we just completed another meeting of the
white house coronavirus task force it's
been a very busy and a productive day
here at the White House President Donald
Trump has no higher priority than the
safety and health of the American people
and president has directed our task
force employing the full resources of
the federal government in full
partnership with state and local health
authorities to make that priority a
reality as I stand before you today we
have more than 100 coronavirus cases in
the United States that is counting
domestic cases and cases of coronavirus
of Americans that were returned from
China or the diamond on Princess I'm
pleased to report that most of those who
contracted coronavirus within our care
are continuing to recover but sadly we
received word today that another
American has passed away and their
family has our deepest condolences
that being said thanks to president's
strong leadership and the
professionalism of all of our federal
agencies Health and Human Services CDC
and state and local health officials all
across this country the risk to the
American public of contracting the
corona virus remains low
to be clear if you are a healthy
American the risk of contracting the
corona virus remains low but it is still
a good idea to engage in common-sense
practices that that are always
recommended this time of year so as
someone who has a mother is 87 years of
age and who has married kids living
around the country a brief tutorial on
prevention for yourself for your family
and your loved ones it's a good idea to
stay home when you're sick avoid close
contact with people who are sick avoid
touching your eyes nose and mouth cover
your cough or sneeze with tissue throw
the tissue in the trash clean and
disinfect frequently wash your hands
with either a disinfectant or with soap
and water for at least 20 seconds and
let me say again as we've said before
there's no need for Americans to buy
masks and the common sense practices
that I just described are all available
at cdc.gov
we had a series of meetings here at the
White House and on Capitol Hill we met
with executives of the airline industry
the executives of commercial labs
executives of nursing homes and our team
also met with the Republican and
Democrat caucuses in the House of
Representatives and we were pleased to
learn that just shortly ago the House of
Representatives passed a federal funding
bill by a virtually unanimous margin
will now move to the Senate and the
legislation implements the president's
vision to ensure that not only do our
federal agencies have the support and
resources that they need but also that
our state and local partners have their
support and in my conversations with
governor's all the way through this
afternoon I know they're grateful for
the bipartisan spirit that is
characterized this funding bill and will
continue
to work through that process as the
President Trump said we're all in this
together and he deployed a
whole-of-government approach but thanks
to the president's leadership it has
actually developed into a whole of
America approach and the meetings today
with industry leaders is a reflection of
that as dr. Burks will will indicate in
just a few moments with some of the data
that we're evaluating from around the
world it does appear that the elderly
are the most vulnerable and especially
those with serious health issues at the
president's direction as a result Seema
Verma will describe that the Center for
Medicaid and Medicare services has
issued new guidelines for nursing homes
nationwide we have raised the bar
regarding infectious disease control and
our nursing homes and in addition
administrator Verma will explain how we
are going to focus all of our inspection
resources for the foreseeable future on
compliance with infection control
standards generally we we we monitor our
nursing homes for abuse and neglect but
at the president's direction we're going
to focus exclusively on ensuring that
those who are in nursing homes people
operating the nursing homes like many of
the CEOs that we met with today are
complying with the new standards to keep
our elderly safe president also met
today with airline executives and I'll
reiterate as the president said our
profound gratitude to our partners in
the airline industry they have worked
with us in as we say flowing Americans
through particular airports the
screening we're working very closely
with the airline's on contact
information if a person is tested is
positive for the corona virus we're
working with the airlines to get all the
information not just about that person
but about who they sat next to and who
else was on the flight and the president
I are very grateful
as we announced yesterday I'm pleased to
report that as of yesterday morning in
addition to the travel ban from China we
suspended all travel coming in from
China we've suspended all travel coming
in from Iran and even foreign nationals
who visit either one of those countries
are barred from coming into this country
for 14 days we also established a a
travel advisory for Italy portions of
Italy and portions of South Korea over
the weekend but even as importantly as
of yesterday morning we fully
implemented a screening process all
direct flights from all airports in
South Korea and Italy are now being
subject to multiple screens before
passengers board to come to the United
States of America the State Department
worked very vigorously to bring that
about and we're grateful for the
cooperation the governments of Italy
governments of South Korea as well as
our airline partners in making that a
reality finally with regard to testing
we had a meeting today that gave us
great hope for great progress in the
near future on expanding testing across
the country we have a ways to go yet
and I'm pleased to report as we've been
able to convey to state governments
governors around the country is that
thanks to the good work of the FDA and
dr. Steve Hahn who's with me here today
now all state laboratories all
University laboratories at the state
level can conduct coronavirus tests
without any additional assets or
resources from the federal government
they have the fda-approved test they can
conduct the tests all across the country
in all the states beyond that as we
announced through the efforts of HHS
2,500 kits of tests are going out this
week that 2,500 kits including tests has
gone out this week that's roughly 1.5
million a test that will be available
this week we'll continue to build on
that
but perhaps most significantly thanks to
dr. Burke's efforts and leadership we
brought together today at the White
House the leaders of all of the largest
commercial laboratories in this country
companies alike quest that have vast
capabilities logistics and testing
capabilities and we were pleased to
report today that they have created a
consortium to share information and to
share resources and literally have told
us that as they go through what is
called the validation process on testing
that by next week individual companies
will be able to do as they said to meet
thousands of tests of coronavirus if
they are needed and required and many
many multiples more of that in the not
distant future our objective here is dr.
Burks raised with the task force is is
we've got hospitals in affected areas
and those that are requesting that have
kits we've got universities and state
labs that now can perform the test on a
requested basis but our objective
ultimately and quickly as possible is to
have tests made through these commercial
laboratories and commercial providers
that your local doctor your your CVS
your med check is able to have a corona
virus test and that isn't there yet
we're working to make that a reality but
again it's one more example it's not
just a whole-of-government approach it's
a whole of America approach whether it
be our nursing home industry whether it
be our airline industry whether it be
our commercial laboratories I I can
speak on behalf of President Trump in
our entire task force when I say we are
profoundly grateful for the spirit
that's being reflected by companies all
across the United States of America
grateful for the leadership at the state
level and and the American people should
be confident but that spirit of
partnership is going to continue to
drive this at every level as we work our
way through dealing with the corona
virus in the United States with that I'm
going to recognize
dr. deborah birx for her comments Thank
You mr. vice president good evening over
the over the last 12 hours we've been
able to receive information both from
South Korea and Italy adding to our
China information and it's as we thought
on the elderly and pre-existing
conditions have a more serious illness
when confronted with the coronavirus
reassuringly in South Korea no one has
died under 30 this is reassuring to us
in the media age in Italy was 81 of
those who succumbed those who became ill
the median age was 60 so we find this
data reassuring but it also has really
caused us to focus on the Americans who
might be most vulnerable so we're
focusing resources attention and all of
our capacity to ensure those who have
pre-existing conditions and those who
are elderly have access to the best
prevention and treatment options the
prevention options flow right through
all of us to ensure that we have good
protective hygiene for our elderly
clients around the globe thank you thank
you thank you and as you heard because
of the the risk for our nation's seniors
we are doubling down on our efforts
today we put out three memos one was to
hospitals about triaging and placement
for patients with suspected or confirmed
coronavirus we also put out some
information to nursing homes about
limiting visitors to nursing homes
monitoring staff and then finally we put
out some information to our state
surveyors that are going to be surveying
our nation's nursing homes and hospitals
around infection control so all of that
information went out this morning very
good thank you Seema CDC Bob Redfield
well thank you mr. vice president I
think when I'd like to highlight today
is the first echo with the vice
president started with
he was giving the American people the
advice that he did as he went through
that we do have listed out on our CDC
website CDC gov it really is very
important it's very pragmatic about
washing your hands 20 seconds of soap
and water or using the other
disinfectants obviously training
yourself to cover your sneeze or cough
either in your elbow or with a Kleenex
that you will dispose of I think they're
very important things working hard not
to touch your face I think the most
important thing for many of those
individuals that might be a little
type-a if you get sick stay home
you're not helping your colleagues by
going to work sick and again I think
these are just very pragmatic we've
listed them they're absolutely no
different than what we asked the
American public do for flu the second
thing I would like to do is continue to
get the help from you to get those
messages out the one that's the most
important that the vice president also
talked about is the role of mask
we need these n95 masks for the health
care workers that are taking care of
these patients we do not recommend them
to be used by the general public
and again you all of you tell the
stories are able to be great
communicators of that so that the
American public gets accurate
information and gets good guidance from
your experts that you'll reach out to
for your stories so that's what I would
ask you to do and I'll reiterate what
the vice president said at the beginning
that although we're continuing to see a
new community cases in this nation the
overall risk to the American public at
this time still remains low thank you
thank you mr. vice president just to
reiterate what was said by several of
colleagues here is that we make policy
recommendations and analysis of what
we're going to recommend based on
accumulation of data data is very
important what dr. Burks just told you
is data
that underscores some of the things that
we've been telling you you know when you
talk about risk you know risk is
something that's vague to people and
we've said many times if you talk about
risk of infection throughout the country
it's a low risk if you talk about
someone who is infected and we do have
infected people in this country
you've heard that from from a dr.
Redfield you understand the situation
that we have in Seattle if you do get
infected if you're infected as taking
Seattle as the microcosm of that it is
exactly what dr. Burke said the risk of
getting into difficulties is very
heavily weighted towards people with
underlying conditions and people with
the elderly where are the young people
and there will be an exception here
there the same way we see with influenza
but the risk for a young person who gets
infected - getting into trouble is
really low based on a lot of data that's
coming out of foreign countries
particularly out of China
dr. Carson
I want to thank the vice president and
the president for a very aggressive and
careful leadership now I was involved
throughout my neurosurgical career with
a lot of very very complex cases and
dealt with a lot of renowned physicians
but I must say that the people on this
task force are extremely impressive have
been considering all the various
different possibilities outlining
scenarios for all the possibilities that
can occur and it's very comforting and
recognize that the risk to a healthy
adult still remains quite low largely
because of the aggressive actions that
have been taken and are continuing to be
taking every day and just one last point
and that is the pharmaceuticals who
normally are rivals have worked together
voluntarily wouldn't that be a great
lesson for the politician
quick informational announcement I'll be
traveling with many members of the task
force to Minnesota tomorrow will be
visiting 3m which is poised to literally
begin manufacturing millions more masks
for healthcare workers and then will be
travelling on to Washington State we
made with Governor Inslee and with his
health team to ensure that the full
resources of the federal government are
being brought to bear in support of
their efforts to protect the health of
people across the Seattle area so with
that let me start right here I'll start
with Washington a little bit more about
how that meeting came to be well
secretary azar be with you is that a
meeting that the governor asked you to
come there explain the I've spoken to
governor Inslee who I know well from our
time in Congress together several times
since being tapped to lead the White
House effort on the coronavirus a week
ago he's been providing strong
leadership for the state of Washington
they have an outstanding health
department but after meeting with
members of the Senate and the House
particularly those from the Washington
State delegation we thought it would be
important to bring our team out to meet
with their team on the ground and to
make sure that they have the full
support our hearts go out to those that
have been infected with the disease in
the Seattle area but also we understand
the anxiety this is created in the full
community and we're going to be going
out just to make sure and sitting down
with the governor and with his team that
they have everything they need and all
the support they need to see to the
health of their people
you will have a meeting on Saturday is
that correct with the cruise liners
which companies are coming to that
meeting what's the goal of that meeting
is there something that you'd like to
see them do differently that they are
not doing now well we'll talk about just
that obviously with the diamond princess
issue there are unique challenges that
our experts tell us in a closed
environment of a cruise liner but we're
going to talk about best practices and I
thought it was timely to spend some time
with people in that industry as we're
meeting with the leathers in industries
around the country okay please so
there's there some sites like Amazon
where these prices of jade skyrocketed
what's your advice to Americans we're
trying to just buy the soap and water in
the hand side and touch that you're
telling them to buy that there but can't
afford it at this point or can't find it
that's great I want to ask the CDC to
respond to that because they've got some
very clear goals I want to make it
really clear I don't think soap and
water
vigorously washing your hands for 20
seconds is what the American public
needs to do if they want to use the hand
sanitizers that's another option but I
don't want people to think it's inferior
to what we've recommended for decades
which is vigorous washing your hands
with soap and water
for 20 seconds what's your America's
like how soon should American inspect
their doctor's office to get tested well
I'm gonna sever burn to address that but
just so you know there's three levels
here number one is that we do have about
1.5 million test kits going out as we
speak
to hospitals particularly hospitals in
areas that have seen coronavirus cases
in addition to that thanks to the good
work of the FDA
and to change the president Trump
authorized this weekend now every state
health lab and university lab can
conduct a coronavirus test and that
expands the capacity but ultimately as
dr. Burks will explain our objective is
in addition to those tests being
available what we want to get to a place
where where any American who has a
concern is able to go to their doctor is
able to go to a medical clinic and know
that there's a corona virus available we
think we can get there
in a matter of weeks and in partnership
with the commercial labs we're
challenging them to do just that dr.
Thank You mr. vice president just
briefly cuz I think you were interested
also in cost and I think what we've
heard from CMS and from HHS that this
will be an in central lab test so fully
reimbursable what we talked about with
the commercial laboratories is exactly
your question and we asked them and
they're in validation this week they
some of them thought they would have
tests available on Friday and the rest
on Monday I've asked them to prioritize
the areas where we've had these clusters
so that people can be reassured in those
areas where there is where we have
identified virus has been circulating in
those cases they will have it available
at doctors office and all of our
pediatric offices that would need it and
they will transport it through a
logistics network to make sure that they
can be run with regard to with regard to
the cost let me be very clear HHS has
designated the coronavirus test as an
essential health benefit that means by
definition is covered in the private
health insurance of every American as
well as covered by Medicare and Medicaid
and so what we're we're working with
members of Congress and we'll be
monitoring the cost very carefully
please
well I'm gonna ask doctor about you to
speak to that at this time they're not
recommending that the president impose
additional travel advisories or
restrictions but as dr. Fowler can
explain we're gonna follow the data on
that very closely and follow the cases
so this is something that's really
evaluated in real time I mean you can't
make a decision now that you're gonna
project what's going to be you just
based on the data and it became very
clear that the situation in northern
Italy and in Korea was actually unique
compared to what we were seeing in
several of the other countries that's
why that was done we reevaluate this
literally every single day the
collection of passenger data and then
also there's been reports that the CDC
is investigating a potential cluster of
cases from a cruise ship in California
that could be linked to the state's
first death could you confirm that and
how many people might the CDC be
investigating in that case I'll let CDC
respond your second question but on the
first question I know the president was
also very moved by the level of
commitment from our Airlines for
customers health and safety as well as
their crews health and safety there they
describe to us their activities in
cleaning the aircraft and sanitizing
aircraft and and we believe as president
Trump said today that it's safe to fly
it's safe to fly in America and it's
safe to fly internationally apart from
the travel advisories that are available
to the public with that being said we
it's a work in progress about about
having contact information but we were
assured today by the airlines that
they'll continue to work
very closely with us to provide
manifests passengers on it on an
individual flight in the event of a
Coronis virus infection and the
cooperation has and just what the
American people would expect from our
Airlines but let me get when they let
CDC speak Thank You mr. vice president
so we are working in support of the
California Health Department that's in
the process of evaluating another cruise
ship where they do have confirmed cases
we're at the very beginning of that
looking at the manifest to make sure we
understand who's gotten off the cruise
and where they got off the cruise and
we're really involved in that entire
contact follow up as we speak
Spring Break a lot of grandparents may
be coming to visit family members to
help watch over kids older or older
adults is it safe if it's unnecessary
travel should they still hop on a plane
and travel well that's what we're
talking about the common sense approach
so if you have pre-existing medical
conditions or you're on the elderly and
frail that is something that they need
to take into context and that's why we
were very clear about providing that
information because we really want
everyone to know what we know that we've
received this new data we've gone
through it carefully it does look like
there is significant greater risk of
serious illness as you become older and
if you have other medical conditions now
what I talked about also was protecting
the elderly and protecting those with
other medical conditions and I want to
be clear the other medical conditions
included people recovering from cancer
so just as you would protect them when
they have their chemotherapy and their
immuno immunities are lower you would
get with careful hand-washing again and
ensuring if you have children in the
household that they're following those
same procedures I have a nine month old
and a two year old branch
and there the two-year-old has learned
to wash your hands carefully and I think
these are just things we need to ensure
are happening every day in households no
I have no hesitation at all have to tell
you that the job that Washington State
has done in confronting the corona virus
infections in the Seattle area has
really been inspiring we've got an
outstanding health facility outstanding
Health Department and we're gonna be
sitting down with all of their health
officials but I'm I'm a real believer
just as the president is in in sitting
down sitting nose-to-nose as the
president did today with executives and
asking the questions and making sure the
American people expect nothing less they
expect us to be there for that community
and we'll be bringing our taskforce
house to make sure that Washington state
has all the support that they need and
that's the purpose of the trip this
virus has been spreading what will need
to happen specifically for you to
declare this a national emergency what's
the threshold will it be the number of
deaths will be the number of cases let
me let me let dr. Fauci speak to that in
terms of a determination and winter
recommendation to the president we've
declared a public health emergency but
maybe you might say yeah you know a
public health what precisely do you mean
well it what's the threshold the number
of cases the number of deaths where
you're gonna take a decision-making out
of the hands of the States
and you're going to make okay we're
gonna quarantine the city sure we are
going to shut down big events or we are
gonna say no travel this well well let
me just tell major decisions how that
would be made that would be made by very
serious discussions among the task force
I would think that if we were in a
situation and hopefully we never even
approach that will you have clear wide
diffuse community spread throughout the
country and you have to have federal
mandates that come in to essentially
enforce certain types of social
distancing I think it would have to come
to that but I'm a bit humble about that
I would like to discuss it with a
variety of other people who have more of
a handle on the implications of that
it's probably good very good place to
step off we're gonna we're gonna go back
to work but let me let me end where I
began and that is to say today in the
United States the combination of
domestic cases and people that we have
brought home from China and from the
Diamond Princess we have slightly more
than a hundred cases and the vast
majority of those people either have
recovered or are continuing in to
recover that's not going to lessen the
focus at President Trump as has charged
us to continue to put on this issue we
continue to work closely with members of
Congress to make sure that we have the
resources to confront the spread of the
corona virus but at this moment I have
to tell you our our state and local
governments around the country are just
doing an exceptional job and as a former
governor I can tell you that the people
that are on the ground the health care
workers the health officials at the
state level are responding to this with
compassion with professionalism and a
and a big part of our job right now is
just to make sure that they have the
support that we come alongside them that
they have the personal protective
equipment and gear to be able to
minister to anyone
as the virus but I think I think the
American people the American people can
take some comfort that the reality is
today that the risk of the coronavirus
to the average American remains low and
as we continue to take these steps as
Americans continue to take common-sense
practices to protect their own health
the health of their family will work to
keep it there gentlemen ladies can the
uninsured get tested