There will be "thousands more cases of coronavirus in this country," and it is important that Americans take the threat of the illness seriously, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday.
"From early on, the president has declared a public health emergency," Pence told NBC News' "Today." "I'll leave it to the experts to make the estimates of how many people may be infected."
He also confirmed that the coronavirus is more lethal than the seasonal flu.
He added that there has been some "irresponsible rhetoric" about President Donald Trump's response to the health threat, but Americans should know that he "has no higher priority than the health and safety and well-being of the people of this country."
His comments come after Trump's order to suspend travel from Europe for 30 days beginning at 11:59 p.m. Friday. He blamed the European Union for not acting quickly enough to address the novel coronavirus and claimed that U.S. clusters had been “seeded” by European travelers.
On CNN, Pence dismissed suggestions that Trump's Oval Office address created confusion about coronavirus, despite the administration's later clarifications.
Pence, who heads the president’s coronavirus task force told NBC the administration will continue to focus on communities experiencing community spread of the virus. Trump's travel ban from Europe is another "example of how he's putting the health of America first."
Meanwhile, the administration is continuing to address the testing issue, said Pence, after show host Savannah Guthrie asked why the United States is not conducting mass tests, such as are being done in South Korea.
"We made changes through the FDA that allowed for state labs and university hospitals and hospitals to engage in testing and I'm pleased to report every state lab in America can do testing now," he said. "We are literally working hour by hour to expand the testing.”