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They outlined how the country is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, what steps they are taking in their own areas and calls for what the federal government should do in response to the pandemic. Here’s what they said:
1. Fauci says the US could see millions of coronavirus cases
TAPPER: “How many cases do you think the US will reach? A million cases, 10 million cases? Or do we not even have any idea?”
FAUCI: “You know, Jake, to be honest with you, we don’t really have any firm idea… I have never seen a model of the diseases that I have dealt where the worst-case scenario actually came out. They always overshoot. So, when you use numbers like a million, a million-and-a-half, two million, that almost certainly is off the chart. Now, it’s not impossible, but very, very unlikely. So, it’s difficult to present. I mean, looking at what we’re seeing now, I would say between 100,000 and 200,000 cases. But I don’t want to be held to that, because it’s — excuse me — deaths. I mean, we’re going to have millions of cases. But I just don’t think that we really need to make a projection, when it’s such a moving target, that you can so easily be wrong and mislead people.”
2. Pelosi: Trump’s downplaying of coronavirus cost American lives
PELOSI: “His denial at the beginning was deadly. His delay in getting equipment to where it’s needed is deadly… As the president fiddles, people are dying.”
TAPPER: “Are you saying that his downplaying ultimately cost American lives?”
PELOSI: “Yes, I am.”
3. Fauci cautions about lifting federal guidelines now
TAPPER: “When do you think you will be comfortable with the amount of testing being present, so that restrictions can be lifted in some parts of the country?”
FAUCI: “You know, I think it’s going to depend a lot, Jake, on the availability of those rapid tests that you can get really quickly… To put a time on it, Jake, I don’t know. It’s going to be a matter of weeks. It’s not going to be tomorrow. And it’s certainly not going to be next week. It’s going to be a little bit more than that.”
TAPPER: “What you’re saying makes it very clear that, when the 15 days are up for the 15 days to flatten the curve campaign, and that will be over early this week, you don’t think that we’re ready to lift guidelines yet?”
FAUCI: “Well, Jake, we’re going to obviously seriously discuss and consider that. My own opinion, looking at the way things are, I doubt if that would be the case. But we’re a group. We’re a task force. We’re going to sit down and we’re going to talk about it.”
4. Whitmer: Some Michigan hospitals are already at capacity
WHITMER: “We have people that are dying right now. I need assistance and I need partnership… We have nurses wearing the same mask from the beginning of their shift until the end, masks that are supposed to be for one patient and one point in your shift. We need some assistance. And we’re going to need thousands of ventilators… We have got a number of hospitals that are already at capacity. We’re going to see this number continue to climb, because even though the order has been in place, it’s going to take a while before we see the benefit of it.”
5. Fauci responds to Trump’s remarks about governors
Trump said Friday that he told Vice President Mike Pence not to call the governors of Michigan or Washington state because of their public criticism of his administration. But in an interview with Tapper, Fauci suggested that comment was just “rhetoric,” and the “reality” is that the task force is working to get everyone what they need.
TAPPER: “Dr. Fauci, can you assure the American people that whether or not they get the help they need from the federal government, it does not depend on whether their governors are appreciative enough of the federal help or flattering enough of the Trump administration?”
FAUCI: “No, Jake, I think the reality, not the rhetoric, but the reality is that the people who need things will get what they need. There’s the reality and the rhetoric. I think that, I mean, I know the spirit of the task force, and when we talk about, when people need things, doesn’t matter who they are. We try to get them what they need.”
6. Tapper presses de Blasio on coronavirus in New York City
TAPPER: “In retrospect, is that message, at least in part, to blame for how rapidly the virus has spread across the city?”
DE BLASIO: “Jake, we should not be focusing, in my view, on anything looking back on any level of government right now.”
TAPPER: “You say you don’t think you should look backwards, but you have criticized President Trump for ‘actions that are far, far behind the curve.’ I mean, Mr. Mayor, weren’t your actions in this outbreak also far, far behind the curve?”
DE BLASIO: “Jake, I, in real time, said, and this was weeks and weeks ago, as it was happening, that we were not being given the testing we needed.”
7. Pelosi: $2 trillion stimulus bill was just a ‘down payment’
PELOSI: “Well, we have to do more. I think this bill was just a down payment… We have to pass another bill that goes to meeting the need more substantially than we have. We have other issues that we have to deal with in the bill in terms of personal protective equipment and OSHA rules that protects workers. We have to do more on family medical leave. We have to be able to make people who get tested also have their visit to the doctor covered.”
8. Fauci says Trump agreed not to invoke a strict quarantine after intensive White House discussions
After Trump floated a possible strict quarantine for the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Fauci said the President decided against it after “very intensive discussions.”
FAUCI: “We had very intensive discussions last night at the White House with the president. As you know, the original proposal was to consider seriously an enforceable quarantine. After discussions with the president, we made it clear, and he agreed, that it would be much better to do what’s called a strong advisory. And the reason for that is that you don’t want to get to the point where you’re enforcing things that would create a bigger difficulty, morale and otherwise, when you could probably accomplish the same goal.”
9. De Blasio: Not enough ventilators for this week
DE BLASIO: “We have enough supplies to get to a week from today, with the exception of ventilators. We’re going to need at least several hundred more ventilators very quickly. But we have otherwise the supplies to get to next Sunday. We are going to need a reinforcement by Sunday, April 5, in all categories, especially ventilators, but in other areas as well. And personnel is becoming more and more of the issue.”
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