Highlights from today’s Coronavirus Task Force and deploying National Guard to New York, California and Washington

“We are working urgently with Congress on legislation to support millions of workers, small businesses and industries who have been hit hard by the virus through no fault of their own,” said President Trump during a news conference that began at 6 p.m. on Sunday evening.

“Our goal is to get relief to Americans as quickly as possible so that families can get by and small businesses can keep workers on the payroll. This will help our economy and you will see our economy skyrocket once this is over… We will win the war.”

The federal government has worked with New York, California and Washington to deliver large quantities of medical supplies, and to approve the Title 32 National Guard activation. Through FEMA, the federal government will fund 100% of the cost to deploy National Guard units and carry out approved missions, though state governors will remain in command of these units.  

Alternate care sites will be set up in each state, to include: 

• Four large federal medical stations with 1,000 beds for New York
• Three large federal medical stations with 750 beds, and four small federal medical stations with 250 beds, for Washington
• Eight large federal medical stations with over 2,000 beds for California

A major disaster declaration request was approved for Washington, and a request from California was received earlier today. The naval hospital ship, USNS Mercy, deployed to Los Angeles to increase emergency medical capacity. 

Honeywell has committed to more than double its production of medical equipment and is expected to expand personal protection equipment at its headquarters in Rhode Island to produce millions of N-95 masks. As part of the strategic national stockpile order, they will be distributed immediately by the government, primarily for response workers, according to President Trump.

Additionally, Trump announced the launch of a new public-private consortium organized by the White House, Department of Energy, and IBM “to unlock super-computing resources to fight the Chinese virus.” Leaders from private industries, academia and government include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, MIT, and NASA, among others. These leaders will help to rapidly discover new treatments and vaccines.

Steps are being taken to assist American veterans, which include potential military hospitals and restricted access to the country’s 135 veteran community living centers. 

Antiviral therapies continue to be explored to determine their potential to reduce the severity and duration of Covid-19 symptoms. President Trump reported new medications will be delivered to the U.S. on Tuesday morning. 

President Trump gave his condolences to those affected by the coronavirus, including Rep. Mario-Diaz Balart and Sen. Rand Paul.

PHOTO CREDIT: AP PHOTO / EVAN VUCCI