By Denny Gulino
WASHINGTON (MaceNews) – President Trump Saturday held a news conference to announce the first coronavirus fatality, a Washington State resident not linked to travel, and a higher total, 22, of those confirmed infected apart from several dozen Americans repatriated from Japan.
“There is no reason to panic at all,” Trump said. While there will be more cases in the U.S., “Healthy individuals should be able to fully recover.”
Although Trump identified the victim as a woman state officials later said it was a man in his fifties, an apparent case of “community” infection not linked to travel but of person-to-person infection from another unknown local resident.
Trump added to the China travel restriction a new ban on arrivals from Iran of any foreign national, and from some areas of Italy, while advising Americans not to travel to those countries and South Korea. If they do go to those countries they’ll be subject to a two-week quarantine upon return.
Meanwhile the nation’s laboratories were given permission to develop testing kits for the virus which can be deployed without further government oversight.
Asked repeatedly why he used the word “hoax” while talking about the virus to his MAGA rally audience Friday night in North Charleston, Trump said he instead was referring in some unspecified way to Democrats.
“I don’t like it when they are criticizing these people and that’s the hoax,” he replied.
Trump at first, when asked about additional travel restrictions, replied,”We are looking also at the southern border” and, “Yes, we are thinking about the southern border. We have received a lot of power on the southern border over the last couple of years from the courts, but we are looking at that very strongly.”
Then, when asked why he is thinking of sealing the border with Mexico where there are as yet no virus cases, he appeared to back off.
“We’re thinking about all borders,” he said. “We have to think about that border, but right now that is not a border as it pertains to what we’re talking about here … . It is not a border that seems to be much of a problem right now. We hope we won’t have to do that.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and the NIH’s Anthony Fauci were with Trump and repeated there will be more virus cases in the United States and in some cases it will strike young people, not just the “elderly” and those “medically fragile.” By some definitions nearly half the U.S. population is being treated for some medical condition.
Trump took the opportunity to repeat at length his criticisms of the Federal Reserve, saying the central bank “should be a leader” in lowering interest rates. The administration is not considering an emergency tax cut to strengthen consumption, he said, and is leaving it to the Fed to help the markets.
After dropping more than 12% in five days of the fastest descent into correction territory ever, the stock markets did see a strong surge of buying toward the end of Friday’s session which continued in the post-close hours.
Vice President Mike Pence, also participating in the news conference, said, “The average American does not need to go out and buy a mask.”
Trump said nevertheless the 3M company has agreed to manufacture 35 million masks a month on top of the 43 million already in the government inventory.
Trump was also thanking everyone involved in preparing the way for the signing earlier in the day of a peace pact with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He said he didn’t understand why anyone uld criticize the agreement, including his former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
“I’m surprised that anybody would be against something where we try and end a 19-year war,” he said. “We’re 8,000 miles away from our home. We’ve done a great job in the sense that we’ve killed a lot of terrorists … but it’s time for us to come home now.”
Trump added, Pakistan, Russia and China “can all work on this.” He said he will be meeting with the Taliban at some point.
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–This story was updated when the fatality was re-identified as a man.
Contact this reporter: denny@macenews.com