President Donald Trump brushed off concerns about the limited number of coronavirus test kits during a visit to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and announced during a chaotic press conference that 'anybody who wants a test can get a test.'
He left officials scrambling to explain how such a commitment could happen after free-wheeling press availability where he publicly disagreed with his own government's approach to the cruise ship, referenced impeachment, asked about TV ratings, and called a Democratic government 'a snake.'
'The tests are beautiful,' Trump added after meeting with top U.S.
scientists amid the coronavirus outbreak. 'Anybody who right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test,' Trump said.
Trump praised his own administration's response amid concerns that the million test kits promised had yet to materialize.
Trump announced during a chaotic press conference that 'anybody who wants a test can get a test'
Nineteen crew members and two passengers on board the Grand Princess cruise ship have tested positive for coronavirus
The ship will now not dock in San Francisco as planned but will be brought to a 'non-commercial port' and all 3,500 people on board will be tested
Silicon Valley continues to close its doors as major tech hubs of California and Seattle increasingly become virus hotspots
Apple told all 12,000 employees at its headquarters Apple Park to remain home Friday, following similar guidance from Facebook and Microsoft
Amazon and Facebook both have employees with the disease in Seattle
City officials in Austin announced that South by South West festival will be canceled
Most US cases have been linked to the Life Care Center nursing facility in Kirkland, near Seattle, which nine deaths are linked to
It emerged that three days before the first cases were confirmed, the facility held a 'germ-fest' party meaning the spread could be far wider than thought
'We've done a tremendous job at keeping it down,' he said. And Trump shared his misgivings about providing on-shore medical treatment to passengers of a Princess cruise liner off the coast of San Francisco. He raised concerns it would spike the numbers of infected Americans.
'I like the numbers where they are. I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship. That wasn't our fault,' Trump said.
Nevertheless, he appears to have yielded to top health officials, who announced minutes after the president spoke a plan for dealing with infected crew and passengers aboard the Grand Princess ship moored off San Francisco.
Vice President Mike Pence said out of 46 people swabbed aboard the ship, 21 tested positive. Of those, 19 are crew members. The ship will be brought to an unidentified commercial port where those 'that need westchester to jfk be quarantined will be quarantined those that require additional medical attention will receive it,' Pence said.