Trump warns of more ‘very tough’ days ahead as death toll passes that of 9/11

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• Judy Woodruff:

  President Trump was at the podium again late today taking questions on the pandemic.

  Our Yamiche Alcindor joins me now from the White House for the latest.

  So, Yamiche, we know that the official death toll from coronavirus in the United States has now moved past 3,700. What are they saying at the White House about the pace of this outbreak?

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  Well, Judy, the number of people who have died from coronavirus hit a really grim total today. More people have died from the virus in America than on the morning of 9/11.

  That sobering tone, that sadness was really apparent in today's White House briefing. There were models shown that showed, even with the best social distancing, something like 100,000 Americans could still die of this virus.

  Now, health officials and President Trump said that they're doing all that they can to make that number even lower. But, again, that figure is if people do all that they can around the country to social distance and to try to combat this virus.

  The other thing to note is that the White House is saying that the testing and ventilators, all this equipment that governors are saying they need, are being given to them as soon as possible.

  But the message today coming from the White House was, every American needs to do what they have to do in order for this not to be even more deadly. There was a figure shown that said 2.2 million people could die if nothing had been done in the United States.

  So, really, today was a really sad day at the White House. And the president's tone was markedly changed because of that.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Those numbers are just — are breathtaking.

  Yamiche, and what are they saying about federal government efforts and what the federal government can do at this point?

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  Well, we have heard governors over and over again say that they need medical equipment from the federal government.

  And, today, the president said that he's holding back on some, at least 10,000 ventilators in the federal stockpile, because he wants to see how bad the surge is going to get. And he said that's really emergency equipment that he wants to send out at a later date.

  Now, governors, again, are saying they need that equipment as soon as possible. The other thing to note, though, the president made a pretty sobering statement when it came to what's ahead. He said that the peak is in about two weeks.

  So let's listen to what he said.

• President Donald Trump:

  I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead. We're going to go through a very tough two weeks.

  And then, hopefully, as the experts are predicting, as I think a lot of us are predicting, after having studied it so hard, we're going to start seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel.

  As a nation, we face a difficult few weeks as we approach that — that really important day when we're going to see things get better all of a sudden. And it's going to be like a burst of light, I really think and I hope.

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  Now, that's a lot different from what the president said in the past.

  In the past, he said that coronavirus was like the flu. But, today, he said it's not the flu; it's much more vicious. So the president, at the White House, was really trying to tell Americans to brace themselves.

  And that was also the message that health officials and top White House officials were giving today.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And, Yamiche, finally, it was just a few days ago that the Congress passed and the president signed this emergency coronavirus relief aid bill, $2.2 trillion in there.

  But, already, there's talk of more legislation.

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  That's right. That legislation, that piece of legislation that you just mentioned, the $2.2 trillion coronavirus bill, it was the largest single stimulus package ever signed into law.

  But, already, we're hearing that another package is under way. I want to put up for people some of the things that people are talking about. They're talking about infrastructure investment. So, that would maybe mean more clean water, as well as broadband Internet, because everyone's doing so much videoconferencing.

  There's also more direct aid to Americans and paid leave to workers, trying to help people get through this economic tragedy that we're going through right now, and also more funds to states and localities.

  Now, I should say that President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been out talking about what they want to see in the next bill. And there is some overlap there. They're both talking about infrastructure.

  So we have been hearing for three years that this is a White House and that Democrats want to do something on infrastructure in this country. They might now be getting it done because of this pandemic.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Yamiche Alcindor, following this late-day briefing at the White House, Yamiche, thank you very much.

• Yamiche Alcindor:

  Thanks so much.

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