President Trump urges calm even as US reports worrisome new virus case

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Associated Press


Shortly after Trump spoke Wednesday, the government announced a worrisome development: Another person in the U.S. is infected - someone in California who doesn't appear to have the usual risk factors of having traveled abroad or being exposed to another patient.

At a White House news conference, Trump sought to minimize fears as he insisted the U.S. is “very, very ready” for whatever the COVID-19 outbreak brings. Under fire about the government's response, he put Vice President Mike Pence to lead the administration's response. Pence on Thursday named the State Department's global health doctor to coordinate the coronavirus response.

WATCH: President Trump holds news conference Wednesday about his administration's response to the coronavirus.

“This will end,” Trump said of the outbreak. “You don't want to see panic because there's no reason to be panicked.”

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“We do expect more cases,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Trump credited border restrictions that have blocked people coming into the U.S. from China for keeping infections low. But now countries around the world - from South Korea and Japan to Italy and Iran - are experiencing growing numbers of cases. Asked if it was time to either lift the China restrictions or take steps for travelers from elsewhere, he said: “At a right time we may do that. Right now it's not the time.”


A key question is whether the Trump administration is spending enough money to get the country prepared - especially as the CDC has struggled to expand the number of states that can test people for the virus. Other key concerns are stockpiling masks and other protective equipment for health workers, and developing a vaccine or treatment.


Trump told reporters he was open to spending “whatever's appropriate.”

Trump compared the new virus repeatedly to the flu, which kills tens of thousands of people each year. The new coronavirus has killed more than 2,700 people - most in China and none in the U.S. - but scientists still don't understand who's most at risk or what the death rate is.

Without a vaccine, the CDC's Schuchat advised people to follow “tried and true, not very exciting" but important precautions: Wash your hands, cover your coughs and stay home when you're sick.

A day earlier, another CDC official, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, was even more blunt, telling Americans to get ready for some of the same steps as occurred during the 2009 flu pandemic, such as school closings. “It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen - and how many people in this country will have severe illness," she said.

The National Institutes of Health's top infectious disease chief cautioned a vaccine won't be ready for widespread use for a year or more. But Dr. Anthony Fauci said even if the virus wanes soon, it's “quite conceivable” that it might “come back and recycle next year.” By then, he said, “we hope to have a vaccine.”

Democrats were quick to condemn Trump's response to the outbreak. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “opaque and chaotic.”

“Instead of listening to public health and medical experts, the president has been downplaying the potential impact of the virus for over a month,” said Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Thompson added that putting Pence, “someone with no public health expertise, in charge of the response will not instill confidence with the American people and raises questions about the administration's ability to coordinate an effective response to a complex public health threat.”

Pence announced the appointment Thursday of Debbie Birx, the administration's global AIDS coordinator, as the White House coronavirus response coordinator. Birx joins an existing coronavirus task force led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and will report to Pence. She was nominated to her State Department post by President Barack Obama.



Pence had long opposed needle exchanges but was eventually persuaded to issue an executive order allowing one in Scott County. Despite his own misgivings - Pence said he didn’t support the exchanges as an “anti-drug policy” - he signed a law allowing the state government to approve them on a case-by-case basis.




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