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President Donald Trump declared Wednesday that a widespread U.S. outbreak of the new respiratory virus sweeping the globe isn't inevitable even as top health authorities at his side warned Americans that more infections are coming. ... At a White House news conference, Trump sought to minimize fears as he insisted the U.S. is “very, very ready” for whatever the COVID-19 outbreak brings. Under fire about the government's response, he put Vice President Mike Pence in charge of coordinating the efforts. “This will end,” Trump said of the outbreak. “You don't want to see panic because there's no reason to be panicked.” (Neergaard and Alonso-Zaldivar, 2/27)

The president said he would accept whatever amount of money congressional Democrats wanted to give for the virus response, adding, “We’re ready to adapt and we’re ready to do whatever we have to as the disease spreads, if it spreads.” “We’ll spend whatever is appropriate,” he said. Several top health care experts at the news conference echoed Mr. Trump’s optimism but also offered a more sober assessment of the future risks. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the C.D.C., warned Americans that there would be more infections. (Shear, Weiland and Rogers, 2/26)

"The risk to the American people remain very low; we have the greatest experts in the world right here," Trump said in the speech, as Pence stood behind him. Trump was flanked by several public health officials, including Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar, CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat, MD, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci, MD. (Soucheray, 2/26)

“With respect to the money that’s being negotiated, they can do whatever they want,” said Trump, flanked by administration health officials and Vice President Mike Pence. “We’re requesting $2.5 [billion]. Some Republicans would like us to get $4 [billion], and some Democrats would like us to get $8.5 [billion], and we’ll be satisfied whatever it is.” (Shutt, 2/26)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., released an $8.5 billion counter-proposal to the Trump administration's request for emergency coronavirus funding. “This proposal brings desperately-needed resources to the global fight against coronavirus," Schumer said in a statement. "Americans need to know that their government is prepared to handle the situation before coronavirus spreads to our communities. I urge the Congress to move quickly on this proposal. Time is of the essence.” The Trump administration requested $2.5 billion Monday to tackle the virus, an amount Democrats deemed insufficient. According to Schumer's office, Congress appropriated $6 billion for the 2006 avian flu, and $7 billion for the H1N1 flu in 2009. (Wu, 2/26)

He cracked wise about his germaphobia, recounted a run-in with a sick friend using a stand-up comedian’s patter, waved around colorful graphs showing America’s superiority on virus containment and listed facts he had just learned about the flu. It was a performance that had kept White House staffers on edge all day, ever since the president unexpectedly tweeted his plans for a news conference after deplaning at sunrise from Air Force One. Just hours before his appearance was expected to begin, communications staffers were uncertain about how — or where — the news conference would take place, and whether the president or just the coronavirus task force would take questions. (Cook and McGraw, 2/26)

Allies counseled Trump to put his political and economic frustrations aside to focus on the public health threat, arguing that ancillary problems will fix themselves once the public is convinced the administration is prepared for what may prove a significant crisis. “This is not a garden-variety routine event,” said Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for President George W. Bush, who saw his popularity plummet after a botched response to Hurricane Katrina’s battering of New Orleans in 2005. “This can grow into people being legitimately scared into wondering what to do to protect their health, to protect their family’s health.” (Bierman, Haberkorn and Levey, 2/26)

Pence praised the president for the current containment strategy, including travel restrictions, quarantine measures and assembling of a coronavirus task force "that has been meeting every day." "As a former governor of the state with the first MERS case, I know full well the importance of presidential leadership and administration leadership and the vital role" of state and local agencies, Pence said, referring to Middle East respiratory syndrome. (Romo, 2/26)

Officials have also discussed having the Food and Drug Administration grant authorization to state and local health labs to design their own coronavirus tests without going through the current regulatory process, a source of frustration for public-health officials, according to people familiar with the conversations. In the U.S., 15 locally diagnosed cases have been confirmed, including a new one Wednesday in California that involved a person who reportedly didn’t have a travel history or exposure to another person known to have the illness. If confirmed, it would be the first case of spread in a community without a clear explanation. (Armour and Restuccia, 2/26)

Trump’s positive message was at odds with the statements by top members of his administration in recent days who have warned of an unpredictable virus that could spread into communities and upend Americans’ daily lives. The president was contradicted almost in real time by some of the government experts who flanked him as he stood in the White House press briefing room.“We could be just one or two people over the next short period of time,” Trump said of the virus’s impact in the United States. (Olorunnipa, Dawsey and Abutaleb, 2/26)

Then, with subtle grace, the highest-ranking career official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention delivered a slightly different message from the same podium in the White House briefing room: Not so fast. "Our aggressive containment strategy here in the United States has been working," Principal Deputy Director Ann Shuchat said. "However, we do expect more cases, and this is a good time to prepare." Trump, speeding to catch up with his administration's public relations response to evidence of a potential pandemic, had just taken the equivalent of a victory lap in the midst of what experts are warning could be an Iron Man race. (Allen, 2/26)

She said now was the perfect time for businesses, universities and schools to “look at their pandemic preparedness plans, dust them off and make sure that they’re ready.” Pence said his role would be to work with the task force to bring the “best options for action” to the president and to “see to the safety and well-being and health of the American people.” (Hellmann and Weixel, 2/26)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it is not a question of if but when the coronavirus outbreak spreads in the United States. CDC officials urged Americans to "prepare in the expectation that this could be bad." But what exactly should you do to prepare? Preparing for the spread of a virus is similar to how you would prepare for a major weather event, said CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus. "We should plan as if a big storm was coming," Agus said. (McNamara, 2/26)

Mixed messages and misinformation aren’t out of the ordinary in the Trump administration. But at a time when the U.S. faces a looming threat from a novel virus, public health experts warn that the administration’s mixed messages aren’t just confusing — they’re dangerous. (Thielking, 2/26)

The coronavirus battle brewing inside the Trump administration is putting two urgent imperatives in conflict — showing credibility in tackling a global health crisis while calming unsettled investors and voters in an election year. On Monday, one top White House official publicly disputed concerns about a market downturn while President Donald Trump commented directly on it. On Tuesday, health officials broadcast their expertise about the virus while Trump sought to quash such chatter. And on Wednesday, top aides debated publicly whether the administration would need a czar to coordinate a government response as the president announced a rare evening news conference and attacked the media. (McGraw and Cook, 2/26)

President Trump referenced his reputation as a germaphobe during a rare press conference about the coronavirus Wednesday. He suggested Americans take the same precautions they would during flu season, including avoiding unnecessary contact with public surfaces and people who are ill, as he always has. (Moreno, 2/26)

When Hurricane Dorian crashed into the Atlantic Coast in September, President Trump assumed a take-charge role in response. But he undermined his own effectiveness after it became apparent that before displaying a map in front of the television cameras in the Oval Office, he had altered it with a Sharpie pen to match his inaccurate forecast of where the storm was headed. For years, experts have warned that Mr. Trump has been squandering the credibility he could need in a moment of national emergency, like a terrorist attack or a public health crisis. (Karni, Crowley and Haberman, 2/26)