David Bahnsen, Author of Elizabeth Warren, How Her Presidency Would Destroy the Middle Class and the American Dream, and Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of the Bahnsen Group and Steve Moore, former senior Economic advisor to President Trump, he also is co-author of Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan To Revive Our Economy. They discuss the effect that the two trillion dollars in stimulus will have on our economy long term, and what we can do to avoid a recession and/or depression. The Sean Hannity Show is on weekdays from 3 pm to 6 pm ET on iHeartRadio and Hannity.com. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
You know, it's no secret that you've had a combative relationship with uh Trump in the past.
But lately you've been praising him for the help he's giving.
Well, of course you have to, because look at how he treats governors uh who don't, you know, uh uh kiss his ring.
Uh the governor of Washington, the governor of Michigan, uh he said they were not appreciative and told Mike Pence, don't call them back.
You know, uh do you feel like you have to feed this guy's ego to get the respirators and to get the PPEs?
Is that what's going on?
Well, let me just acknowledge uh the frame of your question.
We're involved in over 68 lawsuits with the Trump administration, and so uh there's no question we have had our differences of opinion on many issues.
But I just want to remind you and maybe others that aren't not aware of this.
Um we've been at this since late January.
California got a head a head start in many respects, uh, where no one was really paying much attention.
We started working with the administration directly to get these repatriated flights uh from mainland China into the state of California.
Many states turned their back on those flights and those repatriation missions.
California embraced them.
We also had that Grand Princess, that large cruise ship, where we worked very collaboratively with the federal government, developed strong relationships of trust around the emergency planning and how we can bring uh those passengers back uh into our diverse communities and all across the rest of the country.
As a consequence of that, our relationship began earlier than most.
And so from that perspective, all I can say is from my perspective, the relationship has been strong, and I'm not doing it to kiss the ring.
I'm not doing it uh uh in a way, you know, that I just being four forthright with the president.
He he returns calls, he reaches out, uh, he's been proactive.
Uh we got that mercy ship down here in Los Angeles.
That was directly because he sent it down here.
Two thousand uh medical uh units came to the state of California, these FMS, these field medical stations.
Uh, and that's been very, very helpful.
And to the extent we're gonna need more, we will, and I'll let you know in a few weeks if that relationship continues.
Glad you're with us, 800 nine-four one Sean.
If you want to be a part of this extravaganza.
Um, you know, there's an adult, and there's somebody that has put aside politics.
68 lawsuits they have going on against the Trump administration.
But no, we're working really well together, and everything we've needed, they've given us very different than the ventilator rejector, the ill-prepared governor of New York Cuomo.
Uh and uh I I mean, if there's anybody worse than him, if it's possible, that would be, of course, Gavin Newsom.
Uh, you know, you go to page 30.
I have the guides.
Uh it is unbelievable.
Ventilator allocation guidelines, November 2015, New York Task Force on Life and Law, New York uh Department of Health.
Got the whole document right in front of me.
And guess what happened?
Yeah, they said, no, you're shy 16,000 ventilators.
What is uh Cuomo's answer?
Well, we're shy 16.
Well, well, just why don't we just go back and figure out how we can ration the 2,000 that we have.
You know, then you you've got the Navy hospital ship, the comfort now in New York Harbor.
You've got the Javett Center.
You know how many you know how big 3,000 beds is at the Javitt Center?
Yeah, the Army Corps of Engineers built that for Andrew.
He just goes for those photo ops, just like you went to the USNS Comfort for a photo op.
Uh, then the hospitals in Nassau County, Suffolk County, Westchester County, uh, and and we do have 49 other states and a hundred hospitals now being built around the country.
And, you know, it's the finger pointing and and the insanity.
How a state like New York, that is ground zero potential for any pandemic.
It makes sense, doesn't it?
Okay, you have something highly contagious, infectious, and uh we have pandemics from time to time, and you have the highest concentration of people, 10 million, 11 million at times, and the smallest geographical area.
They didn't even have gowns and gloves and masks or anything.
Never mind the ventilators that he rejected buying, even though his health task force, uh Task Force on Life and Law from the Department of Health said you need them if there's a pandemic.
They actually said that.
Uh it's sad, it's pathetic, and I'm not a big fan of Gavin Newsom's politics, but I gotta give him credit here.
You know, I've been trying to stand back and we have our our facts without fear segment coming up.
Another couple of announcements here.
One is Dr. Oz is going to be taking your calls in our second hour of this program.
That's one hour from now, after the news at four o'clock.
He will uh take your questions, your calls.
Uh, we'll update you.
There's a lot of news on hydroxychloroquine.
I mean a lot.
And, you know, then you have the media mob, and uh we have the worst of the worst, and it's the same predictable people the mob in the media and the Democratic Party that in the middle of a national emergency, they want an investigation.
It's it's breathtaking.
The same Democrats that held up aid for hospitals for working Americans for small businesses and big businesses because they were fighting to change election laws and fighting for uh new immigration laws that favored them, and fighting to fund the Kennedy Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, 75 million each, 25 million for the Kennedy Center that ended up firing all their employees anyway.
And it is it is breathtaking, spectacular fail before your eyes, and the worst of the worst when the country needed people the most, and then the mob in the media.
They don't even want to carry the president's press conferences, uh, and their flimsy excuses, we're not getting the truth.
Yeah, Americans are getting the truth, and they're getting daily updates that they vital information that they and their families need in the middle of a national emergency.
So it's all the predictable people.
Government of India has endorsed hydroxychloroquine as a preventative prophylactic.
Now, the person that has been telling you this more than anyone has been Dr. Oz, and he's pointing out anecdotally.
We'd all love big clinical studies, sure.
Problem is they take years.
It'll take at least a year.
We don't have time when lives are on the line.
And those that are are stuck in this old myopic way of thinking, you you know, the times call for new rules.
And it's like we're watching the new rules unfold in front of us on a whole variety of issues.
I mean, the Michigan governor is out there, you know, first, you know, saying, no, we can't have hydroxychloroquine.
And, you know, then has to backtrack, saying it shows great potential.
A little late.
Finally, the New York Times.
They remember they were pounding me for bringing up hydroxychloroquine and saying, Well, let me tell you what I'm seeing.
Let me tell you what I learned.
Let me tell you what I studied.
And I got the crap beat out of me.
Well, now the New York Times is saying, yeah, there might be something to this.
And then they were all beating up the president for it.
You know, I think Dr. Fauci is part of that older model.
I mean, he wants numbers, he wants studies.
They have 6,000 doctors polled saying this is the best treatment we see.
Everything I've read, the risks seem minimal to me.
Ask your doctor.
Um, and those that are taking it, we are now anecdotally seeing it example after example that it's working.
Um, the death predictions are being pulled back, so we'll get to that too.
We're watching new hot spots emerge, like our uh Michigan, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana.
Um, we'll have a lot on the medical side of our facts without fear coming up with Dr. Oz, but it's gonna be taking your calls.
We're also gonna look at, you know, we can't have the cure be worse than the disease, meaning, okay, we've got to be very, very careful how we spend the money.
But I've been trying to stand back and say everything we're witnessing now, the the old book has been torn up as it relates to pandemics.
A new paradigm has been created before our very eyes.
These are transformational times.
Never before is a president ten days after the first known case in the U.S. implemented a travel ban, and then quarantine and was called racist, xenophobic, and uh fear mongerer and hysterical.
Nobody in the Democratic Party supported it.
Then we have this public-private partnership, and then all of these of great American companies, all hands on deck, and you know, the Defense Procurement Act, not even really needed except for a few instances, one being with 3M, which we'll talk about, um, and and GM moving faster as it relates to ventilators, but it's we're getting it done.
It's happening.
And you see the best in people.
You see the best in American, you know, all big box stores, all drug stores, all pharmaceutical companies, Novartis, 130 million doses of hydroxychloroquine.
Um, getting rid of draconian FDA regulations, off use of hydroxychloroquine and compassionate use and right to right to try.
This is all transformative.
Papu can an interesting, I mean, a column we should pay attention to.
When it's all over, will we be the same America?
I mean, he really raises uh, you know, a lot of important questions here that we've got to pay attention to.
Not the least of which is when these numbers come in in terms of the economy, you know, how quickly can we get the economy up and running?
One of the reasons I keep using the analogy about the Michael Crichton book disclosure and then the movie with Demi Moore and Michael Douglas and the cryptic emails, Michael Douglas was getting solved the problem.
If hydroxychloroquine solves the problem of people dying, not it's not an answer.
We have already been able to undo the sequence of this virus in record time.
So clinical trials, phase one trials are now underway as it relates to a vaccine, but if you can stop the death and treat it so people don't die and mitigate the expansion of this, that gets us over the hump and right back into life as normal and gets every business up and running and Americans back to work.
That is the ideal situation.
And, you know, in terms of transformational times, I mean, you know, it's now April the third.
What were we doing a month ago?
March 3rd was Super Tuesday.
We weren't all focused on corona like we are today.
That's just a f a fact.
You know, what a difference a month can make, Pat Buchanan wrote.
You know, and then he talks about the Republican Party and the money, the two trillion dollar emergency bill and four trillion dollars that the Fed is loosening up for loans and you know, and uh an enormous amount of money.
That's why I'm saying, whoa, hit the pause button.
People already say, Well, maybe we need another two trillion for the infrastructure bill.
Let's see how the first two trillion works.
Slow down, hit the brakes.
Let's take care of displaced American workers.
Let's make sure the monies are there for hospital frontline defenders that are risking their lives for everybody.
Make sure we have the ventilators built and every every bit of equipment we need.
And then the the real answer and antidote is getting America back to normal life as quickly and as safely as possible.
And, you know, I don't think people are gonna call uh travel ban xenophobic in the future.
I don't hear Democrats saying it now.
I think every Democrat needs to be asked in retrospect, Donald Trump do the right thing.
I think every Democrat that held up money for hospitals and workers and small business and big business for a week, they need to answer for their their conduct.
Those in the middle of a national emergency that are you know out there saying we need to start an investigation now.
They I mean, are we gonna hold them accountable for their conduct?
The mob in the media that doesn't want a president of the United States to communicate with the American people in a national emergency.
I mean, you talk about malpractice, dereliction of duty, an utter epic fail.
Well, that's not even surprising, sadly, after the three years we've seen of them.
You know, now I you watch Democrats wanting the president to take on powers that it's like, really?
You sure you want that?
You know, it's um First Amendment free press champions.
We have, you know, in the media, well, they don't want to carry the he looks too presidential.
Is that the problem?
Is it political as always?
Anyway, it's um, you know, it's amazing moments here.
And, you know, one of the things Buchanan asks, are Americans gonna care in the future about the the Iranian-backed Shiites dominating Iraq or the Saudi-backed uh Sunni um Muslim community prevailing in Yemen?
Are they gonna care about um what happens in the, you know, are we gonna rely on on Chinese made goods and even pharmaceuticals in the future?
Do you think it's a good idea to release all these criminals?
I mean, we're not even thinking about some of these things, and they're just acting irrationally.
We've got to really pay attention to what we're doing now.
As we roll along, Sean Hannity show, 8941, Sean.
The new White House guidelines, anyone, facts without fear.
Anyone who comes in any close contact with the president will be required to have a coronavirus test.
It will be done on the new Abbott Rapid Test Machine.
It will not include members of the press in the briefing room.
Rightly so, the governor of Michigan got hammered because of their ban on hydroxy chloroquine.
Hydroxychloroquine, which we've been talking about a lot, a lot.
They have now reversed course.
Now they're asking the feds for hydroxychloroquine.
Oh, and well, recent information on it now.
Yeah.
You know what?
A little late.
Now here's okay.
I'll give the governor some credit.
You know one place you cannot go to a pharmacy if your doctor wants to prescribe you hydroxychloroquine.
New York, the only state in the Union.
The governor says if you want it, you got to go to a hospital.
Now, people have symptoms.
Their doctors want them to use this medicine, but they got to send them to the most dangerous place in America right now, which is a hospital.
And then they're already inundated.
All right, 25 now till the top of the hour, 800 nine-four.
One Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, I will tell you that when all is said and done here, there needs to be an accounting for the worst of the worst of the worst.
And it's it is the two predictable groups of people.
You've got the do-nothing Democrats with Russia-Russia, Ukraine, Ukraine, impeach, impeach.
In the middle of a national emergency and pandemic, what are they doing?
Well, we've got to appoint Representative James Clyburn, who remember, who actually bragged and touted coronavirus as a tremendous political opportunity to take the helm of this investigative committee in the middle of the pandemic that they'll be investigating.
It is an epic spectacular fail.
The same group of people that held up needed monies with the with the relief package.
We're over a week.
Why?
Because they were fighting for drastic changes to election laws that they thought benefited them.
Strangers could be bringing ballots to the to the U.S. mail, but they don't have to present any ID.
It just has to be sealed.
We will trust them.
And that anybody could drive up day of the election and just vote.
You don't even have to prove citizenship.
Nothing.
And then they're fighting for the National Endowment for the Arts.
They got 75 million.
National Endowment for the Humanities.
They got 75 million.
The Kennedy Center for the Arts.
Yeah.
So we're holding up monies desperately needed for hospitals and workers that are displaced through no fault of their own.
And small businesses and large businesses that have now had a grind to a halt for these reasons.
And this is what they're now doing in the middle of a national emergency.
Donald Trump has to take time out of his busy day to answer the idiot Chuck Schumer.
Here is New York again.
Put him on the list, the top of the New York, the number one or two, depending on which you choose, DC or New York, I'd say number one.
Terror target in the entire United States.
They had no preparation plans at all.
It is unthinkable to me.
It is unconscionable to me.
They didn't even have the basics.
They didn't have the mast, the gowns, the shields, the gloves.
They didn't have any of it.
Some hospitals individually prepared, others did not.
But yet, all right, in comes Donald Trump.
In comes the Navy hospital ship, Thousand Beds, the Comfort, New York Harbor.
Up goes the Javit Center, 3,000 bed hospital built by the Army Corps of Engineers in less than a week.
Up goes all the other equipment.
Every other equipment is being sent from the federal government.
Andrew Cuomo was advised in a pretty firm way, because I have the whole thing in front of me.
200 some odd pages.
Ventilator allocation guidelines.
New York State Task Force on life and law and health from the Department of Health.
You're going to be, if there is any type of pandemic, flu pandemic such as this one, you're going to be shy.
16,000 ventilators, just under 16,000.
What's Andrew?
He goes back to the task force.
Well, we got 2,000.
How can we ration them?
President sends up 4,400.
Where does Andrew put them in a warehouse?
Unbelievable.
I need 30,000.
He barks orders.
He goes and he takes photo ops at every everything Donald Trump builds for him.
And then is critical of President Trump.
And by the way, in great comparison to Gavin Newsom.
Gavin Newsom has done a really good job for the people of California.
I never thought those words would come flying out of my mouth.
Now you didn't say something stupid.
Well, this can transform everything in America forever, but it doesn't, it's not a political time.
And the mayor of New York is just an idiot.
I mean, I don't even know what else to say about this guy.
He's working out in the gym.
He's walking the streets, telling people, you know, when everybody knew better.
You know, I'll just keep going to the bars and the restaurants.
Don't worry about it.
Now he's screening.
He had no preparation in place.
Schumer had nothing prepared.
President yesterday has to go out of his way and say, well, let me answer you stupid questions, uh Chuck.
Because, well, the Defense Production Act has already been used, and a senior military officer in charge of procurement and purchasing and distribution.
His name is, and he gives it the guy's name.
And then he explains everything that they've been giving to New York that they didn't have in place that they should have had in place.
You know, I mean, I'm watching the mayor of New Orleans, you know, blaming the federal government for their dumb decision to keep Mardi Gras open.
Okay, well, what if Donald Trump tried to shut it down?
Let's look at it that way.
Then you've got the mob in the media.
Three years, lies, conspiracy theories.
One hoax after another, proven untrue.
You know, how many investigations into Russia, Russia?
Let's see, four.
Four separate, the FBI investigation, nine months.
Nothing.
We found nothing, Lisa Page said.
No, they're there, Peter Strzok said.
By the way, there's so much developing as it relates to premeditated fraud on the Pfizer court.
They're dumping it all now.
I'm not missing any of it.
I promise you.
All Russia, Russia, Russia, Russia.
Impeach, impeach, impeach.
Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine.
What would Democrats doing in the middle of this, you know, when Donald Trump's implementing his xenophobic, racist, hysterical, fear-mongering travel ban, which saved incalcular an incalculable number of people from contracting this disease.
They were impeaching.
You know, now they're asking the president, you have blood on your hands.
I'm like, really?
Chucky Todd, you know, then you've got uh, let's say Boston Globe, and I mean, I'm I'm thinking this is where the media's minds at.
We can't take his press conferences.
It's in the middle of a national emergency.
And you know the real reason they don't want to take his press conference is because they'll see the Americ their American president locked in and engaged.
He's doing three-hour press conferences to help the American people.
They're running out of questions.
Blood on his hands.
You know, you have A PBS anchor.
Oh, they got money from the uh from the relief bill, too.
Trump is stoking racism with the Chinese virus.
Mika Brzezinski makes the case for Obama's aids demand that Trump resign.
You know, on the view, let uh they let New Orleans mayor blame Trump for not canceling Marty Gras.
You know, they're, you know, yeah, are you kissing Trump's ass to say to Gavin Newsom?
No, he says not kissing the ring or his ass.
I'm I'm I'm working with him, and and thank God he's giving us everything we need.
Everything we've asked for, and we're working together, great.
Well, they didn't like that answer.
You know, maybe Andrew Cuomo can learn from his counterpart.
Once New Yorkers find out what I know about Cuomo, trust me.
They're gonna go back to the 40% approval rating that he had.
You know, he just all talk and did nothing.
To me, it was a dereliction of duty.
That goes for Schumer, and that goes for De Blasio, the whole bunch of them.
The um, you know, I mean, I just I it it's breathtaking.
It really, it's it's sad.
It's you know, there's gonna be plenty of time.
We're 214 days away from election.
I promise you, there's going to be plenty of time for the campaign.
Plenty of time for, you know, the ever-confused, confounded quid pro quote Joe to make his case.
And then we'll compare how he handled N1H one, as he calls it.
You know, it's interesting because states are, you know, trying to trying uh hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.
Oh, now they're finally saying it could be a game changer.
How many weeks ago were they beaten me over the head for mentioning it as a as a possible area of hope?
Now, I didn't just pull that out of my, you know what?
I actually talked to a lot of doctors, read a lot of research, had my team go all in, started making phone calls behind the scenes.
This didn't come on the air and say, huh?
At least Governor Whitmer finally reversed course because she sees great potential.
Yeah, she banned the use of it.
It was dumb.
Nevada did the same.
California doctor says a coronavirus patient improving with the convalescent plasma treatment.
That is hopeful.
People that get coronavirus build antibodies, then those antibodies you extract the plasma, and then you and you know, it it is then used on a very sick patient, and you infuse it into their blood, and you're seeing in some cases, anecdotally, of course, because we don't have time for long clinical studies.
We're seeing positive results, hopeful results.
A top New York blood center doctor says the plasma coronavirus treatment is looking promising.
Uh, we have a vaccine candidate showing.
This is in Pittsburgh.
They think they have the vaccine figured out in mice, where immediately they inject their vaccine into the mice and antibodies begin to form.
That's how that whole process works.
I'm not a doctor.
I'm just read too much of this crap.
Uh, but they said they developed uh UPMC doctors in Pittsburgh that they've developed their vaccine.
Hopefully.
The economy's scaring the living daylights out of me, and it should.
And in the middle of all of this, you got Adam Schiff doing his thing.
In the middle of all of this, he wants an investigation.
Well, okay, I want to investigate.
Why didn't you support the travel ban?
In retrospect, do you support the travel ban?
Let's start there.
How many Americans can we calculate likely would have contracted the virus if we didn't put the travel ban in place?
But everyone thought it was racist.
You know, it is um, you know, I mean, you're these guys were all focused on impeachment.
All of them.
You know, and they want an investigation now.
And the mob and the media don't even want to cover the president's press car.
I don't even know what to do.
You got AOC wanting coronavirus reparations for minorities.
Um, what is she talking about?
You think she'd be all where's all hands on deck to get a problem?
In the middle of this, I bet very few of you know that, you know, where are the guilty-guilty Kavanaugh accusers?
You know, there's accusations against Joe Biden, Right?
No, maybe some of you don't know.
Yeah.
Anyway, woman and used to work for Biden as a former employee in a podcast with Rolling Stones that Biden sexually assaulted her in a secluded area of the Capitol in 1993, pushing her against the wall, kissing her, quote, penetrating her with his fingers.
Where are all the people that I believe?
Haven't heard a word from the believers.
CBS News actually skipped their own poll results in their coverage.
They actually found a poll that showed, yeah, people are happy with the president's job and how he's handling all of this, 53%.
They didn't mention that part of the poll in their own coverage.
It's so sick.
But that's where we are.
Now, let me tell you about the money side of this, and we'll get into this in our final hour today.
Dr. Oz taking your calls in the next hour.
Um president's been saying the cure can't be worse than the disease or the crisis.
He's right.
We're in uncharted waters here.
You've heard of the Laffer curve.
I like Art Laffer.
And Levin, by the way, had a great line on Hannity last night where he says you can't deficit spin your way into prosperity.
He's right.
If you could, Venezuela would be the richest nation on earth.
And what Laffer's been pointing out here is, and he's been around for every one of these crises since Nixon.
And he says about Donald Trump that he's the best president.
Uh that's the single best president we've had in my lifetime.
Clear thinking businessman knows how to do things, but he's also sending out a warning on the relief package.
And he's right.
You know, he's he called it uh a bill of helicopter money proposal of handouts.
It's it has it does have a bad track record.
Now, doesn't American people are rightly demanding that their fellow Americans, through no fault of their own, get the help that they need.
Small businesses stay up and running.
That's part of it.
But we've got to be careful here.
That's why it was so infuriating what the Democrats tried to do with the relief package bill and waste all that money.
You don't tax people who work and pay people who don't work and expect more work.
His warning is that it never works when you just have handouts.
It's a bad track record.
The idea here, well, I I have been saying again and again, solve the problem.
If we can stop the death and mitigate the contraction of the disease and get back to a normal economy and help people through that period of time.
He likes the payroll tax, which I like, cut for the rest of the year.
I like that idea too.
And, you know, what he's saying is the payroll tax cut and liquidity lending, and he says that's pretty much all you need.
Stand back, and this economy will do really well.
I agree with him.
Because the payroll tax is $750 billion.
And he said that would bring the economy back the fastest.
I don't like the idea of rushing into we already learned shovel ready jobs are never shovel ready, are they?
They're just not.
We've tried that before.
So we got to be careful.
Yes, Americans need help, hospitals need help, the front lines need help.
It's all hands on deck.
But the idea is then get everybody back to work.
Solve the problem medically, stop the death, mitigate transmission.
Let's get life back to normal as soon as we can, and then we can on the other side of that.
Americans want to work, most of them.
Always a few that would take advantage.
All right, glad you're with us.
Hour two, Sean Hannity Show, 800 941.
Sean, you want to be a part of the program are economic experts at the top of the uh next hour, as talk of an infrastructure bill concerns me and uh what impact it would have on the economy.
I don't think we're gonna get a full picture read on it, and I don't think anyone can give you an accurate prediction of what would happen.
And we better be very careful.
And I'm I keep reminding people I'm looking at what Art Laffer is saying, uh, who has been through all of these crises uh since Nixon.
Um we're gonna get to Dr. Oz in a second.
First, uh medical facts without fear.
One update anyone who gets near the president or vice president will now have to take a coronavirus test.
This is the new Abbott test, which they're going to be doing 50,000 a day.
Unprecedented testing.
Uh, but they'll be doing that 50,000 a day, but they're using that new test.
It does not include the mob in the media.
I think it's frankly it should.
Uh Huge reversal.
As you know, the governor of Michigan was put up the brakes on hydroxychloroquine.
Um now reversing course.
The only state that you can't get it at a pharmacy is New York, of all places.
I don't understand it.
And the governor steadfastly refusing, stubbornly refusing to allow doctors off-use, compassionate use, right to try, whatever you like to call it, the ability to have it prescribed.
There's plenty of doses now.
Israel's donated 10 million.
Uh we know that uh Novartis is now producing free for the federal government and for the American people, 130 million doses, bear doing the same thing.
Uh the Michigan governor now saying hydroxychloroquine shows great potential in treating coronavirus.
Uh it was a great piece.
Now even the New York Times is saying, well, this hydroxychloroquine uh they're now acknowledging uh that it is showing, quote, their words great hope.
Oh, I think it was what, three weeks ago, four weeks ago getting the crap beaten out of me.
Uh I'm a little frustrated.
I love Dr. Fauci.
I'm not sure why, but he wants the clinical studies and data, which by the way, we all would want.
We all would want that.
Uh we have 6,000 doctors surveyed saying they all see this as the best treatment for the coronavirus.
Um, but uh, and by the way, Fauci, some good news backtracking on the higher estimates that were given out earlier this week of potentially 200,000 plus uh dying in the U.S. We're looking at the new virus hot spots being Florida, Michigan, Connecticut, Indiana.
We're watching Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia closely as well.
Uh Fauci now saying all states should have stay-at-home orders that just came out.
Okay.
Maybe we should have heard earlier.
Coronavirus may cause brain damage and swelling around the brain.
It's it's a bad virus, especially for those that get it get the full-on hit.
Um, but anyway, Dr. Oz is with us.
He's been um amazing.
I've gotten to know him.
Talk to him every day on radio and TV.
Been extremely generous with his time.
He doesn't sleep.
He's been talking to doctors all around the world.
Anecdotal evidence, yes.
Now we're getting some studies as well.
How do we save people from dying?
Again, a lot of people will get this virus.
Some will have no symptoms, some will have mild symptoms, some will have normal full-on flu symptoms, but then others, it will it's a matter of life and death.
And how do we prevent the death part?
And then the mitigation part.
Um there was uh another study out that it might have uh prophylactic qualities, meaning hydroxychloroquine, and we're seeing that with people that use it for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, etc.
Anyway, without any further ado, uh Dr. Oz is with us.
Uh first, you want to comment or give any updates on anything that you have.
I saw another study today, too.
Doctors in New York and other states saying convalescent plasma treatments are working.
I'm sure you've seen them.
Well, there's a a lot of advances being made.
Let me just start with where you started, which was hydroxychloroquine.
I just uh penned a piece, published it in the Washington Examiner.
It sort of goes through the story of of how this came up.
And I think if people hear this for just two seconds, they'll get why clinicians and doctors got excited.
These practitioners in China were just observing people coming into the hospital.
And they noticed that 80 patients in a row with lupus came in.
Not one of them had COVID 19 in a time when there was a complete uh explosion of the epidemic, it wasn't even a pandemic back then in their city of Wuhan.
They did a study in February.
They just published it, but they, you know, they was collected when they're right in the middle of this.
Then they had like 180 patients who had COVID-19.
Not one of them had lupus.
So if you just hear that as a listener right now, you're gonna think, well, what's the difference?
These two groups, how's that?
That's not a coincidence.
They they looked at the data and they thought, you know, one of the differences is hydroxychloroquine.
This medication commonly used to regulate the immune response, has some theoretical benefits in laboratory tests.
Interestingly, it has been used and successfully found to block the ability of the virus to enter cells, and it also regulates the body's response to the virus once it's there.
Old medication used for malaria, but you know, it it's been touted for being beneficial.
It's never been shown to be all that effective, which is I think one of the reasons that Dr. Fauci's resistant, because it's one of those things everyone's heard about, but you know, it's it's like the kid who never made good, now all of a sudden he's sitting home runs.
And so these clinicians took that information, they did a randomized clinical trial, and you summarized it briefly, but I want to make sure people understand how it's how important it is.
It was small, but a small trial doesn't mean it's a bad trial.
Because small and significant means it must have been a big difference, right?
If you have to study 25,000 people to show a difference, how big can the difference be?
But if sixty-two people show you a difference, then you start thinking, well, geez, I mean, that's clinically meaningful.
So they showed statistically significant reductions in how many days it took to get over get rid of your fever, how many days to get rid of your your cough, and how many and how much your lungs got better because they all had pneumonia, and that was dramatically improved in the people who are on the medication.
So it's not a rant the kind of study that FDA would look for, but it's an extra finger pointing at it.
And you mentioned something else.
This issue of whether these rheumatoid arthritis and lupus patients get COVID-19.
If they're on this medication, it it seems anyway, the data we have so far that they don't seem to get it as often.
We're still dug diving into this.
I've got every major uh company plowing into this.
The head of CMS, the Medicare Service, uh Seymour Verma, who's fantastic, has been very responsive.
They tried to do it, but they didn't have a way of keeping track of who had COVID-19.
Doesn't exist in a government database.
They just started April 1st.
So they're giving me tips and clues, but one by one, as you say, it's you know detective work is is painstaking.
There's no glamour in it, but it's incredibly rewarding.
But we will figure out how many people in America who are already on uh hydroxychloroquine uh have COVID 19.
And if the answer is very few and statistically different from the other people, well then you start to think maybe preventive works, and that changes the entire perspective on the virus.
Uh how about convalescent plasma?
Now I went through a uh a list of doctors that are highly respected that are using this treatment, those that had coronavirus that have recovered, that have antibodies uh in their blood in their plasma.
Uh it's being extracted and then infused into very sick patients, and what the doctors are saying are amazing today, just alone.
Yeah, it's uh tell you it started uh as an old therapy.
Again, one of those things that sort of works, but people thought we can be better than that because it's sort of clunky, you gotta get the plasma from somebody who already had the illness.
There's they survived because they made antibodies, take those antibodies, they kept them alive and give it to someone who's not going to live.
Again, these are for very different patients than the ones we just talked about.
These people are in the ICU, they're just barely holding on to the precipice of life.
And in the first paper published in our one of our biggest journals called Jama, Journal of the American Medical Association, five uh uh patients were given the therapy again.
You don't expect the survival rate for this intubation in ICU with this virus is not very good.
It's well under 50 percent.
And all five survived.
Four of them did well, one of them I'm not sure about uh from this early report.
And again, doctors are rushing the information out.
We don't we're not taking time to cross the T's and dot all the I's because we're in a war.
And so you just try to get the information out and hope someone else picks up the uh the the pieces of the puzzle and helps complete it for you.
And so that's encouraging.
And to your point, now more and more centers around the country are experimenting with.
I just had a conversation with a hospital in Pennsylvania, and I say, guys, get on board your local blood bank and harvest blood from a someone who because we know how to do that from someone who's had the disease, plus put a APB out for someone who had COVID-19, get them in there, get the blood, give it to this person.
And that that hospitals are doing that, which is uh you know fantastic, unheard of to remove that quickly, but fantastic.
Yeah, all is.
Uh all right, Dr. Oz now for the rest of the hour.
I'm out of the way.
We're gonna let you talk directly to our our listeners, 800 nine-four one Sean.
Uh quick questions, quick answers.
We'll get as many calls as we can.
We'll start with Michael is in the great state of Pennsylvania.
Michael, welcome to the show.
And uh, you're on with Dr. Rows.
Hello, Dr. Oz.
How are you, Michael?
Okay.
Uh the drugs, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine function as zinc ionophores.
They will double the level of zinc in the cells.
And the the zinc in the cells will block the virus from manipulating the cell to make more viruses.
Why isn't anybody looking into utilizing uh zinc ion ionophores?
Uh they call Michael.
Yeah, it's a great great question.
I raised this question with uh DDA Raoult, a famous French doctor who did the original studies that I found out that I used to figure out uh this combination of uh cloro uh hydroxychloroquine and azrithromycin, which is ZPAC.
And he said he he thinks it's a brilliant idea.
He just doesn't have time.
And so I know others are trying to figure this out as well, but you're saying I believe is the truth.
We made this one sheet for the entire country.
It's the most handed out piece of paper I've ever made.
It was a protocol, survival kit for for the virus, and I looked at all the data on supplements there, and there's not a ton.
There's no data on coronavirus, but there's little data on the common cold.
And one of the things that seems to shorten duration is zinc, but a high dose sink.
So I wouldn't I would take low dose prophylactically, maybe 15 milligrams, but high dose if you get the illness, and I do believe it would work, but we just there are not enough people studying this to figure that all out.
Great answer, great question.
And I know they're also using hydroxychloroquine with the azithromyasin, and some are using zinc too, um, which we have discussed.
All right, back to our phones.
Let's say hi to Frida is in Texas.
Free to high, you're on with Dr. Oz.
Hi.
My question is, Dr. Oz, do you think that this virus can be transmitted through money?
Paper money or coins.
Great question.
I know they can be transferred because it's been looked at.
Copper uh get housed the virus for about four hours, so don't take any pennies.
Cash is actually not paper, it's paper.
Uh I mean, it's uh not paper, it's uh cloth.
So it can actually have virus on it, and especially because people tend to handle their money, it'll go from their finger to whoever's giving it to you's fingers to the paper to you.
So in China, they don't use paper really.
Every I mean, people panhandlers on the street, you you give them digital uh money.
So in this country, we still don't do that, but I certainly would avoid taking cash and coins for now.
You use your credit card as much as possible.
If you're gonna take cash and coins, then I wouldn't touch them for like twelve hours.
Let them sit by themselves, and over the course of the twelve hours, the virus will die anyway.
That's a good rule of thumb, period.
If you work closed when you come home from outside, hang your clothes up, just don't don't check them around the house.
Over twelve hours, the virus will die.
All right, for the full hour, Dr. Oz will take your calls.
We got to take a break here.
And uh again, Dr. Oz, thanks for your generosity.
Also joining us on TV tonight.
Uh we're getting new news medically literally almost on the hour, and he's keeping us all up to speed.
All right, as we roll along, Sean Hannity Show 800 941.
Sean, your questions for Dr. Oz for the full hour.
Jeff is in Texas.
Jeff, uh, welcome to the program, sir.
Dr. Oz, many years ago I heard you say on your show right at the end that if you feel a cold coming on, eat as much watermelon as you can immediately.
And I can tell you nobody in my house has been sick ever since then.
My question is why don't we hear more emphasis put on how people can build their immune system so they can fight off viruses?
You know, I people take for granted that everyone's doing it already, and they're not.
And there was an interesting comment Dr. Burks made.
She was on my show yesterday, and she was talking about the fact that age isn't the real issue, it's your physiologic age.
So how old your body thinks you are.
And they're different, right?
And there are tools you can use, like the real age study that can calculate even better than your your date of birth, an actuarial prediction of how long you're gonna live.
So to your point, if you're taking great care of yourself and you're 70 years old, and you don't have any diabetes and any hypertension, there's no cardiovascular disease, there's no diabetes, then you're actually behaving like you're more of a 60-year-old.
So your body will respond to threats and insults like the coronavirus in in that fashion.
And likewise, there are plenty of 60-year-olds or factly 50 year olds who haven't taken themselves and w uh taking good care of themselves.
They develop all the complications I just mentioned, and they're behaving more like a 65-year-old.
So what you're pointing out is profoundly important.
Two big tips for everyone listening.
You need to sleep more.
It's the single best thing you can do for the immune system, and daily exercise works because it stimulates, it revs the butt the engine a bit, and you have to get your immune system on the lookout.
Because if you're out there chasing for your prey, you might get hurt.
So the immune system's ready for you.
Great call, Jeff.
Thank you.
Uh let us say hi to Jesse, Idaho.
Uh Jesse, you're on with Dr. Oz.
Hey, Dr. Oz.
Thanks so much for coming on the show.
Uh, we really appreciate it.
Thank you, Jesse.
What's your question?
Well, uh, Sean's brilliant for having you on the show, Sean.
You're one of the few smart and trustworthy people in the media, and I honestly think you'll go down in history as one of the greatest Americans.
And now that I'm not sure.
Don't read the press on me.
so what's your question for Dr. Oz?
No, no, I was just reading from a list of things that the dumbest person in the world would say.
But my question for Dr. Oz is where do you think Sean in his storage keeps his spine?
No, it's not a good thing.
Well, it's pretty strong spine in print.
You've got to deal with a lot of incumbent.
I tell you the interesting thing about media, and I don't know if everyone appreciates this, but you spend a lot of time double checking yourself and you're harder on yourself than your critics, which is why you get up every morning and try to do a little bit of every time.
Even people you disagree with, I found that to be true.
You know, it's funny because uh whatever chip I used to have, maybe when I started my career that like you care what other people think, uh it's gone.
I I just criticism rolls off me like water off a duck's pack.
I don't care anymore.
It doesn't matter as long as I'm seeking the truth and like we were right about uh let's see, premeditated fraud, uh Pfizer abuse court, there's more information right about uh calling the media out on being wrong on Russia.
Yeah, four investigations, no Russia collusion.
All right, they've been wrong on this too.
Uh Dr. Oz stays with us for the full hour.
800 nine four one Sean.
Want to be a part of the program, then the latest on economic proposals is the cure worse.
Brian is in the great state of Florida.
We're watching Florida very closely, uh as a potential next hot spot after New York.
We're watching Michigan, we're watching Louisiana very closely.
Uh Brian, you're on with Dr. Oz.
Glad you called, sir.
Hi, Dr. Oz.
Thanks for taking the call.
How are you, Brian?
What's your question?
My son is on the front line as an ER doctor in Orlando.
We talk to him every night, and we talked to him last night.
He said it's getting scary because when a patient comes in for something you don't know if he have the help if they have the virus or not, whether to put on all the PPE.
I told him it's very important because he's very important in this fight, and you just need to take a breath, make sure that he has the proper gear on.
He said, Dad, that patient might not have that breath of spare.
The problem is the doctors are working without the help they normally get because they're trying to limit the number of people exposed to anyone who comes into the ER who might have the virus.
So it's really complicating the emergency rooms.
Thank you for your for what your son does.
We're praying for him and you, and it's a great question, Dr. Oz.
Wow.
Well, I mean, that that's perfectly describing the challenge.
And God bless you for articulating it so well.
So the reality is we have to limit the number of people in the room because we don't have enough people to go around and we can't lose them all.
At my hospital, we're looking at 15, 20 percent infection rates of the of the caregivers.
And I'll just share something with you because I'm a doctor, I tell you the truth.
If you know you don't want to hear it initially, but you'll appreciate it down the road.
Part of the reason healthcare professionals get sicker, we think when they get infected is because they get big boluses of virus.
So if you try to put a breathing tube in a patient, and the patient's trust struggling, which anybody would, that conf that comes out of their mouth, it goes right into your face.
If you're not well protected, it becomes a problem.
As much as your son wants to make sure that he's there for that one before the last breath so he can intervene, his staying healthy is is actually more critical to the system than that extra breath, because if he goes down, then the whole system goes down.
That's the big you know, in New York State, everyone's talking about ventilators, then they are important, of course, but we don't have enough people to run the ventilators.
We're getting people toward who are not so much.
An untold story.
Well, you just said this is a key, very key point you're making.
We don't have the operators that know how to operate the ventilators.
So your boy's got to take care of himself, uh, even though it's not in our nature in our culture to take that extra step backwards to take to make sure we got the protective gear on, but it's worth the investment.
Great call.
We're praying for your son and all these uh brave professionals, doctors, nurses, scientists, uh medical staff.
It was a viral video of of people, janitors cleaning hospitals.
They're putting their lives at risk, and they got a they got a big hand from the uh medical staff and and brought one of the workers to tears.
Sure, they're scared every day going to work.
Uh, but they were in gowns masked up, but it's still it's scary.
Lou is in Pennsylvania.
Lou, you're on with Dr. Oz.
Glad you called.
Hey, hi guys.
Uh, just have a theory.
I wanted to see if you agreed with it.
Uh I know that uh in New York City, in the metro area, there's over thirty thousand elevators.
And I think that the hot spots are being caused and exponentially uh increased by the big cities with the big elevators.
I mean sixty seventy stories, you get on the first floor, second floor.
How many people come off and on?
And now they're talking that just talking to people can spread the virus.
I think that is one of the biggest I used to think gas pumps were bad, but I think the elevators are really uh the cause causing these big cities to have these outbursts.
You know I can't do that.
I can add to this loop is is that you know let me tell you the city is basically shut down uh in many many ways.
But Dr. Ross great question.
I tell you I I always brag that I have the smartest audience in television.
But this is stunning.
That is such a great observation.
And actually it was studied in China.
They went through these malls and they said okay there's an focus of infection on the seventh floor in the wardrobe section.
And then they saw how did the infection spread.
And the infection spread off that area in two ways.
It spread in the bathrooms because the women would go to a bathroom on a different floor because they you know if they're you know alternating sex bathrooms and the elevators and you're absolutely right they pinpointed the elevator for two reasons.
One, you cannot stay six feet away from someone in an elevator.
Everyone walks in and they face the front.
So you're facing at each basically at each other's heads and then any breath that's coming out of your mouth any conversation it immediately creates this cloud in the elevator.
And they you know that cloud that when someone speaks and says a word like health that's the sound there's a little bit of spit that comes out.
That cloud can last up there 15-20 minutes.
So someone who wasn't even in the elevator when you got in there may have contaminated it.
Plus the the buttons in the elevator, you're absolutely right in a city like New York no one's walking 70 flights.
So you're all taking the elevator and it ended up becoming in a huge problem in China.
We just never got around to studying it.
And it was one of those things there's I think there's a couple things that caught us.
The elevators for sure public transportation the big difference between New York and LA is that in New York we have a great public transportation system and everybody uses it.
In LA, you know there's nothing underground.
So it spared them in this case from being closely confined while the virus was exploding and then the latrines the public bathroom has become a problem not because they're dirty because of the culprits you can't see because you're flushing stuff and it's in your it comes it's in the fluid coming out of you and it spreads but that is a perfect insight and I would not use an elevator.
It's probably first of all it's good exercise anyway.
But I would not use an elevator if you could avoid it if you're in a pandemic zone.
It's just there's no way of keeping clean.
Great call uh Robert North Carolina for Dr. Oz Robert glad you called thank you Dr. Oz thank you for getting me on bottom line is uh how do I get my antibodies tested the back thing is my wife and I had a delightful three week vacation in northern Italy.
We were turned in the middle of January we starting on our return flight we started feeling sick.
We had uh primarily upper respiratory symptoms uh we had extreme fatigue loss of stamina and for about a month after we returned home we didn't even want to leave the house we just had no energy and our upper symptoms were were pretty severe.
I'm stubborn uh she's stubborn we we did not seek medical attention but uh once we saw our primary care doctor several weeks later it was just for a routine checkup he said well maybe you did have a coronavirus and our thought is I wonder if we got tested we'd find out that we did have antibodies and our plasma would be valuable so that that's my question.
Hope you with this real quick first of all thanks for it's the right reason to to want to learn because you can donate your plasma and save a life as we discussed earlier convalescent plasma your antibodies can change the the future of someone who can't make the antibodies the way you did and your wife did I bet you that that 50% of the people who have coronavirus never knew it.
I mean forget about you you actually had symptoms 50% walking around they got a little headache they just didn't feel on their game one day they slept a little longer one night.
That's coronavirus for some people and so and we know this from the cruise ships.
People getting off the cruise ships they had they sampled everybody.
50% of the people doing Pilates the whole time you know running laps the other ones were they were ill knew they were sick and they all had they all had COVID 19.
So even even if you weren't sick you could have had it.
If you did have those symptoms it's a likelihood Dr. Burks told me on a show yesterday that she thinks we'll have those antibody kits rolling out in a high enough volume that within two weeks we'll begin to use them.
They're not great to diagnose if you've got it, but they'll tell us if you did have it, and that tells us two things.
One, obviously you can donate, but more importantly, you know you can't get it again because we're pretty sure you're immune for at least a while.
So it that's a part of the workforce that could begin to do things that it's hard for others to do.
They could go into emergency rumors more readily, they can uh they can begin to to go back to work without fear being fearful of catching it, and it would free us up a little bit to get back to to work.
Good call.
We appreciate it.
Uh Robert, thank you.
Barry is in Hampton, Virginia.
Barry, you're on with Dr. Oz.
Glad you called.
Yes, sir.
Hi, Dr. Oz.
I'm just wondering uh in your opinion about how much longer you think this thing will last before it actually resides, in your opinion.
I know it's a sixty-four thousand dollar question.
But well, the virus will decide for sure, but with our help, if we continue to socially distance, I think by the first of May, uh at least most of the crises will start will have been heading down for long enough that we'll feel like we take a breath.
New York should peak in about two weeks.
Los Angeles and some of the other big cities that got it a little bit later, you know, within the following week, and the more and the whole country should be heading back down towards normal, and that's all we have to have.
We don't you know, as fast as it went up, it'll go down that fast as well.
As long as it's tracking in the right direction, then I think the task force is gonna be comfortable opening up some states that have no incidence.
I was just talking to a legislator in West Virginia, they don't have many cases there.
You could open up West Virginia and then do the experiment, which is can we really tell if you've got it, and can we get in front of you fast enough before you infect a bunch of people if you do get sick?
That way you and your family and workers are protected and we'll we'll quarantine that little group, but not take the whole town down.
And if we can work out the kinks in the system with testing, we have to have testing, then as the bigger cities start to recover, we can begin to test them and do the same thing because it's a lot harder to do in New York than it's gonna be in uh in a town of West Virginia.
Good call, Barry.
Thank you.
Cal Washington, uh glad you called.
You're on with Dr. Oz.
Hello, Dr. Oz.
It's uh pleasure to talk with you.
Uh I'm 66 and have hypertension, and I also get uh IVIG treatment every two weeks for another neurological condition that I have.
Will that IVIG, if I were exposed, will that IVIG help my immune system to fight this off?
Probably won't help, but it probably won't hurt either.
Uh it's you know that's designed for a very specific purpose.
The in immunical applins we'd use for coronavirus are more targeted for this purpose.
Uh we, you know, across the board we're learning a lot about the conditions people bring into the illness.
Earlier question asked about you know keeping your immune system strong.
Much of it you do yourself, but sometimes your immune system just isn't like everybody else's, and it might make you more prone or less prone.
And it's a good example.
I was talking to Sean, you know, we talk into the wee hours of the morning, which is not good for either of us, but I was asking him about his blood type.
And Sean, if you're okay, you can share this, but people who are blood type O are less likely to get the coronavirus or at least get a reaction to it.
People who are blood type A are more likely.
Now that doesn't give you a free pass if you're an O, but it's sort of interesting that something as simple as your blood type, and there's so many more detailed ways we can look at your genes, and you know, men women have more problems with it, men die more often.
I mean, this is we interesting dichotomy that we gotta face with this virus.
We'll figure this all out.
If you look at pictures of the virus, it's really cool because you can understand that it's like a key opening the lock of a door.
How many of those doors you have is important?
Older people have more doors.
Young people have no doors in their nose.
So the the virus goes in there in the same household.
You'll have the dad get the illness, the mom will get it almost for sure.
All right, and then the adult kids, maybe maybe not.
The grandkids, they never get it.
And just because they don't have any of those doors to get on lock, but the same virus.
It is it's been it's been fascinating the whole thing.
Um I just want to say this.
Um Dr. Oz and I have become uh I'm so glad I've gotten to know you all so personally.
And what I really learned about you, and I want people to understand, is that you this this is your calling in life.
This is your passion.
This is your uh you know, you're right.
We do talk into the late hours.
You mentioned earlier, oh, you need to get a good night's sleep.
Um, yeah, I'm not the big I've never been a big sleeper.
My pillow helps me, but I'm I'm uh I stay up late like you do.
But you're literally I just want people to know all day, all night, he's accumulating data and information from all around the world in the hopes of a treatment.
Now, of course, we don't have time for the clinical trials, in the hopes to save lives, in the hope to mitigate people contracting this disease.
And as I've gotten to know you and and listen to the enormous amounts of information you're getting, it's phenomenal to me.
And you're, you know, I I I mean, it's just it's great to know you as a person, and I want people to know what you're doing and how hard you're working.
And you know, I don't care that people were hitting me over hydroxychloroquine.
Um, you've had people attacking you, and now they're all coming around saying, Oh, Dr. Oz is likely right.
Well, you're not pulling this out of a vacuum.
You work hard to get that research, and I want to applaud you for the great work you're doing, and I want to thank you personally for you know being available.
You've been coming on radio and TV every night, and now you're taking calls here today.
And I think we're gonna do this every week until uh this thing passes.
Is that right?
I I'd love to keep helping.
I tell you your audience is very influential.
Uh, I've been so impressed by the questions today.
But the the bigger part of this puzzle for all of us all is that if it if enough of us understand what the real issues are with the virus, we calm everybody else down.
Because you fear most what you don't understand.
So we're thanks to you, we're able to shine a light into the dark corners of this issue for a lot of people, and that'll hopefully lift you up.
I hope you all feel better about what you heard this hour, because I was trying to give you good news.
I'm gonna reemphasize it.
Half the people literally don't have any symptoms.
We believe 80% of the rest of the people do just fine.
And that last 20%, they also do okay generally, except for a quarter who go to the hospital and go to the ICU.
So your numbers are heavily in your favor if you take the basic steps to protect yourself.
And there are a couple of things, even today you'd start.
Like don't do what we do because we're struggling to keep up with the data, but sleep.
Uh I I mentioned earlier exercise, but you really do have to break a sweat every day, just for a few minutes if you can.
Um, and most importantly, find a purpose in life, because the people who are feeling down, remember the quilt of humanity, what's the what's what keeps us going is each other.
And if you can just find a purpose, that always gives you hope.
Well, you've found your God given purpose.
Dr. Oz, we'll see you tonight on TV.
Thank you so much for spending so much time with us.
We appreciate it.
Take care, everybody.
Bye-bye.
All right, news roundup information overload hours, Sean Hannity Show, 800 941.
Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, uh we spent a lot of time on you know uh facts without fear.
What do you need to know on the medical side?
Some stuff's scary at times, but there's hope in a lot of areas.
Uh where I live in Long Island.
Now, this is the epicenter, 3,000 cases identified today alone.
This is when the distancing begins to really matter.
Um, some even the governor who's totally ill-prepared.
No, I mean, no preparation.
There's no excuse for this.
None.
I mean, first Trade Center bomb bombing.
You know, World Trade Center, 9-11.
Seriously?
You know, you're warned by your own medical task force that if there's a pandemic in the state of New York, uh, back in 2015, when you're the governor, he was the governor, says this is his third term.
Uh, yeah, you're gonna be 16,000 ventilators short.
What did he do?
Goes back to the task force.
Well, how do we ration the 2,000 we have?
And then he then I need 30,000 ventilators when the 4,400 the president sent him is in a warehouse.
It's unbelievable.
You really is on below 3,000 cases today where I am.
But we we've been telling you now that get ready, buckle up.
There's gonna be rocky month.
This this these next few weeks.
But then as Dr. Oz said, we're gonna level if the patterns hold, we have no reason to believe they will not level off, drop dramatically, and but you know, in the country we're gonna see a little bit of of waves geographically of this, and that's why we're keeping our eye on other states, other potential hot spots, like for example, Louisiana.
Why the local mayor goes on, uh I guess it was the view or some hard-hitting news show like that.
And Donald Trump should have shut down Mardi Gras.
Uh if he tried, you would have had a fit.
Number one, and that's not his job, that's your job.
And it's just pathetic the the number of people, and I I do credit Gavin Newsom.
Gavin Newsom has done probably of the governors in states that are most uh are the hardest hit, has done the best job, and he's the one complaining the least.
And And you know, like I love, I love Cuomo.
Cuomo doesn't get the ventilators screaming he needs ventilators.
Why didn't you get them, Andrew?
And nobody in the mob media in New York even asks the guy.
They don't even ask him.
How is it that even basic equipment, even everything has to be supplied now by Washington?
New York, geographically, for pandemics, you have the highest concentration of people, 10, 11 million people in New York City and the smallest geographical area.
And at the height of the pandemic, you need 16,000 more ventilators.
He said, No, um, how can I?
And then he wastes money.
Five, I mean, the amount of money that Cuomo 750 million dollars on this solar panel factory in upstate New York that they had to mothball after they wasted the money, and then another six hundred dollar million dollar disaster, and then a let's say a $90 million light bulb disaster with a California company.
It's unbelievable.
You see the worst of the worst.
Now, one of the things that we are concerned about is the issue of the economy.
And I've been bringing this up, and we're going to spend some time on this now.
And the idea that that we have 2.2 trillion dollars, held up, of course, by the Democrats because they wanted funding for the Kennedy Center for the Arts, which then they get the money and they turn around and they fire their employees.
Can you believe that?
Unbelievable.
You know, they're they're holding back money so 75 million of the aid money can go to the national endowment for the arts.
Another 75 million the national endowment for the humanities.
You know, holding back for over a week relief money for out-of-work Americans.
The American people want to help their fellow Americans.
We rebuilt Europe.
We're gonna help Americans out of work through no fault of their own.
You don't want to make you but you want to make it so that immediately, once we solve, as Dr. Oz was saying, once we get to that precipitous decline, we want to get the economy up and going as quickly as we possibly can.
This is what Art Laffer has been been saying.
And now they're talking about another two trillion.
I'm like, we have 2.2 trillion that now we have to get out into the hands of the people that need it, workers that need it, hospitals that need the monies, small businesses, big businesses.
Um, well, let's let's now go for the infrastructure relief money.
Okay, they're not going to be shovel ready jobs.
We've learned that.
And I think that Art Laffer had it right in an interview he did with Fox.
You know, he called the bill a helicopter money proposal of handouts, and he's pointed out that has a bad track record historically.
It never works, and it can cause the problem to get worse and worse.
You don't tax people who work and pay people who don't work and expect more work.
And he's right.
And he talked about, and I agree with him, a payroll tax cut for the rest of the year, seven to eight months at least, to make sure it's more attractive for people to work and more attractive for companies to hire, and guaranteeing the Fed freeing up loan money.
Yeah, he's supporting guaranteeing liquidity loans to help businesses stay afloat.
Uh pay the payroll tax, remember, we got to keep the company open.
Why?
Because even in these hardest hit areas, you still need food.
You still need medicines, you still need medical supplies, you still need gasoline.
You know, we can't shut the entire country's economy down.
Uh, I understand, you know, there are some areas of the country that are not experiencing what is going on where I happen to live.
And um, but there are going to be air once New York, and then a geographically a little shift.
We'll be paying attention to Louisiana, Florida, Michigan, and Indiana, and some other states.
And then they'll get the help.
And then all the things we learned in New York, we will do there.
He did say he thinks the president is the single best president we've had in our lifetime, and he's a businessman that knows how to do things.
Anyway, that's a big focus this hour.
Uh, Jim Jordan is with us.
You know, I don't know what to say about your Democratic colleagues, because you see the best in American business, the best in the American people, the best at our military, the best in and health care workers and doctors and nurses, front lines risking their own lives in this.
And then you see Congress holding back necessary aid for American workers, businesses and hospitals, so they can fund the arts and change election laws and immigration laws, and then they want to start an investigation in the middle of a national emergency, and the media doesn't even want the to carry the president's press conference.
I'm done, I'll shut up.
Yeah, no, no, and that last thing you mentioned is is the worst.
The idea that Pelosi and Adam Schiff are talking about a select committee to look into how the president is handled.
The president has handled this as good as anybody could.
He's provided tremendous leadership, and they want to set up a special committee to go after the president, the same people as you rightly said, who said, Oh, oh, Pelosi had a quote in one of their stories yesterday.
I saw she said, Oh, well, there's there's this two trillion dollars.
We want to make sure that this money is is going to the right places being done.
We want this kind of committee to oversee all this and and and look at this, see how the administration handled it.
This is the same lady who got 25 million for the Kennedy Center.
This is the same lady who wanted the Green New Deal in the legislation, same ladies who wanted money for NPR in this legislation.
February 24th, she's saying, Oh, come to Chinatown and spend money and don't be afraid.
Uh a little late, Nancy, and you're impeaching the president when he was implementing the channel uh travel ban.
Yeah, yeah.
So that that's that's the part that I think is so frustrating for so many Americans.
Now that when they come out with this news just a couple days ago that they were gonna they were gonna establish some committee to, and we all know what it's for, just to go after the president again.
Um, that's the part that because you're right.
The American people will get through this.
We'll get through this.
I I always say there's my my favorite scripture versus 2 Timothy 4 7.
Paul says, fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith.
Fight, finish, keep.
That's what Americans have done for 200 plus years.
We will do it again now.
We will get through this, but we got to get through it as quickly as possible using common sense, doing the right things.
But as the president said a week and a half ago, Sean, we can't make the cure worse than the disease.
So we do got to get through this as best we can, as quick as we can and doing the things the right way.
And I understand we've got to listen to the experts, but we got to get this economy back up and running as you were talking about, so that we can we can get America moving again in the right direction.
How quickly will Americans see this money, Jim Jordan?
I think soon, you know, I've been today.
I've been uh calling around to a number of our business leaders, Chamber of Commerce leaders in our district, because today's sort of the day when that when so many businesses were going to the small business administration, uh working through their local banks uh uh for these for these small businesses to make sure they can help their their employees.
So we've been calling around trying to figure out I think it's gonna work as quickly as possible.
Again, remember this is government.
Government never works that quick.
But I think this situation is going to be better than it normally is with government because we got the good people in the Trump administration working so hard.
Uh very important.
Uh now I heard well, Minuchin was out there yesterday with the head of the small business administration, and uh apparently that is up now today or up as of last night for small businesses to apply.
Now, apparently they're gonna be able to get loans to keep their their employees employed, and eventually that will become a grant.
Is that right?
Yes, if they keep the vast majority of their employees on payroll, I think then the percentage is 75% or more, then it'll in essence turn from a loan into a grant.
Uh, because again, you know, the we we we we hated, you know, us conservatives, we hated this idea of a two trillion dollar bill.
But when you have the government telling business you can't operate uh and you can't operate because of the nature of this virus, uh, you had to do something.
And so while it was a lot of bad things in this bill, there were some needed things in this legislation, namely the things we're talking about that help small business owners.
If they keep the vast majority of their employees on on the payroll, then it will turn into a grant and not a loan.
Okay.
Now, as it relates to American workers through no fault of their own, the monies that were appropriated, um, they'll be able to get that too.
Why are we why are people talking about an infrastructure bill when honestly I actually agree with Art Laffer.
We we can't the president was saying this from the beginning.
We can't make the cure worse than what we've had here.
The once we get this under control, we want Americans right back in the workplace, and and that is the single best antidote for the economy.
Without a doubt.
Nothing works if people I mean, let's just be be honest.
If people don't get up and go to work in the morning, you don't have an economy.
I mean, all people said all the fundamentals were great in this economy before the virus hit.
That is true.
But the most fundamental of fundamentals is the idea that every morning people get up and go to work and make this amazing economy, the greatest economy in human history, make it work.
It will not work if we don't work.
So yeah, we've got to get back to work as soon as possible.
Um, we're gonna have to continue to exercise common sense measures.
We understand that, but let's make this happen as soon as possible.
I love the press.
I mean, I think the president's done a great job in all these press conferences, but about a week and a half ago, that first really long press conference he did when he stood up there and said the line you just used, Sean, the cure can't be worse than the disease, and talked about we got to get this country moving again back and back to work.
That's the attitude the American people have.
That's what they want to see from their from their leaders, particularly from our president.
Um, and that's what we have to do.
So let's let's deal with this over the next few weeks, but then let's get back to work as quickly as possible and get this thing moving again.
All right, Jim Jordan.
Uh let us keep us updated, especially on when those displaced workers, small business people are gonna get the help that they need.
And I have a funny feeling that you're probably gonna have to kick these people and then you know where, because they're just pathetic bureaucrats, a lot of these people.
So we've got to get the money to the people that was promised to.
Yep.
And I don't think this is the time to be talking about new monies.
I don't know, I'm not sure where all that came from.
It's not we we just passed a bill, Sean, that was equivalent to about one-tenth of I mean, you think about it.
We have a $23 trillion economy, and so we just passed the bill with two two 2.2 trillion dollars.
Holy cow, the largest spending measure in the history of probably humanity.
So, and now we're with Pelosi's already talking about spending more in phase four.
Let's see how phase three works, and let's focus on dealing with this virus.
So American.
Let's focus on getting the phased, let's get a focus on getting the 2.2 trillion into the hands of the people it's meant for.
That would be a big help.
All right, uh, Jim Jordan, Congressman Ohio, uh, thank you.
All right, as we roll along, 800 nine four-one Sean.
You want to be a part of the uh program.
Uh, I think we're gonna be checking in with the president's uh White House task force and his briefing uh likely at the bottom of the half hour, as we have been doing.
We'll do it after the news at the bottom of the half hour, so we uh take it for you live.
Um, isn't that interesting?
The mob in the media doesn't want to carry it.
How how pathetic is that?
Oh, uh no, we don't we don't want the president here from the president of the United States.
Why not?
Why?
Because it is uh something that uh the country wants to hear that is critical to you know a national emergency.
That's how pathetic these people are.
That's how you know political they are.
You know, there's uh a lot of news information coming through.
By the way, um we now have a million cases worldwide.
Remember N1H1 to quote Joe was 60.8 million in the U.S. Um Rick Scott, by the way, the WHO is horrible, and he's demanding documents from the WHO.
Nobody in Wuhan believes the Wuhan province area believes China's numbers.
They all think they're lying.
Um, which is interesting.
Um funny that the uh New York Times of all people, um, why didn't they just put another column?
We were wrong on Russia, wrong on Ukraine, uh wrong on premeditated fraud on the Pfizer court, and Sean Hannity was uh right, and now even they are after mocking the president after mocking me and and uh telling the world he's irresponsible.
I was talking about asymptomatic people walking around and infectious with this virus uh in January.
And it's all up on Hannity.com.
Now they're saying, yeah, hydroxychloroquine, they now acknowledge uh that it may help people.
Malaria drug helps virus patients improve and in study, New York Times.
Oh, there's great hope here.
Governor of uh Michigan, you know, threatening doctors who prescribe the Drug without administration action.
Oh, yeah, no, it's showing great hope now.
If you just listen to me first and never listen to them, you I think you'd be better off.
lie.
Did the IRS scandal and the NSA atrocities convince you?
You need a watchdog on Washington with insider sources.
You need handity every day.
All right, 25 till the top of the hour.
All right.
The president is daily coronavirus task force briefing that the mob and the media is struggling with whether they should even carry.
That's how much they hate the president in the middle of a national emergency, but we will cover it as we have been.
Listen.
Very much everybody, and I want to start by saying that our hearts go out to the people of New York as they bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic in America.
That seems to be the hot spot right now.
But you have some others, as you know, that are very bad, very bad.
Louisiana is getting hit very hard.
Parts of Michigan are getting hit very, very hard.
New Jersey is uh is uh surprisingly it's much uh greater than anybody would have thought.
They're doing a really good job.
Governor's doing a really good job out there.
Uh New York's first responders, EMTs, doctors, nurses are showing incredible courage under pressure.
They're the best in the world.
We uh will take every action and we'll spare no resource, financial, medical, scientific.
We will not spare anything.
We'll get it back into shape.
The Empire State, the governor's doing an excellent job.
They're all working very hard together.
I at the request of the governor, as you know, uh the Javett Center.
We have 2,500 beds, and we're going to allow that to be a uh system where this horrible disease can be uh looked after, the patients can be looked after.
That was going to be for regular medical problems, such as accidents, and you know, it's very interesting.
The governors tell me we don't have too many accidents and very few people driving.
So we're going to uh put that facility into play, which is a big facility.
Uh the ship will be staying the way it is, but we're putting that facility into play to help them.
And today also the CDC is announcing additional steps Americans can take to defend against the transmission of the virus.
From recent studies, we know that the transmission from individuals without symptoms is playing a more significant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood.
So you don't seem to have symptoms, and it still gets transferred in light of these studies.
The CDC is advising the use of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure.
So it's voluntary.
You don't have to do it.
They suggested for a period of time.
But uh this is voluntary.
I don't think I'm going to be doing it, but you have a lot of ways you can look at it as follows.
The CDC is recommending that Americans wear a basic cloth or fabric mask.
They can be either purchased online or simply made at home, probably material that you'd have at home.
These face coverings can be easily washed or reused.
I want to emphasize that the CDC is not recommending the use of medical grade or surgical grade masks, and we want that to be used for our great medical people that are working so hard and doing some job.
Medical protective gear must be reserved for the frontline health care workers who are performing those vital services.
Uh the new mask guidelines also do not replace CDC's guidance on social distancing, including staying in your home when possible, standing at least six feet apart for a period of time.
Again, we're gonna all come back together here.
We're gonna all come back together and practicing hand hygiene, which we should do anyway.
A lot of things I think are going to spill over.
Uh shaking hands, maybe we'll stay with our country for a long time beyond this.
Uh, One of the one of our great doctors was telling me that, as you know, we have flus every year.
And the number of people killed by the flu is very substantial.
Said that if they didn't shake hands, that number would be substantially lower.
So maybe it'll stay, maybe some of these things long term will be good.
But those guidelines are still the best and the safest way to avoid the infection.
So with uh the masks, it's going to be uh really a voluntary thing.
You can do it, you don't have to do it.
I'm choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it, and that's okay.
It may be good, probably will.
They're making a recommendation.
It's only a recommendation, it's voluntary.
We're also taking action to ensure the cost of no barrier to any American seeking testing or treatment of the coronavirus, the largest insurer nationwide.
The Blue Cross Blue Shield System has now announced that it will not require any copies, which is really something.
That's a tremendous statement from patients of the virus treatment for the next 60 days, similar to the commitments of Cygna, Yumana, Anthem.
Those are great companies, and they're all doing the same thing.
So co-pays for them to do that is it's a big statement.
We appreciate it.
Today I can so proudly announce that hospitals and health care providers treating uninsured corona virus patients, will be reimbursed by the federal government using funds from the economic relief package Congress passed last month.
So that was as per the question yesterday and actually the day before yesterday.
They should alleviate any concern uninsured Americans may have about seeking the coronavirus treatment.
So that's, I think answers the question pretty well, and very much in the favor of our great people.
I'm also signing a directive invoking the Defense Production Act to prohibit export of scarce health and medical supplies by unscrupulous actors and profiteers, the security and secretary.
The Secretary of Homeland Security will work with FEMA to prevent the export of N95 respirator surgical mask gloves and other personal protective equipment.
We need these items immediately for domestic use.
We have to have them.
But we've done really well with uh the purchase of items, and you'll be hearing about that shortly.
We've already leveraged the DPA to stop the hoarding and price gouging of crucial supplies.
Under that authority this week, the Department of Health and Human Services, working with the Department of Justice, took custody of nearly 200,000 N95 respirators, 130,000 surgical masks, 600,000 gloves, as well as bottles, many, many, many bottles, and disinfectant sprays that were being hoarded.
All of this material is now being given to health care workers.
Most of it's already been given out.
And we've given a lot to New York, a lot to New Jersey, a lot to other places.
In addition to ensure that health care workers in New York have the protective equipment they need.
The federal government, in the name of the Department of Defense, is providing about 8.1 million in 95 respirators.
Department of Defense.
And we've already given 200,000 of them to New York City.
Mayor de Blasio needed them very badly, so we got them to Mayor de Blasio in New York City.
They were very grateful.
8.1 million, and we're going to be increasing that number from 8.1 million to more.
That's a lot of N95 respirators.
Today my team spoke with the CEO of Arshner Health and the CEO of LCMC, the two largest health systems in New Orleans.
They said they feel that they currently have enough ventilators.
I think a lot of people are going to have enough ventilators and masks and appreciate what we did and all of the things we've been doing with them, working with them.
The CEO of Oshner, Warner Thomas, who's really been fantastic, I have to say, indicated a need for 230,000 surgical gowns, and I instructed FEMA to deliver them tomorrow.
So they'll have the 230,000.
That's Louisiana, New Orleans.
230,000 surgical gowns.
They'll have them by tomorrow.
We're expanding the role of the armed forces in our response effort because no one is better prepared to win a war than the United States military.
And we are in a war.
The invisible enemy, remember.
Over 9,000 retired Army medical personnel have answered their nation's call and are now supporting field hospitals and medical facilities all across the country, like what I just told you that Governor Cuomo requested we do something in Javitz where we take it over.
And we're going to have that manned by the military, because it's very tough to get people, more people in the New York area.
So we're going to have it manned by the military, Javitt Center.
National Guard members have been activated to help states build new treatment centers and assist in the seamless distribution of medical supplies that includes National Guard.
The National Guard is assisting very strongly because the states were in many cases unable to have the delivery capability from warehouses and other places that we put the supplies.
So I've given approval to use the National Guards, the various National Guards in the different states.
And they're doing a fantastic job of not only protecting people but delivering material.
The Army Corps of Engineers has assessed more than 100 facilities in all 50 states and is rapidly building temporary hospitals and alternative care sites in many states in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin, Ohio.
They're doing a lot of work in just those states plus additionals that are being will be announced probably tomorrow, but they're doing some job.
The Army Corps of Engineers, what a job they're doing.
And FEMA, what a job they're doing.
As we deploy the power of our military, we're also deploying the skill of our doctors, scientists, and medical researchers.
We continue to study the effectiveness of hydroxy, chloroquine, and other therapies in the treatment and prevention of the virus, and we will keep the American people fully informed in our findings.
Hydroxy chloroquine, I don't know, it's looking like it's having some good results.
I hope that that would be a phenomenal thing.
But we have it right now in approximately now it's increased to 1,500 people.
I spoke with Dr. Zucker in New York, terrific guy, by the way.
He's doing a good job.
And I spoke to Governor Cuomo last evening and this morning about it.
So it's been there for about three and a half days, but I think uh, and what in many other places it's being tested to we have a tremendous supply of it.
We've ordered it in the uh case that it works, and and it's uh it could have some pretty big impacts, so we'll see what happens.
My administration is also working to get relief to American workers and businesses in day one of the paycheck protection program.
As Kevin said, more than $3.5 billion in guaranteed loans have been processed to help small businesses keep their workers employed during the unprecedented time, this unprecedented time.
And uh Bank of America has been incredible of the big banks.
Bank of America has really stepped forward and done a great job.
And then you have the community banks, your smaller banks, and uh we're already at $3.5 billion going out to incredible people, but that's way ahead of schedule.
The SBA and the Treasury are working around the clock, and our banking partners are really incredible, and they're ensuring that the money gets to small businesses as quickly as possible, and then the small business in turn take care of employees that they would have had to let go, and now they'll keep them.
And that's good.
And then they're going to open for business and they're going to have their employees, and we'll try and get back to where we were.
Eventually we're going to supersede where we were.
The energy industry has been especially hard hit in the crisis this afternoon.
I met with Greg Garland of Phillips 66, Dave Hager of Devon Energy, Harold Hamm of Continental Resources, Jeff Hildebrand of Hill Corp Energy, Vicky Holub of Occidental Petroleum, Mike Summers of the American Petroleum Institute, Kelsey Warren of Energy Transfer Partners, Mike Wirth of Chevron, and Darren Woods of Exxon Mobil.
I informed them that we will be making space available in the strategic petroleum reserve to let American producers store surplus oil that can be sold at a later time.
There's a tremendous abundance of oil, primarily because of the virus.
The virus is just stopped demand of everything, including oil.
So we're working with our great energy companies.
These are great companies.
They employ tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people.
And they've kept America really going for a long time, and no big price hikes, no big anything.
I mean, they've just kept it going, and now they got hit.
But with all the jobs and all of the good that they do, we're going to make sure that they stay in good shape.
America is engaged in a historic battle to safeguard the lives of our citizens, our future society.
Our greatest weapon is the discipline and determination of every citizen to stay at home and stay healthy for a long time.
And we want them to stay healthy for a long time.
So stay at home.
This is ending.
This will end.
You'll see some bad things, and then you're going to see some really good things.
And it's not going to be too long.
We will heal our citizens and we will care for our neighbors, and we will unleash the full might of the United States of America to vanquish the virus.
And with that, I'd like to ask Mike Pence to come up, Vice President, say a few words, and we'll have a couple of other quick talks on a couple of subjects.
We'll take questions, and uh it's a beautiful Friday in Washington, D.C. And our country is a great place, and we're getting better, we're getting better very quickly.
This was artificially induced.
We just said they said close it down.
You have to close it down.
We closed it down, and we're healing, and we're going to get it better fast.
So, Mike, if you could come up, say a few words, please.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Uh President just outlined a number of the decisions that he made today on the unanimous recommendation of the White House coronavirus uh task force.
In addition, uh some good news.
Dr. Deborah Burks will reflect on a moment.
And some of the areas across America where we see evidence that the mitigation efforts, uh, the American people putting into practice uh the president's coronavirus guidelines are having a positive effect.
In fact, uh today, uh California and Washington State, where the coronavirus first emerged in our country remain the cases remain at a steady but low rate.
And uh we know, as Governor Newsom said yesterday, that they're not out of the woods yet.
We continue to flow resources.
But we want to commend uh people in those states and all across the country for putting into practice the social distancing and all the measures that state and local leaders are advising, and that uh and that the president has been advising in the coronavirus guidelines for America.
Uh we're also continuing to track significant outbreaks in New York State, New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, and Boston.
And as the President indicated, we're prioritizing resources to support health care workers and to support those that are dealing with the coronavirus in those communities.
On the subject of testing, now more than 1.4 million tests have been performed across the country.
And as you all are aware, some 266,000 Americans have tested positive for the coronavirus.
Uh Abbott Instruments, which uh uh now can perform a 15-minute test across uh the country, uh, have literally 18,000 of their machines across the nation today.
Uh but uh at the president's direction, FEMA is acquiring over twelve hundred more machines to distribute to every state public health lab in America and also to our Indian health care service.
And the big news, of course, over the last few days was that the FDA once again in near record time has approved an antibody uh test developed by Selex, and we're continuing on the White House coronavirus task force to examine ways that we can scale up uh these rapid tests and these innovative new tests, not just to meet this moment, but to lay a foundation for uh testing across the nation uh in the months ahead.
As the president mentioned, he met with uh energy executives today and continues to engage with leaders of businesses all across the nation.
We also held a t held a teleconference today with commercial uh retailers.
On the president's behalf, we thanked them for the way that uh people that operate malls and shopping centers around the country have have uh have embraced and enacted the coronavirus guidelines uh for America.
It's had enormous impact uh on their businesses and their industries, but I heard uh I heard from them their uh uh their patriotic commitment to put the health of their associates and their customers first, and it was deeply inspiring.
On the subject of supplies, the president detailed uh our work in that space.
It continues to this day.
Part of our air bridge, we had a flight arrived from China today to uh Columbus, Ohio.
Uh we continue to work each and every day watching the data about cases to ensure that in particular, not just the personal protective equipment is available for the health care workers uh that are on the front lines, but also that ventilators are available as the uh as as this epidemic makes its way through through regions and communities.
We are literally working hour by hour, day by day to make sure that patients, families, and health care providers have the equipment and the support that they need.
Uh as the president mentioned, uh uh we've uh we've seen over a billion and a half dollars of loans go out through the paycheck protection program today.
Uh we have uh available for questions the head of the CDC today to speak about the new guidance uh on uh cloth face coverings, and uh Secretary Azar in a few moments uh will explain uh uh just how the president's decision to make sure that no American will ever have to worry about paying uh for testing or for coronavirus treatment.
