Trump suspends travel from Europe amid coronavirus pandemic

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days amid the growing coronavirus outbreak.

“The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots,” Trump said, speaking from the Oval Office Wednesday night. “As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe.”

The travel ban goes into effect Friday at midnight and will also include a ban on some trade and cargo. The restrictions only apply to foreign nationals and not U.S. citizens, green card holders or the family of U.S. citizens, the Department of Homeland Security said. U.K. citizens are also exempt.

Trump called the travel restrictions “strong but necessary actions.”

Trump also announced a series of economic relief actions but did not offer any new measures to stop the spread domestically.

Trump said that insurance companies had agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments and would extend insurance coverage to include coronavirus treatments.

Trump also said he would soon be taking emergency action to make sure people could stay home from work if they get sick or need to be quarantined. Trump said that he would be asking Congress to take legislative action to provide this relief but did not provide any timeline for when that would be.

The president urged older people to “avoid nonessential travel in crowded areas” and recommended that nursing homes suspend all “medically unnecessary visits.”

The White House said in a statement later Wednesday that Trump, who is 73-years-old, is cancelling upcoming trips to Colorado and Nevada “out of an abundance of caution.”

“For all Americans it is essential that everyone take extra precautions and practice good hygiene,” Trump said. “Each of us has a role to play in defeating this virus.”

Trump announced that he was deferring tax payment for some individuals and business and would be providing additional relief to small businesses impacted by the outbreak. Trump also implored Congress to approve of an immediate cut to a payroll tax — a move that both parties have raised concerns about.

“This is not a financial crisis,” Trump said. “This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome as a nation and as a world.”

Trump had insisted for weeks that he had the outbreak under control, painting a much rosier picture than his experts described. But health officials in recent days have sounded the alarm bell, warning the public that the outbreak is likely to get worse before it gets better.

Speaking from the Oval Office Wednesday night, Trump called the coronavirus a “horrible infection.”

The head of the World Health Organization officially characterized the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic on Wednesday, causing markets to panic and the Dow Jones to enter bear market territory.

The president said earlier Wednesday he would be making “both” health and economic related announcements in the Oval Office address, which comes as the number of coronavirus cases across the country exceeded 1,000, with at least 33 deaths. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,400 points.

Trump’s earlier remarks came during what he described as a “very important meeting” with big bank executives in the White House.

The president had been vague about what measures he might announce, but said, “We’ll be doing a lot of additional work with small businesses … many billions of dollars” and “additional solutions.”

He said he has “already made some decisions actually today but I’ll be making some other ones that are very important.”

The president, who’s been criticized for focusing on the financial impact of the virus’s spread, told reporters, “Our number one priority is the health of the people of our country.”

He said he was optimistic the economy would get back to normal “in a short term period.”

“We’re having to fix a problem that four weeks ago nobody thought would be a problem,” Trump said.

“This came out of nowhere, and actually it came out of China.”

Asked by a reporter what he would “say to Americans who are concerned that you’re not taking this seriously enough and that some of your statements don’t match what your health experts are saying,” Trump said, “That’s CNN. Fake news.”

Trump has only delivered a prime time Oval Office address once before, on Jan.8, 2019, when he called for $5 billion to build a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border during a partial government shutdown.

source: nbcnews.com