Hi, I'm Emily Saul, a reporter I'm broken, Jeffrey Epstein. But right now, I'm here to offer you a special episode of a new podcast we're making. The podcast is called Viral Coronavirus.

I'm hosting it with one of our senior producers, TJ Raphael. We're on top of the COVID-19 story. We will be your calm, smart, thoughtful source of everything you need to know about this global pandemic.

We'll give it to you straight. The good news, if there is any, and the bad with no one needed panic and lots of information.

Good, clear, trusted information is how we're going to get through this. So here's our latest episode to be sure you don't miss anything.

Subscribe now to Viral Coronavirus, wherever you get your podcasts.

From three on cany-four, this is Viral, a show about COVID-19. I'm your host, TJ Raphael.

And I'm reporter, Emily Saul.

Coloring or take on today's episode is the fact that half of our team had to work from home today. I'm actually recording this from my house right now, because I've had to self-quarantine after my roommate attended a conference where someone was diagnosed with COVID-19.

My roommate is not sick, but the name of the game at this point is caution and abundance of caution.

So just to be on the safe side, I'll be self-quarantined for the next two weeks.

In starting tomorrow, at the direction of our bosses, everyone has to work from home. So every episode from here on out will be made from six different living rooms.

So let's dive in.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, an acknowledgement that the disease has circled the globe and that governments need to shift from hopeful precaution into crisis mode.

Here's where the numbers are, as of our taping on Thursday, March 12th at 12.59pm Eastern time.

The US now has 1,323 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 38 deaths.

At this point, though, our country doesn't have enough tests to actually confirm all the cases. So the first number is largely useless.

And last night, of course, President Donald Trump gave his first national address on COVID-19. And, well, it did not go well.

The president's major new policy was to insist America was winning, per usual, and we had unleashed an unprecedented response to combat coronavirus unparalleled the world over.

To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days.

And these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade in cargo, but various other things as we get approval.

Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing. These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom.

Though immediately after the speech, the White House clarified that he missed spoke and trade from Europe would not be suspended.

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