Trump says coronavirus vaccine coming along 'rapidly,' appoints Pence to head task force
It’s great to see Trump unlike the opposition in Congress remain calm and take a measured ad real response to this issue and problem. VP Pence will do a great job in leading to a solution to this problem.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
As Americans' fears grow of a possible coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., President Trump was addressing the nation in a Wednesday evening news conference at the White House to discuss how his administration was handling the virus threat -- saying that a vaccine is being developed "rapidly" and "coming along very well."
However, Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said later at the press conference that a vaccine would not be applicable to the epidemic for a "year to a year-and-a-half," due to delays from testing, development, production, and distribution.
Trump also hit back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, calling her "incompetent" after she challenged his response to the virus. "I think she's not thinking about the country; instead of making a statement like that, where I've been beating her routinely at everything ... she should be saying we should work together," Trump said.
The president announced he was putting Vice President Mike Pence "in charge" of coronavirus prevention efforts, effective immediately. The White House had reportedly considered naming a virus czar to be the point person on the disease.
"Because of all we've done, the risk to the American people remains very low," Trump said. "We're ready to adapt, and we're ready to do whatever we have to."
The president revealed that of the "15" Americans confirmed to have the virus, eight have "returned to their homes to stay in their homes until fully recovered, one is in the hospital, and five have fully recovered; and one is, uh, we think in pretty good shape, and is in between hospital and going home." Trump later said the person was "pretty sick and hopefully will recover."
So far, there have been 60 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. in total. That figure includes individuals who have been repatriated to the United States, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar later clarified at the podium. 15 people were in the initial set of cases, three came more from evacuation flights, and 42 from the Diamond Princess ship that was quarantined by Japanese health authorities earlier this month.
Azar warned that the "degree of risk has the potential to change quickly."
Even as he reassured Americans that "great quarantine facilities" have been set up, Trump noted that the scale of the virus has been somewhat misrepresentated. He said he was "shocked" and "amazed" when he spoke to medical experts to hear that the flu kills from 25,000 to 69,000 people per year. By contrast, only 2,700 people globally have been confirmed killed by coronavirus, although China and other countries are likely not reporting accurate numbers.
"We're ready to adapt, and we're ready to do whatever we have to." — President Trump
The U.S. is the most prepared country in the world to handle an epidemic, Trump said, citing Johns Hopkins University.
Separately, Trump said the stock market was foundering "because of this," but also in part because the public is worried one of the Democrats running for president might win and impose socialist policies.
Earlier in the day, after two days of the stock market tumbling, Trump blamed the media and Democrats for causing undue alarm and harming American financial markets. On Twitter, he singled out MSNBC and CNN for “doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible."
"Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action," Trump continued. "USA in great shape!
In advance of his primetime address, Trump played down the mortality rate for a pathogen. His top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, echoed Trump’s outlook, saying Tuesday that the U.S. had “contained” the threat of a domestic outbreak. Trump's and Kudlow’s comments were apparently at odds with warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials who said that American communities need to prepare now for when the disease starts spreading domestically.
But reports in South Korean media and the Los Angeles Times said a Korean Air cabin crew member who tested positive for the disease may have worked on flights between Seoul and Los Angeles -- a development that could have exposed Americans and people coming into America to the virus that takes up to 14 days after exposure to trigger symptoms, according to the CDC .
On Capitol Hill, senior lawmakers called for a bipartisan spending package that would give federal, state and local officials more resources. Congress in recent years took a similar approach with the opioid epidemic, pumping out federal dollars for treatment and prevention. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York unveiled an $8.5 billion coronavirus proposal.
James Denaro monitors stock prices at the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Democrats did not mince words on the matter. "The Trump administration is absolutely bungling the response to coronavirus, putting our public health and our economy at risk," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said earlier this week. "This is why we need a real plan and an adult in charge."
“Trump is putting American lives at risk every day, ignoring science, claiming the virus will ‘miraculously’ disappear by April and relying on ‘warm weather’ to end the spread of the virus,” presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s campaign said in a press release. “It is clearer than ever that the country needs a leader with real experience managing a crisis.”
There have been renewed signs that the economy will continue to be affected internationally. Microsoft on Wednesday its supply chain is being hurt by the virus outbreak in China and the company will return to normal operations at a slower pace than expected.
The tech giant had predicted it would make between $10.75 billion and $11.15 billion in revenue from its personal computing segment in the January-March quarter. But Microsoft now says the supply chain for its Windows business and Surface devices “are more negatively impacted than previously anticipated.”
And last week, Apple warned investors that it won’t meet its second-quarter financial guidance because the viral outbreak in China has cut production of iPhones. The Cupertino, California-based company said all of its iPhone manufacturing facilities in China have reopened, but production is ramping up slowly. The company said demand for iPhones was also down in China because Apple's retail stores are closed or operating with reduced hours.
Broadly, major U.S. stock indexes gave up early gains and closed mostly lower Wednesday, extending the market’s heavy losses for the week. The benchmark S&P 500 fell for the fifth straight day after swinging between a 0.6 percent loss and 1.7 percent gain. Smaller company stocks bore the brunt of the selling. The bond market continued to flash warning signs as long-term Treasury yields fell further below short-term yields.
Worry about economic fallout from the virus outbreak that originated in China has fueled a sharp sell-off this week that’s wiped out the market's gains for the year.
“The messaging by the White House is unhelpful,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University. “What the White House is doing is conveying a sense of overconfidence. ... Of course, we do want to maintain calm with the public, but it flies in the face of facts. There is strong likelihood that we will see an outbreak in the United States and that we could see community transmission."
Trump's public efforts to project calm masked a behind-the-scenes focus. During his 36-hour visit to India, Trump received briefings from staff and periodically checked the impact on Wall Street, tweeting at all hours to try to reassure Americans and the markets about the spread of the virus.
President Donald Trump, and first lady Melania Trump, step off Air Force One upon arrival, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. Trump is returning from India. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump reportedly expressed deep concern to aides about the impact on the markets, according to White House officials and Republicans close to the West Wing. Trump has tied his fortunes to Wall Street more closely than any of his recent predecessors and has made a strong economy his No. 1 one argument for reelection.
As the media coverage of the virus has increased, Trump has grown concerned that even fears of an outbreak would stagger Wall Street, leading him to wonder aloud if Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was the right person to lead the administration’s response, the officials said.
“Americans want to see their president taking charge and showing leadership, and that is exactly what President Trump is doing," said Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany. “In restricting travel and implementing quarantines, President Trump has taken unprecedented action to protect American citizens from the coronavirus.”
Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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I have no reason to believe anything coming from Trump, who lies about all things, big and small.
Why did Crooked donnie do this...because he is incompetent, so now he puts Pence in charge who is just as incompetent.
Didn't Crooked donnie also say that this would be gone by April....he is a complete and utter moron
Donald Trump : Trump, Feb. 10: “And by the way, the virus. … It looks like by April, you know in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away — I hope that’s true. But we’re doing great in our country. ”
This is going to be completely worth whatever punishment comes my way:
President Donald Trump’s decision to task Mike Pence with heading up the federal government’s coronavirus response triggered an immediate backlash as critics noted the vice president’s record of doubting scientific evidence and his role in exacerbating an HIV outbreak in Indiana while he was governor.
Trump said Pence has “a certain talent for this” and specifically cited the “Indiana model” in the Wednesday evening press conference where he named his VP to run the coronavirus response. But as this extensive New York Times report detailed in 2016, the staunch conservative Pence’s health policies helped ignite a massive public health crisis in his state when he shut down a needle exchange program that had severely curtailed the spread of HIV. Virus infection rates exploded, and Pence — two days after he said he would pray on the matter — relented and reinstated the program.
Pence, who was once a conservative talk-radio star, also has a track record of questioning science , as when he wrote an op-ed in 2000 falsely claiming “smoking doesn’t kill,” decades after numerous academic studies and health research had linked smoking to higher rates of mortality.
That background prompted a number of politicians and public figures express both dismay and alarm at Pence’s role in leading the country’s response to a potential pandemic. Joining the backlash to Trump’s choice of Pence was Democratic primary frontrunner, Sen. Bernie Sanders .
Having someone who doesnt believe in science as the head of a committee to combat a transmittable disease is just bizarre.
Pence will just tell everyone to pray it away....crooked donnie is a fucktard
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100 million Chinese quarantining " in place".
>poof< / >poof<......... create enough vaccine to save the chinese population and then hold it while all trade policies are renegotiated and US debt to china is totally cancelled.
tots and pears will cure everything
How does wishing someone get, what Mr. Trump and Mr. Limbaugh contest is a common cold,
with a 98% survival rate, death wishing?
I wouldn't mind knowing the answer to that, myself.
... that fact is lost on the room temperature IQ crowd of sycophants that have claimed a potential worldwide pandemic is now somehow a left wing conspiracy, according to the propagandists that litter conservative AM radio like a constipated dog that was just fed a laxative before being turned loose in a dog park.
>poof< / >poof< / >poof< - gee, that has to be a NT record.
derp
It was reported today that Trump wants to take $37 million from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program to use for the Coronaviris response.
Maybe firing the Pandemic Response Team wasn't such a good idea after all. Who woulda thunk?
With all the outrage, you'd think we were piling bodies up in the streets.
While all of you are discussing this, I'm LIVING it. The only thing I ask is that you don't pay attention to the bullshit rumours, false news and misinformation about what is happening. I've heard stories as far fetched as 60,000 dead,the virus was created in a lab and released in Hong Kong to stop the rioting, and the winner was that weed will cure the virus. Get your info from WHO and the CDC - they're the only sources that are reliable.
patience. the US will develop a vaccine and leave the formula where the chinese can easily steal it.
Do you use a fork to eat? Ever write anything on paper? Light off fireworks or fly a kite for your kids to enjoy? Did you know that those were all inventions stolen from the Chinese?
I don't need your vicious comments..
Why do you care?
... maybe they should have filed US patents on those things. got anything else they've done in the last 500 years?
I care because I'm married to a Chinese woman whose whole extended family are good and respectful people and I resent Chinese people being insulted, especially by someone whose comments are usually disrespectful.
So why do YOU care?
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bwah ha ha, I crack myself up.
us? got a frog in your pocket?
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He should have appointed Hillary. She did such a great job when Bill put her in charge of healthcare reform.
at her age she probably won't live long enough to be villainized for another 30 years by those that have been bought and paid for by the medical insurance industry.
thrilled, since it's a premium plan that I don't have to pay for. I love how rightwing created corporate tax law shell games work. my CPA is a republican crook, just like your hero.
villainized
huh? oops, vilified. I'm slipping.
it may be time for me to register as a republican, hump a playboy bunny, get a twitter account, stiff a few contractors, declare bankruptcy several times, get sued a couple thousand times, scam some veterans, and then run for a national political office.
that sounds like a nice big google research project for anyone that constantly demands proof, yet never provides any for others when asked.
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I'm in none of those professions. construction is my primary field of expertise.