While Trump told reporters at the White House the aid amount would be just $1 billion, this was apparently a mistake, as later graphics shown in the press conference showed $11 billion, just as White House officials had told reporters on a conference call earlier in the day.
The money was authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which Trump signed into law on March 27.
“This major investment will ensure that America continues to conduct more tests than any country by far," Trump said.
Trump noted the US had performed 9 million tests for the novel coronavirus thus far, both more tests absolutely and per capita than any other country. He said that 300,000 tests are being performed daily - a doubling of testing capacity in just the last few weeks.
The president also mentioned a new antigen test authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week for use in point-of-care facilities such as urgent care centers and hospitals.
"One of the main advantages of an antigen test is the speed of the test, which can provide results in minutes. However, antigen tests may not detect all active infections, as they do not work the same way as a PCR [polymerase chain reaction] test," the FDA said on Friday. "[P]ositive results from antigen tests are highly accurate, but there is a higher chance of false negatives, so negative results do not rule out infection."
Trump Rejects Renegotiating China Trade Deal
"No, not at all. Not even a little bit," Trump told a reporter who asked if the White House was considering renegotiating the Phase 1 trade deal penned with Beijing in January. "We signed a deal … China has been taking advantage of the United States for many many years .... No, I'm not interested in that. Let's see if they live up to the deal that they signed."
“I’m not happy with China, they could have stopped it at the source,” he further noted.
When asked by a reporter what he thought about the FBI and Department of Homeland Security concluding that Chinese hackers have attempted to steal US vaccine information, Trump said, “What else is new?”
"Well they're losing their lives everywhere in the world. And maybe that's a question you should ask China. Don't ask me, ask China that question," Trump told CBS reporter Weijia Jiang, when asked why he insisted on making testing and death toll numbers into an international competition. When she objected to being given that as an answer, Trump replied, "I'm not saying it specifically to anybody, I'm saying it to anybody that would ask a nasty question like that."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 11, 2020
More than 1.34 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID-19 so far, and more than 80,000 have died - leading the world in both categories. One model by researchers at the University of Washington estimates that 137,000 Americans may die by August.
Trump abruptly ended the news conference after getting significant pushback from the press corps after calling on CNN's Kaitlan Collins for a question, but then skipping over her.
