President Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office on Wednesday night.
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WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday night blocked most visitors from continental Europe to the United States and vowed emergency aid to workers and small businesses as the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, stock markets plunged further and millions of people cut themselves off from their regular lives.
In a prime-time address from the Oval Office, Mr. Trump outlined a series of measures intended to tackle the virus and its economic impact as he sought to reassure Americans that he was taking the crisis seriously after previously playing down the scope of the outbreak. He said he would halt travelers from Europe other than Britain for 30 days and asked Congress to support measures like a payroll tax cut.
“The virus will not have a chance against us,” Mr. Trump declared in his 10-minute speech, reading from a teleprompter in an uncharacteristic monotone. After weeks of quarreling with rivals over his response, even calling their criticisms a “hoax,” he called on them to stand down. “We are all in this together,” he said. “We must put politics aside, stop the partisanship and unify together as one nation and one family.”
CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE In a rare Oval Office speech, President Trump voiced new concerns and old themes.
The president’s address came as the virus sent stock markets deeper into a meltdown, prompted the N.C.A.A. to bar crowds from its iconic March Madness annual basketball tournament and forced the N.B.A. to suspend its season altogether after one of its players tested positive. Schools, universities, businesses, theaters and sports stadiums shut their doors. And the actor Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had been infected with the virus.
The cascade of announcements felt like a turning point in the crisis, when the real-world effect on people in the United States and around the globe came into stark relief. Ordinary life in many places will no longer be the same for the foreseeable future as society adjusts to a new reality that transforms everything including the global economy and everyday social interactions — not just in far-off places on newscasts, but in the community right at home.
Mr. Trump and other world leaders grappled for a way forward, but there was no clear end in sight as one of America’s top scientists, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, predicted the outbreak would only grow worse. He spoke on the same day that India joined countries like China, Italy, Iran, Japan and Israel in imposing drastic travel limits.
Italy went further by ordering almost all nonessential businesses to close, including restaurants, bars, cafes, beauty salons and most stores. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that about two-thirds of her country’s population may eventually be infected, a prediction that rattled many in Europe and across the ocean.
