OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 5:12 PM PT — Sunday, March 29, 2020
President Trump has extended the voluntary national shutdown for a month. The president made the announcement at Sunday’s task force briefing.The initial 15-day period of social distancing was set to expire Monday, but was extended after modeling estimates showed the peak death rate will likely hit a high in two weeks.
“Therefore, we will be extending our guidelines to April 30th to slow the spread,” explained President Trump. “On Tuesday, we will be finalizing these plans and providing a summary of our findings, supporting data and strategy, to the American people.”
The President added he expects the country will be well on the way to recovery by summertime.
During the press briefing, he also said hospitals need to stop hoarding medical equipment during the pandemic. The president urged hospitals who are not using devices, such as ventilators and face masks, to release them to areas most impacted by the virus.
President Trump recently invoked emergency powers to mandate General Motors begin manufacturing ventilators for coronavirus patients. Although new medical equipment is in the works, the president emphasized hospitals need to share the equipment they already have if it is not being used.
“We do have a problem of hoarding. We
have some health care workers, some hospitals…hoarding equipment,
including ventilators. We have to release those ventilators, especially
hospitals that are never going to use them. They don’t want to lose
their ventilators in case they need them, but these are areas in some
cases that probably will not need them.”
– Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States
