Pence to visit Olympia with coronavirus task force after 10 deaths in Washington
Vice President Mike Pence will visit Olympia on Thursday with members of the White House coronavirus task force after 10 deaths linked to the virus were reported in Washington state.
Pence will meet with Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who has been lobbying the federal government for additional resources to mitigate the spread of the virus.
“We’re doing everything in our power to prevent the coronavirus from further coming to the United States, but we’re also working every bit as hard to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in this country,” Pence said at a White House gathering of diagnostic lab executives.
“I’ll be traveling to Olympia in Washington state, meeting with Governor Jay Inslee,” Pence said. “We’ll be taking our entire team there with an effort to really continue to support Governor Inslee’s efforts to focus resource on the community in the Seattle area and in California that’s been uniquely impacted by the coronavirus.”
President Donald Trump has tapped Pence to lead an interagency task force to respond to the coronavirus, which includes officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department and the National Institutes of Health, among others.
Ten Americans have died of COVID-19 in Washington since the outbreak began, according to the state health department.
“By being there on the ground, I want assure the people of Washington state, the people of California, people that are in the communities that are being impacted by the coronavirus, that we’re with them,” Pence said.
“We’re going to ensure that the full resources of the federal government are brought to bear on those that are struggling with this illness, and also supporting the community and the efforts to determine the nature and exactly how widespread the coronavirus might be at this point,” he said.
Updates with additional comments from Pence.
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 2:38 PM.
