By Michael Hernandez
- President Trump: “No higher priority than security, safety, and welfare of American people”
- Naval Air Station Point Mugu treating one coronavirus case
WASHINGTON, D.C.—“No higher priority than security, safety and welfare of the American people,” said President Donald J. Trump at a one-hour White House press conference this afternoon. “We took unprecedented steps to protect the American people by establishing travel restrictions, quarantines, and thru the creation of a White House Coronavirus Task Force.” According to President Trump, the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland has rated the United States as “the best prepared country for a pandemic disease.”
“We only have 15 cases of the coronavirus in the country plus those 42 American citizens we took from the Princess Cruise ship in Japan. Of the 15, eight have returned to their homes and that number will decrease in the coming days.” No one has died from the coronavirus while from 25,000 to 69,000 Americans die from the flu each year he said.
President Trump has asked Vice President Mike Pence to work with Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar in heading up the White House Coronavirus Task Force working with the Center for Disease Control. “I am asking my talented team to lead this effort,” said President Trump who said that he has asked Congress for an appropriation of $2.5 billion. “We are working with the Hill and we have a good bipartisan effort.”
According to President Trump, the White House Coronavirus Task Forces is being tasked with five major priorities: 1) expand the surveillance network 2) support state and local efforts 3) therapeutics 4) development of a vaccine and 5) securing protection equipment (masks). However, the President said that a vaccine will not be developed for at least a year according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Health.
Worldwide, 80,238 coronavirus cases have been reported with 2,700 deaths from 39 countries according to the World Health Organization. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said Tuesday, “We really want to prepare the American public for the possibility that their lives will be disrupted because of this pandemic.” Meanwhile, World Health Organization officials have said this outbreak is not yet a pandemic.
Camarillo press conference
A Camarillo press conference was held Wednesday afternoon at the Freedom Center by officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the County of Ventura Public Health to report on one individual quarantined at the Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu.
The individual has shown no signs of the disease but was quarantined by the Office of Emergency Services because of traveling from Beijing, China to the United States through Los Angeles International Airport (one of 11 airports that are especially targeted for international travelers). Reporters from almost every Los Angeles television station were told that “no one with symptoms will remain on the base” but will be transported to a local hospital (St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard). This individual is being monitored for any respiratory virus and his temperature is being tracked throughout the day. Reporters were told that he has been quarantined because he does not live in California and those who live in the State are being monitored by health officials in their homes.
Meanwhile, Southern California media has been reporting on protesters fighting housing coronavirus patients in their cities especially those patients who remain at Travis and March Air Force Base.
A health official said: “One of the big challenges, whenever you have an outbreak with a new pathogen, is dealing with the fear and the misinformation. Right now, we have a virus that has caused 57 documented cases that we’re aware of in the United Sates and no death. At the same time, we’ve probably have 26 million cases of influenza, probably about 14,000 deaths in the United States alone, and that is the disconnect we have.”
President Trump said normal respiratory health precautions should be taken: washing hands, staying home when sick, monitoring temperature.
Michael Hernandez, Co-Founder of the Citizens Journal—Ventura County’s online news service; editor of the History Makers Report and founder of History Makers International—a community nonprofit serving youth and families in Ventura County, is a former Southern California daily newspaper journalist and religion and news editor. He has worked 25 years as a middle school teacher in Monrovia and Los Angeles Unified School Districts. Mr. Hernandez can be contacted by email at [email protected].
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