Coronavirus: Trump Administration Pushes Economic Stimulus Plan

WASHINGTON, DC — President Trump told reporters Monday his administration will ask Congress to pass "very substantial relief" to calm a public health and economic maelstrom related to the spread of the new coronavirus.

Trump was joined at the news conference by Vice President Mike Pence, who is spearheading the administration's response to the spread of the new virusand spent the afternoon updating the nation's governors on the government's response.

Trump said he will ask Congress to approve a payroll tax break, and also that he would seek help for hourly wage workers to ensure they're "not going to miss a paycheck" and won't be penalized "for something that's not their fault."

Trump plans to disclose more details at a news conference Tuesday. White House officials spent much of the day Monday meeting with travel and health care industry executives, and Trump has invited Wall Street executives to a meeting Wednesday to discuss the economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak.

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Monday's news conference came after another wild day on Wall Street. Stocks went into a steep slide as a combination of coronavirus fears and a crash in oil prices spread alarm through the market, triggering the first automatic halt in trading in over two decades to let investors catch their breath.

Also Monday, a top official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said older Americans over 60 should stay close to home to limit their exposure to the coronavirus and make sure their kitchen cupboards and bathroom medicine cabinets are stocked.

Johns Hopkins Medical Center put the number of U.S. confirmed cases at 605 late Monday. Twenty-two people have died in the United States.

Trump, who has been criticized for downplaying the severity of the coronavirus threat, compared COVID-19, the illness that results from the new coronavirus, to seasonal influenza, which causes thousands of deaths annually.

"Think about that," he tweeted.

However, scientists don't yet know if the new coronavirus will end up being as serious as the flu or worse.

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