Democrats blocked legislation from moving forward, saying that it did not do enough to shore up the health-care system and help ordinary Americans, but talks between the sides continued.
By Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim, Rachael Bade and Jeff Stein
Governors, mayors in growing uproar over Trump’s response
By Erica Werner, Seung Min Kim, Rachael Bade and Jeff Stein
Governors, mayors in growing uproar over Trump’s response
Many officials complain that President Trump does not have a coherent or ready plan to confront a crisis that could soon push the nation’s health-care system to the brink of collapse.
By Robert Costa and Aaron Gregg
After the governors of multiple states and other leaders made urgent pleas on Sunday for masks and other protective equipment to help fight the swelling outbreak, President Trump listed a number of federal actions in a news conference in the evening.
As the number of known cases in the United States crossed 31,700, California officials told hospitals to restrict coronavirus testing, and a hospital in Washington State warned that it could run out of life-preserving ventilators by early next month. Washington State’s Department of Health told local leaders that only the highest-priority areas would have access to the government’s reserves of protective equipment, including N95 masks.
Mr. Trump said that major disaster declarations were in process for New York, California and Washington — the three states hardest hit by the virus — and that they would not have to pay for deploying National Guard units.
Mr. Trump also said during the Sunday conference that he had directed FEMA to supply four large federal medical stations with 1,000 beds for New York, eight large federal medical stations with 2,000 beds for California, and three large federal medical stations and four small federal medical stations with 1,000 beds for the State of Washington.
The stations for New York, to be built in Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, were announced earlier in the day by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.
As Mr. Trump detailed federal activities, he at times repeated facts and appeared halting as he described a complex list of facts and figures in the millions.
Many state and local officials have pressed Mr. Trump to use his authority under the Defense Production Act to mobilize industry to manufacture scarce goods. On Sunday, Peter T. Gaynor, the FEMA administrator, said the president was not doing so, and instead was using the threat of the act as “leverage to demonstrate that we can.”
At the news conference on Sunday, Mr. Trump defended his decision not to implement the Defense Production Act despite an outcry from state governors and Democrats.
The president’s top trade adviser said that, in fact, the act had spurred the country’s “industrial base” to voluntarily mobilize, allowing for the quick conversion of corporate production facilities to produce medical supplies.
“We’re getting what we need without putting the heavy hand of government down,” Peter Navarro, the president’s top trade adviser, told reporters.
New York State now has roughly 5 percent of the world’s cases.
A sharp increase in confirmed coronavirus cases in New York State on Sunday indicated that the state now accounts for roughly 5 percent of coronavirus cases worldwide.
The jump stemmed from both the rapid growth of the outbreak and a significant increase in testing in the state. Health officials emphasized that testing was revealing how quickly the virus had spread.
There are now 15,168 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the state, up 4,812 since Saturday, and 114 deaths, Mr. Cuomo said. About 13 percent, or 1,974 people in New York who tested positive for the virus, were hospitalized, he said.
The governor took issue with what he called the “insensitive” and “arrogant” behavior of New York City residents who continued to gather in parks and other public spaces. Mr. Cuomo indicated that he would give the city 24 hours to come up with a plan to reduce density in these spaces, which he would need to approve."I don’t know what I’m saying that people don’t get,” Mr. Cuomo said, suggesting that city officials could close some streets to traffic to give residents more outdoor space.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York warned that the city’s hospitals were straining under a deluge of cases, and he again called on Mr. Trump to send more help. “April is going to be worse than March,” he said. “And I fear May will be worse than April.”
'I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down': Fauci says he tells Trump things FOUR times before they sink in, criticizes him for shaking hands with people and using term 'China virus' - and is absent from latest briefing
When asked Sunday by Science magazine’s Jon Cohen about having to stand in front of the nation as “the representative of truth and facts” when “things are being said that aren’t true and aren’t factual,” the 79-year-old said there is only so much he can do.
There are now 15,168 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the state, up 4,812 since Saturday, and 114 deaths, Mr. Cuomo said. About 13 percent, or 1,974 people in New York who tested positive for the virus, were hospitalized, he said.
The governor took issue with what he called the “insensitive” and “arrogant” behavior of New York City residents who continued to gather in parks and other public spaces. Mr. Cuomo indicated that he would give the city 24 hours to come up with a plan to reduce density in these spaces, which he would need to approve."I don’t know what I’m saying that people don’t get,” Mr. Cuomo said, suggesting that city officials could close some streets to traffic to give residents more outdoor space.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York warned that the city’s hospitals were straining under a deluge of cases, and he again called on Mr. Trump to send more help. “April is going to be worse than March,” he said. “And I fear May will be worse than April.”
'I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down': Fauci says he tells Trump things FOUR times before they sink in, criticizes him for shaking hands with people and using term 'China virus' - and is absent from latest briefing
When asked Sunday by Science magazine’s Jon Cohen about having to stand in front of the nation as “the representative of truth and facts” when “things are being said that aren’t true and aren’t factual,” the 79-year-old said there is only so much he can do.
“I can’t jump in front of the microphone and push him down,” Fauci said, referencing Trump. “OK, he said it. Let’s try and get it corrected for the next time.”
The frank comment was just one part of a remarkable Q&A published Sunday night in which Fauci shed light on his relationship with Trump, how the pair handles their differences and what happens before each coronavirus task force news conference.
The frank comment was just one part of a remarkable Q&A published Sunday night in which Fauci shed light on his relationship with Trump, how the pair handles their differences and what happens before each coronavirus task force news conference.
On more than one occasion, Fauci, described by The Washington Post’s Ellen McCarthy and Ben Terris as “the grandfatherly captain of the coronavirus crisis,” has found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to publicly contradict the president — a risky action that could conceivably jeopardize the scientist’s job.
Anthony Fauci was ready for this. America was not.
Fauci acknowledged as much on Sunday.
“To my knowledge, I haven’t been fired,” he told Cohen, laughing.
Most recently, Fauci has sought to temper Trump’s comments touting an old anti-malarial drug as a potential treatment for covid-19. At a news conference Friday, one day after Trump called the medicine a possible “game-changer,” Fauci said the only evidence of the drug’s promise so far has been “anecdotal,” adding, “So you really can’t make any definitive statement about it.”
Harvey Weinstein has coronavirus: Rapist, 68, tests positive and is put in isolation just days after he was moved from Rikers Island to an upstate NY prison to start his 23-year sentence
Harvey Weinstein has tested positive for coronavirus. A source told DailyMa 'He tested positive and is quarantined.' Weinstein, 68, is isolated at Wende Correctional Facility in Western New York. The shamed producer is said to have told prison staff he believed he has the virus when he entered the state prison system last Wednesday from Rikers Island.
Harvey Weinstein has coronavirus: Rapist, 68, tests positive and is put in isolation just days after he was moved from Rikers Island to an upstate NY prison to start his 23-year sentence
Harvey Weinstein has tested positive for coronavirus. A source told DailyMa 'He tested positive and is quarantined.' Weinstein, 68, is isolated at Wende Correctional Facility in Western New York. The shamed producer is said to have told prison staff he believed he has the virus when he entered the state prison system last Wednesday from Rikers Island.