President Donald Trump declared a national emergency during a press conference in the Rose Garden Friday afternoon as novel coronavirus continues to spread across the United States. Trump also said he doesn’t have symptoms of the virus, even after being in close proximity to one of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s aides who tested positive for coronavirus Thursday.
Trump, flanked by the Coronavirus Task Force, said the declaration will give “tremendous powers” for federal resources to fight conoravirus in addition to the travel restrictions into the United States, which went into effect Friday.
While making the declaration, Trump said he doesn’t support the House Democrats’ coronavirus bill, a bill which would have provided paid leave to Americans who can’t go into work during the pandemic.
Trump also said he does not take responsibility for the lag in testing for coronavirus in the United States and also urged Americans, who don’t have symptoms, to not run out and get tested. He said the threat to healthy, young Americans is still low, but that “anyone can be a carrier” of the virus.
According to the CDC, symptoms for the virus, which include fever, cough and shortness of breath, may take 2 to 14 days to appear after being exposed to the virus.
Trump told reporters that he would “mostly likely be tested,” that testing would be “fairly soon, that testing was being set up and he would let them know the results of the test.
Trump also said that stores like Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and Target will be doing tests in their parking lots, but he did not say when that testing would start happening. He also said that his administration has “ordered a large number of respirators”, but he hopes the United States doesn’t need them.
Mobile test kits for those displaying symptoms will be made available, Trump said, but he did not give a time frame for that to start occurring.