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Military hospital ship expected in New York, army engineers mobilized, recourse to a law dating from the Korean War: the United States passed to a new stage Thursday in the face of the coronavirus, and Donald Trump introduced himself as a president “in time of war”.
While the world’s leading power, which took a long time to launch the tests, now has more than 7,300 confirmed cases and 115 dead, the American president has also announced a closure of the border with Canada, his second economic partner, except for the travel deemed essential and goods. He hoped to be able to reopen it in 30 days.
Donald Trump, who had initially minimized the epidemic, adopts an increasingly serious tone over the press briefings from the White House.
“All generations of Americans have been called to make sacrifices for the good of the nation,” he said, recalling the mobilization of Americans during World War II.
“Now it’s our turn. We have to sacrifice ourselves together, because we are all in this together, and we will come out together, ”he added.
He compared himself to “a president in time of war”, facing an “invisible enemy”.
“In the same trench”
The measures announced Wednesday confirm this new tone: a hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, with some 1,000 rooms, is to be sent to New York Harbor, announced Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York State, one most affected by the epidemic.
It was not known when the ship, currently anchored some 500 kilometers further south, in Norfolk, Virginia, would arrive in America’s first metropolis, but it could take several weeks, according to a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Mr. Cuomo hailed an “extraordinary measure”, which should help strengthen hospital capacity – the first concern in the short term.
He said New York, one of the worst-affected states with more than 2,300 cases and 20 deaths, could need 110,000 beds within 45 days – against a capacity limited to 53,000 currently.
The Democratic governor, very critical of the White House at the start of the crisis, was pleased to have now “a very good dialogue” with Donald Trump on this issue.
“We are at war, and we are in the same trench,” said the governor. “I can tell you he’s fully committed to trying to help New York. He is very creative and energetic ”.
The US Army Corps of Engineers, which also depends on the Ministry of Defense, will also come into action, as Mr. Cuomo has been asking for a few days. The governor said he would see his officials on Wednesday to see how to use existing buildings to install beds.
The American president also indicated that he would invoke the Defense Production Act, a law which dates from the Korean War and makes it possible to mobilize the private industrial sector for the needs of the security of the country.
“He can do a lot of good things, if we need to,” “I’ll sign this as soon as the press conference is over,” Mr. Trump said.
With many small businesses already shut down and many employees forced into unemployment, the country is increasingly concerned about the economic consequences of this unprecedented global crisis.
On Wednesday, Donald Trump estimated that the hypothesis of an unemployment rate of 20% in the United States, mentioned the day before by his Secretary of the Treasury to Congress, was only “in the worst of the darkest scenarios”.
A rate of 20% would be double what the United States experienced in 2009 as a result of the financial crisis, and nearly six times more than the current rate of 3.5%.
“We are very far from it”, assured the president.
To reduce the shock, he ordered Wednesday the “suspension” of evictions and foreclosures, a measure already taken in some states such as New York or California.
The United States was affected by the epidemic after Asia and Europe, with a lag amplified by the delay in testing.
Despite progress in recent days, many people in the United States, although symptomatic, still cannot be tested due to lack of sufficient tests.
The Food and Drug Administration, the federal agency that oversees drugs, said Wednesday it is exploring the possibility of self-administered rod tests, which could be mailed.
However, she gave no timetable.
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