President Donald Trump told the nation he was ordering an immediate shut-down to all travel from Europe to the United States as he addressed the nation on the coronavirus in a prime time Wednesday speech.
‘We will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days,’ Trump announced, in a speech from the Oval Office to the nation.
Speaking hours after world health officials declared the coronavirus a pandemic, Trump repeatedly defended his own actions and vowed the nation would prevail in countering the virus and getting treatment on the market.
‘The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight,’ he said.
He urged elderly Americans to take great caution, urged cutting off visitors to nursing homes, and told Americans to wash their hands diligently.
The virus will not have a chance against us no nation is more prepared or more resilient than the united sates
He explained the new measure as a matter of protecting the nation from the rapidly spreading virus.
‘I will always put the well-being of America first,’ Trump declared.
Seated at the Resolute desk, he also revealed plans to use executive powers to push out loans to small businesses and delay tax payments by companies and individuals affected by the virus.
‘We are mobilizing the full power of the federal government and private sector to protect the American people,’ he said.
The epicenter of the disease in Europe is in Italy, where the government ordered the shutdown of virtually the entire economy as the number of people diagnosed soared and overwhelmed hospitals had to decide who to save from death.
Oval Office address: Donald Trump finally addressed the nation about the coronavirus crisis from the White House on Wednesday and banned all travel to Europe
Health officials have warned in recent days about the risk of further spread of the virus from European travelers visiting the U.S. or Americans returning from trips there. Earlier Wednesday, Italy announced a shutdown of much commerce within its borders.
‘These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground,’ he said. He said there would be exemptions for Americans who underwent ‘appropriate screenings.’
He said the prohibitions would apply to the ‘tremndous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval.’
Trump also spoke to trade between Europe and the U.S. ‘Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing,’ he said.
Yet he said the restrictions ‘will also not apply to the United Kingdom.’
Trump blasted the EU, with whom he has sparred in the past, after praising his own decision to cut travel with China early in the outbreak.
‘The European Union failed to take the same precautions,’ Trump said. He called his measures ‘strong but necessary actions.’
‘We’re having to fix a problem that four weeks ago nobody ever thought would be a problem,’ President Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday
President Trump fired off a series of tweets about the coronavirus
The president touted a plan to treat the disease and create a vaccine
Trump attacked Democrats and called for unity; he also refused to answer a question from reporters saying ‘fake news, CNN’
The address to the nation was hurriedly – and chaotically – announced on Wednesday afternoon as Trump met the nation’s top bankers in the White House cabinet room.
Even amid new economic anxiety, Trump talked up the U.S. economy’s potential.
‘Prior to the coronavirus it was it was just all go, the numbers were fantastic,’ Trump told bank executives. ‘We don’t even know what the numbers are now, we’ll have to see. The numbers from a week ago were great, from two days ago were great.’
He continued: ‘Now we’re hitting a patch and we’re going to have to do something with respect to getting rid of this virus as quickly as possible and as safely as possible.’
He predicted problems would be a short term, after he and advisors encouraged investors to buy in the stock market.
‘We think it’s going to be a short term period,’ Trump said. ‘If we get rid of it quickly, everything solves itself,’ Trump said.
‘We’re having to fix a problem that four weeks ago nobody ever thought would be a problem. You read about them. You read about them from 1917 and from lots of other times. But nobody thought that we would be seeing … This came out of nowhere. Actually came out of China, which is the way it works,’ Trump said.
Trump was most likely referencing the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed millions and is estimated to have infected up to a third of the world population. However various government medical officials have warned about the risk of a pandemic, including during the outbreaks of diseases like SARS and MERS in recent years.
He didn’t reveal any details of how to get rid of the virus. The nation’s top infectious disease expert spoke Wednesday about the process of developing a vaccine and a focus on therapeutic treatment.
The president wouldn’t say whether he will declare a national emergency or cut off travel to Europe, following reports the administration was discussing new restrictions.
Trump continued to make up-beat economic predictions. ‘I think there’ll be a pent up demand when this is gone. I think that everything maybe where it’s tamped down now people aren’t leaving their homes, you’re going to see a tremendous pent up demand which hopefully won’t be in the too distant future,’ Trump said.
He preceded his remarks with new calls to action on Twitter, after getting hammered by Democrats for failing to take the outbreak seriously enough.
‘I am fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus!’ Trump wrote.
Trump’s PR pushback came as tensions rose inside the White House, with hand sanitizers placed in strategic locations, a drop of more than 1,000 points on the Dow, and the World Health Organization labeling the outbreak as a pandemic.
‘This is the first pandemic caused by coronavirus,’ said the WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Politico reported that Trump was reluctant to declare a state of emergency, to avoid stoking panic. That would involve a role for Federal Emergency Management Agency and freeing up money for states.
More limited ideas being floated have included tax relief for hourly workers, delaying the April 15 filing deadline, and actions to push out more small business loans.
‘Someone needs to tell the Democrats in Congress that CoronaVirus doesn’t care what party you are in. We need to protect ALL Americans!’ Trump tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
The president wouldn’t say whether he will declare a national emergency or cut off travel to Europe
Trump spoke during a meeting with bank executives about how to respond to the coronavirus. Here Trump speaks as CEO of Bank of America Brian Moynihan (C), and Chief Executive of Citigroup Michael Corbat look on
‘America is the Greatest Country in the world. We have the best scientists, doctors, nurses and health care professionals. They are amazing people who do phenomenal things every day,’ Trump wrote in another tweet. ‘Together we are putting into policy a plan to prevent, detect, treat and create a vaccine against CoronaVirus to save lives in America and the world. America will get it done!’ he wrote.
Hours earlier, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, testified that the coronavirus was ten times more deadly than the flu – a disease Trump has previously tweeted about while urging calm and saying the nation would prevail.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House oversight committee, told a panel of expert witnesses during a hearing on the disease: ‘This morning we were informed that President Trump and Vice President Pence have called our witnesses to an emergency meeting at the White House. We don’t know the details, just that it is extremely urgent.’
She later cited reports that the gather was not an emergency meeting, adding: ‘However that’s not what your staff just told us.’
Fauci issued dire warnings at the House committee hearing.
‘Bottom line, it’s going to get worse,’ Fauci, the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said. He warned millions will be affected.
‘If we are complacent and don’t do really aggressive containment and mitigation, the number could go way up and be involved in many, many millions. If we contain we could flatten it,’ he noted, pushing back when asked to pin down how many might be infected.
He also recommended large sporting events be banned.
He said that the WHO estimated it to be lethal in 3.4% of recorded cases so far, a figure he expects to drop to 1% – ‘which means it’s 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.’
‘We would recommend that there not be large crowds. If that means not having any people in the audience as the N.B.A. plays, so be it,’ he said.
Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee prohibited gatherings of over 250 people in counties around Seattle, in just the latest move to restrict interactions to contain ‘community spread.’ Basketball games, classes, and festivals were being cancelled and postponed. The NCAA announced that division one college games would be played in arenas without crowd during the famed ‘March Madness’ tournament.
The NBA’s Golden State Warriors announced the team will play its next home game without fans, in a part of the country where the Diamond Princess was moored offshore after an outbreak.
Additional new government actions were not immediately clear. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was to ‘take all appropriate and necessary steps’ so health care workers could get respirators needed when treating coronavirus patients. Shortages are a concern, as is the manufacture of many face masks for industrial rather than medical use.
The administration continues to assemble possible tax ideas to address the market drop and economic impacts. House Democrats are readying legislative action on their own ideas.
Closures of schools, festivals, and sporting events continued to pile up. Trump’s call to action came one day after he sent a different signal. ‘Just stay calm. It will go away,’ he told reporters after meeting with Senate Republicans.
In earlier tweets, Trump made use of one of the many times Vice President Mike Pence praised his response, sending Pence’s televised acclaim to the boss to his 74 million followers
Trump’s campaign account, Team Trump, had already blasted out the praise to its own followers. ‘@Vice President Mike Pence: We would be in a very different place if President @RealDonaldTrump did not suspend all travel from China and from parts of Italy & South Korea,’ it said.
Pence made the statement from the White House briefing room while surrounded by government health officials trying to contend with the coronavirus, which the World Health Organization on Wednesday declared a pandemic.
Trump retweeted another post by his campaing that featured praise from California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
‘California’s Democrat Governor Praises @realDonaldTrump’s Response To Coronavirus On Cruise Ship: ‘Every Single Thing He Said They Followed Through On,’ it said.
‘Thank you Gavin. Team is doing a great job!’ Trump added.
His upbeat take came as top health officials continue to issue severe warnings.
Trump retweeted his campaing tweeting praise of him by the vice president
Trump tweeted out a comment from California Gov. Gavin Newsom saying the state’s needs were being met
Trump trashed a ‘hit piece’ in Vanity Fair that cast him as panicked over getting the virus
‘Things will get worse than they are right now,’ said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government top infectious disease expert, said at a House hearing Wednesday.
Trump also lobed an attack at Vanity Fair magazine for what he termed a ‘hit piece.’ The story cast him as a germaphobe who is ‘terrified’ of getting the virus, and describes the administration’s response and PR handling of the crisis as out of control.
‘Vanity Fair Magazine, which will soon be out of business, and their third rate Fake reporters, who make up sources which don’t exist, wrote yet another phony & boring hit piece,’ Trup wrote. ‘The facts are just the opposite. Our team is doing a great job with CoronaVirus!’
Among other things, the article quotes an unnamed prominent Republican saying: ‘Donald is a famous germaphobe. He hates it if someone is eating nachos and dips a chip back in after taking a bite. He calls them ‘double dippers.’
It also reports that last week, Trump told aides he fears journalists will get the disease on purpose in order to give it to him on Air Force One.
On Monday, it was revealed that Trump loyalist GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz flew on Air Force Once with Trump only to learn he had come in contact with a man who had it at CPAC, Gaetz then put himself under quarantine.