Trump declares coronavirus national emergency, says he will most likely
be tested
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[March 14, 2020]
By Steve Holland, Jeff Mason and Makini Brice
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President
Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the
fast-spreading coronavirus to free up $50 billion in federal aid and
said he would "most likely" be tested for the virus himself soon after
facing possible exposure.
Trump made the announcement at a Rose Garden news conference as he
battled to show Americans he is aggressively addressing the health
crisis after facing criticism that he was slow to react and played down
the threat until the number of cases rose.
Trump cautioned that Americans will have to make sacrifices and change
their daily practices, a stark difference from two weeks ago when he
said people should use common sense but otherwise not change their
routines.
"It could get worse. The next eight weeks will be critical," he said.
The president appeared on stage with members of his coronavirus task
force and business executives after meeting them inside the White House
over how to accelerate testing of Americans for the virus to better
track the contagion's spread.
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Shaking hands freely with the gathered business executives, the
73-year-old Trump later acknowledged he expected to be tested for the
virus. He had come into contact with a Brazilian official last Saturday
who later tested positive for coronavirus.
"Most likely, yeah, most likely. Not for that reason but because I think
I will do it anyway," Trump said. "Fairly soon. We're working out a
schedule."
"We have no symptoms whatsoever," he said to a question about whether he
should get a test.
Trump said Walmart Inc Chief Executive Doug McMillon had agreed to set
up drive-thru testing at store parking lots across the country and that
Alphabet Inc's Google will create a website to help determine whether
individuals need a coronavirus test.
Trump shrugged off a question about whether he was responsible for what
many experts have said was slow progress toward expansion of tests to
track the virus.
"I don't take responsibility at all," he said, blaming rules and
regulations he inherited for the inability to mass produce the testing
kits.
Trump, who on Wednesday ordered citizens from 26 European nations not to
enter the United States for 30 days as of midnight Friday, said his
administration “may be adding” travel restrictions on the United Kingdom
and a couple of other countries.
As for whether Americans should take commercial flights, Trump was
blunt: "If you stay home, it’s not bad. It’s not bad."
The virus that emerged in central China in December has now spread to
over 130 countries and territories and infected more than 138,000 people
worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. It has so far led
to 47 U.S. deaths after six more were reported on Friday in hard-hit
Washington state and one in Colorado.
Trump said his declaration of a national emergency will "unleash the
full power of the federal government" to help states and territories in
the fight.
The announcement gave Wall Street a much-needed boost with the Dow and
benchmark S&P 500 both ending the day more than 9% higher.
"Through talent or through luck, call it whatever you want, but through
a very collective action and shared sacrifice, national determination,
we will overcome the threat of the virus," Trump said.
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![](../images/031420pics/news_a3.jpg)
President Donald Trump declares the coronavirus pandemic a
national emergency as Vice President Mike Pence listens
during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White
House in Washington, U.S., March 13, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan
Ernst
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Trump said the battered cruise ship industry could expect help. "We
will be helping them and we will be helping the airline industry if
we have to, assuming we have to," he said.
Trump had been heavily focused on hard-hit industries in making sure
the U.S. economy is not devastated by a slowdown in consumer
activity as a result of the virus. On Friday, he used much of his
appearance to focus on the potential human toll of the respiratory
illness than can cause pneumonia in severe cases.
He urged every state to set up emergency centers to help fight the
coronavirus. "We'll remove or eliminate every obstacle necessary to
deliver our people the care that they need and that they're entitled
to. No resource will be spared, nothing whatsoever,” he said.
'A LONG WAY TO GO'
Pressure has been mounting for Trump to declare an infectious
disease emergency under the 1988 law that would allow the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide disaster funds to
state and local governments and to deploy support teams. President
Bill Clinton in 2000 employed the rarely used measure to declare
such an emergency for West Nile virus.
Trump said the federal government was partnering with the private
sector to accelerate production of test kits to make them more
widely available to Americans.
He said there will be about 5 million coronavirus tests available
soon but doubted that that many will be needed. He urged Americans
to only seek the test if they feel they need it.
"We don't want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn't
be doing it and we don't want everyone running out and taking - only
if you have certain symptoms," he said.
Alongside Trump was Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health
expert who is on Trump's coronavirus task force. He offered a
cautious outlook for what may unfold in the short term.
"We still have a long way to go. There will be many more cases. But
we'll take care of that," said Fauci, long the nation's top
infectious disease expert. "What's going on here today is going to
help it end sooner than it would have."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Mar/14/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Trump said the federal government would waive interest on student
loans and ordered the Energy Department to take advantage of low oil
prices to top up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; additional reporting by
Makini Brice, Lisa Lambert and Susan Heavey, Editing by Franklin
Paul and Bill Berkrot)
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