President Trump announcing a series of new measures to combat COVID-19, including freeing up some 50 billion dollars to help fight the pandemic and ensure patients get the treatment they need. A move welcomed by health officials.

Just before that national emergency was declared, I spoke to Dr. Tom Frieden, former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and asked about his rather grim forecast, half the U.S. population could be infected and the death toll could be more than a million.

To discuss:

• James Chau is a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goals and Health.
• Joseph Williams is Senior Editor at U.S. News and World Report.
• Anthony Chan was a Former Chief Economist with JP Morgan and Chase.

For more:

National Guard deployments quadruple in the four days since @realDonaldTrump declared a national emergency due to the coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/c5StXh4ewI

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) March 17, 2020

Referring to "national emergency" as "two very big words," he said designating the coronavirus crisis that way would allow him to quickly get $50 billion to states, territories and localities "in our shared fight against this disease." https://t.co/mofXTE4wR8

— ABC News (@ABC) March 15, 2020