's a little bit like the normal flu, for which we have flu vaccines and we will essentially get a flu vaccine in a fairly quick manner.

Two weeks ago Mr. The president, you are the acting director of the OMB, you were in this room and you were talking about what you expect GDP growth to be for next year, you said it was 3% and we have talked about the effects of the corona virus on the supply chain. declines in the financial markets, are you still confident that you will see that kind of economic growth? You know we're going to have tremendously low unemployment, we're setting records and that was, in fact, the administration, as you know, the lowest average. unemployment of any administration in history and our numbers are very low very good 3.5 3.6 but you can't really see what this does in terms of GDP, it could affect it but that's irrelevant compared to what we're talking about , we want to make sure it's the number one security, but this would let you know an impact on the GDP, but we're still very, we're doing very well, but this will have, I'll tell you what it has a big impact.

Boeing has a big impact. As it did? that happened a year ago, it suddenly happened, I think that took half a point off us to a certain extent, even you know it's a huge undertaking. I think Boeing we had the General Motors strike that had a big impact on the GDP and of course, we are paying interest rates. I disagree with the head of the Federal Reserve. I'm not happy with what that means because he's kept interest rates that President Obama didn't have close to the numbers and yet if you look at what happened, he was paying zero, now we're paying interest, it's more conservative and frankly people who save their money now get a return on that money instead of nothing, but I think you know where with the greatest of all we should pay. the lowest interest rates and when Germany and other countries pay negative rates, meaning they literally get paid when they put money down.

I mean, they borrow money and get paid back when it's paid back. Who has heard of this before? He said first but we don't do that so I totally disagree with our Fed. I think our Fed has made a terrible mistake and it would have made as good a difference as we have made even without the 2000 points and we startedwith 16,000 and we will be 28,000 without we are going to exceed 30,000 we have had increases like no one has seen before but we are doing well but we have to watch, we are doing well anyway in other words, even despite the 2,000 points that seems like a lot and it is a lot, but it is nothing compared to what we have raised, but we will be watching it very closely, but General Motors has hurt us, Boeing has hurt us and it has hurt us.

In my opinion, we have been seriously hurt by our own Federal Reserve, which has also created a very strong dollar, which is a good thing about a strong dollar, but it makes it much more difficult to do business outside of this country. Thank you sir, several of your online followers have done so. embraced these theories or preempted these theories that the CDC may be exaggerating the threat of the coronavirus to hurt him politically. Rush Limaugh the other day said that this has been advanced to turn the virus into a weapon against you, you know me, my supporters, they mean my people who are.

I don't support it, right? I agree with that I think and I would like this to end. I think people know that when Chuck Schumer gets up he said he did the same thing with a couple of trade deals that are phenomenal deals, now everyone recognizes a phenomenal dose. Before we saw the day he didn't even know we were going to make a deal, they said: what do you think of the deal with China? I don't like it I don't like it he talked about tariffs I left the tariff so and twenty-five percent when, for two hundred and fifty billion dollars, he said he had eliminated the tariffs, I didn't even know about the agreement and I was out there criticizing it because it's a natural thing to do. to say, but when you talk especially about something like this we have to be on the same team this is too important we have to be on the same team the CDC is trying to hurt you - no, I don't think the CDC is the same no, they have been working very good together, they are professionals.

I think beyond that, they want this to go away, they want to do it with the least disruption, and they don't want to lose their lives. I see how they work here are this general these people behind me and others who are in the other room are incredible people no, I don't see that at all - mr. Burson, thank you President, tonight you are minimizing the risk of danger from the virus. Are you telling Americans, except those who are sick, not to change our behavioral therapy? No, I think it always has to be done. I do it a lot.

Anyway, you've probably heard: wash your hands, stay clean, you don't necessarily have to hold on to every handrail unless you have to, you know you do certain things you do when you have the flu. I mean, you see this the same way you see the flu when someone sneezes. I mean, I try to escape as much as possible with this sneeze. A man approached me a week ago. He hadn't seen him in a long time and I said, how are you? He said, okay, honey, hug me, kiss me, I told him. Are you OK? He says no, he said I have the worst fever of the worst flu and hugs me and kisses me.

Excuse me. I went, so you have to do that. You know this will be a total travel ban. You said Obama was a quote-unquote, stubborn fool, not for the sake of it, you said just stop the dumb flights, you also said it was a total joke, quote-unquote, to appoint someone to lead the Ebola response with, quote-unquote, zero experience in the medical field, now you hear a lot of What I had to say, I didn't hear it very well because this is a very different problem than Ebola. Ebola disintegrated, especially at the beginning. They have made a lot of progress now with Ebola, but with Ebola we were already talking about that before. you disintegrated, you have Ebola, that was it, this is different, very different, this is a flu, this is like a flu and this is a very different situation than Ebola, but we are working on Ebola right now because of the way what we are working on.

In certain areas of the Congo the Congo has Ebola and this is largely due to the fact that they have war and people can't get there. Now we can treat Ebola because at that time it was infectious and couldn't be treated, no one knew anything about it. No one had ever heard of anything like this, so it's a very different situation. Just over the course of the last few minutes you have questioned some of what officials working behind you in your administration have said about the risk of the crota virus spreading, do you trust your health officials to give you good information? ?

Australia sucks. I don't think I said it. They said it could be worse and I said it could be worse. Are they all something? No, I don't think it's inevitable. I don't think it's inevitable. I think we are doing a very good job in terms of maintaining the borders and turning in terms of allowing people and in terms of controlling people and also that is one of the reasons why I am here today to receive the run voice so that people can know that they are going to know, no, I don't think it's inevitable, I think there is a possibility that it will get worse, there is a possibility that it will get substantially worse, but nothing is inevitable.

Brazil right, Brazil and there are many Americans now in Brazil for Carnival, what are your concerns and what are the procedures and practices you plan to implement while those Americans are trying to return? Yes, now we have a lot of people coming from Brazil. It only has one case it is a big country but it only has one case but it is still a case we deal very well with Brazil the president is a very good friend of mine in fact he ran for exactly what is called making Brazil great again, That's what he postulated. We get along very well.

I know you're very excited to know that we get along very, very well and are working with Brazil, but we have much worse cases than Brazil. You know you have Italy and other countries where they have much more than one person, they have one person right now as if it were a moment ago one person in Brazil, but Italy is a deeper problem and we are reviewing the people who come from them very strongly and at some point We may cut that off, you know, at some point, depending on what happens, we may cut off certain additional countries like we've had to do with China and we hope to be able to open it up to China as much as possible. as soon as possible and we and we hope that the numbers that we have been getting, we hope that the numbers that we have been getting are true in China, where it has really stabilized and started to go down because eventually sometimes that's going to happen.

Go ahead, you have repeatedly said that you believe the federal government The government is very prepared and you are ready for this, yes, but if you think the secretary and czar is doing a great job, why did you feel the need to make a change and put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of federal responses? And I think the secretary is doing a fantastic job, but he also has a lot of other things going on. I mean, we're working on a lot of things together if you look at his agenda of what he's doing, including drug prices, and I think that's maybe the most complicated thing. job that we have in the government and I want him to be able to focus on that and Mike is really good at that they are going to work together they are going to work very closely together and I see that they are both in the administration they all the time so it really works this is a nazar this is not going out and getting someone who has never been in administration.

I have two people who are very talented and it's something I feel good about. I do not want it. I do not want it. I don't want to do without horses. I have very talented people. I want to use them in this because I wanted to stay as low as possible. China at the beginning of this outbreak, the Chinese Communist Party covered it up. the general consensus of everyone, how can President Z and the visit of the sunniest region of China to the fourth coming and the fourth can now be legitimately trusted? Well, I can tell you this.

I talk to him. I would talk to him very recently and he is working very hard to In this problem, he is working very hard and they are very tough and very smart and it is significant, it is a significant group of very talented people who are working and they are calling dr. Falchi are calling our people, we are dealing with them, we are giving them certain advice that we actually have through global health, we have them there and we also have a lot of our people forming that group that went there, no, he is working very hard to make it very easy for me to say, you know, no matter what he says, I can really tell you that it's working.

I had a long conversation with him the other night. He is working very, very hard. He wants everything to work. away from China and leave quickly and want to get back to normal, this has a mortality rate between 3%, we don't know the exact numbers and the flu is higher than that, the flu is much higher than what is spreading or will it spread perhaps within the steps of the community can wait for admission, does that worry you? because that's now because we're ready for it, it is what it is, we're ready for it, we're really ready, we have like I said. we have had we have the best people in the world we are very prepared for this we hope that it does not spread there is a chance that it will not spread and there is a chance that it will so it is a question of at what level So far we have done a great job when you have 15 people with this whole world coming to the United States and all 15 people are better or close to being better, that's pretty good, well, we'll do one more.

Go ahead, there have been many cases of price gouging in sales of medical equipment etc., should the government investigate that? But I think if you told me that was happening, we would definitely investigate. We do not want that by working with China we have just closed the largest trade agreement. In history we made two of them between us, the MCA and the agreement with China, it is the largest in history, the relationship with China is very good and I can tell you that again President Xi is working very hard and wants this problem so much like you. it can work, thanks everyone, thanks if you could clarify it.

I think they are not understanding any of this. I am still the chair of the working group. Mick Mulvaney has been playing an invaluable role for me as acting chief of staff helping out. coordinating across the government with my colleagues and the entire approach of the government having the vice president gives me the most support that one could have in the government in this approach of the government, so in the least I will win the criminal when this was mentioned to me. I said I was delighted to be able to have the vice president helping them in this way.

Absolutely delighted tonight.