Transcript for April 16, 2020 White House Briefing

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Our nation is engaged in a historic battle against the invisible enemy. To win this fight, we have undertaken the greatest national mobilization since World War Two. And that's exactly what it's been.

We've marshaled every instrument of American power, and we've unleashed our most potent weapon of all: the courage of the American people.

These have been trying times. A cruel virus from a distant land has unfairly claimed thousands of precious American lives. To every citizen who has lost a cherished loved one: Your pain is our pain. We mourn as one national family. Our country has come together. We draw solace from the faith that God has received, and the departed – He has taken the departed into his eternal and loving embrace. They will never be forgotten.

Over the last weeks and months, millions of Americans have joined together in a shared national sacrifice to halt the spread of this horrible disease. The Army built field hospitals and sports arenas and convention centers. The Army Corps of Engineers is great. Over 20,000 beds in record time.

The Navy sailed hospital ships to our biggest cities. Lifesaving supplies and experimental medicines were rushed to the frontlines as we launched a rapid search for groundbreaking treatments and vaccines.

We built the most advanced and robust testing anywhere in the world, and we've done more testing than any country anywhere in the world.

We suspended dangerous foreign travel. We leveraged our industrial base to produce vast quantities of critical medical gear and enacted a historic 2-trillion-dollar relief package.

Through it all, we have seen the heroism of our doctors and nurses like never before – these are our warriors – the bravery of our truck drivers – such bravery – and food suppliers – such incredible bravery, and the determination and drive of our citizens. Through this unified national endeavor, we have made great progress. You could really say incredible progress.

Our experts and scientists report that our strategy to slow the spread has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Models predicted between 1.5 million and 2.2 million U.S. deaths – if there was no mitigation, it could have even been higher than that – and between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths with mitigation. It's looking like we will come far under even these lowest numbers.

Thanks to our all-out military operation and the extraordinary devotion of our people, we believe we will experience far fewer deaths than even the optimistic projection. But there is no such thing as an optimistic projection on death. One person is too many.

Our experts say the curve has flattened and the peak in new cases is behind us. Nationwide, more than 850 counties, or nearly 30 percent of our country, have reported no new cases in the last seven days.

Because of our early and aggressive action, we have avoided the tragedy of healthcare rationing and deadly shortfalls that have befallen many other nations – nations which, wherever possible, we are helping. In America, no person who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. We're making hundreds of thousands of ventilators. We've delivered thousands and thousands of ventilators to the states.

And actually, it's been an incredible operation. We started with very little and we ended with a lot. The United States has achieved a significant lower mortality rate than almost all other countries.

Based on the latest data, our team of experts now agrees that we can begin the next front in our war, which we're calling, “Opening Up America Again.” And that's what we're doing: We're opening up our country. And we have to do that. America wants to be open, and Americans want to be open.

As I have said for some time now, a national shutdown is not a sustainable long-term solution. To preserve the health of our citizens, we must also preserve the health and functioning of our economy. Over the long haul, you can't do one without the other. It cannot be done. To keep vital supply chains running, these chains have to be taken care of so delicately. They’re delicate. The balance is delicate.

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Our country has suffered. The world has suffered. One hundred and eighty-four other countries have suffered.

Therefore, my administration is issuing new federal guidelines that will allow governors to take a phased and deliberate approach to reopening their individual states. I've dealt with them now a long time, and we've had a great relationship – Democrat, Republican. The relationship has been good. This strategy is based on hard, verifiable data.

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