March Timeline:
March 3: The CDC lifted federal restrictions on coronavirus testing to allow any American to be tested for coronavirus, “subject to doctor’s orders.”
March 3: The White House announced President Trump donated his fourth-quarter salary to fight the coronavirus.
March 4: The Trump Administration announced the purchase of approximately 500 million N95 respirators over the next 18 months to respond to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
March 4: Secretary Azar announced that HHS was transferring $35 million to the CDC to help state and local communities that have been impacted most by the coronavirus.
March 5: Vice President Mike Pence met with 3M in Minnesota to discuss the increased production of protective masks and respirators.
March 6: President Trump signed an $8.3 billion bill to fight the coronavirus outbreak.
- The bill provides $7.76 billion to federal, state, & local agencies to combat the coronavirus and authorizes an additional $500 million in waivers for Medicare telehealth restrictions.
March 7: The Vice President held a meeting with Cruise Line executives and port directors.
March 9: President Trump called on Congress to pass a payroll tax cut over coronavirus.
March 10: President Trump and VP Pence met with top health insurance companies and secured a commitment to waive co-pays for coronavirus testing.
March 11: President Trump:
- Announced travel restrictions on foreigners who had visited Europe in the last 14 days.
- Directed the Small Business Administration to issue low-interest loans to affected small businesses and called on Congress to increase this fund by $50 billion.
- Directed the Treasury Department to defer tax payments for affected individuals & businesses, & provide $200 billion in “additional liquidity.”
- Met with American bankers at the White House to discuss coronavirus.
March 13: President Trump declared a national emergency in order to access $42 billion in existing funds to combat the coronavirus.
March 13: President Trump announced:
- Public-private partnerships to open up drive-through testing collection sites.
- A pause on interest payments on federal student loans.
- An order to the Department of Energy to purchase oil for the strategic petroleum reserve.
March 13: The Food & Drug Administration:
- Granted Roche AG an emergency approval for automated coronavirus testing kits.
- Issued an emergency approval to Thermo Fisher for a coronavirus test within 24 hours of receiving the request.
March 13: HHS announced funding for the development of two new rapid diagnostic tests, which would be able to detect coronavirus in approximately 1 hour.
March 14: The $8.3B Coronavirus Relief Bill passed the House of Representatives.
March 14: The Trump Administration announced the European travel ban will extend to the UK and Ireland.
March 15: President Trump held a phone call with over two dozen grocery store executives to discuss the on-going demand for food and other supplies.
March 15: HHS announced it is projected to have 1.9 million COVID-19 tests available in 2,000 labs this week.
March 15: Google announced a partnership with the Trump Administration to develop a website dedicated to coronavirus education, prevention, & local resources.
March 15: All 50 states were contacted through FEMA to coordinate “federally-supported, state-led efforts” to end coronavirus.
March 16: President Trump:
- Held a tele-conference with governors to discuss coronavirus preparedness and response.
- Participated in a call with G7 leaders who committed to increasing coordination in response to the coronavirus and restoring global economic confidence.
- Announced that the first potential vaccine for coronavirus has entered a phase one trial in a record amount of time.
- Announced “15 days to slow the spread” coronavirus guidance.
March 16: The FDA announced it was empowering states to authorize tests developed and used by labs in their states and Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating an investigational vaccine designed to protect against COVID-19 begins.
March 16: Asst. Secretary for Health confirmed the availability of 1 million coronavirus tests and projected 2 million tests available the next week and 5 million the following.
March 17: President Trump announced:
- CMS will expand telehealth benefits for Medicare beneficiaries.
- Relevant Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act penalties will not be enforced.
- The Army Corps of Engineers is on ”standby” to assist federal & state governments.
March 17: President Trump spoke to fast food executives from Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Burger King to discuss drive-thru services recommended by CDC
March 17: President Trump met with tourism industry representatives along with industrial supply, retail, and wholesale representatives.
March 17: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin met with lawmakers to discuss stimulus measures to relieve the economic burden of coronavirus on certain industries, businesses, and American workers.
March 17: Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced a partnership between USDA, Baylor University, McLane Global, and Pepsi Co. to provide one million meals per weak to rural children in response to widespread school closures.
March 17: The Treasury Department:
- Contributed $10bil through the economic stabilization fund to the Federal Reserve’s commercial paper funding facility.
- Deferred $300 billion in tax payments for 90 days without penalty, up to $1mil for individuals & $10mil for business.
March 17: The Department of Defense announced it will make available to HHS up to five million respirator masks and 2,000 ventilators.
March 18: President Trump announced:
- Temporary closure of the U.S.-Canada border to non-essential traffic.
- Plans to invoke the Defense Production Act in order to increase the number of necessary supplies needed to combat coronavirus.
- FEMA has been activated in every region at its highest level of response.
- The U.S. Navy will deploy USNS Comfort and USNS Mercy hospital ships.
- All foreclosures and evictions will be suspended for a period of time.
- Department of Veteran Affairs opens 19 emergency operation centers.
March 18: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper confirmed:
- 1 million masks are now immediately available.
- The Army Corps of Engineers is in NY consulting on how to best assist state officials.
March 18: HHS temporarily suspended a regulation that prevents doctors from practicing across state lines.
March 18: President Trump spoke to:
- Doctors, physicians, and nurses on the front lines containing the spread of coronavirus.
- 130 CEOs of the Business Roundtable to discuss on-going public-private partnerships in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
March 19: President Trump announced:
- Very encouraging progress shown by anti-malaria drug Hydroxychloroquine for fighting coronavirus.
- Carnival Cruise Lines will make ships available for use as hospitals in impacted areas to use for non-coronavirus patients.
- FDA is fast-tracking anti-viral treatments for coronavirus patients.
March 19: Vice President Pence announced tens of thousands of ventilators have been identified that can be converted to treat patients.
March 19: The State Department issued a global level 4 health advisory, telling Americans to avoid all international travel due to coronavirus.
March 19: President Trump directed FEMA to take the lead on the Federal Government’s coronavirus response & visited FEMA HQ with Vice President Pence for a video call with Governors.
March 20: The U.S. and Mexico agree to mutually restrict nonessential cross-border traffic.
March 20: Secretary Mnuchin announced at the direction of President Trump that tax day will be moved from April 15 to July 15 for all taxpayers and businesses.
March 20: President Trump:
- Spoke with Sen. Schumer about coronavirus response & stimulus measures
- Held a call with over 12,000 small business owners to discuss relief efforts
- Announced the CDC will invoke Title 42 to provide border patrol with tools to secure the borders
March 20: The Department of Education announced it will:
- Not enforce standardized testing requirements for the remainder of the school year
- Allow federal student loan borrowers to stop payments without penalty for 60 days
March 20: Secretary Azar announced:
- FEMA is coordinating and assisting coronavirus testing at labs across the country
- The CDC is suspending all illegal entries to the country based on the public health threat, via Section 362 of the Public Health & Security Act
March 20: Secretary Azar sent a letter to all 50 Governors that the federal government is buying and making available 200,000 testing swabs.
March 21: Vice President Pence announced to date over 195,000 Americans tested for coronavirus and have received their results.
March 21: The Trump Administration announced HHS placed an order for hundreds of millions of N95 masks through FEMA.
March 21: The FDA announced it had given emergency approval to a new coronavirus test that delivers results in hours, with an intended rollout of March 30.
March 21: Adm. Giroir confirmed 10 million testing kits had been put into the commercial market from March 2 through March 14.
March 22: President Trump approved major disaster declarations for:
- Washington State
- California
March 22: President Trump announced:
- Governors will remain in command of National Guard forces & the federal govt will fund 100% of operations cost
- He directed the federal govt to provide 4 large federal medical stations with 2,000 beds for CA & 1,000 beds for NY & WA
March 22: President Trump confirmed his administration was working with Peru & Honduras to return Americans stranded in both countries as a result of travel restrictions
March 22: Vice President Pence announced:
- The testing backlog will be resolved by midweek
- To date, over 254,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their results
March 22: President Trump announced that the USNS Mercy will be deployed to Los Angeles
March 22: FEMA issued guidance for tribal governments to seek federal assistance under the President’s emergency declaration.
March 23: President Trump signed an executive order to prevent hoarding and price-gouging
March 23: FEMA announced it is distributing 8 million N95 respirator masks and 13.3 million surgical masks across the country. They shipped 73 pallets of personal protective equipment to NYC and 36 pallets to the state of Washington.
March 23: Trump administration issued new FDA guidance allowing for ventilators to be used by anesthesiologists for COVID-19 patients.
March 24:
- FEMA has distributed 8 million N95 respirator masks and 13.3 million surgical masks across the country.
- 73 pallets of personal protective equipment were shipped to New York City and 36 pallets to Washington.
- FEMA has received donations of approximately 6.5 million masks.
- President Trump approved Iowa and Louisiana for disaster declarations.
- The U.S. Army issued orders for three army hospitals to deploy their health care professionals to New York and Washington state.
March 25:
- President Trump:
- Approved disaster declarations for Texas, Florida, and North Carolina.
- Signed a reauthorization bill for the Older Americans Act, which provides needed assistance to senior citizens including meals and transportation.
- Announced 432,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received results.
- Confirmed 4,000 ventilators were delivered to the state of New York.
- The President & Vice President held a conference call with 140 non-profit organization leaders to discuss coronavirus response efforts.
- The Vice President led a conference call with equipment manufacturers to discuss on-going response efforts.
- The Vice President held discussions with the Governors of Indiana and Michigan.
March 26:
- President Trump
- Approved major disaster declarations for Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Missouri.
- Announced the USNS Comfort will depart for New York City on Saturday to assist hospital capacity.
- Participated in a virtual G20 summit to discuss the global coronavirus response and the need for countries to share information and data.
- Held a phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the coronavirus.
- Vice President Pence announced 552,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their results.
- Dr. Fauci announced the government is working with companies to speed up the production of vaccines.
March 27:
- President Trump:
- Signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law.
- Signed a Defense Production Act memorandum ordering General Motors "to accept, perform, and prioritize federal contractors for ventilators."
- Signed an executive order allowing the military to activate members of the Selected Reserve and Ready Reserve to active duty.
- Approved major disaster declarations for South Carolina and Puerto Rico.
- Appointed Office of Trade and Manufacturing policy director Peter Navarro to serve as the Defense Production Act Policy Coordinator.
- Announced that 100,000 ventilators are projected to be manufactured in the next 100 days.
- Spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the virus and committed to helping the U.K. with the supply of ventilators.
- Confirmed more than 7 million N95 masks distributed, nearly 3 million face shields, and more than 8,000 ventilators from the Strategic National Stockpile.
- The Vice President announced that 685,000 Americans have been tested for coronavirus and received their test results.
- The FEMA Administrator spoke to each state's director of the emergency operations about the state-led, federally-supported efforts.
- The USNS Mercy arrived in Los Angeles to assist hospital facilities in Southern California.
March 28:
- President Trump:
- Visited Norfolk, VA to send off the USNS Comfort to New York City where it will help crowded hospitals.
- Approved major disaster declarations for Guam, Michigan, Massachusetts, Kentucky, and Colorado.
- Spoke with Governors Andrew Cuomo and Ron DeSantis on response efforts.
- The CDC issued new guidance for residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to avoid non-essential domestic travel for 14 days.
- FEMA shipped or delivered 11.6 million N95 respirators, 26 million surgical masks, 5.2 million face shields, 4.3 million surgical gowns, 22 million gloves, and 8,100 ventilators.
March 29:
- President Trump
- Announced that CDC guidelines will be extended through April 30 to slow the spread of Coronavirus.
- Approved major disaster declarations for Connecticut, Oregon, Georgia, and Washington DC.
- Met with supply chain distributors including FedEx, Cardinal Health, and UPS to discuss delivering supplies across the country.
- Announced Cigna and Humana would be waiving co-pays for Coronavirus treatment.
- Commended the work of the Army Corps of Engineers in New York City for successfully constructing a temporary hospital in the Javits Center consisting of 2,900 beds.
- Advised the Treasury and Labor Departments to look at reinstating deductions of business expenses at restaurants, bars, and places of entertainment in an effort to help the service industry.
- The first Project Airbridge shipment landed at JFK to deliver 80 tons of masks, face shields, and other medical supplies.
- The Vice President sent a letter to request hospital administrators report their Coronavirus data to both state authorities and the federal government.
March 30:
- President Trump:
- Announced one million Americans have now been tested for Coronavirus and we are testing nearly 100,000 a day.
- Approved major disaster declarations for Alabama, Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.
- Spoke with multiple Governors to discuss their medical supply needs.
- Pledged $100 million of medical supplies to Italy to fight Coronavirus.
- The FDA approved Battelle’s N95 mask sanitization process to decontaminate thousands of masks daily and reuse.
- Additional companies announced their partnership to meet supply demands including MyPillow, Honeywell, Jockey, Procter & Gamble, Ford, and United Technologies.
- To date, FEMA has dedicated $1.3 billion to assist New York combat the Coronavirus.
- Over 14,000 National Guard service members have been activated.
- There are 400 ventilators being sent to Michigan, 300 to New Jersey, 150 to Louisiana, and 50 to Connecticut. More than 450 will be sent to Illinois over the past week and week ahead.
March 31:
- President Trump:
- Announced the extension of the guidelines to slow the spread to 30 days.
- Noted we have almost 10,000 ventilators readily available. There have been 400 ventilators sent to Michigan, 300 to New Jersey, 150 to Louisiana, 50 to Connecticut, and more than 450 to Illinois over the past week and week ahead. In addition, FEMA launched Project Airbridge to airlift critical supplies across the country.
- Approved Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island for disaster declarations.
- The number of various companies joining the fight against COVID-19 and shifting their production to meet the supply needs of doctors, hospitals, and first responders reached nearly 40.
- CMS issued the rollback of regulations so that doctors can focus on treating patients and worry less about paperwork. This will also help increase hospital capacity.
- USNS Comfort arrived in the New York City harbor and contains 1,000 beds, a dozen operating rooms, a medical laboratory, and a pharmacy among other resources.
