President Trump is touting America's progress in the fight against coronavirus over the past seven days. During a White House briefing on Friday, the President said 18 states now show a decline in the number of positive tests.
"Nationwide the percent of tests that come back positive has declined very significantly," according to the President. "Last week roughly 38 percent of the tests in New York were positive. This week that number is down to 28 percent."
Also during the briefing, Vice President Mike Pence said he is inspired by the nation's governors and their responses to coronavirus. Following Pence's call with governors on Friday, he said tremendous work is being done to implement resources delivered by the federal government. He applauded Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb for completing 72,000 tests and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds for nearly tripling the state's testing capacity. Pence mentioned Tennessee Governor Bill Lee for deploying the National Guard to support 20 drive-through test sites and Utah Governor Gary Herbert for deploying 1,200 state employees to do contact tracing. Pence says Missouri Governor Mike Parson is working with Google Marketplace to create an online portal for local companies repurposing their manufacturing lines to make medical supplies.
Speaking of the governors, Pence said Governor Andrew Cuomo spoke highly of his meeting in the Oval Office during the call. Pence said Cuomo understands coronavirus testing is a partnership with local and federal governments. Cuomo reportedly told the White House Friday he's using his licensing authority to coordinate with over 300 labs in the state that do COVID-19 testing. Pence urges other governors to use their authority in a similar way.
Mr. Trump is apparently looking to provide additional assistance to other countries during the pandemic. He noted that leaders abroad are watching the U.S. respond to the coronavirus crisis and asking for help, so he plans to send ventilators to Mexico, Honduras, Indonesia, France, Spain, Italy and probably Germany. Trump revealed during the task force update the nation has more than 10,000 ventilators. He called that "over capacity" and said states are getting what they need.
The White House press briefing came just a short time after California Governor Gavin Newsom delivered his own state briefing on the virus response. The Governor announced a new partnership with the federal government to contract with restaurants in the state to prepare and deliver three healthy meals per day, seven days a week to the elderly and other vulnerable people forced to stay-at-home to avoid contracting the virus.