Recap: White House Thursday Coronavirus Briefing

WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump during a Thursday briefing at the White House called on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fast-track potential treatment and therapies for the new coronavirus.

Trump pointed to efforts on Gilead Sciences Inc.'s experimental antiviral drug Remdesivir and the generic antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, and called on the FDA to streamline its regulatory approval process, Reuters reported.

FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the agency is working to examine all treatment possibilities.

Hahn said, "We're looking at drugs that are already approved for other indications" as a potential bridge or stopgap until studies are completed on other drugs under investigation, the Associated Press reported. But there remains no proven treatment for the disease, from which most people recover.

Also at the briefing, Trump said the government should take an equity stake in some companies that need bailouts because of devastating effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. economy.

Such a move could be an extraordinary reach by government into the private sector, according to AP. He said he’d specifically target companies that did stock buybacks, rather than investing in infrastructure. Trump also said he’d back restrictions on executive bonuses and future buybacks from companies receiving federal support.

Earlier briefings this week included an announcement by Trump that he wants to send money to Americans as quickly as possible to offset the economic burdens caused by the new coronavirus outbreak.

On Thursday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin laid out details of the Trump administration’s plan to send Americans relief money. The massive stimulus package, which could total $500 billion, would be broken up into two payments, each consisting of $1,000 per adult and $500 per child, CNBC reported, meaning a family of four would receive a $3,000 payment.

Mnuchin said the first payment could go out as early as three weeks after Congress passes the bill. The second payment, if a national emergency is still in effect, would be distributed six weeks later.

Also this week, Trump said he will invoke a federal provision that allows the government to marshal the private sector in response to the pandemic.Trump also said he will expand the nation's testing capacity and deploy a Navy hospital ship to New York City, which is rapidly becoming the epicenter of a pandemic.

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