President Trump Participates in a Teleconference with Governors on Coronavirus Response

The President: The next governor, please? Governor Murphy: Hello, I'm Phil Murphy. The President: You look good, Phil. You look well. Governor Murphy: Thank you, Mr. President. You too. Good to see you and the vice

president

. Thanks for everything. The President: Thank you. Governor Murphy: Just a couple quick points. We've had a really good week with FEMA, so I want to congratulate them. FEMA Region II is helping us. The President: Good. Governor Murphy: -- establish testing. The Army Corps will visit us in this building today at 4 o'clock to discuss repurposing the facility for more beds. So thanks for that.

The President: Good. Yes. Governor Murphy: We have had conversations with the VA in terms of backup medical support. Two areas. One, just in terms of where we're going, we need some help: one is to underscore Governor Kemp's point about flexible block grants. Those will be important to us to allow us to continue serving our people. And secondly, we are: the Lord helps those who help themselves. So I promise you that we are doing everything we can to get PPE. We are acquiring it. We are receiving donations, but we will still need a great effort from the Strategic Reserve.

For all of the above: Thank you very, very much. The President: So, Phil, try... try what you can. Do your best to get what you can really get. And we're also producing a lot of stuff that, frankly, no one has seen anything like it before. But do the best you can. And in the case of block grants, we are going to consider it very seriously. Thanks, Philo. Governor Murphy: Thank you, Mr. President. The President: Hello, John Bel. Governor Edwards: Mr. Vice President, we appreciate the communication, the coordination and all the help. I just wanted to put on your radar the fact that I think if you look at the cases by state, per capita, we're right at the top of the country: three or four.

And, of course, the health infrastructure is designed to serve the populations. And my fear, based on the modeling that I have received today, is that as early as seven days we could begin to exceed our capacity to provide health care. And even after the increase, we may only have three additional days. That is why I ask for help to increase our medical capacity. Here in Louisiana, we have some requests. For example, we have a VA hospital in New Orleans where we are requesting to be able to increase patients there. We have not received the answer yet.

We received an application for a federal medical station through HHS. We're just asking for help. That's the... that's the 10 meter goal for me right now, because we're going to do everything we can to mitigate and slow the spread, but in the time we have, we have to... We have to increase our capacity. of

response

. That is my biggest concern. And I just wanted to express that to you and ask for your continued help as (inaudible). The President: Yes. What is your second request? Governor Edwards: (Inaudible.) The President: John Bel, what is your second request, please? The second request.

Governor Edwards: Well, the second request, beyond surge capacity, is to look at the National Guard and include it in Title 32 for funding purposes. The President: Correct. Well. We're going to look into that and I'm going to try to get your immediate approval for the hospital. I know about the hospital's request. And then we're going to talk to the VA. We'll see if we can do it right away, at least as a change, but we'll approve it one way or another. Alright? Governor Edwards: Thank you very much, Mr. President. The President: Okay. Thank you very much John Bel.

Thank you. Could I ask you very briefly, while we wait for the next governor to arrive, Mike, if you could say a few words. And also, Deborah, if you could say a few words, that would be great. And then we have another governor ready. Please. The Vice President: Great. Again, thank you... thank you to all the

governors

for your leadership and your collaboration in addressing the

coronavirus

. Some updates and some requests for each of you. I want everyone to inform their citizens that last night the President signed the Family First Coronavirus Response Act. Free

coronavirus

testing, paid sick leave, family leave for caregivers, food assistance to those in need.

Spread the word among your citizens. It would be very useful. About testing: As we have said many times, and we have worked with many of you through state laboratories and certified laboratories and, of course, at the CDC, testing is now available in all 50 states. We want you to know that if you have questions about testing availability in your state, you can obviously talk to your state health department and your health care providers. But I want all

governors

to know that thanks to the public-private partnership that the President forged with our commercial laboratories, Roche, Thermo Fisher and, as of last night, Abbott Laboratories are now up and running, literally every hour.

And when they finish, we will have about 2,000 laboratories installed throughout the country with high-throughput tests. Your healthcare providers will know where those resources are. Your state department will know where your resources are. And we simply encourage you to get your team together. It's important to note that while tens of thousands more tests are now being performed literally every day, the bill the

president

signed last night also included a provision that states and private labs must report all test results. coronavirus testing to the CDC. Emphasize this to your state health department and your healthcare providers. I encourage you to maybe meet them today before business ends.

We are rapidly expanding testing across the country, but as Dr. Birx will reflect in a moment, we want to make sure that we receive the results of those tests so that we can be informed about that and, of course, that the American people can also have full visibility into that evidence. As he will also explain, we will see, as testing increases today and tomorrow, we will see higher numbers of cases. We want to give you and your citizens context on this. On supplies: President Trump has been engaging industry leaders in the supply chain across the country to ensure that personal protective equipment and medical supplies are widely available.

On the issue of masks, and I've talked to many of the governors about N95 masks, again, in the bill that the President signed last night we have literally unlocked tens of millions of N95 masks. What the president asked of Congress, and they did, was that we extend liability protection to all industrial N95 masks. So now they can be easily sold to your hospitals and healthcare providers. We urge you to tell your healthcare providers, your hospitals today, to let them know that that supply has increased dramatically and that they can place orders. We also reiterate that if you can contact your construction companies, they are in possession of many industrial N95 masks.

And the President is urging all of those builders (and literally hundreds across the country have already done so) to donate those masks to their local hospitals and clinics. On the topic of ventilators, we are currently surveying healthcare providers and providers across the country. And I'm pleased to report that we have already identified tens of thousands of ventilators, including ventilators that can be converted to treat coronavirus patients. Your action item on this in your states should be: They should inspect their outpatient surgical centers and operating rooms to identify the type of ventilators that can be converted. And Dr.

Birx has been working with providers. There is a changed vent that needs to be connected. We have identified that they are available. But literally tens of thousands of ventilators will now be available thanks to the survey currently underway. The other point we wanted to emphasize is that, under the direction of the CDC and the President's Coronavirus Task Force, we are encouraging hospitals and all Americans to postpone elective surgery. Explain to your citizens that this will have a direct impact on hospital capacity. Suspending elective surgeries will free up more space in hospitals, including ventilators. As Dr. Birx explained to me, many people who require a ventilator are due to surgery gone wrong.

And so this frees up more capacity across the board. I know that it is not lost on any of the governors here, Mr. President, that by defending FEMA, he has essentially created a structure that all governors are very familiar with for dealing with disasters and emergencies. We have activated all emergency support functions and interagency functions here. Pete Gaynor is here for comments and questions. We intend to execute all federal

response

and support to states through here at the National Response Coordination Center and through FEMA. This center is fully operational. Governors, I want you to tell your teams that this NRCC will be connected to your states through your regional administrators and your state emergency operations centers.

This will sound very familiar to all of you. Any questions you have, the only thing I would do on behalf of the President, if issues arise in your state, start with your FEMA regional administrator. Literally, 20,000 people work for FEMA. They are... you all know how amazing you are and are ready to get to work, to solve your problems. With that said, Mr. President, could I turn the floor over to Dr. Birx. The President: Yes, please. Forward. The Vice President:-with his permission. And it will reflect on what we know about the data and about the spread of the disease.

But thank you for... The President: And then we will listen to the governors. The vice president: - his bold leadership. Thank you for what everyone is doing to implement the President's coronavirus guidelines. It is an honor to be serving with all of you. Thank you, Mr. President. The President: Thank you, Mike. Deborah. Dr. Birx: Thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President. You should have received an analysis of COVID cases across the country analyzed by state and counties, using counties with more than 50 cases. A little more than 50 percent of the cases are in three states. More than 50 percent of the cases are in just 10 counties.

So, it's the three main states of California, Washington: California, Washington and New York, with the additional counties of New Orleans and Cook County. We are very concerned, and continue to be concerned, in urban areas where mitigation and social distancing are absolutely crucial. The issue of reducing the spread due to contaminated counters and other items in restaurants and bars, as well as movie theaters, is absolutely critical. I know you are concerned about your hospitals, but most importantly you need to ensure that all elective medical and surgical procedures and dental procedures have been cancelled; that that PPE is being used and transferred to the parts of your state that need it most; that considers all elective surgery centers (that's your outpatient surgical centers and those staff) to determine your surge capacity.

Those ventilators can be converted to be used: anesthesia ventilators to be used as ventilators. I think as we all work together to figure out these solutions, I think unlocking masks and PPE from construction was absolutely key, as well as this ventilator situation. I think the federal government has been very proactive in ensuring that we reduce the bureaucracy and barriers to unlocking these innovations. We believe innovations will continue to come from the field and we appreciate your frontline workers who have been informing us of their changes. It's important that we track the data county by county as granularly as possible, because we can see if mitigation is working for them.

We will receive feedback from your community. This will only be resolved if every person in every community takes responsibility to ensure that they follow the presidential guidelines that were released several days ago during the two weeks to stop this virus. That is why we will remain in close communication with all of you through FEMA. We are very excited about FEMA fully activating to be able to provide dialogue both up and down so that we can stay in close communication so we can ensure that we have prioritized all elements of the reserves based on the needs and the structure of the case that has been reported.

Reporting becomes critical. If we can't see it, we don't know how to unlock the reservation. So this: both negative and positive tests will be absolutely essential, as will hospital admissions and CCU beds, so that we understand exactly what isrequires the federal government. Thank you, Mr. President. The President: Very good, thank you very much. Mike, go ahead. The Vice President: Thank you, Mr. President. Just two brief observations on the subject of testing. Admiral Giroir is with us. The United States Public Health Service has created a model. Many of the states have already started drive-thru testing and are doing a great job in that space.

And Admiral Giroir is here to explain how we can support it in the future and where we will deploy it. Last point. The President asked me to emphasize: We want to encourage all governors on this call to convene their key healthcare providers today to take inventory of their medical supply needs. And we urge you to remind them to first examine their supply chains. We will prioritize accordingly. And any state that finds itself in the midst of a critical response, know that we will work with you to get you what you need. Other states: You should talk to your healthcare leaders and providers and make sure they are going into the supply chain.

And we encourage you to put it (the data) together to emphasize that point. Thank you, Mr. President. The President: And thank you very much, Mike. And I want to return to the governors. I want to say (for me, such a big deal) that the FDA has approved compassionate use for a significant number of patients. We have a medicine called chloroquine. A derivative would be hydroxychloroquine, which I have heard about even better. It is a common anti-malaria medication. It has been available, so we understand the level of security very well. It has been relatively safe. And it showed very encouraging initial results.

Really encouraging. If this works so well, I hope it works. The FDA, which normally would have taken much longer under our great Secretary, has been fantastic, the head of the FDA has been, Dr. Hahn, Dr. Stephen Hahn, has been fantastic. He approved it very quickly. I won't even tell you how fast, but let's put it this way: It's approved. And we encourage you to take a look. We have asked for a lot and you can do it too. It is by medical prescription. It is a very powerful drug for malaria and also for various very serious forms of arthritis.

But we think it has a very serious and very good impact on what we are talking about regarding the virus. Then you'll take a look at that. Then you can coordinate with us. But I think, for me, that's a turning point. You know, vaccines are fine, but it will be a while before you can try them because you have to give yourself quite a bit of time. We are making enormous progress with a vaccine, but it still takes a long time to test. We are also studying this and other promising therapies, which is a therapy produced by Gilead, and that would be rems... it's called remdesivir.

Remdesivir. And it is very promising. And Regeneron was... it's a company that's also working very hard on a drug, and they're also... doing very well. They are the ones who came up with a very successful solution to Ebola. And they have been fantastic company. So we have some great things, but the ones I mentioned are very good, but especially, I think if you look at the first mention, they could be an absolute game changer. And with that, I think we'll go back to... this is by prescription, but states can issue it. And we have it approved by the FDA.

And I think it will be something very interesting to see. We will know very quickly. But we have had some very good tests and it has been a success. So let's take a look. To me, that's probably the most important thing anyone can say, if it works. But we have it approved for security. And I want to thank the FDA for acting so quickly. It was amazing how fast it was. This was something that would have taken years and they did it almost immediately, based on the past history of the drug. Thank you so much. Who is the next governor please?

Governor Ricketts: Hello, I'm Pete Ricketts from Nebraska. The President: Hello, Pete. Governor Ricketts: How are you, Mr. President? The President: Thank you. Governor Ricketts: Good. Thank you very much for all the leadership from him and the vice president. I appreciate it. Absolutely, the key things we're hearing from people are around PPE and testing. So you're doing it, on the right track with that. We need to expand access to them. I have three quick things to get your attention. These are reagents to process the tests. So once, for example, someone has been swabbed and we have a test kit and we send it to our laboratory.

We are working to conserve the reagents. But I think some of my colleagues are actually out. So if you could pay attention to the CDC on how we can make sure that we are distributing reagents to everyone so that we can process the test that we are receiving. The President: Okay. Governor Ricketts: That would be a key thing. The second thing, taking care of the children. Following your directive on Monday, we have reduced those public groups to 10 people, but we need to create alternative daycare, especially for our first responders, public health officials, and anyone involved in public safety.

Therefore, we need a waiver of the fingerprint requirement to be able to do this quickly. So I want to put that on your radar screen so I can see if anyone can take a look at it. The President: No, I agree. Governor Ricketts: We can move forward with that. The President: Good. Governor Ricketts: And then finally, guidance from... on special education, from the Department of Education, for the Free and Appropriate Education requirements, please have someone work with state school principals on a temporary approach. The recent guidelines that were released actually created more consternation or more concern.

I have lawyers in some of our schools telling our teachers that they can't do anything because they will be sued because of FAPE requirements. So if we could have some temporal guidance that would allow us more flexibility. You know, our schools are once again operating without students in them. We would like to be able to use them for other things. And this is apparently a barrier to achieving it. The President: That's great. Governor Ricketts: Thank you for your help on those things. The President: We'll get back to you right away, Pete. Thank you so much. Great job you are doing.

Thank you. Well, who's next? Governor? Who is our next governor? Next. Governor Baker: Hello, Mr. President and Vice President. This is Governor Baker of Massachusetts. The President: Hello. Governor Baker: First, I want to thank you for signing the Families First Act. Without a doubt, that will provide the necessary resources for all of us. And obviously I will echo the argument that other governors have made that more flexibility is better than less with respect to additional federal support, given the way we all work. I only have two things on the PPE issue, which is obviously a huge issue for all of us.

The first is, could you talk a little bit about the guidance that you're going to offer, or articulate some guidance on how the implementation of the Defense Production Act will work with respect to trying to gather and generate additional capacity around the personal protection? And then the second thing, and I'm not quite sure what to make of this, so I'll just make it clear to you: we take very seriously the push that you made earlier in one of these calls for us not to rely solely on reserves and that We should go out and buy things and place orders.

The President: Correct. Governor Baker: -- and try to create pressure on manufacturers and distributors. And I have to tell you, on three major orders, we lost to the Federal Reserve. So my question is, could you give some of these guys some guidance that says, you know, if... The President: Yes. Governor Baker: -- if the states are doing what the feds want in trying to create your own supply chain on this, people should respond to that, because I have a feeling that if someone has an opportunity to sell to you or has an opportunity for me, I'm going to lose every single one of those.

The President: (Laughter.) Very good, Charlie. Thank you so much. Well, we like you to go out and see what you can get, if you can get it faster. And price is always a component of that as well. And maybe that's why you lost to the feds. I'll tell you, that's probably why. But I'm going to ask Mike to talk about that because I think we have completely new information. Please, Mike. The Vice President: Well, Charlie, we'll take it back. And I appreciate the comments. The Secretary of HHS is here and we want to make it easier for all states and health care providers in their states to access that supply chain as it becomes more robust.

Specifically regarding the Defense Production Act, the President has activated the Defense Production Act, but has not initiated any further action under it. And right now, what I can tell you is that as the President has brought together business, industry and supply chain leaders, I think, Mr. President, you put it well, when you talk about the American entrepreneurial spirit, about wanting to voluntarily increase to meet the needs that our healthcare providers have in this country is truly inspiring. And that's why the president has not yet exercised his authority under the Defense Production Act. He said he will do it if necessary.

But I think the current perception of the president and his team is that the American industry is moving forward very aggressively. And with the changes that Congress just enacted and the President signed, we are going to continue to make them, so that there is more and more PPE available. The President: And I will say this, Charlie, and for everyone: the country has really moved forward in a way that I don't think we've seen in many, many, probably decades. It's incredible the way they have stepped up. So we hope we can get rid of this quickly. Well.

Next...thanks, Charlie. The next governor, please. Next governor. Governor Hogan: Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, this is Larry Hogan, President of the NGA. First of all, I want to thank you very much for this call today and I want to thank you for the excellent communication that you have had with all the governors over the last few weeks. It has been tremendous. Mr. President, thank you for signing the second stimulus bill last night and for your continued efforts to mitigate the economic impact we all face. And thank you very much for appointing Vice President Pence, former governor, to lead this crisis.

He has been fantastic working with all of us and reaching out to us. The President: Thank you, Larry. Governor Hogan: Yesterday, we had a meeting of all the governors at the NGA, before this call. And, you know, we get a lot of comments, you're being bombarded by 50 different people with different questions. We tried to consolidate it into a kind of group of concerns that all the governors agreed were our priorities. And last night we talked to Doug Hoelscher and delivered them to the White House. And we just want to raise those issues, some of which have already been addressed in the discussion.

But I just want to go through them. This sums it up: there were 25, 30 different things that all the governors talked about, but these were the ones that had the most consensus. One... one, was to try to dedicate at least 50 percent of the supplemental funds to the states, including some direct funds, and to act quickly on waiver requests. They've done a great job with all this, all this financing. We're in a good position, at the state level, to know the real needs and get the money out faster to those, some of those small businesses that are affected.

You're giving stimulus to those industries that are being hurt and getting those checks to the people who need them. But if we have the money in the states, I think we can really use it faster and get it out, kind of like we do with other things with block grants. Secondly, we've talked about this a lot, but obviously all the governors are trying to work with you and bombarding things about how to work together to increase access to PPE, mass testing kits, extraction kits and speed up production, and all. of this life-saving equipment: respirators. And we're working together, but that's obviously something that the 50 governors top their list.

Third, and this came primarily from your appointees, Mr. Speaker, the co-chairs of the Council of Governors, Governor Hutchinson and Governor Ige, on support for authorizing Title 32 to give governors more flexibility with their National Guard . And it helps us pay those people and get them benefits that we've raised - we've activated 2,200 Guard members in our state. And I think this is something that the governors were concerned about - I think the 10 appointees who are on this call. Provide some guidance... number four, provide some guidance on the implementation of the Defense Production Act so that we can, in some ways, help work with Secretary Azar and give some ideas about how states could be more involved in helping to that, with some ofindustries in our states.

And lastly, allow us more flexibility to complete both the census and the REAL ID, because we are trying not to force people into our MVAs. We have waived licensing requirements so there are no people trying to get license renewals. And yet, REAL ID requires that we have all of these people there by October 1st. So those are five general things that all governors want to address, some of which you've already mentioned. And I just want to, again, thank you. There has been tremendous cooperation. They have a fantastic team. The President: Thank you. Governor Hogan: -- that's been working.

And I want to try to limit the people who directly harass him and call the vice president's phone and blow up the cabinet secretaries. So I will reiterate what I talked about with the White House last night, which is that you mentioned it, Mr. Vice President: going through the normal FEMA process. You know, it's great that you're so willing to help the governors personally, but I think things will happen better if you turn to FE... your FEMA regional coordinators and get more people to address these issues. But that's a summary and I'll leave it there. So thanks for...maybe other team members can comment on it.

The President: Well, thank you, Larry. And I think... Governor Hogan: (Inaudible) thank you both very much. I appreciate it. The President: -- FEMA is going to work very well. We've had a lot, we've worked a lot with FEMA. Unfortunately, recently, in a big tornado in Tennessee, you know, and then last year, in a big tornado in Alabama, and a lot of hurricanes. And we also worked in California, mainly in California, and in the large forest fires. And FEMA does a job like no other... like no other. That's why I think they will be of great help.

I know they will be of great help. On the two points that are relevant, I would like you to call Steve Mnuchin and I will talk to him later. Please give a little bit of detail on those two points, so that as we do this with the Senate, we get a lot of cooperation from Democrats and Republicans. Maybe I can address those two points a little bit with Steve because... Governor Hogan: That's a great idea. The President: -- some people agree with that. Well? Thank you. Thank you very much Larry. Governor Hogan: Thank you, Mr. President.

The President: Is the following correct? The next governor, please. The Vice President: Mr. President, if I could...before the next governor speaks, could I, with his permission, have Pete Gaynor give a couple of minutes. I think, Governor Hogan, we appreciate your affirmation of the President's decision to establish the FEMA National Coordination Response Center and channel all state requests and resources through a very common system here at FEMA. But, Mr. President, with his permission... The President: Yes, please. The Vice President: - make Pete think. The President: Pete? Administrator Gaynor: Mr... sir, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, welcome to the National Response Coordination Center.

And, as the Secretary, the Vice President, and yourself have previously announced, FEMA is leading federal operations, or is leading federal operations on behalf of the White House Corona Task Force, which is overseeing the government-wide response to the pandemic. . . Like all of you, we are prepared to do this for the long haul. The health and safety of our employees and the American people is my top priority. As of this morning, the HHS Crisis Action Task Force and other federal partners have been fully integrated into operations based here at FEMA's National Response Coordination Center. Additionally, all 10 FEMA regional response coordination centers across the country have been activated to support ongoing response efforts in each of their respective states and regions.

Currently, there are 50 states, the District of Columbia, five territories, and one tribe that have opted in and have received a 501(b) emergency declaration for COVID-19. To support this, FEMA's primary goal will be to ensure that you have the resources you need. This is what FEMA needs from everyone. FEMA regional administrators will continue to coordinate closely with you and your teams to determine the type and level of support you need as you continue to respond to this dynamic threat. Like all emergencies, the response is most successful when it is locally executed, state-managed, and federally supported. And we can't emphasize this enough.

At the state level, it is important that emergency management and public health teams are linked. Governors, if you have unmet needs, be sure to communicate them to your respective FEMA regional administrator. They have a direct line here to the NRCC in Washington, D.C. I also need your help to emphasize that at the local and county level, they should first funnel requests through the state and then from the state to regional FEMA administrators. Again, locally executed, state managed, and federally supported. Recently, today, we issued guidance to all states on what eligible emergency protective measures fall under the Stafford Act.

That's how it was this afternoon. And, governors, you should see it shortly. We also published guidance to further define the Defense Production Act. I thank everyone for their continued collaboration in this effort. And as the president and vice president said, we will get through this together as a team. The President: Thank you very much, Pete. And in addition to FEMA, we have a very, very talented man, who I've dealt with a lot in building different things around the country, General who, I think, for the most part, you know: General Semonite. And that's the Army Corps of Engineers.

And very involved in a couple of places that I know very specifically. And he's definitely very busy, but he's a good builder, and that's what you need, a good builder. Thank you very much, General, for being here. Well. The next governor, please. Governor Raimondo: Good afternoon, Mr. President. It's Gina Raimondo from Rhode Island. The President: Hello, Gina. Hello. Go ahead, Gina. Governor Raimondo: Hello, can you hear me? The President: Yes. Yes. Governor Raimondo: Hello, I'm sorry. The President: Okay. Governor Raimondo: Good afternoon, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President. I also want to echo what others have said and add my gratitude for his transparency and especially for the vice president, who has been very kind and generous with his time and contacted me by phone several times.

I very much appreciate the opportunity to work with FEMA. And I know we're in good hands because, before coming to D.C., Pete Gaynor was my EMA director here. So you chose a good man. The President: That's good. Governor Raimondo: And it gives me confidence to hear his voice on the line. The President: That's great. Governor Raimondo: Let me just... I agree with everything that has been said. I just want to add a few more points. One is that we are following your instructions and asking our hospitals to suspend their elective surgeries for all the reasons you asked us to do so.

However, this is an incredibly important source of revenue and profits for these hospitals. So as you prepare the next round of stimulus, I would ask you to consider a direct and sizable stimulus for our hospitals because they really are the hardest hit by this. The President: Okay. Governor Raimondo: The second thing is, and I spoke with Secretary Mnuchin yesterday, and he agreed with this: he would ask you to think about the short-term liquidity needs of the states. So, as our revenues are falling off a cliff, we may need to tap into the capital markets for some sort of bridge financing to deal with short-term liquidity.

And some kind of federal guarantee or federal assistance to help us do that would be helpful. The President: Yes. Governor Raimondo: And I think some of us might need that help in a matter of weeks, not months. So I just wanted to put that on your radar. And then I fully support what's been called for, in terms of block grants, because we... all of us are on the ground and we need some flexibility to react quickly to the needs of our small businesses that... already You know, these guys are really struggling and we will all have to do our best to help them.

So thanks again. The President: Good. Thank you. Governor Raimondo: And, by the way, thank you for receiving these calls. They are incredibly helpful and I appreciate it. The President: Thank you very much, Gina. I appreciate it a lot. And we will analyze all these points very carefully. Thank you. Gary, please. Forward. Governor Herbert: Am I ready? Hello, I'm Gary Herbert, Governor of Utah. Thank you very much, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President. Let me add my "amen" to all that has been said. I hear the word and appreciate the work being done and the suggestions. And what we're learning from each of the states is helpful as we look at best practices.

One of the things I would like to suggest is that we hear a lot about what we can't do. There is a lot of sadness out there. People are insecure or afraid, but we must provide some certainty, if we can, about when this will end; What's the... what's the... how long are we going to stay afloat here? The stock market is in a sort of free fall. And yet, judging by what we see, at least in my state of Utah and I think across the country, the economy is still doing pretty well. It's... we have to start talking about what we can do.

There are things we can do. There are best practices. What we can do are alternative solutions. And we probably need to hear from our people in the hospitality industry about what they could do with their restaurants, maybe meet in small groups and still be able to keep people safe from the spread of this flu, rather than a shutdown total. That's why I would like to know more about what we can do. For example, I know that this... you agree with this, Mr. President: Golf is a great recreation, a great activity where we have very few people in a large open space.

Our golf courses should be a place of recreation. We probably have park areas where we can go out and recreate with our families and still have a normal lifestyle. So it's not just about what we can't do, but what we can do and what we can find best practices to see what we can do to adapt, innovate and succeed during these difficult times. So I would like to hear more optimism, to give us hope and confidence in the future, which I think will be transferred to the public. The President: Good. I think you are one hundred percent right.

And I think we're going to have a... we're going to be a rocket ship as soon as this is resolved, as soon as we defeat the invisible enemy. It is an invisible enemy and it has been cruel. It's in over 140 countries, if you can believe it. One hundred and forty countries. So it moves fast; It is very contagious. But we have really taken a step forward and a lot of good things will happen. And one of the reasons we're creating the packages that you hear about, read about, and know about is the fact that we think you'll come back very quickly.

I think we're ready to come back very, very quickly. But we have to get rid of this and we will get rid of the virus. And let's hope it's sooner... much sooner rather than later. Thank you very much Gary. I appreciate it. Thank you. The next governor, please. Governor Whitmer: Mr. President, I am Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan. The President: Hello, Gretchen. Governor Whitmer: It's a pleasure to speak with you. I want to thank you for the policy on the Canadian border. Michigan relies on many health care professionals crossing that border. I am very grateful that it was a well thought out policy.

The President: Good. Governor Whitmer: And, you know, I'm not going to waste time echoing all the comments that my colleagues have made, although I see the wisdom and I'm grateful that they... made them. I wanted to quickly refer to the automotive industry. Obviously, coming from Michigan, my colleagues across the country also have significant investments in the auto industry, and we are concerned about liquidity throughout the supply chain, and about all the great people who have formed the backbone backbone of our economy. see you around. And I'm hopeful that as conversations about the industry take place, we keep this important sector front and center, because we care about ensuring that they also have some paths back to prosperity.

The President: Well, thank you very much. You are one hundred percent right. We are watching the automotive industry a lot. Let's help them, at least a little. And in a way they have asked for help. And it wasn't his fault what happened. So we will deal with the automotive industry. And I really appreciate your comments. Thank you. Alright. The next governor, please. Governor Whitmer: Thank you. Governor Pritzker: Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, this is Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois. First I wanted to express my gratitude to his staff and other administration workers withwho we have interacted with.

They have really done a great job of being responsive to us. And thank you, Mr. Vice President, for returning our calls as we needed more help with answers to questions about the tests. And in fact, that's why I wanted to ask a question today. We understand that drive-thru testing is being implemented across the country. We hope to see you in Illinois: drive-thru testing that the federal government has organized. But we understand that there are only about 5,000 tests that will be provided to us in Illinois for these drive-thru tests - testing centers. And after that there are no more promises.

And so I wanted to try to understand what... if we stand them up, what will happen? That... that's maybe, you know, a day or two of testing. Obviously, that's in addition to the evidence we already have now. But what will happen when the 5,000 run out? How will we get more? The President: Okay. The states have done a lot of that themselves, working closely with us. Much of the self-service has been done by the states. But, Admiral, perhaps you can answer that question, please. Admiral Giroir: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President. A couple of numbers for you.

Right now, we are transitioning very effectively to large-scale testing by leveraging all components of our American healthcare system, including CDC and state public health laboratories, healthcare, hospitals, and large commercial laboratories. Let me give you some numbers. Between March 2 and March 14, we made 10.4 million tests available to the United States population. We anticipate that by March 28, that number will be 27.6 million tests, according to the FDA, which is an incredible increase. In terms of supplies, which many of you have worked with (probably about 20 individually), the FDA has made a number of supply options available: different swabs, different reagents. If you don't have culture medium, you can use sterile saline solution.

Salt water works well. Everyone has that. That's on the FDA's FAQ website. And overall, the trading market is doing extraordinarily well. The CDC and public health laboratories, to date, have performed more than 45,000 tests, and the clinical laboratories, the large clinical laboratories, have performed more than 63,000 tests, of which 20,000 were performed yesterday. So this shows the incredible ramp. We do not have all the tens of thousands of hospitals that Ambassador Birx talks about. I wanted to highlight one thing, before I answer your question, that the Abbott approval, the FDA approval of the Abbott testing system is very important for hospital systems because there is a small gap between what is done in your state laboratory and what is done in large commercial laboratories.

There are about 175 of these systems across the country. One hundred and fifty thousand tests were released yesterday and about a million more will arrive over the next week. These are located in 175 of its community hospitals and academic medical centers, VA medical centers. And they can do about 500 tests per day. The President: Correct. Admiral Giroir: -- within your hospital system. Now, in terms of drive-thru (this is the last part), we are at 47 sites in 12 states, based on state needs. We ask, through FEMA regional administrators, what you need and how we can help. Some states need very little support; some states need much more support.

Just a week after we started, we'll have several starting today and probably over a dozen starting tomorrow. And to be very clear, we allocated the initial allocation based on what your state told us, but we want you to work through your FEMA system. We have a lot of evidence in the back. We have plenty of supplies at the front. Please work through your FEMA administrator to let them know your requirements and we will bring them back through the FEMA system to meet them. There has been great demand and enthusiasm among states for these self-service centers, primarily for healthcare workers, and we want to support them.

We can certainly provide more than 5,000, but we didn't want to give away that much at first until everyone was ready. Thank my Lord. The President: Okay. Thank you general. Governor Pritzker: Well, we're going to want to take advantage of the supplies that you're talking about because the challenge here is that while all of you are providing testing kits, we don't have them, as you pointed out. Out, the reagent, the swabs. We have to go out to the market to find it, but it's being monopolized by this self-service program that the federal government is implementing. And, I might add, we have drive-through services that hospitals have stood up for themselves.

But the problem, again, is that if we don't have reagents or swabs, then we won't be able to do any more testing than we are doing today. The 5,000 that have been provided to Illinois for those drive-thru services are not enough going forward. And we really need, again, reagents and swabs so we can expand more quickly. Our -- one last thing: Our hospitals are doing an incredible job maintaining, thank goodness, their own testing capacity. And of course our state labs as well, but we really need the supply that the federal government has access to, which we're competing with the federal government for.

So, if you can help us... The President: Very good. General, that shouldn't be a problem. Could you answer that? Because everything should be in very good condition. Could you answer that please? Admiral Giroir: It is absolutely false that self-service centers are monopolizing the market. We use swabs and swab kits, not test kits. We get them through the commercial market. We use a very small percentage of them. When I was asked about the shortage yesterday, I went straight to the commercial market, bought 200,000, and shipped them to states that said they couldn't find them. So look in the commercial market because they are there.

We will help you find them or help you access them. And again, if you meet your requirements with the FEMA system, we will work with your states to acquire them or help you in some way. We are now fully integrated into FEMA. It has been great. In just 12 hours, we have all of us next to each other. That's why we want to help you. We appreciate the enthusiasm and there will be over 5,000 available to you, either through the commercial market or we will help you. The President: In fact, last night we purchased 250,000 swabs and they were distributed throughout the country, in the different states and in the states that needed them the most.

So, J.B., if you have any problems, call me. But there shouldn't be any problem with that. Thank you very much, J.B. Governor Pritzker: Thank you, Mr. President. The President: Thank you, J.B. Next governor, please. Governor Noem: I'm Kristi Noem from South Dakota. Thank you, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, for all your hard work. We sure appreciate it. I want to tell you a little bit of my story and I need to understand how you are sorting supplies. We, for two weeks, were ordering reagents for our public health laboratory from the CDC, who pushed us to turn to private suppliers who kept canceling orders on us.

And we keep making orders, making orders. The morning we were expecting delivery, we suddenly received a cancellation notice. And we're working through every federal government setup channel to figure it out, until we ran out and we couldn't process any tests in the state of South Dakota because I have the only lab that's up and running today. I do not have any commercial external laboratories. Then I found out this morning, after we had to put some pressure on some people to get, thanks to the CDC, a shipment of reagents this morning and start testing again. The President: Good.

Good. Governor Noem: - which was good, since the backlog was coming and we were just processing - and we were able to start processing this morning as well the high-risk samples. I found out that one of my hospital systems received reagents, when they weren't even an FDA approved lab and weren't even ready to start processing yet. So they got what I was trying to get for two weeks when they weren't even an approved lab, they weren't even set up and running. And I'm trying to figure out how we are... The President: Do you want to respond to that?

Governor Noem: --sorting out the supplies we need, especially when I'm the only lab operating in the state and we were following the channels the right way and using them and searching and asking. I'm probably the one my other colleagues were referring to who was asking everyone for reagents for days. The President: Okay. We hear it. Governor Noem: (Inaudible.) The President: We've got you, Kristi. Governor Noem: (Inaudible) our problem. The President: Very good. Alex, please... Secretary Azar: You bet. The President: -- could you respond? Governor Noem: I just... I just don't want to be a priority... not be a priority area because we are a smaller or less populated state. (Inaudible.) The President: That will never happen to you and it will never happen to your State.

Okay, go ahead, please. Secretary Azar: No, absolutely, Governor. And Governor... Governor Noem: Okay. The second thing I need is for me to... Secretary Azar: Governor, we... this is the Secretary... this is Secretary Azar. We want to make sure you get what you need there. There are many different reagents that can be used. So after this call, we will contact you to make sure you get what you need. That hospital... I don't know how they got their supplies. They probably bought them on the open market. There is a trillion dollars of supply on the open market. That is where most entities buy.

That's where hospitals buy their supplies and states can buy them. But I encourage you to: First, report your need to your FEMA Regional Director so that it enters into their normal process there. But given this special issue here, which is a CDC test, we will contact your team immediately after this call and resolve that issue, okay? The President: There is a huge offer. Deb, please. Forward. Dr. Birx: So what may have happened is that Thermo Fisher was approved; There are Thermo Fisher labs in major hospitals in South Dakota, and I told them to prioritize states that hadn't received Roche's commercial assays and didn't have LabCorp or Quest or one of the others.

So your hospital... I'm not sure what you mean by not being certified. If they have a Thermo - Thermo Fisher platform, they are certified to perform this test according to the FDA. Therefore, there will be many commercial hospitals in your state that will have access to these commercial laboratories outside of CDC testing. I understand that local labs in your state use, in their public health labs, the CDC assay, but we are trying to strengthen the capacity of your individual hospitals where they do normal testing for their public. The President: Thank you, Kristi. Thank you so much.

The next governor, please. Governor Noem: I have... I have all of these... yes, thank you, Mr. President. The President: Thank you, Kristi. The next governor, please. Governor Noem: Can I mention two other things, Mr. President? The President: Go ahead. Forward. I think they cut us off. The next governor, please. Governor Dunleavy: Mr. President and Vice President. Mr. Vice President, I want to thank you on behalf of Alaska for all the hard work you are doing. We are like other states: we are doing the best we can. I just want to reiterate the block grant concept and then one last thing is the swabs.

If under your new order, under the... basically, the Defense Act, if we can get those swabs going, it will help us tremendously. up here. But that's basically the request. And, again, we want to thank you very much for what... The President: Yes. Governor Dunleavy: - you are doing it. And we... our thoughts and prayers are with our fellow Americans and the rest of the states. The President: Thank you, Mike. We will take care of it immediately. Very quickly. Alright? Thank you. Next Please. Governor Lujan Grisham: Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, I am Governor Lujan Grisham in New Mexico.

Can you hear me? The President: Yes. Hello. Governor Luján Grisham: Hello. First, on the last call I was very specific about the need for contacts with the vice president and several members of his cabinet, Mr. President. That happened in a short time. In fact, the vice president (thank you, Mr. Vice President) contacted us immediately. The President: Good. Governor Luján Grisham: And, in fact, it has made a difference. Maybe I want to offer a suggestion. And then quickly, I have two more questions, if that's okay, Mr. President. The President: Go ahead. Governor Luján Grisham: The suggestion is this: you are right, as we are all working to get responses from the private sector to any amount of supplies andequipment that allows and continues to withstand laboratory tests and personal protective equipment.

It is also true that the supply chain continues to be disrupted. Even if that's not an intended response on the part of the federal government or anyone else, I think it would be very helpful to the governors (and certainly to me) if they knew what the federal government was mandating, if they knew what each state was mandating. sorting out. place the order and what the expected deliveries are. And we could do it through FEMA because, in fact, I think these competing issues create real challenges for states. I have had the same situation. The swabs, which are supposed to come from somewhere, are cancelled.

So exactly what Governor Noem suggests is, in fact, happening. And I think providers try very hard to prioritize, but they're not as effective at doing it. That's (inaudible). The President: I think that's good. I think it's a good idea. Pete, we'll do it through FEMA. Will you coordinate that? So Pete's here. We will do it through FEMA. This is how we want to do it. Well? Whats Next? Governor Luján Grisham: Second, I also want to echo how important it is to address Title 32 and be clear about what we are doing with our Guard. I spoke with Secretary Esper and we want to build a combat support hospital because one of my units has been deployed to Poland.

We are working with him on that. I need that to happen as quickly as we can. I just wanted to make a plugin for that and let you know. The President: Good. Governor Luján Grisham: And then the last two things, quickly. Governor Kemp is right in saying that, in my opinion, you have all read and Mr. President authorized, we can use the block grant pass-through for community development. That can be a very productive mechanism with all the federal aid that they are involved in to push the states so that we can stand up for small businesses right away.

And I would certainly like to be in a position to do so. And lastly, but equally important to us, New Mexico has several laboratories. We're actually in a pretty productive position, as long as we have the supply chain ready, from the swabs to these reagents to the enzymes that we need to run them through our high-capacity machines. Mr. Vice President, I'm still waiting for Roche (inaudible), so if you could call me after this call. The others are connecting. And I need the Secretary of the Department of Energy (and it's wonderful, Brouillette) to give us permission to set up our laboratories in our national laboratories.

If we can do this, we will do as well as can be expected in this crisis, sir. The President: Thank you very much. We will do it. Thank you so much. Alright? We have four more governors. Thank you. Come on. Who is the next one? Governor Brown: Hello. Oregon welcomes these calls and the chance to connect with your administration. And our needs are reflected in the NGA letter presented by Governor Hogan. Thank you. The President: Thank you very much. Well? Next Please. Governor Burgum: Doug Burgum of North Dakota, also chairman of the Western Governors. Mr. President and Vice President, thank you for your leadership.

We had...an earlier call mentioned the risk in tribal areas. Yesterday, the White House held a tribal call. More than 900 people participated in that call. You brought together, with White House leadership, leaders from the BIA, the Bureau of Indian Education, and Indian Health Services. There is more money on the way. So thanks for your quick response. Number two, on behalf of Western governors (you've heard it from Georgia, New Mexico and Rhode Island, my colleagues there), but block grants to the states would allow us to act quickly to not only support small businesses, but it will help sustain the economy and will help resolve this crisis.

And finally, you committed last week, during this time of $25 WTI oil prices, to fill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That will save billions of dollars. Great move. And again, thank you all for your leadership. The President: Thank you very much, Doug. Thank you. Okay, next one please. Governor Sisolak: Mr. President, I am Steve Sisolak from Nevada and I thank you for receiving this call. I would like to ask you a big thing. I know they are looking at possible recovery packages that are already included in the stimulus. And you... The President: Correct Governor Sisolak: -- you talked about airlines and cruise ships.

And I would like you to consider including the hospitality industry in that. Unfortunately, I had to close the Las Vegas Strip and, as a result, tens of thousands of hospitality workers have been displaced. And while they receive some compensation and apply for unemployment benefits, anything we can get from them to help facilitate getting our economy back up and running... The President: Right. Governor Sisolak: -- would be a great help. This is our number one industry in Nevada. The President: Yes. Governor Sisolak: I know we have other parts of the country, with theme parks and all that.

And these people sometimes receive lower salaries. It would definitely be helpful if we could include them in any recovery package that comes forward. The President: I think it's a great idea. Thank you so much. I think... I think it's something we'll be thinking about. And thank you, Governor. Next Please. Operator: This is our last question. Governor Little: Mr. President, Brad Little in Idaho. We governors talk about the ventilator crisis as we move forward. I know Governor Inslee is there at the time. Yes... and I've heard rumors that the automobile industry might start making them. And then we talked about using laser technology – laser printing to make the parts.

If the FDA gave us the standard, and if Congress and the administration helped us with patent protection so that we could get an adequate supply of ventilators and filters into the supply chain so that would be one less thing we had to worry about our supply chain in the future, that would be very helpful. The President: Correct. And we can do that too. Brilliant. We can do it easily. Thank you. Thanks, Brad. Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. It has been an honor to be with you. We will probably do this frequently until it is resolved.

Feel free to call me, the vice president, anyone at the table, anyone in the room, except the media. Don't call the media. And see you next time. Thank you very much to all. Thank you.