Trump sows
confusion with claim coronavirus drug will be ready soon
President
said malaria drug would be available ‘almost immediately’ but officials say
chloroquine must still be tested
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Thu 19 Mar
2020 19.19 GMTLast modified on Thu 19 Mar 2020 21.31 GMT
Donald
Trump has sown fresh confusion about the US government’s response to the
coronavirus pandemic by claiming that a therapeutic drug will be available
“almost immediately” – only to be contradicted by officials.
In the
latest measure to combat the spread of the virus, the State Department on
Thursday issued a new alert urging Americans not to travel abroad under any
circumstances and to return home if they are already abroad unless they plan to
remain overseas
The global
level four warning was unprecedented as such alerts are generally reserved for
specific countries embroiled in conflict, natural disasters or where Americans
face specific risks.
But the
significant move came shortly after a worryingly rambling performance at
Thursday’s White House press conference, the president asserted that
chloroquine, used to combat malaria, had been approved and would be made
available by prescription.
“They’re doing great with the vaccines but
there’s still a long process, but the therapies are something we can move on
much faster potentially,” he told reporters. “And the treatments that will be
able to reduce the severity or duration of the symptoms – make people better.
“Chloroquine,
or hydroxychloroquine, this is a common malaria drug. It’s also a drug used for
strong arthritis … It’s been around for a long time, so we know if things don’t
go as planned it’s not going to kill anybody … It’s shown very, very
encouraging early results, and we’re going to be able to make that drug
available almost immediately.”
But minutes
later, Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration,
cautioned that in fact chloroquine has not been approved for use against the
coronavirus and must still be tested for its effectiveness and safety.
Chloroquine
“is already approved, as the president said, for the treatment of malaria as
well as arthritis condition”, Hahn pointed out. “That’s a drug that the
president has directed us to take a closer look at as to whether an expanded
use approach to that could be done to actually see if that benefits patients.
“And again,
we want to do that in a setting of a clinical trial, a large pragmatic clinical
trial to actually gather that information and answer that question that needs
to be asked and answered.”
The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday 10,491 cases of
coronavirus, an increase of 3,404 from its previous count. The death toll rose
by 53 to 150, it said, the biggest one-day jump so far.
The Trump
administration has been widely condemned for its sluggish response,
particularly to testing kits and medical equipment. Mike Pence told the
briefing, without providing data: “Tens of thousands of tests are being performed
every day.” Earlier this month, the CDC said around 2,500 tests were being
performed daily.
The
vice-president also claimed that companies have hugely increased their
production of protective industrial masks and many construction companies are
donating their stocks to hospitals. Medical workers have decried the widespread
lack of protective equipment.
Trump, who
built his political career on his ability to steward the economy, is now
fighting to rescue it from a once in a generation catastrophe. Last week the
number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 70,000.
Trump signed
an aid package, which the Senate approved earlier on Wednesday, that will
guarantee free testing, paid sick leave to workers who fall ill, family leave
for caregivers and food assistance for those in need.
Asked if he
would support the federal government moving to take an equity stake in
companies that need bailouts, Trump replied: “I do. I really do.”
He added:
“We will be helping the airline industry. We will be helping the cruise ship
industry. We probably will be helping the hotel industry … There’s a lot of
executive power. If we don’t have to use it, that would be a good thing, not a
bad thing.”
Trump also
took a swipe at China, where the virus was first reported, musing: “If people
would have known about it, could have been stopped in place, it could have been
stopped where it came from, China.”
This
prompted criticism from his presumptive rival in the presidential election,
Democrat Joe Biden. His campaign said in statement: “The reality is, he did
know about it and experts spent months trying to prompt Trump into action as he
downplayed the growing threat of the virus and praised the Chinese government’s
bungled early response – at a time when Vice-President Biden warned him not to
take their word about the disease.
“Now, as
this crisis explodes on his watch, Trump is desperately lashing out to try to
cover up his incompetence and mismanagement.”
In a series
of bizarre riffs, Trump described social distancing as a “hot term” now and
chastised reporters for sitting too close together. He railed against the media
for failing to give him credit for banning travel from China. “I got a
[coronavirus] test because you people were driving everybody crazy,” he said.
Trump has
been condemned for using the xenophobic term “Chinese virus”. In a profoundly
weird finale, a reporter from the pro-Trump One America News Network asked: “Mr
President, do you consider the term ‘Chinese food’ to be racist because it is
food that originated from China?”
He
answered: “I don’t think that’s racist at all.”
Unusually,
Trump is not thought to have made contact with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi,
the architect of his impeachment last year. Instead he has delegated
negotiations to the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who is said to have
established a working relationship with Pelosi.
On Thursday
the Senate began work on a $1tn-plus package to stem the economic fallout of
the pandemic. The majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said the bill would include
direct financial assistance to Americans, lending to key industries including
airlines and money for more medical equipment.
“These are
not ordinary policies. This is no ordinary time,” McConnell said on the Senate
floor. “We have to beat back this virus.”
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