Text of President Donald Trump's national address Wednesday night on the new coronavirus, as provided by the White House:
My fellow Americans:
Tonight, I want to speak with you about our nation’s unprecedented response to the coronavirus outbreak that started in China and is now spreading throughout the world.
Today, the World Health Organization officially announced that this is a global pandemic.
We have been in frequent contact with our allies, and we are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people.
This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history. I am confident that by counting and continuing to take these tough measures, we will significantly reduce the threat to our citizens, and we will ultimately and expeditiously defeat this virus.
From the beginning of time, nations and people have faced unforeseen challenges, including large-scale and very dangerous health threats. This is the way it always was and always will be. It only matters how you respond, and we are responding with great speed and professionalism.
Our team is the best anywhere in the world. At the very start of the outbreak, we instituted sweeping travel restrictions on China and put in place the first federally mandated quarantine in over 50 years. We declared a public health emergency and issued the highest level of travel warning on other countries as the virus spread its horrible infection.
And taking early intense action, we have seen dramatically fewer cases of the virus in the United States than are now present in Europe.
The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe.
After consulting with our top government health professionals, I have decided to take several strong but necessary actions to protect the health and well-being of all Americans.
To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight. These restrictions will be adjusted subject to conditions on the ground.
There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings, and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing. These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom.
At the same time, we are monitoring the situation in China and in South Korea. And, as their situation improves, we will reevaluate the restrictions and warnings that are currently in place for a possible early opening.
Earlier this week, I met with the leaders of health insurance industry who have agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments, extend insurance coverage to these treatments, and to prevent surprise medical billing.
We are cutting massive amounts of red tape to make antiviral therapies available in record time. These treatments will significantly reduce the impact and reach of the virus.
Additionally, last week, I signed into law an $8.3 billion funding bill to help CDC and other government agencies fight the virus and support vaccines, treatments, and distribution of medical supplies. Testing and testing capabilities are expanding rapidly, day by day. We are moving very quickly.
The vast majority of Americans: The risk is very, very low. Young and healthy people can expect to recover fully and quickly if they should get the virus. The highest risk is for elderly population with underlying health conditions. The elderly population must be very, very careful.
In particular, we are strongly advising that nursing homes for the elderly suspend all medically unnecessary visits. In general, older Americans should also avoid nonessential travel in crowded areas.
My administration is coordinating directly with communities with the largest outbreaks, and we have issued guidance on school closures, social distancing, and reducing large gatherings.
Smart action today will prevent the spread of the virus tomorrow.
Every community faces different risks and it is critical for you to follow the guidelines of your local officials who are working closely with our federal health experts — and they are the best.
For all Americans, it is essential that everyone take extra precautions and practice good hygiene. Each of us has a role to play in defeating this virus. Wash your hands, clean often-used surfaces, cover your face and mouth if you sneeze or cough, and most of all, if you are sick or not feeling well, stay home.
To ensure that working Americans impacted by the virus can stay home without fear of financial hardship, I will soon be taking emergency action, which is unprecedented, to provide financial relief. This will be targeted for workers who are ill, quarantined, or caring for others due to coronavirus.
I will be asking Congress to take legislative action to extend this relief.
Because of the economic policies that we have put into place over the last three years, we have the greatest economy anywhere in the world, by far.
Our banks and financial institutions are fully capitalized and incredibly strong. Our unemployment is at a historic low. This vast economic prosperity gives us flexibility, reserves, and resources to handle any threat that comes our way.
This is not a financial crisis, this is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world.
However, to provide extra support for American workers, families, and businesses, tonight I am announcing the following additional actions: I am instructing the Small Business Administration to exercise available authority to provide capital and liquidity to firms affected by the coronavirus.
Effective immediately, the SBA will begin providing economic loans in affected states and territories. These low-interest loans will help small businesses overcome temporary economic disruptions caused by the virus. To this end, I am asking Congress to increase funding for this program by an additional $50 billion.
Using emergency authority, I will be instructing the Treasury Department to defer tax payments, without interest or penalties, for certain individuals and businesses negatively impacted. This action will provide more than $200 billion of additional liquidity to the economy.
Finally, I am calling on Congress to provide Americans with immediate payroll tax relief. Hopefully they will consider this very strongly.
We are at a critical time in the fight against the virus. We made a life-saving move with early action on China. Now we must take the same action with Europe. We will not delay. I will never hesitate to take any necessary steps to protect the lives, health, and safety of the American people. I will always put the well-being of America first.
If we are vigilant — and we can reduce the chance of infection, which we will — we will significantly impede the transmission of the virus. The virus will not have a chance against us.
No nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States. We have the best economy, the most advanced healthcare, and the most talented doctors, scientists, and researchers anywhere in the world.
We are all in this together. We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family.
As history has proven time and time again, Americans always rise to the challenge and overcome adversity.
Our future remains brighter than anyone can imagine. Acting with compassion and love, we will heal the sick, care for those in need, help our fellow citizens, and emerge from this challenge stronger and more unified than ever before.
God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you.
12 comments:
Its not looking good is it?
Luckily, being a anti-social hermit comes naturally to me.
It's looking unprecedentedly stupid.
Pasto,
What do you think is really going on?
I can't figure it out.
I could be wrong. Maybe we do all need to panic, er, take prudent measure which will essentially destroy the economy.
Lord knows Russian Collusion didn't bring Trump down.
Thing is, Trump is playing along now.
We'd better all hide in our houses. That's all I know.
/// sarc off
Pasto,
Do you think that the coronavirus doesn't really pose a threat to us? Particularly those of us over 60 and with "underlying medical conditions"?
FYI: now is a good time to study the 1918-1919 Flu Pandemic (Spanish flu).
I'll say this: the media are spinning this to make things worse for Trump.
I think Coronavirus is a huge threat to those over 70 who have underlying medical conditions.
There is no doubt about that.
Here are the numbers:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-age-sex-demographics/
Remember, when you look at numbers that - AT THIS POINT - we know more about deaths than we do total number of cases, because we have not tested most people. The number of cases vs deaths will go up, and the percentage of total fatalities will go down.
Pasto,
AT THIS POINT - we know more about deaths than we do total number of cases, because we have not tested most people
Yes.
I am concerned about the supply line, though. Especially for certain medications.
This is perhaps my first experience observing a bad case of national Mass Hypochondria. Its not in my usual punditry comfort zone.
We did have a Hurricane related Facebook fueled gasoline panic in Texas a few years back, but it subsided within about a week.
This is a different animal I think.
I dont think this is an extinction level event, but I do think the body count is going to be unprecedented for modern times in western civilization.
The stench of fear abounds. Americans of the currently living generations are inexperienced living with the threat of death from the air we breath. I think its going to leave some lasting scars on the American psyche.
But you, from my own personal past experiences with Hypochondria induced depressive thought cycles ...... is if it dont kill quickly enough you're gonna have to get over the fear and move on with your life, until life distracts you enough with new sets of fears to replace the old ones.
I think the current national frenzy will eventually take that path once there's a lot more recovered patients on the streets.
But I think the accumulated personal losses from this will be unprecedented before its over.
I care for my 86 year old mother. I have to choose between taking her to her quarterly hospital visit with a pulmonary hypertension specialist group that has already, I think, extended her life.
Its a tough call for me to make on whether to expose her to a high concentration of sick people for a checkup, or risk the consequences of not taking her.
Like I said before, my hermit nature does somewhat decrease my risks factors, the genie's probably not going back in the bottle of this one. We're all probably going to eventually have to generate our antibodies the old fashioned way, by living through an infection or two.
Of course the crisis will be harnessed by the media to sell product. Politicians will use it for partisan gain ...... thats just what they do.
But I think the collective fear, warranted or not, we will experience in the next few weeks will have lasting effect on our society. I can see the national norm of xenophobia climbing closer to my normal level.
I think the economic impact will have legs.
I've noticed in the last few days whenever I have to talk to someone, I focus on their mouth more, and wonder if they just made a silenced kill. It strengthens my natural mistrust. Of course I'm fairly weird to begin with, But I think these thought will be a lot more universally prevalent over the next few weeks.
I mean, you know cancelling Sporting events and Schools and colleges, and international travel, thats some big money being forfeited there.
I think our recovery time will be just as swift as this trainwreck we saw coming was. Because there's some big big money being thrown at this problem.
I just think these are some unprecedented times socially for modern Americans. We've built up this sense of domestic security for generations now. That conditioned comfort has allowed to explore some unproductive social experiments, but I feel a crisis of this potentially fatal nature could leave us refocused on the more critical basic issues .... for awhile.
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