Seeking to reassure the public as the coronavirus spreads across the country, President Donald Trump delivered an address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night in which he laid out steps he was taking to address the outbreak.
Trump began touting the “early intense action” his administration took to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, such as travel restrictions on several nations.
To help prevent more cases from entering the country, Trump announced that he would be suspending travel from European nations to the United States for 30 days.
Watch his address below:
He also announced that he ordered the Small Business Administration to issue low-interest loans to small businesses in areas hit hard by the virus. He also called for Congress to pass a payroll tax cut.
Additionally, he said he would order the Treasury Department to delay the deadline for tax payments, for certain individuals, without interest — which he said would provide the economy with $200 billion in liquidity.
“This is not a financial crisis, this is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome as a nation, and as a world,” Trump said of the economic fallout from the virus.
Speaking to the risk the virus poses, Trump said for “the vast majority of Americans the risk is very, very low.”
However, he urged elderly Americans to be “very, very careful” and avoid “non-essential travel.”
Finally, Trump called for Americans to unify, “We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship, and unify as one nation and one family.”
