On Wednesday, U.S Vice President Mike Pence heard from hospital executives regarding the coronavirus. But, a nervous public will have to wait for the vice president’s account of what they said. The meeting took place on a day when a report surfaced that in-house doctor of the U.S Congress informed Capitol Hill staffers that he expects 75 million to 150 million people in the United States to contract the coronavirus disease. Federal and industry officials are working on a vaccine, but one might be as long as a year from being deployed. It is noteworthy that members of the Pence-led White House coronavirus task force informed a House committee they expect the outbreak to get much worse.
The federal government’s top infectious disease scientist, Anthony Fauci said, “Many, many millions of people could get coronavirus and die”. The coming wave of confirmed cases will only grow both as it spreads and up to 4 million test kits reach some hospitals and laboratories. It could lead hospitals around the country and especially in hard-hit areas like Washington State, New York-New Jersey, and California to become overloaded with sick coronavirus victims. A group of reporters and camera technicians were slated to be allowed into part of the session.
Point to be noted that Donald Trump had joined Pence at a similar meeting with insurance executives on Tuesday. A Pence aide said, “The pool spray was canceled simply because the VP was running super late”. Trump also tweeted about Democrats and said, “Someone needs to tell the Democrats in Congress that CoronaVirus doesn’t care what party you are in. We need to protect ALL Americans”! He added, “I’m fully prepared to use the full power of the Federal Government to deal with our current challenge of the CoronaVirus”! Pence was slated to join the president at a closed-door meeting with banking executives. He also chaired a task force meeting in the White House Situation Room.