Gutfeld on the media and the virus

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Gutfeld on the media and the virus

Media pundits tear into President Trump's coronavirus briefings.

This is a rush transcript from "The Five," March 31, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino, along with Greg Gutfeld, Juan Williams, Jesse Watters, and Dagen McDowell. It is 5:00 in New York City. This is The Five. All right, Happy Tuesday, the president and the Coronavirus task force, they are set to hold another briefing as the pandemic in America gets deadlier by the minute.

We'll take you to the White House once that starts. You won't miss a thing. The virus now killing more than 3,600 people in the United States and infecting more than 180,000, but there is some encouraging news. New data suggests that social distancing restrictions are beginning to slow the spread of the disease in some areas.

And President Trump revealing that the U.S. has tested more than one million Americans. There's also a new debate starting over a report that says the CDC may start telling all Americans to start wearing masks in public. Surgeon General Jerome Adams is pushing back on that, saying there is no data to support it. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you want to put that aside for healthcare workers. We get that. But if it could actually help us, we would love to know.

(CROSSTALK)

JEROME ADAMS, UNITED STATES SURGEON GENERAL: But again, the data doesn't show that it helps individuals. Here's the bottom line.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know in China they walk around with them, right.

ADAMS: Yes, and they have a culture there of wearing masks and everyone already has one. And they're more accustomed to wearing them without touching their faces. If you are sick, wear a mask. And you have a mask and it makes you feel better, then by all means wear it. But know that the more you touch your face, the more you put yourself at risk.

And know that right now, the data isn't quite there to say that there is a net benefit of individuals to the individual of wearing a mask.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: All right. So we have a lot to get to today. One thing, Jesse, I noted just now, and I read that 180,000 cases have been identified in America. Just three hours ago, when I did the daily briefing, that was 174,000. And so I asked the producers before this show, like, is that accurate? Are we getting results back from these tests so quickly that we are seeing big jumps like that? And the answer was yes.

JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Right. We're getting a lot data and it's shocking to some people. But if you look back, the American media and our government were honest about the numbers as opposed to other countries. We'll talk about that later. Something that really struck me yesterday was when the CEO of United Technologies got out there at the podium at the Rose Garden and said this is a war.

And you go into war with a strategy, but you win a war with logistics. So if you think about that for a second, this is an invisible enemy that's jumping from person to person, family to family, state to state. And the federal government is coordinating the production and manufacturing distribution of thousands of different types of medical products all across this great country.

And you see the coordination, the communications, labor, business intelligence, everything that goes into that. It should make the American people feel really proud about the fight that's going on right now. So when the president of the United States, who is basically the general in this battle, has a certain vantage point.

Because he couldn't see this beautiful, logistical mosaic across the map of this country with trucks and planes and all this product moving in and out, he is very, very proud of what's going on, and speaks with such reverence to the workers and the executives, and to the mayors and the governors and the doctors and nurses that are in the frontlines fighting this thing.

And from a guy that made a lot of money building and developing and creating some of the most iconic towers and resorts and hotels in this country, he really has a deep appreciation for the mobilization that's taking place, and the scale and the speed with which it's taking place. So when you hear people in the press or on the other side of the political aisle ask snarkey questions or kind of denigrate the effort that's going into this.

The president takes that very personally, because he is saying you are dishonoring and disrespecting the tens of thousands of Americans that are putting their blood, sweat, and tears into this battle. And he doesn't want to accept that. And I think everybody just needs to recognize we're going to win. And we're going to win because of the amount of effort that's being put in place by the hardworking men and women of this country.

PERINO: There is no doubt, a ton of hard work being done. And Greg, also this -- just questions as doctors and the CDC, everyone's trying to figure out whether we as civilians out there trying to do our part and socially distance should be wearing masks. There was a doctor on the show earlier today. Take a listen to his point of view. I want to get your take on it after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you are infected, you get some protection from people around you. It's also a psychological effect. That is, if you're wearing a mask, you're going to be more aware of your surroundings. You'll be more aware of the danger that you can be infected or possibly infect others. And then finally, although you have to put the mask on your face, it can prevent you from touching your face, which is one of the major ways you can be infected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PERINO: Interesting to figure out how to make a decision. The Surgeon General and then you have this doctor, what should we do?

GUTFELD: All right. The logic from the Surgeon General, to me, seems a bit flawed, because obviously, I'm an expert. My belief is that they didn't tell us the entire truth about the masks because they didn't want to run out of them. They wanted the hospital workers to have them. And I totally understand that. But you run into a problem here, the general population without masks could increase infections, which sends more patients to the hospital workers who end up being infected.

So you see that it's this non-stop little cycle of infection, when in fact it would have been just better if we made more masks so that hospital workers would have masks and also so would the general public. I think the masks are valuable because it keeps you from touching your face and it makes you more cognizant of the transmission, and it just makes sense.

Any kind of obstruction or friction will reduce an impact. I do want to use a sports analogy that kind of gives me hope through all of this as were going into our third week. In auto sports, you have a yellow flag, which indicates a hazard on the track. That means all drivers must slow down and line up behind the pace car.

So what we're doing right now, and the key for this to work, is that we are all trying to stay put in the same place so that when the race resumes, no one gets shafted or ruined. You can't jump in front of anybody else during this time. We have to look at this next four weeks that we have as a pause. We are all pausing.

And I believe for this to really work, we should consider pausing the rent, pausing utilities, pausing car loans. So nothing goes in and nothing goes out, literally a yellow flag for the economic track. So no one can overtake anybody else. Because right now, I mean, I feel in a very surreal sense, a sense of unity, a feeling like one brain.

I -- the United States right now is much like how a hive is working where we're all kind of working together in a weird psychic way going trying to do the right thing. And all of these myths about us being too capitalist or too greedy or evil bigots or racist, it's all gone. None of those conflicts that the media loves to drum up, it's not there.

We're all thinking the same. And I think right now, the yellow flag idea of pausing it and everybody having confidence that no one's going to get screwed is really, really important to get through this.

PERINO: Yeah, I agree. I agree. And let me ask you, Dagen. I heard that you were able to see the USNS Comfort as it came down the Hudson, I believe. And it's pretty interesting to see how unifying that really is.

DAGEN MCDOWELL, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Well, thank you for making me a blubbering mess bringing that up, because I did. It was just this -- but it was like a heart-filling moment. It wasn't gut-wrenching. I was literally at home walking the dogs and trying to eat some lunch before I came back to do your show yesterday. And I looked out and I just saw this giant ship in the middle of the Hudson.

And it just meant so much to me personally knowing that here is -- here people are coming to this city's rescue and the nation's rescue. But economically, just really quickly to Greg's point in terms of our wartime footing. Somebody who probably will never get enough credit for what's being done as people aren't able to pay their bills to prevent a nation from having liquidity problems and basically companies having solvency problems.

And as Jay Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, they've already done extraordinary things with him at the leadership. And he's not some monetary policy wonk, some nerd. He is a lawyer. And he was willing to -- The Wall Street journal wrote about it today, willing to act quickly and just throw everything at this problem.

Six unique lending facilities and he's got $450 billion at the Treasury. Because that stimulus plan, he can now go out and lend to cities, states, and even small businesses, medium-sized businesses with potentially another four and a half trillion dollars worth of firepower. So he is one of the warriors.

PERINO: Right. And people need to take advantage of that because that money is there for them. And Juan, another thing that's been so inspiring is how communities are figuring out a way to help out. We had a story earlier about two young people in their 20s figured out a way to find out who in the neighborhood needed to get groceries, like elderly people that shouldn't go out.

They really need to stay isolated. And they had so many volunteers. And they were able to go out and do shopping for them and take it to them. And this is happening all over the country. And it really is inspiring. We should support it.

JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Without a doubt. I think that's the good news. And you know, I think so much of what's happening in New York, like, the ship that Dagen saw. I think these are things that just lift your heart. Just more reminders, you know that people can come together in moments of crisis. And what we are seeing in New York now, you know, people talking about -- you talk about even nationally the number of deaths surpassing 9/11.

I think people have to come to understand. We're going to have to deal with the fact that it -- other communities are going to have to contend with what New York is now experiencing. So we need people who are willing to lend a hand to get out there even -- especially, I would think, the medical professionals take that risk in order to satisfy.

Another thing that struck me was a picture I saw today of so many cars lined up outside Pittsburgh to get to a food bank. And you know it -- you stop and think about what we heard in terms of unemployment numbers last week. Goldman Sachs now said unemployment may go up to 15 percent, the GDP down about 30 percent. You know, we end today -- the quarter in terms of the stock market.

And we know that it's been a very rough quarter, one of the roughest since 08. I think historically might be the roughest. So I think in all those situations, you have to say we're going through something. And the helping hand, the smile, the willingness of those young people you were talking about, Dana, really is inspirational.

It's a sense of community and reliance on leadership that comes sometimes not from the top but from each other.

PERINO: Indeed. All right, President Trump and the Coronavirus task force are about ready to come out for another briefing. So while we wait for that, we'll get right back to you. Greg is up next on why the media is now attacking the MyPillow CEO. Stay tuned for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GUTFELD: When faced with criticism, the media will say it's their job to hold people accountable like that MyPillow guy at the briefing. What a dork.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think these briefings could be, I think, better designed. The president could come out. Say a few words in terms of what his administration is doing, not have these, you know, PR stunts like Mr. Pillow coming out and giving a plug for his company.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's obviously above my pay grade. I don't make the call. But it seems crazy to me that everyone is still taking them when you've got the MyPillow guy getting up there talking about reading the bible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Oh, reading the bible. But it wasn't just TV. Nonessential bozos with blue checkmarks also took to Twitter to mock Mike Lindell. But while these turds snark away, Lindell was converting his business into making 50,000 masks a day, so yeah, laugh all you want. The object of your ridicule will save lives. The fact is Lindell is an American success story.

But because he mentions the bible too much, he is worthy of media scorn, because they're so much better than him. So as we strive to unite against one of the greatest foes we've ever faced, you've got to ask does that really help, and does this help?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think there is blood on the president's hands, considering the slow response, or is that too harsh of a criticism?

JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that's a little too harsh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Once again, the media frames this pandemic as their divisive playground. For them, the perfect medication is to cheap shot. I wonder when The Five sounded the alarm on the virus back in January, what was Chuck's concern?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that one of the reasons Senate Republicans want to get this over with as quickly as possible, is because you want the maximum amount of time between whatever this is and the voters voting. I think -- if you look at happened in the summer of 2016, leaving aside the election itself, Zika virus, Orlando nightclub shooting, there's going to be a lot of news in the next nine months. And ultimately --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coronavirus that is clearly a -- this is going to impact China in ways in our economy that we haven't really contemplated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUTFELD: Concerned about China's economy, not the American people. Now, who has blood on their hands? See, Chuck, the blood on your hands gain can be extended indefinitely to everyone. If trying to put the unknown virus in context of other illnesses, like the media did, then they have blood on their hands. If you told Americans to go about your business, like our New York politicians did, then you have blood on your hands.

If you and the media conflated the name of a drug for fish tank cleaner, then you have blood on your hands. At some point, no one has spotless hands, including Chuck, which is why we got to dump this gotcha BS. It helps no one. My advice, time to wash our hands of the blood on your hands line, then maybe the press can find a real question, one that seeks an answer instead of attention.

All right, Jesse. So you had mentioned this before in (Inaudible) what's your take on the attack on poor Mr. Pillow man.

WATTERS: The media snobs don't think Mike has the corporate pedigree to be at the Rose Garden. The media snobs hold technology executives in very high regard. But they look down on industrialists, on manufacturers, on the Procter and Gambles, United Technologies, and Jockey's, and really looked down on people that use infomercials to sell their product like Mike.

What really set them off first was saying read the bible. They don't understand Mike is a recovering addict. That's an affirmation for him. Everybody understands that people recovering from addiction do that. And it's important to them. The other thing to understand is whenever a culture is challenged by a war, a pandemic, an economic depression.

The culture always digs deeper into their faith. It's happened throughout history every single time. And the fact that the media doesn't have the empathy for that, the business intelligence, the compassion to understand that, really just makes me realize how shallow they are. On Chuck Todd and Nancy, we're at war. You can either be with us or you can be against us.

There are some people in this country that are trying to help. And there are some people in this country who are trying to divide. Listen, the president, the Democrats, no one has been perfect. We were slow with the testing, but very quick with the travel ban. And that's been much more critical in saving lives. We can play this game all day about who is positive, who is negative, and when that happened.

Nancy Pelosi, just a couple weeks ago, was in downtown San Francisco telling everybody to go to Chinatown. Get in the big crowd. Go to the restaurants and shop. She was telling everybody about impeachment while this virus was spreading. Chuck Todd moderated the Democratic presidential debate just a little while ago.

You know how many questions he asked about the virus, zero. We can do this all day long. It's not important. But what is important now is everybody needs to get on the same page and to help.

GUTFELD: I thought you were going to go all day long. Dagen, you know, there's a weird media hypocrisy in which if a religious person does something really bad, if you mention the religion, you're a bigot. But if somebody who's very religious does something good, you can make fun of them mercilessly. So you might be Islamophobic if you talk about terrorism.

But you can make fun of Mike Lindell because, you know, he mentions the bible. And people who read the bible are just a bunch of idiots according to the media.

MCDOWELL: Right. And if you don't make fun of those people who cite scripture who believe in a higher power as part of their recovery and their life and their effort to give back, if you don't make fun of those people, you're not getting invited to Chuck Todd's cocktail soiree that he's surely going to throw for all these left-wing liberal buddies when all of this is over.

But that goes to the point we are a nation that routes for recovery and redemption. We are a nation of people who believe in second chances. So I think all of these people who sit in front of TV's for a living need to go in their booed war (ph) and their man cave and look in the mirror and ask themselves, am I rooting for catastrophe.

For death, for dying, for suffering, because I think it might benefit myself somehow. And I might have more power, because I think they need a real hard check and a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves at the end of the day, do I just need to shut up?

GUTFELD: Yeah. You know, Juan, you are a God-fearing man. You go to mass every Sunday. I am not. I am an agnostic. I reflect probably more of the media than you do in that sense. Does it bother you when you see that they kind of look down their noses at somebody for being -- from openly talking about God and the bible?

WILLIAMS: Yeah, it sure would because they'd be looking down at me.

GUTFELD: Yes.

WILLIAMS: But I didn't take it the way that you did, though. I saw it as people saying that Mike Lindell stood up there and he started making political statements about, like, divine intervention in November of 2016 when Trump won. So he turned into something of a political rally when it was intended to be a briefing for the American people on the Coronavirus.

I think President Trump even said, you know, I'm surprised he said that, signaling to me that he didn't set it up. I don't know. But it didn't seem appropriate, I guess, to the president even. My bigger point though in regard to, you know, the Chuck Todd thing is I think that you're right in that was a divisive kind of statement. It wasn't about insider information.

It was about setting up a fight. Let me hold your jacket while you two go, you know, head-to-head. I didn't think that was right. But I do think that if it's about the question of mobilization right now, you know, America is mobilized for action in dealing with this virus. If that's the right response now, why can't you say, hey, that would have been the right response earlier?

It would've been the right response a month ago. So, to me, if that's the direction of the journalist, Chuck Todd, going there, I would say that's informational. That's legitimate. Let's just look at where we are, what we are doing. But setting up a phoney fight and even, as you heard Former Vice President Biden, he said, hey, I wouldn't say that. That's too harsh. That's too far.

GUTFELD: I think -- the problem with that question about questioning how fast one should do something can be applied to every single good thing in life, because every single good thing in life could be started sooner, but that -- we'll save that. Dana, I keep hearing a train. Is that in your town in the background?

PERINO: Can you hear it?

GUTFELD: I can hear the train.

PERINO: I was worried you would think it was my stomach.

(CROSSTALK)

GUTFELD: I can recognize that New Jersey train anywhere, because I've been there. I know the train. It's your backyard.

PERINO: Yes. It came by yesterday, too. So I would say three things. I remember when I was Press Secretary. There was one network news reporter. I'm not going to name him. And I remember as the Deputy Press Secretary one time being in the room where they were all watching this on the screen where president was giving a speech. And at the end of the speech, the president said may God bless you, may God bless America.

And this reporter slammed his hands on the table and said I can't stand it. I can't take it anymore, all this God talk. And he was, like, screaming this in the room. And I was just shocked. But then I realized. They would make fun of George W. Bush for being a faithful person all the time. The second thing I would say is asking a question of blood on your hands is a real clichAc.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: It's just like -- it's sort of when somebody says how would you -- what grade would you give yourself for the Coronavirus? Like, those questions to me are so lazy.

GUTFELD: Yeah.

PERINO: But also, let's say something nice about Joe Biden who didn't take the bait and who said, no, I think that's a little too harsh. I mean, that was very statesmanlike, and he should get some credit for that.

GUTFELD: You know, the only person you could -- I probably ask, you know, do you have blood on your hands is OJ Simpson, right? I mean, because it is so --

WATTERS: Not to his face.

GUTFELD: Not to his face. And if he is holding a knife, run.

PERINO: Greg, let me ask you.

GUTFELD: Yes.

PERINO: Do you think any of these reporters would ask President Xi that same question?

GUTFELD: Probably not. That is a good question. But, you know, I can't read minds. But yeah, I think it's just -- it's one of those fallback questions that we should just get rid of it. It's only --

(CROSSTALK)

PERINO: That -- denigrating question out.

GUTFELD: Jesse, your turn.

WATTERS: You know --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: But this is Meet the Press. I don't think Chuck has the chops to host that show. But regardless, the White House Corona task force --

(CROSSTALK)

WATTERS: -- to brief very soon and we're going to wait for that. And people who don't practice social distancing could end up behind bars, the mayor of Washington, D.C. threatening 90 days in jail for residents who violate her stay-at-home order. Offenders could also be facing a hefty $5,000 fine. The mayor now backtracking a little bit says he would enforce that order with a heavy hand.

And take a look at this scene coming out of LA, a huge line of police officers were forced to break up a birthday party for a one-year-old, because around 40 people attended. No one was arrested in that city's attempt to enforce a stay-at-home order. Juan, these governors or these local officials, they have a lot of power in a time like this.

Some are using it smartly. Some are using it a little heavy-handedly, but it's all on them. How do you think it's shaking out across the country?

WILLIAMS: Well, this is my personal experience, Jesse, because I'm in D.C. And so last night when I went for a walk with my wife, I went down by the local recreation center. And there was a guard standing by the tennis courts, by the basketball courts, and the swimming arena there. Keeping people out, telling people you can't play tennis. You can't get on the basketball court, a guard.

I was like, I've never seen anything like this. But what's good about this is that there's coordination.

So you have Ralph Northam who's the governor in neighboring Virginia, you have Larry Hogan, who's the governor, neighboring Maryland, all issuing stay at home orders. Now the mayor, as you said, in D.C. walked it back a little bit and says, we're not trying to put people in jail, but we want to make sure they get the message that right now social distancing is helping us, is helping America to slow the rate -- the rate of this virus spreading. So I think that's pretty good.

WATTERS: OK, we're going to take you guys live in White House where the president is briefing the nation on coronavirus.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our country is in the midst of a great national trial unlike any we have ever faced before. You will see it -- you see it probably better than most. We're at war with a deadly virus. Success in this fight will require the full, absolute measure of our collective strength, love, and devotion. It's very important.

Each of us has the power through our own choices and actions to save American lives and rescue the most vulnerable among us. That's why we really have to do what we all know is right. Every citizen is being called upon to make sacrifices. Every business is being asked to fulfill its patriotic duty. Every community is making fundamental changes to how we live, work and interact each and every day.

And I wouldn't be surprised to see this going on long into the future when this virus has gone faded. Some of the things we're doing now will be very good practice for the future, including for not getting the flu which is very devastating also. So some of what we're learning now will live on into the future. I really believe that. Shaking hands or not shaking hands, washing hands all the time, staying a little apart.

15 days ago, we published nationwide guidelines to slow the spread of the virus. on Sunday, I announced that this campaign will be extended until April 30th. In a few moments, Dr. Birx will explain the data that formed the basis for our decision to extend the guidelines and Dr. Fauci will explain why it's absolutely critical for the American people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days. It's a matter of life and death, frankly. It's a matter of life and death.

I know our citizens will rise to the occasion and they already have sacrificed a lot. We had the greatest economy in the history of our country. We're the greatest economy in the world. We had the best unemployment numbers and employment numbers that we've ever had by far. And in one instant, we said, we have no choice but to close it up. Just as Americans have always done, they will do a job like few have seen before, and they're proud to do it and I see that. There's a great pride going on right now.

Before we hear from our experts, we have a few other announcements. Today, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration announced further details on the Paycheck Protection Program, which was made possible by the $2 trillion relief bill I signed into law last week. Nearly 350 billion dollars in loans will soon be available through lending partners to help small businesses meet payroll and other expenses for up to two months.

These loans will be forgiven as long as businesses keep paying their workers. This includes sole proprietors and independent contractors. Applications will be accepted starting this Friday, April 3rd. So, on Friday, April 3rd, that's when it begins.

Earlier today I spoke with leading internet and phone providers who are doing a tremendous job of keeping our internet and lines of communication flowing under very strongly increased strain, the businesses more than anybody has seen before because everyone's inside. They're all making calls.

Among the leaders I spoke to were Hans Vestberg of Verizon Communications, Randall Stephenson of AT&T, Mike Sievert of T Mobile, Thomas Rutledge of Charter Communications, Brian Roberts of Comcast, John Malone of Liberty Media, Dexter Goei of Altice, Michel Combes of Sprint, and Aryeh Bourkoff of LionTree. Also, Pat Esser of Cox Communications and Jeffrey Storey of CenturyLink. They're doing an incredible job.

If you look at other continents, if you look at Europe, they went a different route than we did and much different route. We were talking about that just a little while ago. And they're having tremendous problems. Other countries are having problems, other continents are having problems. But with business at a level that nobody's seen it before, on the internet, it's holding up incredibly well. And they expect that to continue no matter what happened. And no matter how much more gains which have, it can gain more than it already is. I don't because this setting records.

Let me also update you on the distribution of urgency needed resources and supplies. And we have a lot of numbers. I'm going to let Mike Pence speak to that in a little while. But we're giving massive amounts of medical equipment and supplies to the 50 states. We also are holding back quite a bit. We have almost 10,000 ventilators that we have ready to go.

We have to hold them back because the surge is coming and it's coming pretty strong. And we want to be able to immediately move it into place without going and taking it. So we're ready to go. And we've also distributed. I just spoke with Governor of Michigan, had a great conversation and we sent a large number of ventilators to Michigan. We're sending them to Louisiana. We send additional ventilators to New York, additional ventilators to New Jersey.

And I will say in New York, FEMA is supplying 250 ambulances and 500 EMTs to help respond to the increasing caseload. That's a lot of ambulances. In California, the Army Corps of Engineers is developing eight facilities to expand hospital capacity up to 50,000 beds, 50,000. And I had a great conversation last night with Gavin Newsom. He's doing -- he's doing a really good job. We were in constant communications.

The USNS Mercy Hospital ship is now operational. It's in Los Angeles and receiving patients. And in New York, as you know, the Comfort, everybody wants that. It's in place and will be very short while receiving large numbers of patients, over 1,000 rooms and 12 operating rooms.

FEMA has also provided 100 travel trailers to assist with housing needs and we're ordering hundreds more in Michigan. FEMA will soon deliver an addition to the ventilators, 250 bed, field hospital and Army Corps of Engineers is evaluating locations to build alternate care facilities. So we're doing a field hospital in Michigan of 250 beds and we may be doubling it up soon, depending on the need. They're doing a good job with beds in Michigan, but they may need more than the 250. So, FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers are prepared to go there quickly and get it done.

In Louisiana, we're delivering to field hospitals to provide 500 new hospital beds. I've been talking with Governor John Bel Edwards and the Army Corps of Engineers has been really doing incredible work establishing 3,000-bed alternate care site at the New Orleans Convention Center, which will be operational, believe it or not, this week.

So we're doing the 3,000-bed alternate care site and we're also doing a 500-bed new hospital. And that's in Louisiana, which really got hit. It started very late and it was looking good and then all of a sudden it just reared up. It came from nowhere.

In addition to the supplies we're delivering, we're also giving hospitals the flexibility to use new facilities including surgical care centers to care for hospital patients who are not infected. For example, I know that many expectant mothers are understandably concerned about exposing their newborn babies to the virus and they should be. With our action yesterday, hospitals now have the authority to create special areas for mothers to deliver their babies in a very safe and healthy environment, totally separate.

Over the past few months, the U.S. State Department has organized one of the largest and most complex international evacuation operations in American history. Mike Pompeo has been working round the clock along with Ambassador O'Brien. Since January 29th, we have successfully repatriated over 25,000 Americans from more than 50 countries where they were literally stuck in some cases, locked in.

And I salute the incredible public servants at the Department of State as well as their counterparts at DHS and HHS, who have played such an important role in doing this. You probably read about the young people in Peru and young people in Brazil, and they were absolutely stuck and we got them out, got them -- almost everybody is out now, back home with their parents, their wives, their husbands.

I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We're going to go through a very tough two weeks. And then hopefully, as the experts are predicting, as I think a lot of us are predicting, after having studied so hard, you're going to start seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel. But this is going to be a very painful, very, very painful two weeks.

When you look and see a knife, the kind of death that's been caused by this invisible enemy, it's incredible. I was watching last night, Governor Murphy of New Jersey say 29 people died today, meaning yesterday, and others talking about numbers far greater. But you get to know a state, I know New Jersey so well, and you had 29 people, and hundreds and other locations, hundreds and other states. And this is going to be a rough two- week period.

As a nation, we face difficult few weeks, as we approach that really important day when we're going to see things get better all of a sudden, and it's going to be like a burst of light. I really think and I hope our strength will be tested and our endurance will be tried, but America will answer with love and courage and ironclad resolve. This is the time for all Americans to come together and do our part.

I appreciate a lot of the media. We've had a lot of really good things said. I think only good things can be said when you look at the job that's been done. I've just spoke with Franklin Graham was an extraordinary person and Samaritan's purse has been, like so many others just been amazing and so fast. They did it so fast. He's been doing that for a long time, but I think people are really seeing what they have done. Franklin Graham, very special family.

As we send planeloads of masks and gloves and supplies to the communities battling the plague -- and that's what it is, this is a plague -- we also send our prayers. We pray for the doctors and the nurses, for the paramedics, and the truck drivers, and the police officers, and the sanitation workers, and above all the people fighting for their lives in New York, and all across our land.

I watched as doctors and nurses went into a certain Hospital in Elmhurst this morning. I know Elmhurst, Queens. That's -- I grew up right next to it. I know the hospital very well. I've been seeing it all my life, my young life. And I will tell you that to see the scenes of trailers out there and what they're doing with those trailers, their freezers, and nobody could even believe it. And I spoke to some of my friends, they can't believe what they're seeing.

And I watched the doctors and the nurses walking into that hospital this morning. It's like military people going into battle going into war. The bravery is incredible. And I just have to take my hat. I would take my hat. If I were wearing a hat, I grip that hat off so fast that I would say you people are just incredible. They really are. They're very brave. They're going in, and they don't know, you have -- you have lots of things flying around in the air. You don't know what you're touching, is it safe.

And you also see where you have friends that go into the hospital and you say how is he doing, two days later and they say, sir, he's unconscious or he's in a coma. So things are happening that we've never seen before in this country. And with all of that being said, the country has come together like I've never seen it before. And we will prevail, we will win, and hopefully, it will be in a relatively short period of time.

With that, I'd like to ask Dr. Birx to come up and show you some of the latest -- the data that has been I think brilliantly put together. And right after that, I'm going to ask Dr. Fauci to speak. And Mike Pence is going to give you some of the recent events that have taken place and some of the statistics that we have that I think will be very interesting. Thank you very much. Please.

DEBORAH BIRX, CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE: Thank you, Mr. President. If I can have the first slide, please. So always, and that's what this slide is labeled is goals of community mitigation, really highlighting that this begins in the middle in the end with community, this community and the community of the American people that are going to have to do the things for the next 30 days to make a difference.

I think you know, from that large blue mountain that you can see behind me -- and I just want to thank the five or six international and domestic modelers from Harvard, from Columbia, from Northeastern, from Imperial, who helped us tremendously. It was their models that created the ability to see what these mitigations could do, how steeply they could depress the curve from that giant blue mountain, down to that more stippled area.

In their estimates, they had between 1.5 million and 2.2 million people in the United States succumbing to this virus without mitigation. Yet through their detailed studies and showing us what social distancing would do, what people -- what would happen if people stayed home, what would happen if people were careful every day to wash their hands, and worry about touching their faces, that what an extraordinary thing this could be if every American followed these. And that takes us to that stippled mountain that's much lower a hill actually down to 100,000 to 200,000 deaths, which is still way too much. Next slide, please.

Simultaneously, there was a map modeler out of the University of Washington that model from cases up utilizing the experience around the globe to really Understand how this information that we have from Italy, and Spain, and South Korea, and China could really help us give insight into the hospital needs, the ventilator needs, and really the number of people who potentially could succumb to this illness.

It is this model that we are looking at now that provides us the most detail of the time course that is possible, but this model assumes full mitigation. It's informed every morning or every night by the reality on the ground coming in from New York, New Jersey, and around the United States, and is modeled and informed every morning so that it is adjusted, so it is up to date every day.

This is the model of the predicted fatalities and mortality in the United States. And as the President said, it's very much focused on the next two weeks and the stark reality of what this virus will do as it moves through communities. Next slide, please.

But this is a slide that gives us great hope and understanding about what is possible. On the bottom of the slide where you can barely see that blue line at the very bottom. That's the current cases in California, the cumulative cases in California, where they're doing significant testing. The next line up is Connecticut. The orange line is New Jersey. The blue line is New York. The yellow line is Washington.

We all remember Washington state it was just a month ago, when they started to have the issues in Washington State, but they brought together their communities and their health providers, and they put in strong mitigation, methods, and testing. And you can see what the result in Washington State and California is. But without the continuation for the next 30 days, anything could change. Next slide, please.

So, I'm sure you're interested in seeing all the states. So, on this slide is all 50 states and the District of Columbia. But I think it shows in stark reality, the difference between New York and New Jersey and other states with similar populations and urban areas. Our goal over the next 30 days is to ensure the states that you see the 48 across the bottom, maintain this lower level of new cases, with the hope that we don't have significant outbreaks in other states and other metro areas.

As the community comes together to work together and ensure that the health care providers around the globe and in the United States are strengthened by are resolved to continue to mitigate community by community. This is done community by community. We all know people are in their states and in their communities. And we're very dependent on each person in the United States doing the same thing, following the presidential guidelines to a tee. I know it's a lot to ask because you've done it for 15 days.

So if you can show the next slide, please. So this is what gives us a lot of hope. This is the case finding in Italy. And you can see that they're beginning to turn the corner in new cases. They're entering their fourth week of full mitigation, and showing what is possible when we work together as a community, as a country to change the course of this pandemic together.

It is this graphic and the graphic of many of the states that gives us hope of what is possible with continuing for another 30 days. Amidst all that hope, I must say that like we warned about Detroit and Chicago, we start to see changes in Massachusetts, New Orleans continues to be a problem of new cases, although they're stabilizing.

And I think it really shows the depth of dedication of the American people to the healthcare providers, because they can see the strain that this puts on every nurse doctor, respiratory therapist, pharmacists and laboratory technician that's working together to stem this tide of unrelenting sick people coming to their doors.

No one has been turned away. No one who has needed ventilation has not received ventilation. But you can see how stressful it is for each of them. So I know it's stressful to follow the guidelines. But it is more stressful and more difficult to the soldiers on the front line. As we started and we will end with its communities that will do this, there's no magic bullet. There's no magic vaccine or therapy. It's just behaviors, each of our behaviors, translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic over the next 30 days. Thank you.

ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Thank you very much, Dr. Birx, Mr. President, Mr. Vice-President. So, what Dr. Birx has really said very simply is that there are really two dynamic forces that are opposing each other here. As I've mentioned several times in our briefings, the virus, if left to its own devices, will do that dark curve that Dr. Birx showed you.

The other dynamic force is what we are doing, what we're trying to do, and what we will do in the form of mitigation. Now, these are very revealing bits of data because you saw what happened in Italy where you made turn around the curve and you go. That doesn't happen all at once. It's a stepwise fashion. And if I explain the steps, which I will, you'll see why we are really convinced that mitigation is going to be doing the trick for us.

Because what you have is you have increased in new cases, at a certain rate. When the increase in new cases begin to level off, the secondary effect is less hospitalizations. The next effect is less intensive care. And the next effect is less deaths. The deaths and the intensive care and the hospitalization always lag behind that early indication that there are less new cases per day, the way we saw in Italy. And the way we're likely seeing -- I don't want to jump the gun on it. We're seeing little inklings of this right now in New York.

So what we're going to see -- and thus, we got to brace ourselves. In the next several days to a week or so, we're going to continue to see things go up. We cannot be discouraged by that because the mitigation is actually working and will work. The slide that Dr. Birx showed where you saw New York, and New Jersey, and then the cluster of other areas, our goal, which I believe we can accomplish, is to get the hotspot places the New York's, the New Jersey, and help them to get around that curve, but as importantly, to prevent those clusters of areas that have not yet gone to that spike, to prevent them from getting that spike. And the answer to that is mitigation.

Now, the 15 days that we had of mitigation, clearly have had an effect, although it's tough to quantitate it because of those two opposing forces. But the reason why we feel so strongly about the necessity of the additional 30 days is that now is the time, whenever you're having an effect, not to take your foot off the accelerator and on the brake, but to just press it down on the accelerator. And that's what I hope and I know that we can do over the next 30 days.

And as I said the other day and on one of the -- one of the interviews, we are a very strong and resilient nation. If you look at our history, we've been through some terrible ordeals. This is tough. People are suffering, people are dying. It's inconvenient from a societal standpoint, from an economic standpoint to go through this, but this is going to be the answer to our problems. So let's all pull together and make sure as we look forward to the next 30 days, we do it with all the intensity and force that we can. Thank you.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you Mr. President. And to Dr. Birx, and Dr. Fauci, I know I speak on behalf of the President and people all across this country when I express our great admiration and appreciation to both of you for helping to steer our nation through this challenging time.

The American people have now seen what the President saw when he made the decision at the end of 15 days to slow the spread, to ask the American people to give us 30 more days to continue to put into practice the President's coronavirus guidelines for America. And as you just heard from the experts, we have reason to believe that it's working. As Dr. Fauci just said, there are difficult days ahead. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the families that have lost loved ones. And those as the president just reflected who we know are struggling at this hour in hospitals across the nation.

But to each and every one of us, do not be discouraged, because what you can do to protect your health, the health of your family, what you can do to ensure that are our health care providers have the resources and our hospitals have the capacity to meet this moment is put into practice the President's coronavirus guidelines for America. It really is what every American can do, 30 days to slow the spread, 30 days to make a difference in the lives of the American people, American families, and the life of our nation.

Allow me to give you a few brief updates before the President takes questions. First and foremost, we continue to work very closely with governors around the nation. The President I spoke to all the governors all the states and territories yesterday. And since we were last together, the President and I have spoken directly to several governors around the country including Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, and other states.

At the present moment, the President has declared 29 major disaster declarations and authorized ten different states to use full federal funding, so-called Title 32 funding to pay for their National Guard. And as of this afternoon, FEMA reports some 17,000 National Guard have been activated in states around the country to provide support for coronavirus response.

On the subject of testing, we have now completed more than 1.1 million tests around the country. We're working very closely with governors around America to assist them in drive-thru and community testing centers. I spoke with Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois today about a testing center that they've established in cooperation with the U.S. public health service.

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