President Trump: COVID-19 deaths in US are going to be ‘substantially lower’ than projections
President Donald Trump is bemoaning the “horrible” number of Americans who have died due to the coronavirus, while pointing to signs of hope.
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Apr 10, 2020, 2:58 PM
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Updated 1,568 days ago
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(AP) - President Donald Trump is bemoaning the “horrible” number of Americans who have died due to the coronavirus, while pointing to signs of hope.
Trump says “in the midst of grief and pain” the country is seeing “clear signs that our aggressive strategy” is working. That includes a decrease in hospital admissions in some places.
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Trump's comments come on the same day as Johns Hopkins University’s worldwide death toll hit 100,000.
Trump, who is now weighing when to re-open the country’s economy, is pointing to models that are now forecasting U.S. death rates far lower than originally estimated.
He says, “We’re saving so many lives compared to what it could have been.”
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But experts warn that re-opening the country too soon could cause a devastating new spike in infections.
President Trump acknowledged the sacrifices that people are making to end the pandemic, saying “at this holy time, our nation is engaged in a battle like never before.”
The president asked all Americans to pray that God would heal the nation, bring comfort to those who are grieving and to give strength to the nation’s health care providers.
The president asked all Americans to pray that God would heal the nation, bring comfort to those who are grieving and to give strength to the nation’s health care providers.
Notes on the news conference are below:
- President Trump says he is speaking to 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."
- On flattening the curve progress: "Admist the grief and pain, we see that our aggressive strategy is saving countless lives."
- President Trump says number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. is going to be substantially lower than original projections.
- President Trump: COVID-19 cases in Detroit and New Orleans are stabilizing.
- "With the tireless devotion of all the American doctors and nurses and all our medical people, we have kept our fatality rate very, very low compared to other countries."
- "My administration is closely monitoring the data on the virus' impact on our cherished African American communities. They have been hit hard."
- President Trump says nation is nearing a time where people can start getting elective surgeries.
- President Trump says he instructed Secretary of Agriculture George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III to expedite aid to American farmers. Perdue will be putting together a program to provide $16 billion in relief to farmers, ranchers and producers impacted by the coronavirus.
- President Trump: The FDA has issued 47 emergency use authorizations "for advancements in testing new ventilator designs, innovations in personal protective equipment and experimental medicines."
- President Trump says the U.S. is in "great shape" in terms of PPE.
- Trump on testing: "We are working to bring blood-based serology testing to the market as quickly as possible so that Americans can determine if they have already had the virus and potentially have immunity."
- "We will have an announcement on the World Health Organization sometime next week...We give them approximately $500 million a year and we are going to be talking about that subject next week."
- President Trump says the country is building up a stockpile of ventilators that can be used by others countries, if needed.
- President Trump: "We have launched Project Air Bridge to delivery approximately 300 million pieces of personal protective equipment around the globe." The U.S. is also putting together a program in 10 cities that will sterilize masks.
- Dr. Deborah Birx: "You can see for the first time in the United States...we're starting level on the logarithmic phase like Italy did about a week ago...This gives us great heart."
- Dr. Fauci: "We are starting to see the leveling off...This is not the time to feel that since we have made such advances...in the mitigation [of COVID-19 cases] that we need to be pulling back at all."
- Dr. Fauci asks people to visit clinicaltrials.gov.
- COVID-19's impact on people of color: Surgeon General Jerome Adams says it's "alarming but not surprising that people of color have a great burden of chronic health conditions."
- "African Americans and Native Americans develop high blood pressure at much younger ages. It's less likely to be under control and does greater harm to their organs. Puerto Ricans have higher rates of asthma and black boys are 3X as likely to die of asthma as their white counterparts."
- The surgeon general took out an inhaler to show people that even he is at risk of an asthma attack.
- Surgeon general: "People of color are more likely to live in densely packed areas and multigenerational housing," which creates higher risk of spreading the virus. He says that 30% of the Navajo nation "doesn't have running water" to wash their hands.
- "We do not think that people of color are biologically or genetically predisposed to getting COVID-19. There is nothing inherently wrong with you. But they are socially predisposed to coronavirus exposure and have a higher incidence of the very disease that put you at risk for severe complications of the coronavirus. "
