Remarks by President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Members of the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing | Eastern North Carolina Now

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room  •  Washington D.C.  •  April 10  •  1:52 P.M. EDT
    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much everybody, and good afternoon. Today is Good Friday. And this Sunday, millions of Christians celebrate Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At this holy time, we pray that God will heal the sick and comfort the heartbroken and bless our heroes. As American families look forward to Easter, we're reminded that our story ends not in despair, but in triumph and renewal. Very appropriate, isn't it?

    I'd like to provide Americans an update on our ongoing efforts in the war against the invisible enemy. Before I do that, I'll have a couple of notes. The United States, in discussions last night with Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and -dealing with OPEC nations — we are trying to get Mexico, as the expression goes, "over the barrel." And Mexico is committing to do 100,000 fewer barrels.

    The President and I spoke last night. We have a great relationship, great friendship. They're helping us very much at the border. They have 27,000 soldiers — Mexican soldiers — on our border right now, stopping people from coming into our country as our wall goes up. We're up to about 168 miles of wall.

    And in speaking with the President, they have a limit. The OPEC nations have agreed to a different limit: a reduction of about 23 percent. So what I thought I would do — and I don't know that it's going to be accepted; we'll find out — the United States will help Mexico along and they'll reimburse us sometime at a later date when they're prepared to do so.

    And we had a great conversation, but we'll find out how that all works out. As you know, they're trying to get rid of the glut of oil. There's a tremendous glut of oil. And we don't want anything to hurt our incredible industry. We're actually the largest producer in the world now, so we don't want anything to hurt those jobs — those great jobs in Texas and North Dakota, in Oklahoma, and everywhere. We have a tremendous energy — New Mexico — tremendous energy business. And we want to keep those jobs.

    So we're — we're working on it. I think, eventually, it's going to work out. It may work out quicker than what most people thought possible. And maybe it won't, but it'll work out eventually.

    Our experts are monitoring the data from every part of our country having to do with the topic that we're here to discuss. In the midst of grief and pain, we're seeing clear signs that our aggressive strategy is saving countless lives. Tremendous progress is being made. Although when you look at some of the numbers — I just spoke with Governor Cuomo; we had a good talk. When you look at those numbers — the numbers of death, people that have died — it's so horrible.

    Now, on the other side, you have the numbers of beds being used, we were just saying, are substantially reduced. That's usually the sign that it's heading in the downward curve. So, New York, we know where that is. But in the midst of all this grief and this pain, we're seeing these signs and we're seeing them very strongly. And a lot of that has to do with the aggressive strategy in saving so many lives. We're saving so many lives compared to what it could have been.

    So, nobody knows what the number is, but we had a number of 100,000 lives. As many as that is, it's impossible to even think of it. And that was the low end with a tremendous amount of work and a tremendous amount of — you can call it many different things. Our people had to be extremely strong and brave to be able to put up with what they've put up with. But the minimum, if you did this social distancing at every other aspect — and I think I can say 90 percent, maybe even more than that, were able to do it — the minimum number was 100,000 lives, and I think we'll be substantially under that number.

    Hard to believe that if you had 60,000 — you could never be happy, but that's a lot fewer than we were originally told and thinking. So they said between 100- and 220,000 lives on the minimum side, and then up to 2.2 million lives if we didn't do anything. But it showed a just tremendous resolve by the people of this country.

    So we'll see what it ends up being, but it looks like we're headed to a number substantially below the 100,000. That would be the low mark. And I hope that bears out.

    The situation in Detroit and New Orleans appears to be stabilizing. Detroit has really started to go up, and now it is stabilizing. And New Orleans is a great place; I have so many friends there. They can't believe what's happening, but it's really stabilized. I spoke with the governor of Louisiana. And, as you know, we're building them additional beds right now — the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA — and that is going to be done. And I hope they're not going to be very well used because I think they've really — I don't think they're going to need them or certainly not very many of them. We built them a big hospital of 1,000 beds and now we're — we're in the midst of doing another 1,000. I don't think they're going to be using very many of them, and that's a good thing.

    There was a time, two weeks ago, where we said, "That's not going to be nearly enough. We're going to have to build more." But we wanted to wait to see and I'm glad we waited. It just looks like they're doing really well. Louisiana and the state of Michigan is doing, really, much better than we thought.


    In Washington State, we've made enough progress that the governor is now able to return an Army field hospital, so we're going to take that hospital. We don't think we need any more hospitals. We built thousands of beds all over the country, and we think we're probably not going to need that hospital anyway. And if we do, we're ready to move it to a different location.

    In New York, we're seeing hospital admissions declining very substantially, as I said. And nationwide, the number of new cases per day is flattening substantially, suggesting that we are near the peak and our comprehensive strategy is working.

    Over time, our guidelines to slow the spread are decreasing the rate of new cases very substantially and will result in fewer hospital admissions. And we're seeing that; it's incredible. I think, with no exceptions, it's looking like it's lower. And again, that's because of the people doing what they had to do. Great people. And working with elected representatives and — and the doctors, the nurses, and everybody — I mean, just everybody. Everybody is so, so — has been so amazing.

    I was told this morning again, "Please mention all of those people working in the grocery stores." And it's true. The checkouts and the clerks and the people that are really — and a number of those people have become infected. So we want to thank them and a shout-out to them.

    With the tireless devotion of American doctors and nurses and all of the medical people, we've kept our fatality rate very, very low compared to other countries. My administration is closely monitoring the data on the virus's impact on our cherished African American communities because they've been hit hard. And the Surgeon General will be sharing more of that information right after we're finished here. He'll be coming up and saying exactly what's happening because it's really — it's very troublesome, I will tell you that.

    I'd also like to provide clarity on the important point for many Americans on elective surgeries. While we've asked hospitals to cancel surgeries and procedures that do not take place at this time, just not to do them now — the choice to delay any treatment still remains between the patient and their doctor. We're not advising Americans to postpone medical treatment that the doctor believes should occur now. So it's different kinds of surgery, obviously, but we're really getting to the point where you can start to think about doing that surgery, if necessary, pretty soon, I think. Pretty soon.

    Yesterday, I directed Secretary of Agriculture Sonny to — Sonny Perdue to expedite aid to American farmers. And Secretary Perdue will be using all of the tools at his disposal to develop a program — and very quickly — of at least $16 billion to provide relief for farmers, ranchers, and producers impacted by the coronavirus.

    In this time of crisis, we must keep our supply chains moving from the beginning — right from beginning to end. And we're committed to supporting the amazing men and women who produce supply. I did, last night, a statement on social media, and I said I have directed Secretary Sonny Perdue to expedite help to our farmers, especially to the smaller farmers who are very, very badly hurting right now. I expect Secretary Perdue to use all of the funds and authorities at his disposal to make sure that our food supply is stable and safe, and our great farmers are prosperous and continue to be prosperous.

    We're working very hard to make sure our food supply chain is sound and plentiful, but we all know that that begins with our farmers, cattlemen, ranchers, and producers. So we're going to be working with the small farmers, the big farmers, the cattlemen, the ranchers — all of the producers. We're going to take care of them. We're working with them right now. We have a lot of money that was put there through our use of tariffs and other means, and we're going to help out our farmers.

    And I don't think — I tell you, I've been helping our farmers for a couple of years because they were targeted, as you know, by China and others. And I think they're very grateful to what — for what we've done.

    ...

    Read the full transcript HERE.

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