Trump met with ‘FBI lovers’ actors and Diamond and Silk during coronavirus panic

While Vice President Mike Pence chaired the first meeting of the coronavirus taskforce, and the Dow experienced its biggest plunge in history, Donald Trump spent his day greeting actors on a conservative produced play and supporters Diamond and Silk at the White House.   

Trump seemed in high spirits and congratulated himself on Thursday over the ‘incredible achievement’ of containing the spread of the disease in the U.S, where more than 60 people have been diagnosed. 

It comes as a whistleblower revealed that health workers dealing with evacuated Americans held in coronavirus quarantine in California did not have proper training or protective gear and were moved on and off military bases potentially spreading the disease. 

Fears about the spread have also impacted the stock market, with U.S. stock indexes plunging nearly 1,200 points – the largest one-day point drop in history.  

It has also emerged that the White House has moved to censor health officials, banning them from speaking publicly about the crisis. 

The virus has now infected more than 83,000 people globally, causing more than 2,800 deaths. 

But while Trump’s administration met amid the growing coronavirus crisis, the president met with the playwright and two stars of ‘FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers’ – a play written entirely from the texts of FBI lovers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page – at the White House on Thursday.

Those roles are played by Hollywood conservatives Dean Cain and Kristy Swanson. Cain and Swanson are both openly conservative in Hollywood. Cain often appears on Fox News Channel.   

Later Thursday, Trump hosted a number of his prominent black supporters in the Cabinet Room including Diamond and Silk, Turning Point USA’s Candace Owens and ex-‘Grey’s Anatomy’ actor Isaiah Washington. 

It’s unclear whether Trump addressed the coronavirus during his first meeting, but during his second, he told the group: ‘I think it’s an incredible achievement what our county’s done.’

He and first lady Melania Trump hosted ‘hundreds of African American leaders’ for an African American History Month reception at the White House Thursday night. 

There, he had attendees go around the room and introduce themselves. 

Many of them had nice things to say about Trump. But Trump had not-so-nice things to say about the ‘fake news,’ even going as far to call NBC News ‘racist,’ according to the White House pool report. 

He said the press was out of line for asking about the 1,200 point Dow drop.  Trump then also talked about how much bigger his rallies were than those of Elizabeth Warren, calling her ‘Pocahontas’ in front of the crowd. 

And then he griped that Joe Biden can gaffe all the time and he can’t. 

‘I never get credit for anything,’ the president said.  

He did bring up coronavirus during that meeting. 

Trump complained that he was called ‘racist’ for closing off Asian countries during the initial virus spread, but touted his response – including his appearance Wednesday’s appearance in the White House briefing room, which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer knocked. 

Trump pushed back on Schumer’s criticism in his meeting with black leaders.   

‘This is really above politics,’ Trump said. 

Trump’s seemingly relaxed approach to the coronavirus outbreak comes as the White House gagged government health experts from speaking about the disease without seeking the approval of Vice-President Mike Pence. 

On Thursday, Pence’s office sought to gain control over an undisciplined communication response to the coronavirus. 

Government scientists and health experts must now clear all media appearances in advance with his office, the New York Times reported.

Even NIH virus expert Anthony Fauci, a staple on TV who has spoken about the challenges of the outbreak and precautions people can take, must get permission to appear. 

He told associates about the White House directive, according to the report. 

In efforts to gain control over coronavirus messaging, Pence sat for an interview with Fox News Host Sean Hannity for his show on the outbreak Thursday, the White House told a pool reporter. 

The censorship comes hours after Trump announced Wednesday that Pence will lead the US’ response to the outbreak, drawing immediate attacks from Democrats who scrutinized his record dealing with the spread of AIDS in his home state of Indiana. 

Pence has no medical background of any kind. He studied history at Hanover College and went on to learn a law degree.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday cited Pence’s response as governor when Indiana was experienced a record-high rate of HIV infections due to sharing needles among drug addicts. She pointed out he slashed the public health budget and closed a clinic that did HIV testing at the time.

‘We look forward to working together in a bipartisan and in a very candid way about our concerns about past performance or statements that were made,’ she said.

‘Let’s put that in perspective as we move to have adequate funding, the respect for science and evidence-based decision making and, again, reimbursement for state and local government and understanding the impact this has on our communities,’ she said.

‘Mike Pence literally does not believe in science. It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response,’ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter after his appointment

Trump maintains coronavirus risk to Americans is low   

President Trump continues to tell the public that the risk to Americans is ‘low’.  

Trump announced in a press conference Wednesday night that the US was ‘very ready’ to tackle the disease as he also handed Vice-President Mike Pence the task of leading the nation’s response to the disease. 

He also declared the US would spend ‘whatever’ it takes to beat coronavirus.

‘We’re very, very ready for this, for anything,’ even if it’s ‘a breakout of larger proportions.’

‘Every aspect of our society should be prepared. I think schools should get ready – just in case,’ he added later. 

It was unclear if Trump knew about the ‘unknown origin’ case before the conference.

But Trump said the risk to Americans’ health remained ‘low,’ and that the number of people diagnosed with the virus was small.

Trump said Pence would report to him. 

Pence has no medical training; Trump praised his running of healthcare in Indiana when he was governor.

The vice president said extra personnel would be brought in to the White House for ‘this whole of government response’ to the mounting worldwide health crisis. 

The president boasted that he had made ‘early decisions’ which had kept the level of coronavirus down in the US – but said that he would make sure government health workers have the resources they need.

‘They can do whatever they want,’ Trump said at the press briefing surrounded by top officials including Alex Azar, his Health and Human Services Secretary – who had denied he was being replaced by a czar just hours earlier.

‘If Congress want to give us the money, we’ll take the money.’

At the podium, Trump defended his administration’s response to the coronavirus thus far, including shutting out non-citizens from China, where the first outbreak was reported. 

‘Decisions that were ridiculed from the very beginning,’ the president said.

‘A lot of people thought we shouldn’t have done it that early, but we did and it turned out to be a very good thing.’

Asked directly about closing the borders to people from areas with worse infections he said: ‘At the right time we may do that, right now it’s not the right time.

‘But at the right time, and we are checking people as they come through, specifically for the problem, the problem that we’re dealing with.

‘So we’re checking a lot of people coming from South Korea, that’s been hit pretty hard, Italy’s been hit pretty hard. China, it’s obvious what’s happening in China, but again the numbers seem to be leveling off and going down in China which is very good news.’

He was also asked if he was prepared to quarantine entire cities – as has happened in Italy and China already – and replied: ‘We do have plans on a much larger scale, should we need that.

‘We don’t think we’re going to need it, but you always have to be prepared.’

Trump marveled at the number of people killed annually by the flu, explaining that in the US it numbered between 25,000 and 69,000 a year.

‘That was shocking to me,’ Trump said. 

Trump also pulled out a piece of paper that he said listed the best prepared countries to deal with an epidemic, a product of research from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 

‘John Hopkins, I guess, is greatly respected,’ Trump said. ‘We’re rated No. 1 for being prepared.’

Trump also noted how the US brought in 40 people – American citizens – from a Japanese cruise ship where they had been diagnosed with the virus.

‘We thought we had an obligation to do that,’ he said. ‘We found that it was an obligation that we have, we could have left them and it would have been really bad.’ 

He went on to make reference to his well-known reputation for germaphobia, and provided safety tips for Americans to follow.

‘I do it a lot anyway as you probably heard,’ he said.  

He gave guidance consistent with what public health officials have recommended: taking prudent steps to avoid viral transmissions, as with flu and seasonal colds. 

‘Wash your hands. Stay clean. You don’t necessarily have to grab every hand rail unless you have to. You know, certain things that you do when you have the flu,’ he advised. 

Then the president told an anecdote.

‘I mean, view this the same as the flu. When somebody sneezes, I try to bail out as much as possible when there’s sneezing.

‘I had a man come up to me a week ago. I hadn’t seen him in a long time and I said how are you doing? He said, ‘Fine.’ He hugs me.

‘I said, ‘Are you well?’ He says no. He said, I have the worst fever and the worst flu. And he’s hugging and kissing me. … I went back and started washing my hands. So you have to do that,’ Trump said.

Mike Pence leads US coronavirus taskforce 

Pence, who has no medical training, convened the first meeting of his official White House coronavirus taskforce Wednesday afternoon.

In a controversial move, just four out of the 15 people on his taskforce are doctors while economic adviser Larry Kudlow, who earlier in the week said the US was ‘airtight’ from the virus, and acting deputy Homeland Security secretary Ken Cuccinelli, who had tweeted a complaint that he could not find a map of coronavirus’ spread, both made the cut. 

One of the four doctors was also absent from the meeting. 

It was held at the Department of Health and Human Services, after Pence addressed the CPAC conservative conference and just before Wall Street closed with the worst stock mark sell-off since 2008. 

Those on the taskforce include Larry Kudlow, the Trump economic adviser who earlier in the week said the U.S. was ‘airtight’ from the virus, and Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy Homeland Security secretary, who had tweeted a complaint that he could not find a map of the coronavirus’ spread.

The vice president named a seasoned medical professional, Debbie Birx, as his chief adviser on the response and said Trump had ‘tasked us to take every step necessary to protect the health of the American people.’But there was no sign of her at the taskforce meeting at the Department of Health and Human Services. 

The other doctors on the taskforce are Anthony Fauci, Head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Jerome Adams, the Surgeon General; and Robert Redfield, director of the CDC. 

As the taskforce met for the first time, there was new confusion over who exactly is in charge.  

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar stood side-by-side with Trump on Wednesday when the president announced that he was putting Pence ‘in charge’ of the government’s response to the virus. 

At the end of the press briefing in the White House, Azar said he was ‘delighted’ to have the vice president’s help, but also said he wanted to ‘clarify’ that ‘I’m still chairman of the task force.’ 

Pence explained things differently Thursday. ‘I’m leading the task force,’ he said, said Azar would still hold the title of chairman. 

On Capitol Hill, Azar told lawmakers Thursday that he was involved in discussions about Trump’s decision to designate Pence. He said he welcomed the heft that the vice president’s office brings.

‘I´ll be honest with you. When I heard the idea that the vice president would be willing to help add the force of his office to this effort, I said, quote, “That´s genius,”‘ Azar told Democratr Bill Pascrell. 

Until now, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had the role of coordinating the response across the government outside of the health care agencies. 

Bernie Sanders, the forerunner to take on Trump in the election, demanded Pence be replaced and the taskforce packed with scientists and doctors, not ‘political cronies.’

‘First, they must replace Mike Pence with an expert on pandemics and disaster response,’ he said.

‘Second, the Trump administration must stop releasing misleading, unscientific, and false information about whether the coronavirus is controlled or when it will be controlled.

‘Third, they must immediately staff their response team with experts and scientists to help us address a pandemic based on facts – Steve Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow are political cronies, not scientists.’

First unknown origin case sends shockwaves across US

The first US case of coronavirus where the origin of the disease is unknown was confirmed on Wednesday.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the patient had not recently returned from a foreign country, and had not been in contact with another confirmed case.

The woman, who is a resident of Solano County, which is about 35 miles outside of Sacramento, Northern California, was admitted into UC Davis Medical Center on February 19.

The news of the first case where a patient has no known connection to travel abroad or to another known case now raises concerns over how the disease could spread across America. 

A statement from CDC confirmed the first possible instance of ‘community spread’ in the US Wednesday evening.

‘At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown. It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States. Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown,’ the statement said.

The CDC did not rule out that the patient may have been in contact with an infected individual who is yet to be diagnosed or linked to the individual.

‘It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected,’ the statement said.

‘This case was detected through the US public health system — picked up by astute clinicians. This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in the United States to 15.’

Officials are now tracing the infected individual’s contacts to see how they may have been infected and if any other individuals may be at risk.

Questions asked over CDC handling of the disease

Questions are now being asked over the CDC’s handling of the disease after it emerged that health officials did not test the patient who has now tested positive in the first suspected unknown origin case of the disease in the US.

An email from medical center officials to employees at UC Davis Medical Center revealed that the CDC took four days to test the patient for the deadly disease despite requests from staff at the center, because ‘the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19’.

The CDC didn’t test the patient, who has not been identified, for coronavirus until February 23, the email from the David Lubarsky, vice-chancellor of human health services, and Brad Simmons, interim CEO of UC Davis Medical Center, said.

‘Upon admission, our team asked public health officials if this case could be COVID-19. We requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, since neither Sacramento County nor (the California Department of Public Health) is doing testing for coronavirus at this time. Since the patient did not fit the existing CDC criteria for COVID-19, a test was not immediately administered,’ said the email, which added that, ‘UC Davis Health does not control the testing process.’ 

The tests came back positive Wednesday.

The leaked memo also suggested medical center staff may have been unnecessarily put at risk after dozens were told to go into isolation and watch for symptoms.

‘A small number of medical center employees have been asked to stay home and monitor their temperatures,’ the email said. 

On Thursday, the CDC revised its criteria for who should be tested for the virus and was shipping more test kits out to states including California, the agency’s director told lawmakers.

‘When a clinician or a public health individual suspects coronavirus, then we should be able to get a test for coronavirus so that’s the current guidance that went out today,’ CDC Director Robert Redfield said at a House of Representatives hearing on the government response to the fast-spreading virus.

More concerns over the US’ handling of the virus emerged Thursday when a whistleblower made the claims that health workers dealing with evacuated Americans held in coronavirus quarantine in California did not have proper training or protective gear and moved on and off military bases.

One Federal employee is even said to have stayed in a nearby hotel before leaving on a commercial flight, according to a report seen by The New York Times.

A complaint was said to have been filed Wednesday with the Office of the Special Counsel. It concerns more than a dozen Department of Health and Human Services workers who worked at two military bases in California dealing with Americans evacuated from China in late January and early February.

The unknown origin case emerged near the Travis Air Force Base, where part of the whistleblower report is focused.

The whistleblower, a senior leader at the health agency, wrote they ‘soon began to field panicked calls from my leadership team and deployed staff members’.

They say health workers ‘expressed concern’ about ‘staff being sent into quarantined areas without personal protective equipment, training or experience in managing public health emergencies, safety protocols’.

The report says the lack of training and protective gear means the workers pose a ‘potential danger to both themselves and members of the public they come into contact with’. 

The Americans evacuated from coronavirus hotspots were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base. 

It was not until five days after coming into contact with those being held there in quarantine that training in safety protocols was given, according to the whistleblower. 

Wall Street is floored by coronavirus fears

US stock indexes plunged dramatically on Thursday, marking the largest one-day point drop in history as coronavirus fears hit investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,190.95 points, or 4.42 percent, to 25,766.64, as the rapid spread of the coronavirus outside China deepened investor worries about growth and corporate earnings.

It comes during the quickest market plunge on a percentage basis since the financial crisis of October 2008.

The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closed more than 10 percent below their recent highs. That means the market is officially in a correction, which is a normal phenomenon that analysts have said was long overdue.

At their heart, stock prices rise and fall with the profits that companies expect to make — and Wall Street’s expectations for profit growth are sinking as more companies warn that the virus outbreak will hit their bottom lines.

Industry analysts and economists continued to sound the alarm as they assessed the impact of the coronavirus, with Goldman Sachs saying U.S. companies will generate no earnings growth in 2020.

Apple and Microsoft, two of the world´s biggest companies, have already said their sales this quarter will feel the economic effects of the virus.

Microsoft’s stock lost 2.8 percent after it told investors that the virus will hurt revenue from its Windows licenses and its Surface devices.

California is monitoring at least 8,400 people for coronavirus

California health officials are monitoring 8,400 people for coronavirus symptoms after their arrival on domestic commercial flights, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Thursday.

The state currently has only about 200 test kits, an ‘inadequate’ number, but has been in ‘constant contact with federal agencies’ that have promised to send a fresh supply of kits in coming days, he said at a news briefing in Sacramento.

California officials said 33 people had tested positive for the virus there, but five had since left the state.

It has also been revealed that experts like Dr Adrian Hyzler, the chief medical officer for Healix International, believe the virus could spread in the US overnight like it did in Italy.

‘It spreads very rapidly because of the ease with which you can pass on this virus through respiratory droplets and surface spread,’ Hyzler told The Daily Beast.

‘There is every possibility that this could happen in the US,’ Hyzler said, referring to the outbreaks in Iran and Italy.

New York City ramps up preparations as 83 people remain in quarantine 

The US has taken measures to quarantine anyone thought to be carrying the disease, including 83 individuals currently in quarantine in Nassau County, New York.

New York City has been ramping up preparations for a potential coronavirus outbreak.

Mayor Bill De Blasio announced at a news conference Wednesday that the city had prepared at least 1,200 hospital beds ready for if or when the disease strikes.

The city has also distributed 1.5 million face masks to residents and has requested 300,000 more.

De Blasio said he is also requesting the CDC expand its testing of travelers entering the US beyond China, to include Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.

‘Right now, it is too narrowly focused on travelers coming out of China,’ he said. 

‘We think that needs to be expanded to any traveler coming from a country that’s seen a major surge in cases.’

The city is ready to handle a possible spread of the disease, he added.

The plans come as around 700 people have been voluntarily quarantined in New York since February 3 after they returned to the city from parts of China where the disease is widespread.

New York State Health Department officials told the USA TODAY Network that none of the people quarantined were showing symptoms of the disease but they had voluntarily checked into a 14-day self-isolation.

De Blasio said the self-quarantine protocol was working in the city.

No active cases of the virus have yet been confirmed in New York City. 

Dr Adrian Hyzler, the chief medical officer for Healix International, has warned that a place like New York City where the coronavirus ‘would spread very rapidly on a crowded subway or metro system’.