https://www.wired.com/story/covid19-trump-coronavirus-press-conference/ > The president finally declared a national emergency—“two very big words,” he admiringly observed—which will allow the federal government to provide much more support in the fight against the novel coronavirus. He announced the news in a Friday press conference that was late, unfocused, and confusing to follow—in other words, thoroughly in keeping with the administration's response to the pandemic. > The main thrust of the announcement, which took place in the White House Rose Garden, was this: The Trump administration has taken bold, proactive steps to forge what Vice President Mike Pence called “a historic public-private partnership” to expand coronavirus testing. Health care companies LabCorp and Roche Diagnostics have introduced new tests that should increase the country's capabilities in the coming weeks. Retailers like Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and Target will set up drive-through testing centers in their parking lots. And Google is supposedly working on a website—by Sunday night we’ll even know when it will be ready to launch, according to Pence—that will direct symptomatic people to those drive-throughs. The plan, as the White House’s new coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx put it, is “proactive, leaning forward, aggressive, trying to stay ahead of the curve.”