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Coronavirus US live: Trump says country will reopen 'sooner than people think' Coronavirus US live: Trump says country will reopen 'sooner than people think'
(32 minutes later)
President strikes optimistic tone at press conference as he hails Boris JohnsonPresident strikes optimistic tone at press conference as he hails Boris Johnson
A useful fact check on Trump’s attempt to draw a comparison between his handling of Covid-19 and the Obama administration’s handling of H1N1:
Trump took a break from discussing Covid-19 to share misleading assertions about undocumented immigrants, raising concerns about “criminals” in sanctuary cities. There is no evidence that sanctuary policies meant to protect undocumented people are linked to crime.
Fact check: Trump is again spreading the falsehood that Covid-19 is a “virus that nobody ever thought possible”.
An October 2019 draft report by the Department of Health and Human Services, obtained by the New York Times “drove home just how underfunded, underprepared and uncoordinated the federal government would be for a life-or-death battle with a virus for which no treatment existed”.
The exact language of a question that Trump called “horrid”:
The president told reporters today they should be offering him “congratulations”.
Dr Birx made her first comments of today’s briefing, urging Americans to limit trips to the grocery store and pharmacy as much as possible, suggesting one family member do the shopping and go once every two weeks. In states that are bracing for the worst this week, officials have urged residents to completely stay home and avoid stores altogether if they have the supplies they need.
The president has attacked governors, again, returning to his refrain that they are kind to him in private and then complain about him to the media. This time, he also criticizes one governor as a “Rino”, which means “Republican in name only”.
Governors across the country have repeatedly raised concerns about the lack of ventilators and unsuccessfully sought the federal government’s help.
The Guardian’s Kenya Evelyn has additional context on Trump’s attack on the inspector general:
Trump has called Christi Grimm, inspector general for the department of health and human services, biased, citing her nomination under the Obama administration. The office of inspector general is a generic term for the oversight division of every federal agency, or essentially the watchdog of the government. Since its goal is to investigate the government to prevent inefficiency or fraud, it’s by default non-partisan. IG reports have often scolded administrations in their reviews of protocols and process.
Grimm’s latest report found severe shortages in hospital equipment to combat the virus, based on a survey of nearly 325 hospitals in 46 states.
Fact check on Trump’s claims that nobody thought a pandemic like this would happen:
In fact, the US intelligence community, public health experts and officials in Trump’s own administration had warned for years that the country was at risk from a pandemic, including specific warnings about a coronavirus outbreak.
When this strain of coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2, was identified in Wuhan, China, in early January, health experts immediately cautioned that it could turn into a global health crisis. US agencies were tracking the spread of the virus in China and then other countries, and warned that Chinese officials were minimizing the impact.
“Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were – they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,” an unnamed government official told the Washington Post. “The system was blinking red.”
Trump has gone on a brief tangent about his border wall, praising his progress. Some background from the Guardian’s Nina Lakhani on how construction continues, despite the ongoing pandemic:
Trump has been most bothered today by questions about the damning inspector general report on tests, personally attacking reporters, including:
“You should say congratulations, great job, instead of being so horrid,” and, “I wish we had a fair media in this country and we don’t.”
It’s worth noting that the US initially botched its own attempt at developing a coronavirus test.
Fact check on Trump’s claims that the the US testing is “better” than any other country in the world.Fact check on Trump’s claims that the the US testing is “better” than any other country in the world.
In fact, some of the initial coronavirus tests sent out to states were seriously flawed – some did not even work. Part of the problem came from the CDC insisting it would manufacture the tests itself.In fact, some of the initial coronavirus tests sent out to states were seriously flawed – some did not even work. Part of the problem came from the CDC insisting it would manufacture the tests itself.
Other countries – after their first coronavirus case – swiftly asked private companies to develop their own tests. South Korea, which recorded its first case on the same day as the US, did so within a weekOther countries – after their first coronavirus case – swiftly asked private companies to develop their own tests. South Korea, which recorded its first case on the same day as the US, did so within a week
The US only allowed laboratories and hospitals to conduct their own tests on February 29, almost six weeks after the first case was confirmed. The US only allowed laboratories and hospitals to conduct their own tests on 29 February, almost six weeks after the first case was confirmed.
“The federal agency shunned the World Health Organization test guidelines used by other countries and set out to create a more complicated test of its own that could identify a range of similar viruses,” ProPublica reported.“The federal agency shunned the World Health Organization test guidelines used by other countries and set out to create a more complicated test of its own that could identify a range of similar viruses,” ProPublica reported.
Trump has repeatedly dodged questions about the inspector general report out today that said hospitals have not had access to the tests they need. Trump has interrupted questions about it, asking for the name of the inspector general and date of appointment. The president has attempted to suggest, without evidence, that the inspector general behind the report is politically motivated against Trump.Trump has repeatedly dodged questions about the inspector general report out today that said hospitals have not had access to the tests they need. Trump has interrupted questions about it, asking for the name of the inspector general and date of appointment. The president has attempted to suggest, without evidence, that the inspector general behind the report is politically motivated against Trump.
Trump has repeatedly asked a reporter whether she is employed by “China”, saying, “Who do you work for? China.” When the reporter says she works for a private company based in Hong Kong, he says, “Good.”Trump has repeatedly asked a reporter whether she is employed by “China”, saying, “Who do you work for? China.” When the reporter says she works for a private company based in Hong Kong, he says, “Good.”
Here’s Trump on Boris Johnson:Here’s Trump on Boris Johnson:
And more here:And more here:
Asked about his suggestion last week that he was looking at travel restrictions around hotspots, Trump suggests he’s not planning to do that:Asked about his suggestion last week that he was looking at travel restrictions around hotspots, Trump suggests he’s not planning to do that:
Asked about Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 strategy and whether he “downplayed” it, Trump says:Asked about Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 strategy and whether he “downplayed” it, Trump says:
Trump was asked for more details on the medicines he said he had sent to Boris Johnson’s doctors, but he gives few more details, and does not name the companies involved:
Whether the US can reopen by 30 April, Trump declines to directly respond, but says, “We certainly want to try.” He also says the US “can get more than back to normal on the economic side”.
Dr Fauci strikes a different tone, saying, “We will go back gradually ... if you want to get to pre-coronavirus, that might not ever happen.” He expresses optimism about the vaccine.
Asked about the states that don’t have stay at home orders, Trump says, “We do have a constitutional problem in doing that. I can do it, but ... I would rather have the governors do it and make their own determination.”
Dr Fauci addresses this, saying the states that are holdouts may not have strict orders in place, but are adopting rules that are, in effect, the same.
Asked about details on his conversation with Biden, Trump says:
Fact check from the Guardian’s Kenya Evelyn on Trump’s test claims:
Trump claimed the US tested more people than any country in the world. But it’s unclear how he’s measuring that, whether total cases or per capita basis. While the US has overtaken South Korea in total numbers of coronavirus tests administered, it has conducted fewer tests per capita given the US population is over six times larger.
As of 6 April, the United States, with a population of 329 million, had administered at least 1,917,095 tests, according to the Covid Tracking Project, a group led by Alexis Madrigal, a staff writer for The Atlantic magazine, with more than 100 volunteers that compiles coronavirus testing data from states.
This equates to 582 tests per 100,000 people in the US (with huge variations depending on the county, city and state), compared with 709 tests per 100,000 in South Korea and 600 per 100,000 in Italy.
The US rate of testing has improved markedly in the last few days. On March 31 the rate was just 318 per 100,000.
Trump is now taking questions. First up about Boris Johnson. He says:
“I found Boris to be a fantastic person, a fantastic warm smart guy. He loves his country, you see that. He fought like hell for his country. Intensive care is big stuff, really big stuff...”
When asked about the news of the UK prime minister meant the White House would reconsider its own safety procedures, Trump said: “Mike had his test ... I had my test ... We’re here and here you are.” He said because of “questions like that”, the White House will probably do more tests, which he said are so “quick and easy”.
Trump, who previously said he wanted the country to open by Easter, is again striking an optimistic tone, saying, “We will rise from this crisis with more strength, unity and resolve... We’re going to have a rough week, but there’s tremendous light at the end of the tunnel.
Regarding reopening the country, he said, “It’s going to be sooner than people think.”
Experts have said the crisis will continue for much longer than a week.
Trump says the US has performed 1.79m tests across the US. He’s downplaying the shortage of tests in the country, which has caused major problems. Some background on how the shortage is playing out in California:
Trump took a jab at the Democratic governor JB Pritzker of Illinois, saying, “Governor Pritzker may not be happy when he talks to the press.”
The governor had criticized Trump earlier about his criticisms of states.
Trump on his conversation with Joe Biden today: