Trump news: President declares national emergency over coronavirus and calls on hospitals to activate emergency plans
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has declared a national emergency while under intense pressure from Democrats and health officials over his administration's handling of the global coronavirus pandemic, as his approval ratings fall and the stock market has plunged throughout the week.
Flanked by business executives and top health officials in his administration, the market saw an uptick as the president outlined plans for a federal response to the outbreak.
House Democrats also announced they had reached a deal with the administration to provide free testing to patients, including uninsured people, as well as paid sick leave, which Democrats and presidential candidates have urged the White House consider as workers brace for impact.
The global death toll surpassed 5,000 on Friday, with new confirmed cases of Covid-19 surging in the US and throughout Europe.
Louisiana announced it was delaying its state primaries due to the pandemic, as countless campaign events were cancelled and candidate like Bernie Sanders said their bids for the presidency had been “radically changed” due to the outbreak.
Meanwhile, South Carolina GOP senator and Trump ally Lindsey Graham has announced he is going into self-quarantine after coming into contact with a Brazilian official who has since tested positive for Covid-19 at Trump’s Florida resort Mar-a-Lago. On Friday, a second person who stayed at the president's Florida estate has been confirmed to have the virus.
The president himself continues to insist he is “not concerned”.
The FDA is also providing an emergency approval for a new coronavirus test that promises to increase the speed and rate of testing tenfold across the country.
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Donald Trump and Mike Pence hold press conference declaring national emergency
The president said the move will allow the US to "unlock" its full capabilities in combatting the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Trump calls on hospitals to activate emergency preparedness plans
The president is calling on hospitals to begin activating plans that allow them to do things like test potential patients within their cars, with hospital staff wearing full hazmat suits to avoid a potential spread within their facilities:
"I am declaring a national emergency. Two very big words", the president said.
Officials say national emergency will help end the spread of the pandemic
Dr Anthony Fauci said the national emergency order allows for "restraints" to be removed allowing doctors to better suppress the spread of the illness.
Trump says he doesn't want everyone getting tested
The Independent's Andrew Buncombe has more on the president's press conference announcing a national emergency:
Trump waives student loan interest fees
The president is announcing several additional executive orders, saying the administration will waive interest fees temporarily "until further notice".
But many people were calling on him to go a step further and pause student loan debt payments:
Trump shakes hands at coronavirus press conference
Not the best look when you're the president of the United States during a global pandemic:
What you need to know about Trump declaring a state of emergency
From opening up $50bn in resources to combat the disease, to waiving student loan interest fees and closing off senior citizen centres to visitors, here's everything you need to know about the national emergency over COVID-19:
Trump says he won't self-quarantine amid coronavirus outbreak
The president says he and his team "have no symptoms whatsoever" and will not be self-quarantining or getting tested while discussing the national emergency declaration he made on Friday.
Stocks surge amid Trump's national emergency declaration
Via AP: "Stocks have clawed back some of their recent losses at the end of a brutal week of selling. The gains Friday came in another day of turbulent trading fueled by heightened fears of a global recession from the coronavirus. Thursday’s drop was the worst for the U.S. market since the Black Monday crash of 1987. An early surge in buying subsided around midday Friday, then regained momentum in the afternoon, leaving major indexes up about 6.5%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1,350 points. Markets added to their gains in late trading after President Donald Trump announced new efforts to expand testing for the coronavirus."
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