White House Extends Social-Distancing Guidelines Until End of April
President Trump says the peak of the death rate would hit in two weeks and country would be on its way to recovery June 1st.
WASHINGTON—President Trump on Sunday said he was extending the administration’s social-distancing guidelines for another 30 days through the end of April, after saying for days that he was hoping to open up the country in the coming weeks.
Mr. Trump, speaking at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden, said the peak of the death rate from the new coronavirus was expected to hit in two weeks. Mr. Trump predicted the country would be on its way to recovery by June 1.
“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before victory is won,” he said. “It’s very important that everybody strongly follow the guidelines.”
The administration last month announced a 15-day program that instructed all Americans to avoid nonessential travel, sit-down restaurants and gatherings of more than 10 people, among other steps. Meanwhile, governors and mayors nationwide have rolled out their own restrictions, shutting schools and many retail businesses.
Monday will mark the 15th day of the program. The president said his earlier comments that he hoped to reopen the U.S. by Easter on April 12 were “just an aspiration.”
Mr. Trump extended the guidelines as coronavirus patients besieged hospitals in New York and other cities and the U.S. death toll from the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus surged past 2,400 over the weekend, according to Johns Hopkins University. Nearly 700 of the deaths were in New York City, the American epicenter of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins.
Globally the death toll quintupled over the past two weeks to 33,881 on Sunday, with more than two-thirds of the fatalities in Europe, according to Johns Hopkins. Deaths reached nearly 10,800 in Italy, which has suffered the most fatalities.
Public-health experts have said extended social distancing is needed until the U.S. develops a vigorous testing regime to identify and isolate cases. Widespread testing is still a long way off and labs now are struggling with supply issues that are further hampering the ability to identify cases. The coronavirus can be spread when people are asymptomatic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN Sunday that projections he has examined showed the disease would kill between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans and infect possibly millions.
“What we’re trying to do is not let that happen,” Dr. Fauci said at a White House press conference Sunday.
Both Democratic and Republican party governors highlighted severe shortages of equipment that medical professionals on the front lines need to do their jobs, including masks, face shields and gowns. One particular point of concern is the scarcity of ventilators used to help restore breathing capability among severely stricken patients.
“We’ve put in orders with the national stockpile,” said Louisiana’s Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards, speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation. “But we’ve also pursued manufacturers and vendors trying to place orders for about 12,000 ventilators.”
“I think thus far we’ve received 192,” Mr. Edwards said.
Mr. Trump said the Federal Emergency Management Agency brought 80 tons of personal protective equipment to New York on Sunday, including 130,000 N95 respirators, 1.8 million face masks and gowns and 10.3 million gloves. FEMA has scheduled 19 additional flights, and Mr. Trump said he hopes to have 51 flights in total.
“Many of the states are stocked up,” Mr. Trump said. “Some of them don’t admit it.”
Mr. Trump said he was instructing his administration to take steps to provide incentives to keep restaurants open, including instructing the Treasury Department and the Labor Department to examine reinstating corporate tax deductions for the cost of business meals and entertainment.
The president called on journalists and state officials to investigate the high volume of protective masks being ordered by hospitals, suggesting hospital workers were mismanaging the supply of masks.
“Where are the masks going?” Mr. Trump asked, adding later, “I don’t think it’s hoarding. I think it’s maybe worse than hoarding.”
Mr. Trump on Sunday praised General Motors, saying the company was doing a “fantastic job” producing ventilators. His comments came two days after he invoked the Defense Production Act to order the company to make ventilators, accusing GM of “wasting time” in negotiations. “I don’t think we have to worry about General Motors now,” he said.
The number of confirmed American cases surpassed 139,000, the most in the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins. Globally, infections world-wide climbed above 718,000. Dr. Fauci said that there would be millions of cases this year in the U.S. and that infection rates would begin increasing outside of New York soon.
“We have a very difficult problem here,” he said. “We’re going to see places like Detroit and other cities starting to get into trouble.”
New York remained an epicenter in the U.S. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said 965 people have died from Covid-19 in New York state, up from 728 on Saturday. The number of positive cases in the state has risen to nearly 60,000—close to half of the nation’s total number of confirmed cases. At least at least 8,500 people are hospitalized from complications from coronavirus in the state.