Washington, DC - Vice Mike President Pence Friday announced five new individuals to the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The announcement comes as the Task Force enters a new phase, which is focused on getting Americans back to work and allowing businesses to re-open.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and the efforts of the American people, we’ve saved lives, Slowed the Spread, and states are Opening Up Again,” said Vice President Pence. “The new members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force will add expertise in the fields of vaccines and therapeutics as well as worker safety as the Task Force renews its focus on getting Americans back to work.”
The following individuals have been added to the White House Coronavirus Task Force:
- Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture
- Gene Scalia, Secretary of Labor
- Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health
- Dr. Peter Marks, FDA Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research
- Thomas Engels, Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration
The Task Force continues to review data that indicates positive signs that Americans’ efforts helped slow the spread of COVID-19. The New Orleans, New York City, and Detroit Metropolitan areas all experienced between 70 – 90 percent reductions in confirmed cases (on a 7-day rolling average basis).
The response has been phased and deliberate. In the first two phases of the Task Force’s response effort to COVID-19, President Trump and Vice President Pence focused on delaying the arrival of the virus, testing, supply allocation and distribution, and mitigating the spread of the disease.
Early in the response effort, the White House focused on containing the virus. The White House acted early when President Trump issued an Executive Order restricting travel from China. As a result, countless American lives were saved.
Since Vice President Pence was tapped by President Trump to lead the White House response to the Coronavirus pandemic, the Task Force focused their efforts on expanding testing, supplying PPE, and mitigation efforts.Key accomplishments from the White House response in phase two include, but are not limited to:
Expanding testing from 80,000 tests in March to more than 10 million tests in May;
Allocating billions of PPE to every state and territory:
- 46.4 million N95 masks
- 422 millions surgical and procedural masks
- 8.9 million eye and face shields
- 207 million gowns
- 1 1 billion gloves;
- Ensuring that no American who needed a ventilator was denied a ventilator; and
- Releasing the Guidelines to Slow the Spread of COVID-19.