WASHINGTON (CN) — Shortages of lifesaving equipment are plaguing U.S. hospitals and health care facilities grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, but economic relief took priority when President Donald Trump announced Friday that the Department of Education will temporarily waive interest on all federally held student loans.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has instructed federal lenders to waive interest fees for 60 days.
“If we need more, we’ll extend that,” Trump said Friday during what has become a daily briefing of the White House coronavirus task force.
The president said borrowers should also contact their lenders directly for more information. It is not clear whether the waiver will end any new interest that would accrue. A representative from the department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Trump additionally touted the Education Department’s ending of standardized-testing requirements for students from elementary school to high school through the remainder of the school year.
According to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine’s Covid-19 tracker, the confirmed case rate in the United States surpassed 14,000 on Friday, with more than 200 people dead. Worldwide, the death toll has exceeded 10,000 while roughly 247,000 cases have been confirmed by Johns Hopkins.
Having lagged on reporting these numbers for over a week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports lower case rates with just over 10,000 cases recorded and the death count frozen at 150. The CDC also stops reporting at 4 p.m. ET, and culls statistics Monday through Friday only.
Testing availability across the U.S. is still strained, though capability is slowly increasing. In New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a now regular morning briefing on the coronavirus that capacity shot up considerably over just 24 hours. The governor had predicted Thursday that New York would be able to test only 6,000 people yet capacity hit 10,000 on Friday morning.
On the nation’s broader testing capability, Anthony Fauci, virologist and director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, spoke plainly at the White House briefing.
“We’re not there yet because otherwise people would never be calling up and saying they can’t get a test,” he said.
Striking a rosier tone just a moment later, fellow taskforce member Vice President Mike Pence said Friday he “can’t emphasize enough the incredible progress” that has been made on testing.
On recommendation by Fauci and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, not every American should be tested for Covd-19. If very sick and concerned that you might have it, Fauci said, consult your physician first and determine next steps.
For now, Fauci said, people should act is if they already have the virus, whether they do or not, and use commonsense recommendations like self-isolating, staying at home and washing hands to stop the spread.
“I don’t see how testing everyone in the country will help,” Fauci said. “Testing is important, but let’s not conflate testing with what you can do to protect against the virus.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Friday the department has been in contact with public and private labs, as well as health care providers across the U.S., indicating they are in the midst of scaling up on test kits and related supplies.