Friends,
During the briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force yesterday afternoon, President Trump announced that he would be extending the CDC’s guidelines for slowing the spread of the coronavirus until at least April 30th. These initial guidelines can be found here, and the President said that the White House would be finalizing these plans on Tuesday, and would be providing a summary of findings, supporting data, and strategy to the American people.
In making this announcement, President Trump said, “nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won.” He also added that his Administration’s modeling estimates that the death rate for the virus’s impact on the United States is expected to peak in two weeks, which is why the decisions was made to extend these guidelines for at least another month.
In an interview this morning, Dr. Deborah Birx echoed comments made yesterday by Dr. Anthony Fauci, saying that, “if we do things together, well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities.”
American workers and small businesses will begin to feel the effects of the CARES Act after the House passed it on Friday and President Trump signed it into law.
During an interview yesterday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that Americans who qualify for direct payments as a result of the act will receive them within three weeks:
SECRETARY MNUCHIN: “We expect that within three weeks, that people who have direct deposit with information with us will see those direct deposits into their bank accounts, and we will create a web-based system for people where we don’t have their direct deposit, they can upload it so that they can get the money immediately as opposed to checks in the mail.”
In addition to the above comments from Secretary Mnuchin, the Director of the United States National Economic Council Larry Kudlow said in an interview yesterday that the loans available to small businesses who have been impacted by the effects of the coronavirus will be ready for processing this week:
LARRY KUDLOW: “The loans to the small businesses will be ready for processing this coming week, okay, this coming Friday. So we will have rapid speed, much faster than has been done in the past with these things. And so we will get it into people’s hands right away. And don’t forget also, please, regarding things like rent payments or rental, home loans, all that will — evictions — let may add that — all that will be put on hold. There will be no evictions during this period. Principal and interest on loans, if they’re federal loans, can be suspended. There’s a moratorium on student loans. We tried to cover every single base as we realized the scope and spread of this thing.”
The Trump Administration continues to take steps to protect the health of the American people and use all the tools of the federal government to combat this virus.
Today, USNS Comfort arrived in Manhattan to treat patients and alleviate some of the burden that hospitals in New York are facing. The Comfort has 1,000 beds and 12 operational rooms, and its arrival comes days after the transformation of the Javits Center into a temporary field hospital with 2,900 beds in conjunction with FEMA and the National Guard. On Friday, the USNS Mercy docked in Los Angeles and began accepting patients to ease the strain on that city’s hospitals.
In terms of expanding the availability of personal protective equipment and critical supplies needed for medical professionals, FEMA is working with the private sector to launch “Project Airbridge.” President Trump announced that the first flight with this equipment arrived yesterday containing 130,000 N-95 masks, nearly 1.8 million surgical masks and gowns, more than 10.3 million gloves, and more than 70,000 thermometers.
The President also continues to marshal the resources of the private sector to fight the pandemic through the use of the Defense Production Act, and signed a memorandum on Friday to require General Motors to accept, perform, and prioritize Federal contracts for ventilators.
On Sunday night, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine which will allow for the drugs to be donated to the Strategic National Stockpile to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19. This comes as New York has begun clinical trials testing the effectiveness of these drugs in combating the virus.
The FDA also issued an emergency use authorization to allow for convalescent plasma therapy to be used for seriously ill patients.
The President also announced yesterday that the FDA had authorized a new test from Abbott Labs that will be able to deliver results in as little as five minutes. The test, which the President called, “a whole new ballgame,” and Dr. Scott Gottlieb called a “game-changer,” is expected to be made available this week and they hope to ramp up manufacturing to deliver 50,000 tests per day.
After calls from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, the FDA also approved technology from Battelle that will allow for the decontamination and sterilization of personal protective equipment that medical professionals need to fight the coronavirus. In talking about this development, the President said that the new technology allows for a mask to be sterilized up to 20 times.
Finally, the President said during the briefing that health insurers Humana and Cigna were waiving co-pays and all out-of-pocket costs for coronavirus treatment. This came after the Administration asked insurers to take this step, which President Trump said would, “ease the financial burden on American families during this pandemic.”
What Wyoming Business Owners Need To Know:
On Friday March 28th, following passage in the House, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the third coronavirus relief package providing emergency aid for American workers, families, small businesses, and hospitals.
Copied below is important information for Wyoming small business owners who have questions about the financial aid included in the CARES Act:
Wyoming small businesses impacted by coronavirus have received final federal approval to seek loans up to $2 million as part of the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.
SBA has added all 23 Wyoming counties to it’s list of designated “economic disaster” regions eligible for small business disaster loan assistance.
To apply for a SBA Federal Disaster Loan, click on the following link: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/
As always, If you have any specific questions or need assistance as it pertains to the coronavirus response effort, please contact Ryan Hofmann with my office at ryan.hofmann@mail.house.gov.
March 30th: National Doctors Day
Every year on March 30th, we celebrate National Doctors Day. Never before in our nation’s history have our doctors played such a critical role in leading us through a crisis. These heroes have worked around the clock, risking their lives and separating themselves from their families in order to defeat this virus.
We will win the battle against coronavirus because of the determination, strength, and courage of all our medical professionals. Today and every day, we thank you for your service.
This past Friday, prior to passing the CARES Act, I spoke on the House floor recognizing our doctors, nurses, first responders, and public safety officers. Click here to watch my full remarks.
FEMA Coronavirus Rumor Control: Myth Of The Day
Due to the large amount of speculation regarding coronavirus, this is a reminder to rely on OFFICIAL sources for accurate information. Help control the spread of rumors by sharing this page: https://www.fema.gov/coronavirus-rumor-control
Frequently Asked Question: Is the government sending everyone money? Is there somewhere I need to sign up?
FACT: A stimulus package has been passed by Congress to help Americans in need. As information becomes available, it will be updated on www.coronavirus.gov. Unfortunately, scammers are using COVID-19 to take advantage of people. Don’t trust anyone who tells you they can get you money now. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has more information about government scams, including COVID-19 scams.
Please follow this newsletter and the coronavirus page on my website for continued updates about COVID-19 and how government is responding to protect both the country’s health and our economic security.
Congresswoman Liz Cheney
