Trump calls on Americans to cease hoarding food, supplies

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Americans to cease hoarding groceries and other supplies, while among the nation's most senior public health officials called on the country to act with more urgency to guard their health as the coronavirus outbreak continued to spread across the United States. Dr Anthony Fauci says he'd like to see aggressive measures like a 14-day national shutdown.

Trump assured Americans, after speaking with leading grocery chain executives, that grocers would remain open and that the supply chain remained healthy. Vice President Mike Pence urged Americans to only choose the groceries they need for the week ahead.

“You don't need to buy so much," Trump said at a news conference. "Take it easy. Just relax.”

The comments from the president following the government’s top infectious disease expert said he would prefer to see aggressive measures for instance a 14-day national shutdown that could require Americans to hunker down a lot more to help slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Still, Fauci said travel restrictions within america, such as to and from hard-hit Washington state and California, probably will not be needed any time in the future.

The push by among the nation's foremost public health professionals for Americans to act with greater urgency came as officials in Washington started out preparing for what's expected to be a long-haul effort to try to stem the virus that has upended life around the world.

At the White House, Trump tuned directly into an online evangelical church service on what he designated as a national day of prayer and held a conference call with grocery and offer chain executives how to keep food and other necessary supplies flowing to Americans.

New protocols were on the way to protect the president and his staff. Starting Monday, those that enter the White House complex could have their temperatures taken, according to a person acquainted with the problem who spoke on condition of anonymity to go over protocols not yet announced. This would expand on screenings that began Saturday for those near the president and vice president.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, said Congress had started focus on a new aid package following the one just approved by the home early Saturday, which provided direct relief to Americans suffering physically, financially and emotionally from the coronavirus pandemic. It included sick pay and other resources and was pending in Senate.

“We have already begun work to develop a third emergency response package,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to colleagues.

With the U.S. Capitol among the countless iconic landmarks closed to tours, Pelosi also urged lawmakers to have most of their Washington staff telework from your home, as health officials urge social distancing. House lawmakers are away on weeklong recess and many have already curtailed office visits at their local offices, aswell.

Fauci, the public face of the administration's messaging during a round of morning TV interviews, said the united states should do around “we possibly could,” even if officials were criticized for overreacting. He said he raised the issue of measures for instance a shutdown with the Trump administration, and said officials were available to his ideas.

“I think Americans ought to be prepared they are going to have to hunker down significantly a lot more than we as a country are doing,” said Fauci, a member of the White House task force on combating the spread of coronavirus. He heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he'll ask Congress to reinstate powers which were used through the 2008 financial crisis to aid the economy as the coronavirus threatens to drastically slow U.S. business activity in the weeks ahead.

Fauci said older people and those with underlying medical ailments should already be hunkering down, but other Americans, too, should think about further restricting their outside activity, including teleworking when possible, avoiding travel and missing out meals in restaurants.

“Everything is up for grabs,” he said. “Right now, myself personally, I wouldn't go to a restaurant. I simply wouldn't because I don't desire to be in a crowded place. ... I don't desire to be in times where I’m going to be all of a sudden self-isolating for two weeks.” The virus comes with an incubation period of from two days to 2 weeks before symptoms emerge.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as for example fever and cough. For a few, especially older adults and persons with existing health issues, it could cause more serious illness, including pneumonia. The worldwide outbreak has sickened a lot more than 156,000 people and left a lot more than 5,800 dead. The death toll in america is a lot more than 50, while infections neared 3,000 across 49 states and the District of Columbia.

The vast majority of individuals recover. In line with the World Health Organization, persons with mild illness recover in about fourteen days, while people that have more severe illness may take three weeks to six weeks to recover.

Trump in recent days has imposed sweeping travel restrictions for much of Europe. On Saturday, he added the United Kingdom and Ireland to a list of countries that could face travel restrictions over another 30 days. The STATE DEPT. on Sunday said it could allow U.S. personnel to leave their diplomatic or consular posts worldwide if indeed they or family members were medically determined to be at an increased threat of falling very ill if subjected to the virus.

Trump also offers pledged broadened U.S. testing for the virus as major employers such as Apple Inc. have sent staff home to telework and many states and big cities, including Los Angeles and Boston, shuttered down schools for a week or more.

Positive tests hit near to Congress and the National Institutes of Health.

On Sunday, Democratic Rep Adam Schiff, chairman of the home Intelligence Committee, said a former employee tested positive for COVID-19. That staffer, Daniel Goldman, the legal professional who led Democratic questioning during the House impeachment hearings, had left the office 10 days ago and he's believed to have contracted the virus after his departure.

“We will still be taking additional precautions over the next couple of days,” Schiff said. “The former staffer is feeling better no current staff have reported any flu-like symptoms at the moment.”

NIH reported Sunday that among its staff employed in its division on arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases had tested positive for COVID-19, its first case. NIH said the person was not involved with patient care and was now quarantined in the home and "doing well.”

Trump has suggested that restrictions on travel within the U.S. to areas hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic could be next. But Fauci on Sunday played down that or having major national lockdowns on the particular level now seen in Europe such as for example Italy and Spain.

“We believe that with rather stringent mitigation and containment, without necessarily complete lockdown, we would be able to prevent ourselves from getting to where, unfortunately, Italy is now,” Fauci said.

“With regard to domestic travel bans, we always talk about it, consider everything. But I could tell you which has not been seriously considered, doing travel bans in the united states. ... I don't see that now or in the immediate future.”

A lot more than the crisis was on Trump's mind. He tweeted that he was considering a complete pardon for Michael Flynn, his disgraced former national security adviser, and he directed barbs at a familiar target, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of NY.

White House financial adviser Larry Kudlow expressed confidence that supply lines such as food for stores will be largely unaffected by the virus outbreak.

“I've read about some situations where that is a difficulty, but most of our supply lines will work pretty much in the domestic USA,” he said. “After all, there's a huge economic challenge here. Don't get me wrong, an enormous economic challenge. However, most of America continues to be working. ... Factories aren't shutting down in the united states, at least not yet.”

Trump said he tuned directly into services being streamed from the Free Chapel, an evangelical Gainseville, Georgia, church that like many congregations around the country was holding services without churchgoers in the pews.

Fauci spoke on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN’s “State of the Union,” ABC’s “This Week,” “Fox News Sunday,” and CBS’ “Face the country.” Kudlow appeared on CBS.