President Donald Trump called on the American people to ‘be calm’ and assured them that things are ‘really working out’ today during a press conference.
With coronavirus task force leader Mike Pence looming behind him, the president gave a quick statement today during a press conference that was apparently intended to calm Americans who are worried about the coronavirus.
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“We’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it,” Mr Trump said. “So just stay calm. It’ll go away, just stay calm.”
The statements came during a meeting discussing possible plans and spending on coronavirus responses. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and economic adviser Larry Kudlow joined the president and vice president at the meeting.
According to Politico, Mr Trump and Mr Pence discussed several possible responses, including payroll tax cuts, paid sick leave for hourly employees and an infrastructure program.
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“They have five or six ideas. Trying to help people that were going to be laid off, targeted packages to parts of the economy that were going to get hit. You know, the inability to travel and hold events, the hospitality industry,” Senator Lindsey Graham said.
Mr Trump insisted that the government would protect the airline and cruise ship industries.
“We want to protect our shipping industry, our cruise industry, we want to protect our airline industry, very important,” he said. “But everyone has to be vigilant and be careful. But be calm.”
Earlier today, National Guard troops were dispatched to New Rochelle, New York, a coronavirus epicenter just outside of New York City, where they will operate a satellite testing site and set up a one-mile, two-week containment area in the city. Public schools in the contamination zone will be closed until 25 March.
Westchester County, where New Rochelle is located, has already reported 108 confirmed coronavirus cases. The concentration of cases in New Rochelle is partially due to the infection of a lawyer from Manhattan who is linked to dozens of cases in several states.
Mr Trump did not mention the deployment of the National Guard during his statement.
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In what appeared to be a message directly to the stock market the day after the S&P 500 dropped more than 7 percent and the Dow fell 2,000 points, Mr Trump spoke to the “power” of consumers.
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“The consumer is ready, the consumer is so powerful in our country with what we’ve done, with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things,” he said. “The consumer has never been in a better position then they are right now.”
Mr Trump blamed the exceptionally volatile market on oil tussling by the Russians and Saudi Arabia.
While the oil dispute between the countries certainly didn’t help market stability, the effects of the coronavirus on the market were already being felt prior to that event, as the Dow had already dropped 11 percent from its peak in February.
