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Nearly 36K Cases and 3K Deaths in Italy; Close to 40 London Underground Stations Shut; President Trump and Coronavirus Task Force Hold Briefing. Aired 11:22a-12:00p ET
Aired March 19, 2020 - 11:22 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:22:36]
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LYNDA KINKADE, CNN HOST: You've been watching CNN's continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I'm Lynda Kinkade. We are waiting for the White
House coronavirus task force to give their briefing and we will bring you that live when it happens.
But I want to take you to some pictures we're just getting into us from Miami. Look at these deserted beaches. It's obviously a lovely spring day
but the beaches are almost completely empty as of last night. The mayors down there said the beaches would be closed to the public.
So obviously a few people out right now; most beaches, though, are closing. They're also closing libraries and other public parks and areas.
This is a sharp contrast to other beaches around the country, which, where you can see people literally treating this like a party atmosphere on an
early spring break from college and high school, people shoulder to shoulder, not at all doing any social distancing whatsoever.
They have come under a lot of criticism, which is why some mayors are now considering closing public beaches and parks.
Well, I want to turn to Europe now, which is at the very center of the global crisis. And the news we are getting out of there is coming at a
whirlwind pace. Here's the latest.
Italy has now seen its deadliest day; 475 people have died in just the last 24 hours. The number of people dying in Spain is also shooting up, more
than 700 overall. And that number jumped 20 percent in just one day.
Now the countries are in lockdown but Britain isn't yet. But amid a flurry of speculation that it could happen in London, the U.K. government has said
that there is, quote, "zero prospect" of travel restrictions in and out of the city. We have reporters across Europe. Our Nick Paton Walsh is in
London. Barbie Latza Nadeau is in Rome.
I want to go first to you, Barbie, because we are seeing these horrific numbers coming out of Italy. We've been seeing this steady rise, day after
day, breaking the previous from 250 and now over 450 deaths in just one day.
How are people feeling there?
BARBIE NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think people are taking this very seriously. Of course, this whole country, 60 million people are on
lockdown. We are going through our second week.
In the north, they've been in lockdown for over three weeks now. It's starting to take its toll.
[11:25:00]
NADEAU: And when you see these death counts just rising, we're getting to that witching hour. We'll get the numbers here within the next 90 minutes
or so, people are just waiting to see those numbers to plateau and eventually start to go down. The authorities tell us, though, not to expect
that too soon.
At the very earliest they're saying, maybe, maybe by March 26th but even that seems optimistic, that we'll see any kind of leveling off and going
down. The key here, the message to everybody in Italy is to obey the lockdown. Stay inside.
You don't know if you have the virus or not. You don't know if you're spreading it. And as a result, you have to almost act like you have it and
stay inside. And that's the message the government across this country is trying to portray -- Lynda.
KINKADE: About a quarter of the population in that north part of Italy is considered to be elderly.
Is that the reason we are seeing such a high death rate?
NADEAU: That's right. You know, one of the great things about living in Italy is the lifestyle. And that does lead to a higher life expectancy. And
we're seeing most of the people, the median age is 80 of those people that have died. And almost all of them had one or more pathologies that
contributed to their death.
We're seeing in ever-greater numbers, though, more younger people actually contracting the virus and having -- not showing symptoms and things like
that.
But as it spreads across the country and more and more people are tested, we're going to probably see these numbers go up before they go down.
Hopefully, the death rate is going to stop rising -- Lynda.
KINKADE: Yes, exactly. Barbie, stand by for us. I want to go to Nick Paton Walsh, just to give us some perspective on what's happening in London.
Nick, because we have been hearing that just about all schools, nurseries, colleges are closing. There are some exceptions, though. Just give us the
big picture of what's going on there.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, and the children of people considered to be essential workers will still be allowed to
school. But I have to tell you, London is in a slight stint of deep concern at this point.
Yes, the streets are still bustling but much of yesterday, the capital was gripped with rumors that there may be imminently a lockdown put in place
across the capital. And some of that actually made its way to the mainstream news reports yesterday evening.
The government has since stepped in this morning and said there is, quote, "zero prospect," as you mentioned, of restrictions of travel in and out of
the capital. It's not entirely clear whether they may increase restrictions to reduce the numbers of types of shops open.
I have to say, too, I went to stores this morning; pretty busy, a lot of what you might consider unnecessary outlets still open as well. Not to the
core functions of life here. Schools will close tomorrow, as you mentioned. That will have, of course, a profound impact on people's daily lives here.
The government, it's something of a quandary, it seems, because their initial scientific thrust here talks a lot about herd immunity, the idea of
trying to control the spread of disease through the population to be sure that lots of people here eventually got immune to it and, therefore, as a
population, we couldn't hang on to it in the future.
But that, it seems, from some modeling earlier on this week, informed by what Barbie was talking about, some worrying intensive care unit rates in
Italy, that seemed to change policy here in the U.K. to this much more drastic interventionist approach.
Some figures suggesting if they continued on the current track, they might have seen as many as a quarter million deaths in the U.K. Startling
numbers, frankly, for the population to consider. And devastating for the predominantly free health service here in the United Kingdom.
But tomorrow but I think we enter a new phase of interventions and I think many here in London certainly expecting yet more to come. We've seen some
of the legislation, the governments pushing through the British Parliament here as quickly as it can, suggestions, in effect, police may be given
powers to arrest or detain people who are defying quarantines.
The possibility in drafts of earlier legislation that in fact could be protected for the people who choose to volunteer to assist the health
service.
It's a strange atmosphere, Lynda, because I think many in London have heard the prime minister say that the capital was significantly ahead in terms of
spread of the disease, possibly a few weeks ahead. Which if you do your math, would put us roughly into the middle of what Italy has been seeing in
the past fortnight or so.
It doesn't look that way on the streets. And I think many Londoners are wondering if we've already seen the peak pass -- highly unlikely -- or
exactly how bad what is due down the road may be and therefore how quite the right the government have got it so far because their plans keep
changing, it seems, through basic scientific data and advice they're getting.
But that's leave many on the streets not entirely sure how serious they should take it. Some are still stocking up all the same, preparing for the
worst. But a sense of uncertainty ahead.
And you have to hand it to Number 10 here, incredibly hard in power to know exactly how you would deal with constantly shifting data and expectations
around the world -- Lynda.
[11:30:00]
KINKADE: And we are seeing so much fear. We are seeing a run on the supermarkets. I want to point out to our viewers, you wrote a great article
on cnn.com, giving people a bit of a reality check and hopefully bringing some calm to people. Thanks so much. I'll have to leave it there for now,
Nick Paton Walsh. Thanks so much.
Got some news just into CNN. Sources telling the U.S., State Department is preparing to raise its travel advisory, worldwide, to level 4, do not
travel. That is the highest level. Last week, the advisory was raised globally to level 3. Basically, that means to reconsider travel due to the
global impact of the COVID-19.
Now "Politico" was the first to report that heightened advisory level. CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment. Another source, of
course, has told CNN that that move would be aimed at curtailing Americans' travel abroad and to get those who are traveling to come home as soon as
possible.
Well, right now we are waiting for the White House coronavirus task force to give an update. We're going to bring you that as soon as it happens.
Right now, we're going to take a quick break.
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KINKADE: We are covering the latest on the coronavirus. The White House coronavirus task force is speaking now. Let's listen in.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You probably shouldn't have anybody sitting behind you, either. You should probably go back. But I love
it. It's so much nicer. I shouldn't say that, because you'll get me now.
Thank you all for being here. And we continue our relentless effort to defeat the Chinese virus.
Today, we are bringing home another American citizen. It's a big thing, very big. Amer Fakhoury is on his way back to the United States after being
imprisoned in Lebanon since September of 2019. He's battling late stage cancer, Mr. Fakhoury will now be able to receive the much-needed care and
treatment in the United States.
We've been working very hard to get him freed and he's finally able to have his entire family at his side. So I'm very grateful to the Lebanese
government. They worked with us and we are very proud of his family. They stood by him so strongly. And they are thrilled.
The United States has no higher priority than the safety and well-being of our citizens. We've gotten a tremendous number of hostages out, as you
know. I think we're 42-0. And Robert O'Brien, was, as you know, our chief negotiator for a large part of it. In fact, did so well, that now we have
him in a different position.
So I want to thank and congratulate Robert and his team and I want to let everyone know that recovering Americans held captive and imprisoned abroad
continues to be a top priority for my administration.
We have one young gentleman, Austin Tice, and we're working very hard with Syria to get him out. We hope the Syrian government will do that. We are
countering on that.
We've written a letter just recently, he's been there for a long time and was captured long ago. Austin Tice, his mother is probably watching and
she's a great lady. And we're doing the best we can.
So Syria, please work with us and we would appreciate you letting him out. If you about what we've done, we've gotten rid of the ISIS caliphate in
Syria.
[11:35:00]
TRUMP: It would be very much appreciated if they would let Austin Tice out immediately. As you know, my administration is working every day to protect
American people and the American economy from the virus.
Yesterday, I signed into law a critical support for American workers, families and small businesses. It's a big thing. We're providing sick leave
and family medical leave to those affected by the virus and more help is on the way, as we speak. Our entire team, headed by Secretary Mnuchin, is on
the Hill.
We're working with Democrats and Republicans and there's a lot of goodwill going on. This was something that happened that was, some people would say,
an act of God. I don't view it as an act of God. I would view it as something that just surprised the whole world. And if people would have
known about it, it could have been stopped in place.
It could have been stopped right where it came from, China, if we would have known about it, if they would have known about it. But now the whole
world, almost, is inflicted with this horrible -- with this horrible virus.
And it's too bad. It's too bad, because we never had an economy as good as the economy we had just a few weeks ago. But we'll be back. And I actually
think we'll be back stronger than ever before, because we learned a lot during this period of time. I also just invoked the Defense Distribution
Act to help distribute supplies necessary.
We're working with Congress to help provide additional relief to the workers, small businesses and the hardest hit industries. We want to make
sure that everybody is able to continue on so that when we recover, all of these companies and these great businesses, both very, very small and very,
very large are not going to be broken up.
And you would have to put them back together. That would take a long time. Because I believe in the V-curve. I believe it's going to go -- when this
is defeated, this hidden scourge is defeated, I think we're going to go up very rapidly. Our economy and get back to where it was and beyond.
Today I want to share with you exciting progress that the FDA is making with the private sector as we slash red tape like nobody has ever done it
before. Somebody was on yesterday on one of the networks and said that there's never been a president even close that's been able to do what I've
done in slashing all of the red tape and everything to get very important things to the market, medical.
So we slashed red tape to develop vaccines and therapies as fast as it possibly can be done, long before anybody else was even thinking about
doing this. And as you know, earlier this week, we began the first clinical trial of a vaccine candidate for the virus and that was launched in record
time. It was just a few weeks. And that would have taken years to do, not so long ago.
As we race to develop a vaccine, we're also pursuing anti-viral therapies and that's what really we're going to be talking to you about today. That's
the purpose of being up here today. And to me, that's even more important.
A vaccine by its nature, you have to have long tests, you have to make sure what goes into somebody's body is not going to do destruction, to do bad
things. So you need long tests. And they're doing great with the vaccines but it's still a long process.
But the therapies are something we can move on much faster, potentially. And the treatments that will be able to reduce the severity of the symptoms
will be better. We're essentially looking things to make people better or at the very earliest stages, they wouldn't even know they had it. And
that's where I believe it's going to work even the best.
The FDA commissioner, Steven Hahn is with us. He's fantastic. And he's been working 24 hours a day. He's been -- he's worked like probably as hard or
harder than anybody in this -- in the group, other than maybe Mike Pence or me.
And what the FDA is doing is incredible. They've done things in times that were not even thinking about. And I've directed the FDA to eliminate
outdated rules and bureaucracy, so this work can proceed rapidly, quickly and, I mean, fast.
[11:40:00]
TRUMP: And we have to remove every barrier. There were a lot of barriers that were unnecessary. And they've done that to get the rapid deployment of
safe, effective treatments and we think we have some good answers. We'll find out very, very soon.
Clinical trials are already underway for many new therapies and we're working on scaling these to allow many more Americans to access different
drugs that have shown really good promise. We've had some really good promise.
We will do so in a way that lets us continue to collect good data, to know which medicines are safe and which medicines are working the best. We have
a couple that we're in really good shape on. And that's for immediate delivery. Immediate, like, as fast as we can get it. The FDA has also
approved compassionate use for a significant number of patients.
You know what that means?
We're also reviewing drugs that are approved abroad or drugs approved here for other uses. And you know, one of the things that I'm most proud of that
I got was right to try.
That's where somebody who's ill, somebody who's very sick, terminally ill, usually, in past administrations, we signed this a year ago, you wouldn't
be able to, even think about getting any of the drugs that may be showing great promise now and they've been trying for many decades to get this
approved.
And it sounds simple but it's not, because there's liability involved and lots of other things. And I was able to get it approved working with
Congress, right to try. This is beyond right to try. What we're talking about today is beyond right to try. Right to try has been, by the way, a
tremendous success. People are living now that had no chance of living.
Where we take treatments that would -- things that would have to go through years of a process and if somebody was terminally ill and I would say, why
wouldn't they be able to try this. They would go to Asia, to Europe, all over the world to try to find something. Or some people, if they had no
money, they would go home to die.
Right to try has been an incredible success. But this is beyond right to try. If treatment is known to be safe in Europe, Japan or other nations or
effective against a virus, we'll use that information to protect the health and safety of American people. Nothing will stand in our way, as we pursue
any avenue to find what best works against this horrible virus.
Now. A drug called chloroquine and some people would add to it hydroxy, hydroxychloroquine. Now this is a common malaria drug. It's also a drug
used for strong arthritis. Somebody has pretty serious arthritis also uses this in a somewhat different form. But it is known as a malaria drug and
it's been around for a long time. And it's very powerful.
But the nice part is, it's been around for a long time. So we know that if it -- if things don't go as planned, it's not going to kill anybody. When
you go with a brand-new drug, you don't know that that's going to happen. You have to see and go long tests but this has been used in different
forms, very powerful drugs in different forms.
And it's shown very encouraging, very, very encouraging early results. And we're going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately. And
that's where the FDA has been so great. They've gone through the approval process. It's been approved.
And they did it -- they took it down from many, many months to immediate. So we're going to be able to make that drug available by prescription or
states -- I spoke with Governor Cuomo about it at great length last night and he wants to be right on the -- he wants to be first online.
So I think that's a tremendous -- there's tremendous promise, based on the results and other tests. There's tremendous promise. And normally, the FDA
would take a long time to approve something like that.
[11:45:00]
TRUMP: And it's -- it was approved very, very quickly. And it's now approved. By prescription, individual states will handle it. They can
handle it. Doctors will handle it. And I think it's going to be -- I think it's going to be great. Then we're quickly studying this drug.
And while we're continuing to study it but the studying is going to be also done in, as it's given out to large groups of people, perhaps New York and
other places. We'll study it there. There are promising therapies produced by Gilead and that's Remdesivir. And that's a drug used for other purposes
that's been out and has had very good results for other purposes. But it seems to have a very good result having to do with this virus.
And that drug also has been approved or very close to approved in that case by the FDA and I can't tell you how much we appreciate what the FDA --
these people are incredible patriots. And the job that Steven Hahn is doing. Dr. Hahn, one of the most respected doctors in the country. We took
him.
I said, are you sure you want to do this?
We didn't know this was going to be in the playlist. But he really has stepped up to the plate. I would shake his hand but I'm not supposed to do
that. Get in a lot of trouble if I did that. But he's been fantastic.
I thank you, Doctor.
He's going to speak right after I'm finished. Regeneron, again, and is a company that's done fantastically well, as I understand, with Ebola. And
some other things, great company. And they're looking at some very promising events, also.
So you have Remdesivir and you have chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. Those are two that are out now, essentially for prescribed and I think it's
going to be very exciting. I think it could be a game changer. And maybe not. Maybe not. But I think it could be -- based on what I see, it could be
a game changer. Very powerful. They're very powerful.
So I want every American to know that we're doing everything we can and these actions are important next steps. I mean, for the FDA to act the way
they acted with this kind of speed is an incredible thing.
Normally, they'll say, well, we can have it by next year or we can have it in two years from now. You understand, this is the way -- normally, this is
like years and years and years and years. They had it immediately. Based on the fact that it's been used for other things, totally unrelated things.
We believe these therapeutics and others under evaluation right now will be able to provide relief to many Americans. We really hope that's going to be
-- this could be a tremendous breakthrough, tremendous breakthrough. And we will work towards a much-needed vaccine in the future, as I said.
And what we're doing with the FDA is so exciting in so many other fields. So many things are happening. It's a very exciting time for medicine. And
we appreciate that the American public has pulled together. They're really staying home and I think there's tremendous spirit in this country right
now. Spirit like a lot of people have not seen. People have not seen anything like it for a long time.
And that means Democrat, Republican, they're pulling together. I hope everything is going good on the Hill. Maybe I shouldn't say this until I
check out what's going on, because you never know. But I think there's a great spirit where the Democrats, the Republicans and everybody else are
getting together and trying to get things done.
But most importantly, the American public has been incredible. We took the best economy we've ever had and we said, stop. You can't work -- you have
to stay home. You know, there's never been a case like this. Normally, you pay a lot of money to get things going.
Here's a case where we're paying a lot of money to stop things, because we don't want people to be together, so that this virus doesn't continue
onward. So there's never been anything like this in history. There's never been -- nobody has ever seen anything like this.
But we're doing the right thing. We have to get rid of. Our big war, it's not a financial war, it's a war -- it's a medical war. We have to win this
war. It's very important.
[11:50:00]
TRUMP: With that, I would like to just introduce Dr. Stephen Hahn and he - - again, I would like to send back with Stephen our thanks to all of the people working at the FDA who are fantastic, talented people.
We appreciate it very much, everything you've done, especially the speed that you got these two elements, these two very important drugs passed.
Thank you very much.
DR. STEPHEN HAHN, FDA: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank you for your leadership during this coronavirus outbreak and thank you for the kind
words about the FDA staff.
We have 10,000 scientists, doctors and others and more than that working around the clock to aid the American people in this fight against the
coronavirus.
And those words are very much appreciated, sir.
TRUMP: Thank you.
HAHN: So before the president nominated me and I was confirmed as commissioner of Food and Drug, I was a cancer doctor. And I have sat across
from countless number of patients and had to talk to them about their diagnose and their treatment. And one thing that was really important is to
provide hope. I have great hope for how we're going to come out of this situation.
What's also important is not to provide false hope but to provide hope. And as a doctor, that's the way I come to this. I'm speaking now to the
American people as commissioner of food and drugs but that part of me has not left.
Just look at the way that the American people have responded to our calls for mission, mitigating social distancing. The American people have great
resiliency and I'm so incredibly proud of how the American people have responded.
As the president mentioned, he asked us to be aggressive, to break down barriers to innovation and to accelerate the development of life-saving
treatments. And we're doing that at the FDA.
The FDA is committed to continuing to provide regulatory flexibility and guidance but let me make one thing clear. The FDA's responsibility to the
American people is to ensure that products are safe and effective. And we are continuing to do that. Our folks and their tremendous professionals are
working day and night to do this.
You can't even imagine how much they're working to provide the support for the American people. And I thank them. Since early January, long before the
first domestic case, the FDA began working in collaboration with CDC.
I also want to know that we stood up an incident command group have been focused on the coronavirus since the very beginning of this public health
emergency. This is, in addition, an all of government and all America approach and I'll describe what I mean by that in terms of the development
of therapeutics.
An important part of that work is expanding the potential therapeutic options associated with coronavirus. And we've learned from our colleagues
across the globe about this. But I want to focus on one thing. I was a cancer researcher before all of this.
One thing I know about this great country of ours is that we have unbelievable innovators. We have people who every day, it's their job to
develop treatments for all sorts of diseases. We are incredibly blessed as a country to have this.
And as is true in any, these great American innovators, academia, private sector, they have engaged us about the best possible treatment options. We
are looking at everything that's coming across our desks as possible treatment options for coronavirus.
And we're extremely encouraged by the interest and the promise that we've seen from these great American innovators. Again, we need to look at it. We
need the data and the information to make the absolute best decisions for the American people.
But I want to assure you, we have over 17,000 people at FDA who are doing this every day. We need to make sure that these -- the sea of new
treatments will get the right drug to the right patient at the right dosage at the right time. As an example, we may have the right drug but it may not
be in the appropriate dosage for right now and that may do more harm than good. Those are the things that that's our job to look at.
And that's why it's really important we have these dedicated professionals looking at these aspects of therapeutic development. At the same time,
we're also working through different mechanisms to actually get drugs into the hands of providers and patients.
The president mentioned this but one of the mechanisms is called compassionate use. Let me just tell you about this. If there's an
experimental drug that's potentially available, a doctor could ask for that drug to be used in a patient. We have criteria for that and very speedy
approval for that.
The important thing about compassionate use and that's what the president meant, even beyond right to try, is that we get to collect the information
about that. Because one of the things that we've promised the American people is that we will collect the data and make the absolute right
decisions based upon that data about the safety and efficacy of the treatments.
We are working expeditiously and we are working to make sure that these products are as safe and as effective as they possibly can be.
[11:55:00]
HAHN: Let me tell you about a few things that we're currently working on. And this is a plan that was developed with many of the people at this
table, our infectious disease experts on the task force. In the short term, we're looking at drugs that are already approved for other indications. So
they're already approved, as the president said, for other diseases.
As an example, many Americans have read studies and heard media reports about this drug, chloroquine, which is an antimalarial drug. It's already
approved for the treatment of arthritis. That's a drug that the president has directed us to take a closer look at whether an expanded use approach
to that could be done to actually see if that benefits patients.
And again, we want to do that in the setting of a clinical trial, a large, pragmatic clinical trial, to actually gather that information and answer
the question that needs to be asked and answered.
Let me give you another example. There's a cross-agency effort about something called convalescent plasma. This is a pretty exciting area. And
again, this is something that we have given assistance to other countries with as this crisis has developed.
So FDA has been working for some time on this. If you've been exposed to coronavirus and you're better, you don't have the virus in your blood, we
could collect the blood -- now, this is a possible treatment, this is not a proven treatment, just want to emphasize that -- collect the blood,
concentrate that and have the ability, once it's pathogen-free, that is virus-free, to be able to give that to other patients and the
immunoglobulins could provide a benefit to patients.
We're really pressing hard to accelerate that. That's in the more medium and short-term. And that will be a bridge to other therapies that will take
us three to six months to develop. And this is a continuous process. There is no beginning and end to each of this. There is -- you know, we're
pushing this through.
The other great thing about the great innovators of America, some of them tell us it's taken us years, years to develop therapies. They're looking at
pushing that to the months period of time and we're trying to provide them the regulatory flexibility but at the same time, the scientific oversight
to make sure that gets done in the best way possible for the American people.
The president mentioned that there is a vaccine trial currently being performed. It's a phase I trial, so it's the earliest trial. We expect that
to take 10 months to get to completion. But these are all things to bridge to the prevention part of this to a vaccine. It's exciting work and this is
record time for the development of a vaccine and impressive public-private partnership.
The FDA's efforts to facilitate the developments to these products are focused on ensuring timely access while also meeting the agency's world-
respected gold standard, reliance on strong data from clinical trials to determine if an experimental or an off-the-shelf drug that's used for
something else can safely and effectively treat patients.
We want to assure the American people that FDA is all hands on deck, as the president mentioned. These efforts and continue to work with interested
sponsors to help expedite the work. We remain steadfast in helping to Foster the development of safe and effective therapies for COVID-19. Thank
you.
TRUMP: Thank you very much.
Mike, talk about the masks.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, Mr. President.
The White House coronavirus task force met this morning. And on this very first day of spring, we continue to make steady progress toward President
Trump's objective, in the hospital only to marshal all the resources of the federal government, every state government, every local health official but
also to harness the power of the American private and activities over the last day reflect all of those priorities.
Yesterday, the president spoke with America's top physicians and nurses and garnered helpful insights about how we can best serve those who are serving
Americans that are dealing with the coronavirus.
We also had a productive call with over 5,000 state and local officials, explaining the federal government's approach and our strong and seamless
partnership with all 50 states and the territories.
Last night, as you heard, the president signed the Family First Coronavirus Response Act, which provides free coronavirus testing, paid sick leave,
family leave for caregivers and food assistance for the needy among a broad range of benefits and today, as the president indicated, we expect that the
Senate will begin work on an economic relief package.
Later today, the president and I will meet again in a teleconference with the nation's governors. We will meet at the national response coordination
center at FEMA and outline President Trump's decision to have FEMA take the lead in our national coronavirus response.
END
