This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/apr/10/coronavirus-us-live-donald-trump-reopen-america-may-expert-concerns-latest-news-updates
The article has changed 22 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 10 | Version 11 |
|---|---|
| Coronavirus US live: Trump gives briefing as worldwide death toll passes 100,000 | Coronavirus US live: Trump gives briefing as worldwide death toll passes 100,000 |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Daily press conference begins, with Trump claiming ‘tremendous progress has been made’ while confirmed US cases approach 500,000 | Daily press conference begins, with Trump claiming ‘tremendous progress has been made’ while confirmed US cases approach 500,000 |
| Fact check: More jobs for African Americans since Trump took office | |
| Trump said that African Americans have more jobs under his administration. | |
| Before the pandemic, the unemployment rate was falling overall but increasing for African Americans. For example, in December 2019, the unemployment rate had fallen 3.5% for all Americans and increased to 5.9% for black Americans. So far, the mass layoffs seem to have been proportionally higher for Asians and Hispanics. Last week’s unemployment benefits claims’ figures showed that while whites and blacks saw job loss rates rise at the same pace, the unemployment rate for blacks stood at 6.7% - 65% higher than for whites. | |
| Trump: I’m not determined to open up the US | |
| Asked whether he would open up the US again next month if his advisers presented him with evidence that there would be a dramatic spike of coronavirus cases Trump said he wants to get it open as soon as possible. But he isn’t determined, the president said in response to a question from CNN’s Jim Acosta. | |
| “I do say this Jim: I want to get it open as soon as possible,” Trump said. “I would love to open it. I’m not determined.” | |
| He said that he would unveil a new taskforce of counsel to advise him on dealing with coronavirus and when to reopen the country. He said he would discuss it more next week Trump said it would be bipartisan. | |
| “The one thing I didn’t ask ‘are you a Republican or Democrat’ and I want their views on what they think,” Trump said. | |
| Trump is not backing away from comments he made vowing to look at funding to the World Health Organization. The president said he would discuss it more next week. He also sounded that he was open to cutting funding to the organization. | |
| Surgeon General Adams was asked about urging African Americans to avoid alcohol and tobacco. He said: “If not for yourself, then for your abuela. Do it for your grand-daddy. Do it for your big mama. Do it for your pop-pop.” | |
| Adams was asked if that language was appropriate. He said he felt it was because that’s the language used in his family. | |
| “That was not meant to be offensive. That’s the language that I use and we use,” Adams said. But he added that he would make those recommendations to all American. | |
| “All Americans need to avoid these substances at all times,” Adams said. | |
| Fact check: Testing | Fact check: Testing |
| Trump said “there’s not a lot of issues with testing”... “We’ve done more testing than any country in the world.” | |
| While the US has ramped up testing, it still lags behind other countries, including South Korea and Germany. South Korea has administered 486,003 tests, according to the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With a population of 51.5m, the country has tested about 1 in every 102 people. Germany has done even better, testing every 1 in 63 people. The UK is still way behind, having tested only 1 in 230 people by Wednesday 8 April. | |
| Meanwhile, the United States, with a population of 329 million, has administered at least 2,391,119 tests, according to the Atlantic’s Covid Tracking Project — so the US has tested about 1 in every 138 people. | |
| Epidemiologists prefer to use tests per capita to compare countries: “I think the important clarification is that we should be considering the number of cases per 1 million population and considering a rate of people tested and not the absolute numbers,” Jennifer Horney, founding director of the University of Delaware’s epidemiology program, told CNN. “The absolute number of tests is not very meaningful.” | |
| And despite the increase in testing, backlogs are reported in labs across the country, and many folks with symptoms - including health workers - are still struggling to access tests. | |
| Fact check: testing | |
| Trump bragged about the quality of tests in the US, boasting that “we’ve made the best tests in the world”. | |
| In fact, some of the initial coronavirus tests sent out to states were seriously flawed. Part of the problem came from the CDC shunned the WHO template for tests, and insisted on developing a more complicated version that correctly identified Covid-19, but also flagged other viruses – resulting in false positives. | |
| 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 week. The US only allowed laboratories and hospitals to conduct their own tests on 29 February, almost six weeks after the first case was confirmed. | |
| Trump on warnings about reopening by 1 May: I will certainly listen | |
| Trump was pressed on whether he would heed the warnings of health officials, including some who advise him, as to whether the country could reopen by early May. Trump has reportedly been hoping to see that. At first he digressed. | Trump was pressed on whether he would heed the warnings of health officials, including some who advise him, as to whether the country could reopen by early May. Trump has reportedly been hoping to see that. At first he digressed. |
| “I listen to them about everything,” Trump said. “I have great respect for these people. All of them. | “I listen to them about everything,” Trump said. “I have great respect for these people. All of them. |
| Trump joked: “In fact I told Tony Fauci, why don’t you move to New York, run against AOC, you will win easily. I kid, you know that.” | |
| Asked again he didn’t budge. | Asked again he didn’t budge. |
| “I can only say this: I have tremendous respect for these doctors and we’ve done very well,” Trump said. “I have great respect for these people. I’m never saying bad about these people.” | |
| And then pressed a third time, Trump said: “I will certainly listen. I will certainly listen. There are two sides. Remember, I understand both sides of an argument very well.” | |
| Fact check: oil reserves | Fact check: oil reserves |
| Trump said the US probably has the biggest oil reserves in the world. | Trump said the US probably has the biggest oil reserves in the world. |
| According to the World Population Review, Venezuela has the biggest crude oil reserves, followed by Saudi Arabia, Canada, Iran and Iraq. The US is 11th – sandwiched in between Nigeria and Kazakhstan. | |
| Mike Pence just now just urged churches and other religious “to heed the guidelines” and avoid gatherings of more than 10. | |
| “We’re grateful that so many churches, synagogues, and places of worship have continued to do that,” Pence said. | “We’re grateful that so many churches, synagogues, and places of worship have continued to do that,” Pence said. |
| Some churches and religious locations have held gatherings larger than the recommended guidelines in recent days. | Some churches and religious locations have held gatherings larger than the recommended guidelines in recent days. |
| Factcheck: rate of spread | Factcheck: rate of spread |
| More on Trump’s claim that the rate of the virus spread is slowing down across the country, “without exception”. While the number of confirmed cases and hospital admissions have leveled off or dropped in some states including Louisiana, New York and New Jersey, the number of cases continues to increase in many states including Nebraska, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas and Arizona. | |
| Dr Jerome Adams, the US surgeon general, took the podium. He said that he helped lead a conference call with more than 400 hundred leaders in the African American community to discuss the disproportionate impact of coronavirus on the American minority community. | |
| He ticked off stats of where there is a larger number of African Americans or Hispanics who have the virus. | He ticked off stats of where there is a larger number of African Americans or Hispanics who have the virus. |
| “You’ve heard the stats in New York City, Hispanics represent the majority of deaths,” Adams said, going on to say: “So what’s going on? Well, it’s alarming but it’s not surprising that people of color have a higher burden of chronic health conditions.” | |
| Adams explained that “the chronic burden of medical ills is likely to make people of color” more vulnerable “to the ravages”. | |
| “We tell people to wash their hands, but as studies show, 30% of the homes in Navajao nation don’t have running water,” Adams said. Adams added: “But let me be crystal clear, we do not think people of color are biologically or socially prone to” [getting the disease]. | |
| Fact check: hospital admissions and death rate | Fact check: hospital admissions and death rate |
| Trump claimed that the rate of the virus spread is slowing down across the country, “without exception” and that the death rate in the US was lower than anywhere else in the world. | |
| According to one source, the global death is 13 per million people. | |
| The US death rate is currently 54 per million, much higher than Germany at 31 per million, Portugal at 43 per million and 14 per million in Canada, but lower than Spain, France, Italy and the UK.A few minutes later Dr Deborah Birx said: “We have not reached the peak.” | |
| Trump: the stock market thinks we’ve done well | |
| Trump said that the stock market’s recent swings show that his administration is doing well in responding to the pandemic. | Trump said that the stock market’s recent swings show that his administration is doing well in responding to the pandemic. |
| “In four days, we had the biggest stock market increase that we had in 50 years. That tells you that there’s a pent up demand. They want to get back,” Trump said. “So think of it, in this horrible, dark period where this monster came and worked its horrible horrible spell over the world. | “In four days, we had the biggest stock market increase that we had in 50 years. That tells you that there’s a pent up demand. They want to get back,” Trump said. “So think of it, in this horrible, dark period where this monster came and worked its horrible horrible spell over the world. |
| Trump added: “We’ve done well and I guess the market thinks we’ve done well because had the biggest stock market increase” recently. | |
| Trump once again touted hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus cure. | Trump once again touted hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus cure. |
| In the week beginning 30 March, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug that is also used to treat autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, with an “emergency use authorization” to use on coronavirus patients in some circumstances. | |
| Clinical trials to test the drug’s effectiveness in treating coronavirus have begun across the world, and in the US. However, experts, including US public health officials, have warned that it is too early to know if hydroxychloroquine works. | Clinical trials to test the drug’s effectiveness in treating coronavirus have begun across the world, and in the US. However, experts, including US public health officials, have warned that it is too early to know if hydroxychloroquine works. |
| So far, the evidence that it’s an effective cure for coronavirus is anecdotal and mixed. An initial French study that appeared to have launched the Trump administration’s obsession with the drug has since been discredited. | So far, the evidence that it’s an effective cure for coronavirus is anecdotal and mixed. An initial French study that appeared to have launched the Trump administration’s obsession with the drug has since been discredited. |
| The drug is considered relatively safe for people without an underlying illness, but it’s unclear if it is safe for severely sick Covid-19 patients, who may have incurred organ damage due to the virus. | The drug is considered relatively safe for people without an underlying illness, but it’s unclear if it is safe for severely sick Covid-19 patients, who may have incurred organ damage due to the virus. |
| The surge in demand for the unproven hydroxychloroquine also risks shortages of the drug for those who need it most. It is used to help patients manage the chronic autoimmune disease lupus, but some are already complaining the drug is harder to come by. | The surge in demand for the unproven hydroxychloroquine also risks shortages of the drug for those who need it most. It is used to help patients manage the chronic autoimmune disease lupus, but some are already complaining the drug is harder to come by. |
| Fact check: death toll will be under 100,000 in the US | Fact check: death toll will be under 100,000 in the US |
| Trump said his government’s aggressive strategy had saved “countless lives and that great progress is being made”. He claimed that the final death toll would be substantially under 100,000. | |
| Last week, the Whitehouse taskforce experts estimated the final death toll would likely be between 100,000 and 220,000 based on modelling. | |
| This week, the main model used lowered the estimated expected deaths toll by August to 60,400. But, Dr Anthony Fauci and others have warned that this depends on strict social distancing being implemented for months. | |
| The current death toll stands at 17,831. | The current death toll stands at 17,831. |
| Trump ticked off a number of areas around the country that have seen welcome declines on the coronavirus pandemic. He said: “Detroit has really started to go up and now it is stabilizing.” He said he spoke with Louisiana’s governor, John Bel Edwards, and that New Orleans and the state is less in need of hospital beds. | |
| And in Washington state Trump said: “We’re making enough progress that the governor is able to return an army field hospital so we’re going to take that hospital.” | |
| Fact check: Mexican troops at the border wall | Fact check: Mexican troops at the border wall |
| Trump thanked president of Mexico, Andreés Manuel López Obrador for sending 27,000 troops to the Mexico-US border. | |
| Fact: in January Amlo announced that 15,000 military and national guard would be deployed to the northern border. About 6,500 others are deployed to Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala. | |
| The coronavirus taskforce press conference has begun. Donald Trump is here again. He began his remarks recounting his conversation with Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador on oil. | |
| Then he pivoted to coronavirus. | Then he pivoted to coronavirus. |
| “Tremendous progress is being made. I just spoke with Governor Cuomo, we had a good talk,” Trump said. He said the numbers of death are “horrible”. “Now on the other side we have the number of beds being used, we were just saying are being substantially reduced.” | |
| Trump added: “We’re saving hundreds of lives compared to what it could have been.” | Trump added: “We’re saving hundreds of lives compared to what it could have been.” |
| Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, urged caution even as some parts of New York hit hardest by coronavirus begin to recover. | |
| Via Reuters: | Via Reuters: |