Washington - Donald Trump
tested negative for the coronavirus, his doctor said on
Saturday, as the U.S. president extended a travel ban to Britain
and Ireland to try to slow the spread of a pandemic that has
shut down much of the daily routine of American life.
After White House officials took the unprecedented step of
checking the temperatures of journalists entering the briefing
room, Trump told reporters he took a test for the virus on
Friday night. On Saturday evening, his physician, Sean Conley,
said the results were negative.
The U.S. president met with a Brazilian delegation last
week, at least one member of which has since tested positive.
Trump said Americans should reconsider non-essential travel,
and that his administration was also considering domestic travel
restrictions.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the country has recorded
2,226 cases of the new coronavirus but has not yet reached the
peak of the outbreak.
"This will get worse before it gets better," Surgeon General
Jerome Adams said at the briefing. But, he added, "99% of people
will recover and people need to know that."
Critics have accused Trump of focusing too much on markets,
which on Friday saw the three major Wall Street indexes gain
more than 9% after having had their worst day since 1987 on
Thursday.
All three indexes were nevertheless down at least 8% for the
week and about 20% below mid-February record highs.
At the briefing, Trump told reporters he was "honored to see
that the stock market set a record in a short period of time
over a 45-minute period." He called it an "all-time record" that
he hoped would be repeated daily.
"They said, 'Sir, you just set a record in the history of
the stock market. That was pretty good. Those great companies
that were there, they couldn't have been too unhappy about it
... They are all big, publicly listed companies, so they did a
good job," he said before turning the microphone over to Vice
President Mike Pence, who is running the White House's response
to the outbreak.
Pence said the administration was extending to Britain and
Ireland travel restrictions that were first imposed on China and
expanded this week to continental Europe.
Trump spoke to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on
Saturday about the new restrictions, the White House said.
U.S. airlines, which have already been battered by the
restrictions and a steep drop in demand, said on Saturday that
they were preparing more flight cuts. Pence said the new
restrictions will take effect at midnight on Monday.
Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security, said Trump decided to add Britain to the
travel ban because of the rising number of coronavirus cases
there. Health authorities in England announced on Saturday a
further 10 deaths caused by COVID-19, almost doubling the number
of fatalities in Britain since Friday.
A senior DHS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity,
said Britain and Ireland were added because the United States
was not able to effectively determine whether travelers from
those countries were trying to sidestep the European travel ban.
"The travel investigation couldn't be effectively managed on
our side," the senior DHS official said.
U.S. citizens and legal residents will still be able to
return home and will be funneled through certain airports, Pence
said.
The vice president also told reporters that visits to
nursing homes were being suspended to protect the most
vulnerable. A nursing home in Washington state has been the site
of most of the U.S. deaths caused by the coronavirus.
On Saturday, officials in New York confirmed that state's
first two fatalities from the outbreak: an 82-year-old woman in
New York City's borough of Brooklyn, and a man in his 60s in
Rockland County, north of the city. Both had underlying health
problems, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
Nationwide, at least 58 people have died.
The pandemic has forced public schools, sports events and
cultural and entertainment venues to close across the United
States.
American shoppers picked grocery store shelves clean of
products ranging from disinfectants and toilet paper to rice and
milk, causing retailers to race to restock their stores. In
response to the run on certain items, major retailers have
imposed some purchase limits.
On Saturday morning, about 500 people were lined up for two
blocks outside a Costco in Garden Grove, California, waiting for
the store to open. Long lines of shoppers were reported outside
food stores in other parts of the United States.
On Friday, Trump declared a national emergency in a move
that he said would bring "the full power of the federal
government" to bear on the escalating health crisis by freeing
up some $50 billion in aid. He also urged every state to set up
emergency centers to help fight the virus.
Early on Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives
overwhelmingly passed a coronavirus aid package that would
provide free testing and paid sick leave, in a bid to limit the
economic damage from the outbreak.
Economists say the impact of the outbreak on businesses
could tip the U.S. economy into recession.