Medicaid, the low-income health care program, can catch some of the newly unemployed, though its reach will be limited in the 14 red states that have refused the Obamacare expansion to poor adults. Republican governors in those holdout states have shown no signs they’re reevaluating their opposition as the virus appears poised to spread through their communities.

During Wednesday’s briefing, when asked about Medicaid expansion, Trump did not explicitly say if he would make sure holdout states broadened their programs or whether he would open the program to higher incomes. He and Pence, without providing details, both indicated they were looking at a range of options drawing on those two entitlements.

Advocates who report being flooded with questions about health insurance in recent weeks have said they don’t expect much help from the Trump administration to spread the word about insurance options during this crisis. Many enrollment groups funded by federal grants have also seen their support significantly cut during the Trump era, leaving few resources to conduct outreach between annual enrollment seasons.

"Since there's no communication and no marketing or information to inform people coming out of the federal level, it's putting an onus on those of us in the states that have minimal budgets," said Jodi Ray of Florida Covering Kids and Families, the largest federally funded group helping with Affordable Care Act enrollment.

Trump's decision not to reopen HealthCare.gov came as a surprise to many closely following the issue, despite the president's longstanding opposition to Obamacare. Insurance sources said that federal health officials overseeing the Obamacare enrollment site, which serves about two-thirds of states, had been preparing to relaunch enrollment late last week before the White House shut down an idea the administration itself had floated.

The HealthCare.gov homepage, as it typically does after the annual enrollment period closes, still alerts visitors they may be able to buy insurance after experiencing a life change and that they may qualify for low-income coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. A blog post lower down on the page explains how insurance status could be affected by the coronavirus.

And on the government’s HealthCare.gov Twitter account last month, there wasn’t a single post encouraging people to check if they were eligible to get coverage as the virus surged through the nation.

The coronavirus pandemic could exacerbate the difference between the Obamacare haves and have-nots. States that expanded Medicaid under the law have typically had lower uninsured rates, and health experts think those states will fare better through the pandemic.

Nearly all of the 13 states running their own Obamacare marketplaces, including the District of Columbia, have reopened enrollment in recent weeks — and some are reporting sharp increases. In Maryland, more than 10,000 people enrolled in Medicaid or an Obamacare plan in the past two weeks, and nearly half were under 34, which is typically the most difficult age group to coax into buying coverage. The state on Wednesday extended its sign-up window another two months until mid-June.