Tag: Donald Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out Monday at weeks of criticism over his handling of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Speaking at a White House coronavirus task force briefing, Trump said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a travel notice on Jan. 6 for Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus originated last December, due to its spread.

He recalled that the CDC also issued a Level I travel health notice on Jan. 11 and there was not a single confirmed case then.

“People wanted me to act. I am supposed to close down the greatest economy?” he said.

Trump said that on Jan. 17, the CDC began implementing public health entry screenings at three major airports that received a great volume of passengers from Wuhan at his instruction.

“You remember what happened, when I did act. I was criticized by [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi, Sleepy Joe. In fact, I was called xenophobic,” he said, referring to presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The first case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was reported on Jan. 21 and the CDC activated an operation center in response to the outbreak. The first death occurred on Feb. 29 in Washington state.

“On Jan. 31, I issued a travel restriction on China. Nobody died and I issued. You cannot get earlier than that,” he said. “I got brutalized over it by the press because I was way too early.”

On March 11, Trump announced a ban on travelers to the U.S. from Europe during a televised address to the nation as part of measures to stem the spread of the virus.

Trump has long been criticized by Democrats and several media outlets for his “poor” handling of the outbreak, with some citizens claiming the president has the blood of the people who died from the virus on his hands.

“Everything we did was right,” he added.

As of Monday evening, more than 23,600 people in the U.S. have died from the novel coronavirus and more than 581,000 have been infected, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The U.S. is the country with the highest number of cases and deaths worldwide.

The virus has spread to 185 countries, infecting nearly 2 million people since first emerging in Wuhan, China late last year. The global death toll is nearly 120,000, while about 450,000 people have recovered.

Source: www.aa.com.tr

U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, after President Donald Trump expressed hope that the coronavirus health crisis was “leveling-off” in some of the hardest-hit U.S. states.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 641.10 points, or 3.05%, at the open to 21,693.63.

The S&P 500 .SPX opened higher by 89.63 points, or 3.60%, at 2,578.28. The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 287.09 points, or 3.89%, to 7,660.17 at the opening bell.

Source: reuters.com

President Donald Trump has expressed hope coronavirus cases were “levelling off” in US hotspots, saying he saw “light at the end of the tunnel”.

On Sunday, New York, the epicentre of the US outbreak, reported a drop in the number of new infections and deaths.

Mr Trump described the dip as a “good sign”, but warned of more deaths as the pandemic neared its “peak” in the US.

“In the days ahead, America will endure the peak of this pandemic,” Mr Trump said at his daily coronavirus briefing.

He said more medical personnel and supplies, including masks and ventilators, would be sent to the states that are most in need of assistance.

Deborah Birx, a member of the president’s coronavirus task force, said the situation in Italy and Spain, where infections and deaths have fallen in recent days, was “giving us hope on what our future could be”.

“We’re hopeful over the next week that we’ll see a stabilisation of cases in these metropolitan areas where the outbreak began several weeks ago,” Dr Birx said at the same news conference.

Optimism from Dr Birx and Mr Trump contrasted with other leading US experts, including top advisor Dr Anthony Fauci, who earlier said the short-term outlook was “really bad”.

The US surgeon general, meanwhile, warned that this will be “the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives”.

“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Fox News on Sunday.

The US has reported 337,274 confirmed infections and 9,619 deaths from COVID-19, by far the highest tally in the world.

Source: bbc.com

President Donald Trump gave another dire press conference warning of ‘horrific’ weeks to come as the US reported its highest one-day Coronavirus death toll of 884 people.

“Difficult days are ahead for our nation,” US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

“We’re going to have a couple of weeks, starting pretty much now, but especially a few days from now, that are going to be horrific.”

Trump had initially played down the virus’ severity, but White House medical experts now forecast that even if Americans follow unprecedented stay-at-home orders, some 100,000 to 240,000 people could die from the respiratory disease.

The World Health Organisation said the global case count will reach 1 million and the death toll 50,000 in the next few days. It currently stands at 43,412.

US has its highest one-day death toll

The coronavirus has killed 884 people over the past 24 hours in the US, a new one-day record for the country with by far the highest number of reported cases anywhere in the world, Johns Hopkins University said Wednesday evening.

That took the total death toll in America to 5,116 people.

The number of reported cases rose by 25,200 over the past 24 hours to 216,772, said the university’s coronavirus tracker.

The grim record for deaths in one day is held by Italy with 969 on March 27.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced what he called a tragic milestone as the virus claimed its youngest known US victim to date, a six-week-old baby.

“It just is a reminder that nobody is safe from this virus,” Lamont said at a field house at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, where more than 200 hospital beds have been set up.

New York Governor Cuomo turns the thumbscrews

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday clamped down harder on public gatherings in the face of the coronavirus, calling residents “selfish” for refusing to stay home as California’s governor warned his state may run out of intensive care beds and ventilators next month.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told New York City police to more aggressively enforce rules for social distancing as deaths in the state shot up to nearly 2,000.

“Young people must get this message, and they still have not gotten the message, you still see too many situations with too much density by young people,” said Cuomo in imposing new rules to close playgrounds, swing sets, basketball courts and similar spaces.

The Democratic governor sounded vexed by reports of crowds gathering at a Manhattan pier to watch the arrival of the US Navy hospital ship, the Comfort.

“How reckless and irresponsible and selfish for people not to do it on their own,” he said.

Source: France24

Donald Trump has said the US will be in “a very good shape” in terms of the number of ventilators available by the time the coronavirus outbreak peaks.

The president said at least 10 US companies were now making the medical devices, and some might be exported.

The virus can cause severe respiratory issues as it attacks the lungs. Ventilators help keep patients breathing.

The US has more than 160,000 confirmed virus cases and nearly 3,000 deaths.

New York City is the worst-hit place in America, with nearly 800 confirmed fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The US last week became the country with the most reported cases, ahead of Italy and China.

What did Trump say?

Speaking at Monday’s Coronavirus Task Force briefing at the White House, Mr Trump said: “We have now 10 companies at least making the ventilators, and we say go ahead because, honestly, other countries – they’ll never be able to do it.”

Asked whether there would be enough ventilators for all patients in the US who needed them during a predicted peak in infections in two weeks’ time, Mr Trump responded: “I think we going to be in a very good shape.”

He said more than a million Americans had been tested for the virus, “more than any other country by far. Not even close”.

He accused a reporter who pointed out that South Korea had tested proportionally more people when measured by population size of negativity.

And he added that he should be congratulated on his administration’s progress in fighting the virus.

Mr Trump also repeated his allegations that some US state governors were “hoarding” critical medical equipment, and that items including face masks were being stolen from hospitals. He gave no evidence for either claim.

Mr Trump said “challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days”, but that social distancing could save more than a million American lives.

“We will have a great victory,” he added.

Asked by a CNN correspondent whether his previous comments downplaying the threat of the outbreak were wrong, the president responded that they were “all true”.

“I don’t want panic in the country. I could cause panic much better than even you,” he told the reporter.

Mr Trump has been accused of slowness in implementing measures to stem the spread of the virus as he feared the economic impact could hurt his re-election prospects later this year.

“The economy is number two on my list, we’re going to save a lot of lives,” he insisted.

What’s the situation in the US?

Nationwide guidelines being implemented by many states say citizens must continue to avoid non-essential travel, going to work, and eating at restaurants or bars. Gatherings are limited to groups of under 10 people.

But stricter restrictions apply to millions in some of the worst-hit states.

On Saturday residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were advised not to travel elsewhere within the country for 14 days.

Non-essential gatherings in New York City are banned and most businesses are closed as the city faces more than 33,000 cases. Police can issue fines of $250-500 (£200-£400).

In California, a “shelter in place” order remains.

What about the shortage of equipment?

Earlier on Sunday, Mr Trump accused hospitals in some states of “hoarding” ventilators, face masks and other critical medical supplies.

“We do have a problem with hoarding… including ventilators. Hospitals need to release them – in some cases they have too many, they have to release medical supplies and equipment,” he said.

Hospitals “can’t hold [ventilators] if they think there might be a problem weeks down the road”, he said, alleging that some were “stocked up”.

The availability of ventilators is a major concern among health professionals as demand has surged. A number of states have warned that they will soon not have enough to treat patients suffering from Covid-19.

Source: bbc.com

President Donald Trump has extended emergency coronavirus restrictions for the United States where his top scientist warned up to 200,000 people could die.

The reassessment by Trump, who had previously said he wanted the country back to work in mid-April, came as Britain and hard-hit Italy warned measures to prevent the spread of the disease would be in place for months to come.

COVID-19 has already killed almost 34,000 people worldwide, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, with the number of confirmed cases nearing three-quarters of a million.

As of Sunday, more than 3.38 billion people were asked or ordered to follow confinement measures, according to an AFP database, as the virus infects every sphere of life; wiping out millions of jobs, postponing elections and clearing the sporting calendar.

Trump warned that the US crisis, which has seen a doubling of infections in only two days, would continue to get worse for some time.

“The modelling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks,” he said, announcing an extension of social distancing guidelines until April 30.

“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won.”

The president was speaking after Anthony Fauci, who leads research into infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said he believed 100,000 to 200,000 Americans could die from the disease, and millions could be infected.

Officials continued to sound the alarm over medical shortages, with some bemoaning a system that has states competing for desperately needed supplies.

“We’re bidding against one another,” said Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

The human consequences of a shutdown that has seen huge chunks of the US economy grind to a halt were playing out at food banks in New York, where organizers say demand has exploded.

“Before, there were 1.2 million people in New York who needed help for food. Now, there are three times as many,” said Eric Ripert of City Harvest, a food rescue organization.

Six months

Trump’s re-evaluation of a back-to-normal timeline came as British officials said life may not return to usual for six months.

The country’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries said it would be several weeks before doctors could tell if the current lockdown had slowed the spread of the disease.

“But we must not then suddenly revert to our normal way of living — that would be quite dangerous. If we stop then, all of our efforts would be wasted and we could potentially see a second peak.”

She said measures to contain the virus would be reviewed every three weeks, “probably over the next six months” or even longer.

In Italy, which has logged a third of global deaths, the government warned citizens should be ready for a “very long” lockdown that would only be lifted gradually, despite the economic hardship it was causing.

“We are in a very long battle,” said government medical adviser Luca Richeldi. “Through our behaviour, we save lives.”

Yet the strains on Italian society imposed by measures that might have seemed unimaginable just weeks ago are gradually starting to show.

The starkest example came when armed police began guarding entrances to supermarkets in Sicily after reports of looting by people who could no longer afford food.

Global divide

Africa’s biggest city, Lagos, was due to join the global stay-at-home from Monday, with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordering a two-week lockdown.

The measures also apply to the capital Abuja.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with some 190 million people, has so far registered just 97 confirmed infections and one death from COVID-19, but testing has been limited.

Officials have warned that the country risks seeing an “exponential” rise in cases unless contacts of suspected carriers are tracked down faster.

Authorities in Lagos, a sprawling megacity of 20 million, had already closed schools, shut non-food shops and restricted gatherings to limit movement.

Enforcing a total lockdown will be a mammoth challenge for authorities in a country where tens of millions live in dire poverty and rely on their daily earnings to survive.

The same holds true for large parts of Africa.

In Benin, President Patrice Talon said his country could not enforce public confinement because it lacks the “means of rich countries.”

Aid groups have warned that the coronavirus toll in the developed world could pale compared with the devastation it wreaks on defenseless populations in poor states and war zones such as Syria and Yemen.

Three billion people around the world lack access to running water and soap, the most basic weapons of protection against the virus, according to UN experts.

Source: France24

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is activating a war-time law that allows him to more directly mandate the production of the private sector as the U.S. seeks to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.

Trump said he will “be invoking” the Defense Production Act, a 1950 war powers act originally signed into effect at the onset of the Korean War, “in case we need it.”

It gives the president broad authorities to direct private firms to produce certain goods needed for the national defense in an effort to increase the necessity of producing goods that are urgently needed.

The U.S. is currently facing a shortage of badly-needed medical equipment, including ventilators, respirators and hospital masks, as it seeks to stymy the spread of COVID-19.

The president said he would be signing the act shortly after he briefed reporters during a press conference, saying it is “prepared to go.” But the White House has yet to officially say he has taken the action.

The U.S. and Canada earlier Wednesday announced the closure of their mutual border, which 200,000 people cross daily, to “non-essential travel.” The transit of commercial goods, however, has not been impeded as the global economy grapples with the economic shocks being caused by the ongoing pandemic.

Trump declared a national emergency last Friday under the Stafford Act to allow the federal government to more easily share resources with state and local governments amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The president’s newest effort comes as the number of coronavirus infections worldwide has surpassed 212,000, including over 8,000 deaths, according to a tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

That includes over 7,300 cases in the U.S. where 115 deaths have been counted.

Source: www.aa.com.tr

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pushed lawmakers to send money directly to Americans to counter the economic toll of the coronavirus outbreak, as the Senate weighed a multibillion-dollar emergency bill passed by the House of Representatives.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was poised to meet with Senate Republicans to discuss a plan to send checks to Americans affected by the crisis, and Trump told reporters the payments could amount to $1,000.

The Republican president’s tone on the coronavirus pandemic has changed sharply in the past few days. After initially playing down the threat of the outbreak that has spread rapidly across the United States, killing at least 95 people, his administration has begun pushing for urgent action to stem the disease’s economic toll.

The administration was talking about a new stimulus package of around $850 billion, one U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It would be the third coronavirus aid plan to be considered by Congress just this month. Trump signed the first $8.3 billion package to battle the coronavirus on March 6.

The House over the weekend passed a second measure that would require paid sick leave for some workers and expand unemployment compensation, among other steps, including nearly $1 billion in additional money to help feed children, homebound senior citizens and others.

McConnell: ‘anxious’ to approve House measure

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said his chamber is “anxious” to approve the House measure, a move that could take place on Tuesday.

“The Senate will not adjourn until we have passed significant and bold new steps, above and beyond what the House passed,” McConnell said on the Senate floor.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, however, warned that cutting the payroll tax – one of Trump’s favored proposals – “may be premature and the wrong response” to fighting the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. Even some Senate Republicans were not enamored of cutting the payroll tax.

Members of both political parties were talking about large amounts of additional money to help blunt the impact of the fast-spreading disease. The outbreak has killed more than 7,500 people worldwide, caused massive disruptions to daily life across the country and hammered the U.S. stock market that Trump has long touted as a barometer of his administration’s performance.

Trump, Mnuchin discuss potential third aid bill

An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, early Tuesday said the White House wanted $500 billion in a payroll tax cut, a $50 billion bailout for airlines struggling from plummeting demand, and $250 billion for small business loans.

But when Trump and Mnuchin spoke at midday, their emphasis had shifted; both men noted that a payroll tax cut would take longer.

Schumer has talked of spending $750 billion on things like expanding unemployment insurance, bolstering the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor and funding emergency childcare for healthcare workers.

In the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement laying out what she wanted to see in a third coronavirus aid package, including refundable tax credits for self-employed workers and ensuring that sick workers can get longer-term leave if needed.

“During negotiations, the Democratic House will continue to make clear to the administration that any emergency response package must put families first, before any aid to corporate America is considered,” Pelosi said.

Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican ally of Trump, expressed concerns about the size of the proposed third-phase bill, which he said could take the Senate days or even weeks to deliberate.

Republican Senator Mike Braun, another White House ally, said the first priority should be to help small-business employees hit by the outbreak through the unemployment insurance system rather than through the House tax credit and sick leave mandate. He said larger stimulus issues, including a payroll tax cut, can wait.

“I don’t think it’s wise to spend our money on so-called stimulus, like a payroll tax cut. I think it is a good idea to spend money stabilizing the economy,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican. “The economy’s not the problem, the disease is the problem. When we restrain the disease, the economy will bounce back, in my opinion, probably quickly.”

Source: reuters.com

US President Donald Trump is drawing up a massive emergency spending package while the Federal Reserve opens the financing floodgates to contain growing economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic.

After downplaying the severity of the outbreak for weeks, Trump on Tuesday called for bipartisan support to rush out immediate cash payments to American families.

“We don’t want people losing jobs and having no money to live,” Trump said at a White House press conference, adding that the package “is a substantial number. We are going big.”

With businesses shutting down nationwide due to the spreading pandemic, Americans need “cash now,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at the White House.

“We are looking at sending checks to Americans immediately… I mean now, in the next two weeks,” he said.

He warned Republican senators on Tuesday morning that the pandemic could drive US unemployment to 20 percent, a Republican Senate source told CNN.

That would be double the worst point of the financial crisis about a decade ago.

Speaking on Capitol Hill, Mnuchin said the package could surpass $1 trillion, in addition to $300 billion in deferred tax payments, making it among the largest federal emergency plans ever and far surpassing assistance during the 2008 global financial meltdown.

The package would include up to $500 billion in direct payments and up to $500 billion for small businesses, according to media reports, as well as the full $50 billion the airline industry has requested.

Mnuchin said that, for airlines, “this is worse than 9/11,” with travel virtually ceased.

And while Republicans balked at a large stimulus package in 2008, over concerns about the government deficit, Mnuchin told reporters “this is not the time to worry about it.”

“Congress right now should be worried about American workers and small businesses.”

The independent Congressional Budget Office last month said the deficit is expected to swell this year to more than $1 trillion and remain above that level for a decade as government debt balloons.

The talk of stimulus cheered battered Wall Street indices, with the Dow closing the day up 5.2 percent after Monday saw its worst drop since 1987.

Flooding the markets

The US central bank in the past two weeks has moved aggressively to boost confidence and keep financial markets and the US economy from seizing up due to fear and a shortage of cash, acting far more quickly than it did during the 2008 turmoil.

The Fed on Sunday slashed the benchmark borrowing rate to zero, ramped up purchases of Treasury debt, and repeatedly made massive cash infusions into financial markets.

In its latest move Tuesday, the Fed unveiled two new credit facilities to help ensure households and businesses stay afloat.

“By ensuring the smooth functioning of this market, particularly in times of strain, the Federal Reserve is providing credit that will support families, businesses, and jobs across the economy,” the Fed said in a statement.

One mechanism is aimed at providing short-term funding to major financial institutions so they can push cash out to businesses and households.

The other would allow companies to roll over commercial debt and repay investors.

The more than $1 trillion market for commercial paper “is critical to the plumbing of the financial system” and will allow firms to continue paying their bills and their workers, said economist Mickey Levy of Berenberg Capital Markets, who applauded the moves.

Though slow to react over a decade ago, “this time is very likely to be far different, as the Fed’s aggressive action is expected to achieve quicker results, even as the acute stage of the pandemic generates deep economic contraction,” Levy said in an analysis.

‘Bigger, stronger, better’

Mnuchin presented the stimulus plan to Senate Republicans, but it is unclear when it will be ready for a vote.

Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, current and former Democratic presidential candidates, warned that any bailout to airlines must come with strings attached, including a $15 hourly wage for workers.

Trump again acknowledged that the economy could be headed for a recession but said it would come back strongly once the virus is defeated.

“We’re going to take care of it, we’ll be bigger, stronger and better than ever before,” the president said.

Source: France24

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump marked the National Day of Prayer by signing an executive order designed to protect and promote religious liberty.

“Today my administration is leading by example as we take historic steps to protect religious liberty in the United States of America,” the president, flanked by Vice President Mike Pence and his religious advisors, including Paula White, declared during Thursday’s signing ceremony.

The long-awaited order effectively weakens the enforcement of an IRS rule barring churches and tax-exempt groups from being involved with politics (this addresses the Johnson Amendment).

“We are giving churches their voices back,” Trump told those gathered in the White House Rose Garden. “No one should be censoring sermons or targeting pastors.”

“Faith is deeply embedded into the history of our country, the spirit of our founding and the soul of our nation,” he said. “We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied or silenced anymore.”

The order also declares that it’s a policy of the executive branch to protect and promote religious liberty.

In addition, it promises regulatory relief to religious groups that have a moral objection to the contraception mandate in Obamacare.

“Freedom is not a gift from government; freedom is a gift from God,” Trump noted, adding that no American should be “forced to choose between the dictates of the federal government and the tenets of their faith.”

The majority of Trump’s religious advisory board was present for the solemn event, including Paula White, Southern Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress, evangelist Franklin Graham, Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, former Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, South Carolina TV evangelist Mark Burns, and Faith and Freedom Coalition Chairman Ralph Reed.

“It was a reunion more than anything,” the Black Christian News Network 1 quoted Bachmann. “For people of faith, there was so much trepidation about what would happen in this election. They really felt that if Mrs. Clinton had prevailed it would have spelled a diminution of the nation, the nation would have morally suffered.”

Thursday’s order a much watered down version of the first draft of the order leaked early in the president’s term fails to specifically address religious persecution in the military or against individuals who practice their faith in all aspects of their lives, including the workplace.

Even so, faith leaders wasted no time expressing their support for the executive action, while acknowledging more needs to be done.

“President Trump deserves praise for applying an emergency brake on the government’s movement toward coercion and discrimination. There is much that is commendable in the executive order, even while there is much that is missing and that I pray will be soon addressed,” Dr. Jerry A. Johnson, CEO and president of National Religious Broadcasters, said in a statement.

“Today’s action is a breath of fresh air and should be understood, I believe, as a first step toward righting the wrongs of recent years and reassuring people of faith that they are not second-class citizens,” he continued.

Officials from the The Catholic Association echoed that sentiment.

“Today’s executive order provides welcome relief to the Little Sisters of the Poor, who have been threatened with discriminatory government fines that would shut down their beautiful ministry of caring for the elderly poor,” said Maureen Ferguson, senior policy advisor for the The Catholic Association.

“We applaud the Trump administration for taking an important step to protect conscientious objectors like the Little Sisters of the Poor who faced millions of dollars in fines for refusing to violate their deeply held beliefs,” Catholic Association senior fellow Ashley McGuire said.

“However, there is more work to be done to restore broad protections for people of all faiths in health care, business, education, and countless other fields who face harassment, bullying, and lawsuits because of their faith,” she continued. “The American people want strong protections for religious liberty.”

Source: CBNNews.com

President Donald Trump said Friday he was declaring a national emergency — “two very big words” — to free up $50 billion in federal resources to combat coronavirus even as he refused to take personal responsibility for administration failures early in the outbreak.

The announcement was part of a raft of new measures Trump hopes can bring a roiling health crisis under control after a week of market seesaws and major disruptions to everyday life.

As he sought to project an air of competence, Trump denied there were missteps that some health experts say have aggravated the crisis.

“I don’t take responsibility at all,” he said, insisting problems that led to slow test-kit distribution were the fault of previous administrations. “We were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations and specifications from a different time.”

Speaking during an afternoon Rose Garden event, Trump gathered American retail executives to announce they were donating resources to institute drive-through testing at locations across the country, collected on a new online portal that he said would available on Sunday evening.

Later Friday evening, however, the companies indicated they had few details on how many tests they could offer or when the test kits would be available. And Google — the company Trump said was developing the online platform – said it was not publishing a national-scale website; a health-based subsidiary of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is launching a small-scale website to begin triaging California-based patients only.

Trump went on to say he was allowing his health secretary to bypass certain regulations to provide more flexibility to doctors and hospitals responding to the outbreak.

And he announced he was waiving interest on student loans and purchasing more crude oil for the US strategic reserve to fill it “right to the top.”

After a widely derided prime-time address on Wednesday that preceded a historic plunge in stocks, Trump faced pressure to demonstrate a handle on the crisis. Unlike that address, which framed the virus as a foreign threat, Friday’s statement pointed to a full-blown domestic crisis requiring massive federal resources.

He said the emergency action would “unleash the full power of the federal government” and called on Americans to band together in a time of national strain.

“Through a very collective action and shared sacrifice, national determination, we will overcome the threat of the virus,” he said.

But Trump’s own words at times belied a sense of political unity. He blamed Democrats for not bending enough in negotiations over a legislative package to combat coronavirus and he accused past administrations — misleadingly — of hampering his ability to confront the virus.

The delays in testing, however, have come under Trump’s watch and even Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease specialist, said this week the situation amounted to a “failing.”

Trump on Friday also claimed to lack any knowledge that a pandemic control group within his own National Security Council was disbanded under his watch, calling a question on the topic “nasty.”

“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “When you say ‘me,’ I didn’t do it.”

The National Security Council’s global health directorate was folded into other areas of the council in 2018.

Even as he was announcing a scaling up of testing capacity for coronavirus, the President said Friday he did not believe all Americans should rush to be tested.

“We don’t want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn’t be doing it. And we don’t want everybody running out and taking — only if you have certain symptoms,” he said in the Rose Garden.

One person he did suggest would take a test was himself, saying it was likely he would receive one “fairly soon,” after he recently came into contact with a Brazilian official who later tested positive.

If that encounter startled Trump into taking more protective actions to prevent himself from contracting or spreading the virus, however, it was not in evidence on Friday. During his event Trump shook hands with nearly every retail executive who came to his podium to speak, ceasing only when the final participant offered an elbow bump instead.

“I like that. That’s good,” Trump said.

The President, who began his remarks by giving himself plaudits for his response to the outbreak, still appeared to believe the spread could be limited even as he also suggested it would worsen before eventually improving.

“It could get worse. The next eight weeks are critical,” Trump said. “Some of the doctors say it will wash through, it will flow through. Interesting terms.”

Trump has been under pressure to take more decisive action as the virus begins altering everyday life for nearly every American.

On Thursday, CNN reported that the President had decided to make the emergency declaration but that it was undergoing legal review at the White House.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, spoke to Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday and requested that the Trump administration declare an emergency to provide vital assistance to states such as Inslee’s that are on the front lines of the coronavirus crisis, a Washington state official told CNN.

The official told CNN they are “hopeful that (Friday’s) announcement will provide the kinds of assistance that the governor requested.”

White House aides have been weighing the move for the past several days as a way to provide more resources for combating the coronavirus outbreak. Trump has also been debating whether to support a legislative package to combat the outbreak negotiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and his treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Trump signaled in the Rose Garden that he does not currently support the House Democrats’ coronavirus bill, which would — among other things — provide paid leave to Americans who can’t go to work during the pandemic.

“We just don’t think they’re giving enough. We don’t think the Democrats are giving enough,” he said.

The emergency declaration would free up funding and allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency to head certain aspects of the outbreak response.

Earlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in conjunction with Democratic Sens. Patty Murray of Washington state and Gary Peters of Michigan, sent a letter asking Trump to “immediately” consider disaster declaration requests for the coronavirus.

Source: CNN

President Donald Trump has not been tested for coronavirus, the White House said Monday, despite indirect contact through at least two lawmakers.

White House officials announced late Monday that the president had not been tested after a series of encounters with lawmakers who had contact with others who had tested positive for the virus. Top among those was Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who announced he was placing himself in quarantine less than an hour after getting off Air Force One.

“The president has not received COVID-19 testing because he has neither had prolonged close contact with any known confirmed COVID-19 patients, nor does he have any symptoms,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said. “President Trump remains in excellent health, and his physician will continue to closely monitor him.”

During a briefing at the White House on Monday, Vice President Mike Pence said he didn’t know whether or not the president was tested. Pence said he was not tested.

“I’ve had no recommendation that I will be tested,” Pence said.

“The White House physicians, their directive is to see to the health and well-being of the president of the United States.”

Though there is zero indication the president has been exposed to the virus there have been several circumstances in which it has come close to him. Gaetz said Monday that he had come into contact with a person who tested positive at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland late last month. He flew with Trump aboard Air Force One from Florida back to Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C., on Monday.

Days before Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., announced he had placed himself in quarantine, he was seen meeting with Trump at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, shaking the president’s hands on the tarmac before the visit.

Both Collins and Gaetz said they had no symptoms.

A self-acknowledged germophobe who is said to frequently slather his hands with sanitizer, Trump recently told Fox News there is no way to politely avoid shaking hands.

“You can’t be a politician and not shake hands,” Trump said at the town hall in Scranton, Pa., on Thursday. “The bottom line is, I shake anybody’s hand now. I’m proud of it.”

Source: usatoday.com

The Trump administration is considering asking legislators for emergency funding to ramp up its response to the fast-spreading coronavirus, a White House spokesman and an administration source said on Monday, though they did not say how much money was needed.

“We need some funding here to make sure that we … protect all Americans, that we keep us safe,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said on Fox News Channel.

Asked how much funding the administration may ask Congress to approve, Gidley later told reporters at the White House that there was no announcement yet on the amount.

Politico and the Washington Post, citing unnamed individuals familiar with the planning, had reported the administration may request one billion dollars in funding from the US Congress. An administration official told Reuters News Agency the amount was still being finalised, and the request could go to legislators this week. The New York Times, citing an unnamed congressional aide, said the request could come as soon as Monday.

The official said US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was seeking an amount that some within the administration viewed as out of proportion, given the limited number of US cases and other HHS funding that has not yet been used.

The outbreak has spread beyond central China to South Korea, Iran and Italy, rattling global markets.

Trump at odds with advisers

The United States has not seen the kind of community spread that has hit China, but health officials are preparing for such a possibility even as those Americans affected so far have been quarantined.

There have been 13 cases of people diagnosed with the virus in the US and 21 cases among Americans repatriated on evacuation flights from the virus epicentre of Wuhan, China, as well as from a cruise ship in Japan, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Representatives for the US Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on the funding requests.

US President Donald Trump has tapped Azar to lead a taskforce coordinating the response to the outbreak that the department has declared a public health emergency.

Democrats, who control the US House of Representatives, have urged the administration to seek emergency funds after it notified Congress in recent weeks that it had already spent millions of dollars for its virus response, according to the Washington Post.

Trump has been at odds with his own White House advisers over China’s coronavirus response and has sought to downplay the effects of the virus, saying it could fade in April with warmer spring weather – something health experts said is unknown.

“We have aggressively worked to combat the spread of this virus, tried to prevent it as best we could from coming into this country,” Gidley told reporters.

The administration is also grappling with where to send Americans evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who tested positive for the virus after backing off plans to quarantine them in a federal facility in Alabama.

In a statement on Monday, HHS cited a “rapidly evolving situation,” but said the Alabama centre was “not needed at this time” and that it was looking for alternatives.

“Any action that HHS takes, working with our federal, state and local partners, to address this public health emergency will be done in a way that protects both those infected with the virus and other citizens, as well,” HHS said.

Source: aljazeera.com