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President Trump says he will head to the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia Saturday to send off the USNS Comfort, which will serve as a floating hospital for a desperate New York City. The president said he’ll go “kiss it goodbye,” as the ship sails to alleviate the growing demands on hospitals in the area.
“We will vanquish this virus,” Trump said during the daily Coronavirus Task Force briefing. The Senate passed a $2 trillion coronavirus relief package Wednesday night, and the House is expected to pass the bill Friday. Mr. Trump has said he will sign the bill “immediately.”
Thursday marked the largest one-week spike in jobless claims on record. Mr. Trump said those dire numbers are expected.
As the president spoke, Johns Hopkins data showed the U.S. now leads the world in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases at 82,404.
How to watch the Coronavirus Task Force briefing today
Mr. Trump has suggested reopening the U.S. economy by April 12.
“Our people want to go back to work, I’m hearing it loud and clear from everybody,” Mr. Trump said Thursday.
But infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said in the task force briefing Wednesday that the timing would be “flexible.” In an interview with basketball player Steph Curry on Instagram Live Thursday afternoon, Fauci said Americans can start returning to normal life “when the country as a whole has started turning that corner and started coming down.”
Fauci also talked about vaccine development, as a potential vaccine now entered the first phase of testing.
“If we really push, we hope that we will know by the time we get into next winter whether or not we have something that works,” Fauci said.