President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency for the United States over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
The President spoke from the Rose Garden at the White House, calling his announcement “decisive”.
“We will overcome the threat of the virus,” he began, before reiterating the Europe travel ban.
The President’s announcement releases a further $50 billion for states, territories, and localities to help deal with the virus and its fallout.
The Rose Garden speech also included details of “emergency operations centers” which will be set up “immediately”.
The President then went on to discuss the details of the plan, including the Health Secretary’s new ability to waive local laws and regulations to give all hospitals maximum flexibility to respond to the virus.
President Trump discussed new private sector partnerships to increase the government’s capacity to test people with symptoms of coronavirus.
The President then thanked private companies like Roche and Google for assisting with the response, with the former producing test kits more quickly, and the latter providing over 1,000 engineers to assist the national response, including a centralized web portal.
The latest news undercuts the narratives of those attempting to downplay the importance of the coronavirus and its response.
Writing for the National Pulse, Bradley Brewer stated: “Schools, sporting events, and group activities are being canceled and that trend will continue. Eventually in certain areas there will be mandatory quarantines or required social distancing. Money and resources may get tight. Life will be uncomfortable.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases called the President’s moves proactive and lauded the removal of restraints on government to contain and mitigate against the coronavirus.
Walmart’s Doug McMillan spoke on the stage also, stating his company would make parking lots available for drive-thru coronavirus testing.
Richard Ashworth, President of Walgreens spoke, stating he and company looks forward to helping the CDC and wider U.S. government response.
Target’s Brian Cornell said the firm looks forward to working with the administration and thanked the President for including Target. They are keeping their stores open and making them safe, he added.
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