Published March 04, 2020
This is a rush transcript from "The Five," March 4, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Even though with all of these concerns, at least the fear that it's not going to get much worse or they hope had the DOW about 1173 points. Now, back over 27,000. Here comes "THE FIVE."
JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. I'm Jesse Watters, along with Katie Pavlich, Juan Williams, Kennedy, and Greg Gutfeld. It is 5:00 in New York City, and this is THE FIVE. Sleepy Joe finally waking up and bringing his campaign back from the dead, Biden staging a big Super Tuesday comeback, racking up wins in Texas and nine other states.
He was able to stop Bernie Sanders' momentum, but the race is far from over. The socialist nabbing the biggest prize in California, and Bernie is closing the delegate gap with results still coming in. Biden also getting a big boost with mini-Mike Bloomberg dropping out of the race and endorsing him, so Joe is riding high, but he is as flawed as ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just a few days ago, the press and the pundits have declared the campaign dead. Now we are told when we got to Super Tuesday it would be over. Well, it may be over for the other guy. By the way, this is my little sister Valerie and that is her husband. They switched on me. This is my wife. This is my sister. They switched on me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is not going down without a fight. Here he is today going after the establishment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE SANDERS (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What this campaign, I think, is increasingly about is which side are you on. There has been never a campaign in recent history which has taken on the entire political establishment. And that is an establishment which is working frantically to try to defeat us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: And President Trump adding to the Democrats' division by saying the party is out to crush Bernie. Gutfeld, are you surprised that happened last night?
GREG GUTFELD, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: No, I am not, Jesse, because I have been following the transfer 50 years. Once again, the youth vote is a myth that gets hammered, you know, it makes the loudest noise, but it has the smallest effect. It's like one of those tiny little dogs that yaps at you when you go by and when you walk over to it. It runs away and then peas on your shoes, yes, like me.
I think the Dems were like a car careening down a narrow path on a cliff, and do they go off the cliff with Bernie or do they stay on the road? So they chose of two -- they chose from two different risks, right? There is risk of absorbing a socialist, or dealing with somebody who's got mental acuity issues. And they felt that -- I mean, it's kind of smart that they chose the mental acuity issues over socialism.
But I think it is amazing that you can place confidence in a candidate that does not inspire confidence. And that tells you how really scary the field is when you say I'm going to go with that. You know a guy that forgets what -- whose wife and sister is, I mean -- you have the Ilhan Omar vote.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: It is a weak field. I think everybody agrees. It's weak. Juan, I I was watching MSNBC last night.
(CROSSTALK)
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Poor Dana. She -- when he told her that, she said I'm gone.
WATTERS: So I see everybody on MSNBC not giving Joe Biden any credit. You know who they are giving credit? To James Clyburn for the endorsement in South Carolina that has catapulted Joe throughout the rest of the country and triggered the blacks to come out and say he is our guy. Do you think that kind of takes away from Joe's big win?
WILLIAMS: I think Joe had a big win Saturday night in South Carolina, and I think a lot of it came from Clyburn really standing up and saying very clearly that Joe Biden was his candidate. And he thought the best candidate for black voters. Last night, across the south, I mean, we saw several races there. It was something like plus 41 in terms of black votes for Joe Biden over Bernie Sanders.
That is a big different -- big differential, and by the way, to Greg's point about age, it was -- this is amazing to me. People 45 to 64 plus 24 for Biden, and for people who were 65 and over, plus 32, so the young people skew exactly for Bernie as Greg was saying, but the older voters, they really come out and vote. They really participate and they give money. That's the kind of --
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: -- because you don't know --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: You don't know. But I will say this. It is now a two man race, wouldn't you say? I was saying it is Biden-Sanders. And I think the second thing to say is that it's Biden's nomination to lose at this juncture, right? So we will see how things go. Jeff Weaver, who is his campaign manager telling the people, you know, just wait.
You know, we're going to do better. We're going to highlight the fact that trade deals were backed by Biden in the Midwest. We will see how some of the people in the manufacturing sector feel. One other thing I want to say, look at these other networks here talking about right here on THE FIVE. You know, I even wrote in my column in The Hill. I said three weeks ago don't buy the conventional wisdom. Joe Biden's coming back and I think he did it.
WATTERS: Yeah. I think maybe we buried him too early. Katie, to Juan's point, it's a two man race. This is Biden's to lose. Is there anything that Bernie Sanders can do to regain the momentum?
KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Well, it depends on who you talk to. So if you look at the primary schedule, you have Michigan coming up. You have Illinois, Pennsylvania. I think he can regain his momentum if Joe Biden starts stumbling again on the campaign trail and doesn't give the confidence that he is electable.
So the electability argument has been dead for a couple of weeks. I would say about two months with Joe Biden. That was what got him into the race. It's what carried him. He started losing to Bernie Sanders, and then after South Carolina, he's able to say I'm the electable guy especially after Bernie Sanders talks about Fidel Castro in a place like Florida, no longer electable on a national stage.
However, Joe Biden keeps arguing that now Bernie Sanders is a socialist. I'm the real Democrat. But if you actually compare the policies of what they are going for and what the voters in all of our analysis are saying. Joe Biden is going to get completely rolled by the left if he gets the nomination. Nancy Pelosi couldn't handle the AOCs and the Ilhan Omar's.
Joe Biden's not going to be able to handle it either. If you look at what they want with single payer, Joe Biden has said that he will raise taxes. He's not -- he's going to run as a moderate. But when it comes to an actual debate about what the policies are going to be, he's going to get pushed further to the left.
WATTERS: Well, he got pushed around on stage a little bit last night. There are some crazy activists that rushed him. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Wake up --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATTERS: OK. So Kennedy, I think it is safe to say it's just going to get crazier from here on out.
LISA KENNEDY MONTGOMERY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Well, you know, as the quick aside, really do us a lot of favors.
GUTFELD: Amen to that, sister. We are the anti-dairy --
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: I don't normally disagree -- a little shocked that Joe Biden, the former Vice President, doesn't have more security detail. His wife and his sister, they are the ones who had to act like his offensive line --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Wait a second. You know, he doesn't have Secret Service protection.
WATTERS: I think he will now.
WILLIAMS: He should. No, no, I'm just saying yesterday --
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Like you were saying, hey, why aren't his guys doing -- he doesn't have any Secret Service.
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: I would like to say something about Bernie Sanders. I watched that speech, and you know as a government person, he's making a great case for why big government is running politics. And any time you have too much government in any one thing, they really ruin it. And I wish Bernie Sanders were my guy. I wish I had someone with that much passion who was taking aim at both parties at the same time.
That is why he inspires the kind of loyalty that he does with his supporters. The problem is he lands on the absolute worst conclusion that government is so bad, therefore, we need more of it. But that message is resonating. And it wasn't young people who pushed him over the top in California, it was Latinos. And they look to Bernie Sanders if you're blobbing people in groups, and --
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: Kennedy's looking for a guy with passion.
GUTFELD: I know. And I'm right here, baby.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: Here is the issue with young voters, though. They are enamored by lofty goals. But they're not so much interested in ways to achieve them. And it's kind of reflected how they voted. They like Sanders, but I'm not so sure I'm going to get up this morning and go vote, because the ways are more difficult than the actual dreaming of the goals. And that is when you become an adult, you think about the ways and not just the goals.
WILLIAMS: You know that people had to wait in line in Texas for hours -- in California for hours. I mean, he did have to make an effort. But one final point, guess what, Donald Trump, the guy that he still fears the most on the Democratic side is now in the lead.
WATTERS: Well, you always say Trump fears whoever.
WILLIAMS: I don't have to say it.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: No one is carried of anybody on the left, Juan. Up next, it's happy trails for mini-Mike. Greg Gutfeld breaks down just how embarrassing Bloomberg's half a billion-dollar face plant really is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GUTFELD: So what will $1 billion get you? An island.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- caucuses in American Samoa. They have 100 percent reported. And Mike Bloomberg gets five delegates from American Samoa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: Yes, congratulations, Bloomer. You earned it, but what a price tag. His campaign is the political version of movie popcorn. Bloomer spent enough to feed nearly everyone in the city of South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete's home town for two years. Millions per delegate all to convince people he was better than Trump. If you see some portly dude with a toupee buying everyone at the bar drinks, you can bet he is a campaign consultant.
Bloomberg's loss is his new Porsche. But lessons abound, Bloomey proved money talks. Considering his drab persona, his cash still got him nearly to the front of the line. Who knows if he had skipped that debate? That is the other lesson. Money can buy you votes, but not a personality. Ultimately, you are still stuck with this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE BLOOMBERG (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really am surprised that all of these, my fellow contestants up here, I guess, would be the right word for it, even nobody pays attention to the clock. I'm surprised they show up, because I would have thought after I did such a good job in beating them last week that they would be a little bit afraid to do that.
They talked about 40 Democrats, 21 of those were people that I spent $100 million to help elect. I bought -- I got them. We have a very few, nondisclosure agreements. Let me finish.
ELIZABETH WARREN (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How many is that?
BLOOMBERG: None of them accused me of doing anything other than -- maybe they didn't like the joke I told.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTFELD: All right. And let's not forget --
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: Can I have money?
GUTFELD: Let's not forget his unique way of eating pizza, licking each finger. I haven't been this grossed out since I walked in on grandparents. Then there is Liz who couldn't even win her own state. That's like your family going on vacation without you. She's Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone. The entire state ditched her, leaving her with one powwow cookbook and 365 identical black shirts.
The lesson here, America's pretty good with discerning fakes. Liz couldn't shake the authentic truth that her ambition created new deceptions and each lie a new twist on victim hood. No wonder her constituents have reservations for a woman who falsely claimed her ancestors lived on one. So last night, the Dems chose a comfy sweater over identity politics, money, and a socialist.
Could the party finally have grown up? No, all they did was reach old age. Nope, Juan, what sucks about him dropping out is we're not going to see the Bloomberg/Trump match-up that we so desperately wanted, because it would be great.
WILLIAMS: It would've been interesting, right? Because we live in a populist age as we often talk about, and we think, you know, maybe Sanders is a mirror of Trump. But actually Bloomberg would have been an interesting mirror to Trump. I don't know if the populist base of the Democratic Party would have taken to him the way the populist base of the GOP took to Trump.
But I will say -- to me, looking back on Bloomberg's campaign, no one can defy the primary process. He's decided to skip those first four contests.
KENNEDY: Like Giuliani?
WILLIAMS: Yeah, like Rudy. That's what occurred to me. Like Rudy, Kennedy. And obviously it didn't work for Rudy. And it didn't work for him. Maybe somebody in the future is able to do it again with a lot of money, but it did not work for this guy.
GUTFELD: You know, Kennedy, I was just thinking when I was doing this that Liz was really the one that took out Bloomberg.
KENNEDY: Yes.
GUTFELD: She -- he pulled a Carrigan, as I like to call it.
KENNEDY: So Liz, in -- I think she's really hurt herself with progressives if she stays in, because she was there for two reasons. And both of those reasons were to protect Joe Biden. So she has promised her allegiance to the Democratic establishment from the beginning of this process, because she has needed their support.
And she stayed in, in order to poke a few more holes in Bloomberg, not that that needed to happen after last night, but also to take some votes away from Bernie. So, you know, how would Bernie have done in Massachusetts if she had dropped out before Super Tuesday? And, you know, it's pretty clear that he would have had a greater delegate hall if she had.
And I'm just wondering, you know, Ilhan Omar sent out a nasty tweet last night, and squarely Elizabeth Warren. And I'm wondering if she shares that vitriol with more progressives who really now want nothing to do with her.
GUTFELD: Oh, brother, as I like to say. Hey, Jessie, I almost forgot your name.
WATTERS: Jesse Watters.
GUTFELD: Yes. I want to know what you are thinking now about Bloomberg or Liz.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: I'll tell you what I'm thinking. You buy an island. You should get to live there.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: -- the biggest con job of all time. The Bloomberg campaign had seven fully paid staffers living in America Samoa for three months.
GUTFELD: Really?
WATTERS: I have to see that expense report. I know junkets. And that has to be the best junket of all time. There are 40,000 voters in American Samoa. They only got 175 of them to vote for Mike Bloomberg. What the hell were they doing in American Samoa for three months?
PAVLICH: Partying.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: It's amazing. And Bloomberg did not even miss that he was missing a half a billion. This has to be a huge con job. You get seven percent of the ad buy. He spent over $500 million. The ad guy -- I'm not going to say his name, hid $40 million this winter. I'm not going to say his name -- you know ex-girlfriends or pretend family members knocking at his door with their hands out, because everybody knew this guy did not have the political talent to pull this off.
He can't read a prompter. He is worse than Al Sharpton. His voice is worse than Liz Warren, and he looks like a sea turtle. He actually said this. I was watching his speech last night.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: He read this. I want to put the united back in the United States of America. Even Beto O'Rourke would have tossed that line out. That is not good material. I can't believe this guy --
GUTFELD: Katie, do you care to add anything oh him?
PAVLICH: We're never going to solve the box controversy.
(CROSSTALK)
PAVLICH: The box whether Michael Bloomberg gets a box if he were to debate President Trump. But everyone's making a pretty big deal out of the fact that Michael Bloomberg is backing Joe Biden. It's, like, congratulations, the guy who won 175 votes in American Samoa is now backing you and endorsing you. Good luck, like, maybe some of the money will be helpful. But in terms of a movement, any kind of grassroots support from Michael Bloomberg.
It does not exist. So I wouldn't be banking on that. The other thing is Michael Bloomberg participating in that debate in the town hall with Fox, he completely exposed himself as an elitist who believes that he knows better than you, and that he's going to tell you how you are supposed to live your life while he gets to do whatever he wants.
He used to be kind of this figure that nobody really had like a moderate appeal to. I think he completely exposed himself as the opposite --
KENNEDY: -- and no self awareness, licking his fingers and putting that half-eaten pizza slice back in the box.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: Didn't you vote for him as a Republican?
WATTERS: I wasn't not living in New York City at the time, but nice try, Juan.
WILLIAMS: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: -- a stupid question. You can laugh at me. American Samoa, is there another Samoa?
(CROSSTALK)
GUTFELD: There you go.
(CROSSTALK)
WATTERS: They should call them the mini-Mike's.
GUTFELD: Next up, the media Democratic establishment attacking Bernie Sanders after Super Tuesday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WILLIAMS: It was a disappointing night for Bernie Sanders, the senator from Vermont banking on a huge Super Tuesday victory. It didn't happen. And while he nabbed the biggest prize, California, Senator Sanders fell far short in other crucial states. Now, the media is lashing out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't have the majority of the Democrats that are in on the revolution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a grievance message. It is an anger message. With regard to an establishment, certainly if there is one, Bernie Sanders is a part of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has been walloped apparently tonight in Virginia and in North Carolina and in Alabama.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I keep saying a lot of the latte liberals are disconnected from the base of the Democratic Party, which is the African- American voters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAMS: So Jesse, do you think the media is against Bernie. Because it echoed to me when people in the right said the media is against Trump. And now it's the media against Bernie.
WATTERS: Yeah, they are against Bernie. But they are not strong like Trump was. And I don't think Bernie can overcome the avalanche. I think he was looking for a revolution, but he got a rude awakening last night, Juan. His coalition just cannot cut it. He is better as an underdog. He can't take the heat as a frontrunner, and that's why he imploded.
WILLIAMS: All right. Hold on a second.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIAMS: I've got to do it, Greg. Fox News alert, Vice President Pence is holding a briefing on the Coronavirus. Let's listen in.
MIKE PENCE, UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT: - the White House Coronavirus taskforce. It has been a very busy and productive day here at the White House. President Donald Trump has no higher priority than the safety and health of the American people. And the president has directed our taskforce, employing the full resources of the federal government and full partnership with state and local health authorities to make that priority a reality.
As I stand before you today, we have more than 100 Coronavirus cases in the United States. That is counting domestic cases and cases of Coronavirus of Americans that were returned from China or the Diamond Princess. I'm pleased to report that most of those who contracted Coronavirus within our care are continuing to recover.
But sadly, we received word today that another American has passed away, and their family has our deepest condolences. That being said, thanks to the president's strong leadership and the professionalism of all of our federal agencies, Health and Human Services, CDC, and state and local health officials all across this country, the risk to the American public of contracting the Coronavirus remains low.
To be clear, if you are a healthy American, the risk of contracting the Coronavirus remains low. But it is still a good idea to engage in common sense practices that are always recommended this time of year. So as someone who has a mother who is 87 years of age and who has married kids living around the country, a brief tutorial on prevention for yourself, for your family and your loved ones. It's a good idea to stay home when you're sick. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Cover your cough or sneeze with tissue, throw the tissue in the trash. Clean and disinfect frequently. Wash your hands with either a disinfectant or with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
And let me say again, as we've said before, there's no need for Americans to buy masks. And the common-sense practices that I just described are all available@cdc.gov. Today we had a series of meetings here at the White House and on Capitol Hill. We met with executives of the airline industry, the executives of commercial labs, executives of nursing homes, and our team also met with the Republican and Democratic caucuses in the House of Representatives.
And we were pleased to learn that just shortly ago, the House of Representatives passed a federal funding bill by virtually unanimous margin and will now move to the Senate. And the legislation implements the President's vision to ensure that not only do our federal agencies have the support and resources that they need, but also that our state and local partners have their support.
And in my conversations with governors all the way through this afternoon, I know they're grateful for the bipartisan spirit that has characterized this funding bill and will continue to work through that process. As President Trump said, we're all in this together. And he deployed a whole of government approach. But thanks for the presence leadership, it has actually developed into a whole of America approach. And the meetings today with industry leaders is a reflection of that.
As Dr. Birx will indicate in just a few moments with some of the data that we're evaluating from around the world, it does appear that the elderly are the most vulnerable, and especially those with serious health issues. At the President's direction, as a result, Seema Verma will describe that the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services has issued new guidelines for nursing homes nationwide.
We have raised the bar regarding infectious disease control at our nursing homes. And in addition, administrator Verma will explain how we are going to focus all of our inspection resources for the foreseeable future on compliance with infection control standards. Generally, we monitor our nursing homes for abuse neglect. But at the President's direction, we're going to focus exclusively on ensuring that those who are in nursing homes people operating the nursing homes, like many of the CEOs that we met with today, are complying with the new standards to keep our elderly safe.
The President also met today with airline executives. And I'll reiterate, as the President said, our profound gratitude to our partners in the airline industry. They have worked with us in as we say, flowing Americans through particular airports, the screening. We're working very closely with airlines on contact information. If a person is tested as positive for the coronavirus, we're working with the airlines to get all the information not just about that person, but about who they sat next to and who else was on the flight. And the president and I are very grateful.
As we announced yesterday, I'm pleased to report that as of yesterday morning, in addition to the travel ban from China, we suspended all travel coming in from China, we've suspended all travel coming in from Iran, and even foreign nationals who visit either one of those countries are barred from coming into this country for 14 days.
We also established a travel advisory for Italy, portions of Italy, and portions of South Korea over the weekend. But even as importantly, as of yesterday morning, we fully implemented a screening process. All direct flights from all airports in South Korea and Italy are now being subject to multiple screens before passengers board to come to the United States of America.
The State Department worked very vigorously to bring that about and we're grateful for the cooperation. The governments of Italy and governments of South Korea as well as our airline partners in making that a reality.
Finally, with regard to testing, we had a meeting today that gave us great hope for great progress in the near future on expanding testing across the country. We have ways to go yet. And I'm pleased to report as we've been able to convey to state governments, governors around the country, is that thanks to the good work of the FDA and Dr. Steve Hahn, who's with me here today. Now, all state laboratories, all University laboratories at the state level, can conduct coronavirus tests without any additional assets or resources from the federal government. They have the FDA approved tests they can conduct the test all across the country and all the states.
Beyond that, as we announced through the efforts of HHS 2,500 kits of tests are going out this week that -- 2,500 kits including test is going out this week. That's roughly 1.5 million. A test that will be available this week will continue to build on that number. But perhaps most significantly, thanks to Dr. Birx's efforts and leadership. We brought together today at the White House the leaders of all of the largest commercial laboratories in this country, companies like Quest that have vast capabilities, logistics and testing capabilities.
And we were pleased to report today that they have created a consortium to share information and to share resources and literally have told us that as they go through what is called the validation process, on testing, that by next week, individual companies will be able to do as they said to meet thousands of tests of coronavirus if they are needed and required and many, many multiples more of that in the not distant future.
Our objective here is Dr. Birx raised with the task force is we've got hospitals in affected areas and those that are requesting that have kits. We've got universities and state labs that now can perform the test on a requested basis. But our objective ultimately, and quickly as possible, is to have tests made through these commercial laboratories and commercial providers, that your local doctor, your CVS, your med check, is able to have a coronavirus test.
And that isn't there yet. We're working to make that a reality. But again, it's one more example. It's not just a whole of government approach, it's a whole of America approach. Whether it be our nursing home industry, whether it be our airline industry, whether it be our commercial laboratories. I can -- I can speak on behalf of President Trump and our entire task force when I say we are profoundly grateful for the spirit is being reflected by companies all across the United States of America, grateful for the leadership at the state level.
And the American people should be confident that that spirit of partnership is going to continue to drive this at every level as we work our way through dealing with the coronavirus in the United States. With that, I'm going to recognize Dr. Deborah Birx for her comments.
DEBORAH BIRX, CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR, WHITE HOUSE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Good evening. Over the -- over the last 12 hours, we've been able to receive information both from South Korea and Italy adding to our China information. And it's as we thought, the elderly and preexisting conditions have a more serious eldest when confronted with the coronavirus.
Reassuringly in South Korea, no one has died under 30. This is reassuring to us. And the median age in Italy was 81 of those who succumbed. Those who became ill, the median age was 60. So we find this data reassuring, but it also has really caused us to focus on the Americans who might be most vulnerable.
So we're focusing resources, attention and all of our capacity to ensure those who have preexisting conditions and those who are elderly have access to the best prevention and treatment options. The prevention options flow right through all of us to ensure that we have good protective hygiene for our elderly clients around the globe. Thank you.
PENCE: Thank you. Seema?
SEEMA VERMA, ADMINISTRATOR, CMS: Thank you. And as you heard, because of the risk for our nation's seniors, we are doubling down on our efforts. Today we put out three memos one was to hospitals about triage and placement for patients with suspected or confirmed coronavirus.
We also put out some information to nursing homes about limiting visitors to nursing homes, monitoring staff. And then finally we put out some information to our state surveyors that are going to be surveying our nation's nursing homes and hospitals around infection control. So all that information went out this morning.
PENCE: Very good. Thank you, Seema. CDC, Bob Redfield.
ROBERT REDFIELD, DIRECTOR, CDC: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I think what I'd like to highlight today is to first echo with the vice president started with when he was given the American people the advice that he did as he went through that we do have listed out on our CDC web site cdc.gov.
It really is very important. It's very pragmatic about washing your hands 20 seconds with soap and water or using the other disinfectants. Obviously training yourself to cover your sneeze or cough either in your elbow or with a Kleenex that he will dispose of. These are very important things. Working hard not to touch your face.
I think the most important thing for many of those individuals that might be a little Type A, if you get sick, stay home. You're not helping your colleagues by going to work sick. And again, I think these are just very pragmatic. We've listed them. They're absolutely no different than what we ask the American public do for flu.
The second thing I would like to do is continue to get the help from you to get those messages out. The one that's the most important that the vice president also talked about, is the role of mask. We need these N-95 masks for the health care workers that are taking care of these patients. We do not recommend them to be used by the general public.
And again, you all, if you tell the stories are able to be great community of that, so that the American public gets accurate information, and gets good guidance from your experts that you'll reach out to for your story. So that's what I would ask you to do.
And I'll reiterate what the vice president said at the beginning, that although we're continuing to see new community cases in this nation, the overall risk to the American public at this time still remains low. Thank you.
PENCE: Thank you very much. Dr. Fauci?
ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just to reiterate, what was said by several of our colleagues here, is that we make policy recommendations and analysis of what we're going to recommend based on accumulation of data. Data is very important. What Dr. Birx just told you is data that underscore some of the things that we've been telling you.
You know, when you talk about risk, you know, risk is something that's vague to people. And we've said many times, if you talk about risk of infection throughout the country, it's a low risk. If you talk about someone who is infected, and we do have infected people in this country, you've heard that from Dr. Redfield, you understand the situation that we have in Seattle.
If you do get infected, if you're infected as taking Seattle as the microcosm of that, it is exactly what Dr. Birx said, the risk of getting into difficulties is very heavily weighted towards people with underlying conditions and people with the elderly, where are the young people -- and they will be an exception here the same way we see with influenza. But the risk for a young person who gets infected to getting into trouble is really low based on a lot of data that's coming out of foreign countries, particularly out of China.
PENCE: Great. Thank you, Dr. Fauci. Dr. Carson?
BEN CARSON, SECRETARY, HUD: I want to thank the Vice President and the president for a very aggressive and careful leadership. Now I was involved throughout my neurosurgical career with a lot of very, very complex cases and dealt with a lot of renowned physicians. But I must say that the people on this task force are extremely impressive, have been considering all the various different possibilities outlining scenarios for all the possibilities that can occur.
And it's very comforting -- and recognize that the risk to a healthy adult still remains quite low largely because of the aggressive actions that have been taken and are continuing to be taking every day. And just one last point, and that is the pharmaceuticals who normally are rivals have worked together voluntarily. Wouldn't that be a great lesson for the politicians?
PENCE: Quick informational announcement. I'll be traveling with many members of the task force to Minnesota tomorrow. We'll be visiting 3M which is poised to literally begin manufacturing millions more masks for healthcare workers, and then we'll be traveling on to Washington State. We'll be meeting with Governor Inslee and with his health team to ensure that the full resources of the federal government are being brought to bear in support of their efforts to protect the health of people across the Seattle area. So with that, let me start right here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Vice President Pence. I have two questions. One about Washington and then one about Florida. I'll start with Washington. Can you tell us a little bit more about how that meeting came to be? Will Secretary Azar be with you? Is that a meeting that the governor asked you to come there? Can you explain?
PENCE: The -- I've spoken to Governor Inslee, who I know well from our time in Congress together several times since being tapped to lead the White House effort on the coronavirus a week ago. He's been providing strong leadership for the state of Washington. They have an outstanding health department.
But after meeting with members of the Senate and the House, particularly those from the Washington State delegation, we thought it would be important to bring our team out to meet with their team on the ground, and to make sure that they have the full support. Our hearts go out to those that have been infected with the disease in the Seattle area, but also we understand the anxiety this has created in the full community. And we're going to be going out just to make sure and sitting down with the governor with his team that they have everything they need and all the support they need to see to the health of their people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, sir. And on Florida, you will have a meeting on Saturday, is that correct, with the cruise liners? Which companies are coming to that meeting? What's the goal of that meeting? Is there something that you'd like to see them do differently that they are not doing now?
PENCE: Well, we'll talk about just that. Obviously, with the Diamond Princess issue, there are unique challenges that our experts tell us in a closed environment of a cruise liner. We're going to talk about best practices. And I thought it was timely to spend some time with people in that industry as we're meeting with the others in industries around the country. OK, right there, please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two quick questions. The first one, I've been looking online at hand sanitizer. And so there's some -- there's some sites like Amazon where these prices have just skyrocketed. What's your advice to Americans who are trying to decide soap and water and the hand sanitizers that you're telling them buy, but can't afford it at this point or can't find it?
PENCE: That's great. I want to ask CDC to respond to that because they've got some very clear guidance.
REDFIELD: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I want to make it really clear that I don't think soap and water -- vigorously washing your hands for 20 seconds is what the American public needs to do. If they want to use the hand sanitizers, that's another option. But I don't want people to think it's inferior to what we've recommended for decades which is vigorous washing your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds.
PENCE: OK, there's another one. Another one, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're talking about working on getting testing so that the doctors and other places will be able to have it. How far along are you in that goal and what should Americans expect -- how soon should Americans expect to be able to go to their doctor's office to get tested?
PENCE: Well, I'm going to ask Birx to address that, but just so you know, there's three levels here. Number one is that we do have about 1.5 million test kits going out as we speak to hospitals, particularly hospitals in areas that have seen coronavirus cases. In addition to that, thanks to the good work of the FDA and the change that President Trump authorized this weekend, now every state health lab and university lab can conduct a coronavirus test. And that expands the capacity.
But ultimately as Dr. Birx will explain, our objective is in addition to those tests being available, we want to get to a place where any American who has a concern is able to go to their doctor, is able to go to a medical clinic and know that there's a coronavirus available. We think we can get there in a matter of weeks, and in partnership with the commercial labs. We're challenging them to do just that. Dr. Birx.
BIRX: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just briefly, because I think you were interested also in cost. And I think what we've heard from CMS and from HHS that this will be an essential lab test so fully reimbursable. What we talked about with the commercial laboratories is exactly your question. And we ask them, and they're in validation this week. Some of them thought they would have tests available on Friday and the rest on Monday.
I've asked them to prioritize the areas where we've had these clusters so that people can be reassured in those areas where there is -- where we've have identified virus has been circulating. In those cases, they will have it available at doctor's office, and all of our pediatric offices that would need it, and they will transport it through a logistics network to make sure that they can be run.
PENCE: With regard to -- with regard to the cost, let me be very clear. HHS has designated the coronavirus test as an essential health benefit. That means by definition, it's covered in the private health insurance of every American as well as covered by Medicare and Medicaid. And so, we're working with members of Congress and we'll be monitoring the cost very carefully. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With travel restrictions on Italy and South Korea, are you considering more -- imposing more restrictions on traveling?
PENCE: Well, I'm going to ask Dr. Fauci to speak to that. At this time, they're not recommending that the President impose additional travel advisories or restrictions. But as Dr. Fauci can explain, we're going to follow the data on that very closely and follow the cases. You want to speak to that.
FAUCI: So this is something that's really evaluated in real-time. I mean, you can't make a decision now that you're going to project what's going to be. You just base it on the data. And it became very clear that the situation in northern Italy and in Korea was actually unique compared to what we were seeing in several of the other countries. That's why that was done. We reevaluate this literally, every single day.
PENCE: We do. We do. Right there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
PENCE: No, right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
PENCE: No, right here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me?
PENCE: Please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. So I was wondering what sort of progress was making with your meeting with the airline CEOs today about coordinating the collection of passenger data? And then also there's been reports that the CDC is investigating a potential cluster of cases from a cruise ship in California that could be linked to the state's first death. Could you confirm that? And how many people might the CDC be investigating in that case?
PENCE: I'll let CDC respond to your second question. But the first question, I know the President was also very moved by the level of commitment from our airlines for customer's health and safety as well as their crews. Health and Safety there, they described to us their activities, in cleaning the aircraft and sanitizing aircraft.
And we believe as President Trump said today that it's safe to fly. It's safe to fly in America and it's safe to fly internationally apart from the travel advisories that are available to the public. With that being said, we -- it's a work in progress about having contact information. But we were assured today by the airlines that they'll continue to work very closely with us to provide manifests, passengers on an on an individual flight in the event of a coronavirus infection.
And the cooperation has been just what the American people would expect from our airlines. But let me -- let me let CDC speak to the other issue.
REDFIELD: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. So we are working in support of the California Health Department that's in the process of evaluating another cruise ship where they do have confirmed cases. We're at the very beginning of that, looking at the manifest, to make sure we understand who's gotten off the cruise, and where they got off the cruise, and we're really involved in that entire contact follow up as we speak. Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
PENCE: Right here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much. And possibly a question for Dr. Birx regarding it's being safe to fly. You have Spring Break coming along. A lot of grandparents may be coming to visit family members to help watch over kids, older adults, is it safe? If it's unnecessary travel, should they still hop on a plane and travel?
BIRX: But that's why we're talking about the common sense approach. So if you have preexisting medical conditions, or your of the elderly and frail, that is something that they need to take into context. And that's why we were very clear about providing that information. Because we really want everyone to know what we know. That we received this new data, we've gone through it carefully, it does look like there is significant greater risk of serious illness as you become older and if you have other medical conditions.
Now, what I talked about also was protecting the elderly and protecting those with other medical conditions. And I want to be clear the other medical conditions included people recovering from cancer. So just as you would protect them when they have their chemotherapy and their immune responses are lower, you would do that with careful handwashing again and ensuring if you have children in the household, that they're following those same procedures.
I have a nine-month old and a two-year-old grandchild. And they're -- the two-year-old has learned to wash your hands carefully. And I think these are just things we need to ensure happening every day in households.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have -- do you have any hesitations traveling to Washington State tomorrow on your own personal health and are you trying to send a message to all Americans that you believe it is safe to fly?
PENCE: No, I have no hesitation at all. To tell you, the job that Washington State has done in confronting the coronavirus infections in the Seattle area has really been inspiring. They've got an outstanding health facility, outstanding health department, and we're going to be sitting down with all of their health officials.
But I'm a real believer just as the president is. And sitting down, sitting nose to nose as president did today with executives, and asking the questions and making sure that the American people expect nothing less. They expect us to be there for that community. And we'll be bringing our task force out to make sure that Washington State has all the support that they need. And that's the purpose of the trip.
(CROSSTALK)
PENCE: Last one.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Mr. Vice President. I appreciate it. In light of what Dr. Redfield said yesterday about how quickly this virus has been spreading, what needs to happen specifically for you to declare this a national emergency? What's the threshold? Will it be the number of deaths, will be the number of cases?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JUAN WILLIAMS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL HOST: That's a briefing at the White House on the coronavirus. Vice President Pence, Dr. Deborah Birx, all talking and giving the latest information. Katie, clearly, they say it's safe to fly. What do you think?
PAVLICH: I'm going to listen to what the experts have been saying. They've been briefing us every day with lots of new information. And it sounds like the higher risk for people, especially when it comes to fatalities are people who are older, elderly and frail, as the doctor was saying, who have underlying medical conditions.
We should go about our daily lives, continue to wash your hands with soap and water. They stress that you do not need these hand sanitizers to be safe and clean to fight this virus and to avoid it, so soap and hot water will do. So I think just listening to their advice is a good thing and not panicking and moving forward is also a good thing.
WILLIAMS: So Greg, the Vice President's going out to Minnesota to 3M. They manufacture the mask. And then he's going on to Washington state where there's been a center of the outbreak. What do you think?
GUTFELD: Well, I think exactly what Katie said is correct. I think it's important to divert the focus away from like schools and planes and look more at nursing homes and hospitals because that's where the vulnerable are concentrated.
I think we are seeing a lot of optimistic research coming out based on the cruise liner. I would urge everybody to go to Google. Google Jeremy Faust, F-A-U-S-T. He has a piece in Slate, probably the most comprehensive and up debate -- up to date piece on this. I think people going out and trying to buy all the toilet paper at Costco and buying you know water it makes no sense to me. I think that you're going to look back and it's going to be seen as a little overdone.
WATTERS: What your toilet paper safeguard? What's your move, Greg?
GUTFELD: Well, you when you're ordering food from delivery, asked for extra napkins.
WATTERS: Right.
PAVLICH: I say -- I think it's always good to have extra water around just for the record.
KENNEDY: But that's the point.
PAVLICH: It's just good to be always be prepared.
KENNEDY: You should always be prepared for anything.
PAVLICH: Yes.
KENNEDY: Anything could happen. We know that living here in New York City, you know that living near D.C. Anything can happen. So it's good to be prepared. It's always bad to pay panic. And we have -- having more facts come in, and that's what these doctors are saying, we have more data, we have a clear picture of how the virus is doing the most damage. And Greg is absolutely right. That's where they should be committing resources.
WILLIAMS: All right. So what do we see, Jesse, as they say they are only limiting travel from certain areas Italy, the Koreas. But even there, they're saying, it's in the senior citizen centers and of course vulnerable populations, people who were sick diabetes, high blood pressure, and the rest.
WATTERS: It seems like this country's finally starting to get a handle on things and I think people are beginning to be more confident the more they learned. I did a "WATTERS WORLD" shoot downtown today and I asked about two things. I asked about Super Tuesday and the coronavirus.
No one had a clue what happened on Super Tuesday and everybody knows about corona and what to do. They know how to wash their hands, sneeze like this, and everything else. So it does seem like that information is breaking through to people that don't know about Super Tuesday.
KENNEDY: And it's OK to publicly sneeze shame people who aren't covering their mouths when they sneeze.
WILLIAMS: Oh no.
GUTFELD: There's nothing worse than this snotty Tuesday.
WILLIAMS: I like -- I like the Wuhan foot shake.
WATTERS: That's right.
WILLIAMS: That's it for us. Set your DVRs. Never miss an episode of THE FIVE.
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