Pool Reports of March 15, 2020

Pool Report 1

Good afternoon from the White House.

President Trump tweeted this morning that he was watching Pastor Jentezen Franklin's "great and beautiful" 11 a.m. service. At 1:30, he is scheduled to participate in a closed-press call with grocery executives.

At 5, the coronavirus task force will hold a briefing. For those curious, journalists have not yet had their temperatures checked.

Pool Report 3/Lunch Lid

We have a lunch lid until 4:15.

Pool Report 4/Temperature Checks

White House medical staff are making the rounds with hand-held thermometers ahead of the 5 p.m. coronavirus task force briefing.

This is the second day of temperature checks.

Here's Judd Deere's statement from yesterday: "Out of an abundance of caution, temperature checks are now being performed on any individuals who are in close contact with the President and Vice President."

Pool Report 5/Briefing Set to Begin

You can watch the coronavirus task force briefing live here:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/live/

I monitored most temperature checks before the briefing. So far as I'm aware, nobody tested above 99.6 degrees, the cutoff.

The weather is a cool 50 degrees and most tests happened outside the briefing room doors, resulting in low readings. To increase accuracy, testing relocated to inside the front security gate about 25 minutes before the briefing was scheduled to start. Foot traffic had dwindled by that point and I did not observe the final 10 minutes.

Pool Report 6/Trump arrives

President Trump arrived in the briefing room at 5:15.

"I want to congratulate the Federal Reserve," Trump said of interest rate lowering.
"People in the market should be very thrilled. ... We got it down to potentially zero."

He also addressed Google confirming it will have national coronavirus testing platform: "I'm sure you will apologize," he said to reporters.

Pool Report 7/No Trump questions

President Trump left the briefing room at 5:24. He did not take questions and handed the briefing over to Vice President Pence.

Before he left, Trump discouraged the hoarding of groceries.

"You don't have to buy so much," he said. "Relax. We're doing great. It all will pass"

Trump, who spoke to grocery CEOs this afternoon, said "the stores are stocking up on a level that's beyond Christmas time" and intend to remain open.

Pool Report 8/Lid

The coronavirus task force briefing ended at 6:15. We received a travel/photo lid shortly after.

I recommend replaying the tape for details on the testing ramp-up that was described. Vice President Pence said there will be another briefing at the White House tomorrow morning, rather than in the evening.