Pence’s public schedule, by comparison, consisted of a noon conference call with governors about the outbreak, a medal ceremony, and a meeting with the coronavirus task force he leads along with an on-camera press briefing on the outbreak.

Trump made a last-minute appearance at the White House briefing, where he promised financial assistance to incentivize sick workers to stay at home. He said he would propose a possible temporary payroll tax cut and paid sick leave for hourly workers who get the disease. It is the most concrete step Trump has taken so far to combat the virus' spread.

Reporters peppered Trump with queries on whether he had been tested for coronavirus as he left the briefing. Pence said he himself had not been tested and would check in the evening to see whether Trump had been. Both Pence and Trump used the briefing to laud members of the administration working to combat the disease‘s spread, as well as private health care and transportation companies for working with the White House to get things under control.

Early Monday afternoon the World Health Organization warned that despite the outbreak not yet reaching the level of a pandemic, such a threat remains “very real,” though the organization’s director general added that “it would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled.”

The New York Stock Exchange cratered upon opening Monday morning, with the Dow quickly falling more than 1,800 points and the S&P 500 falling more than 200 points, or 7 percent. And just as the market opened, the Federal Reserve announced a pair of new measures aimed at calming investors' jitters and shielding consumers from economic fallout. The sell-off continued throughout the day, led by a sharp decline in oil prices. The Dow closed down nearly 8 percent — more than 2,000 points.

While the market selloff came amid growing fears over the economic impact of the virus, it was also fueled at least in part by a plunge in oil prices triggered by Saudi Arabia and OPEC.

That dip, Trump argued, "and the Fake News, is the reason for the market drop!" Still, he maintained, the drop in oil prices is "Good for the consumer, gasoline prices coming down!"

Those efforts by Trump to minimize the severity of the outbreak came moments after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar declared on TV that “nobody is trying to minimize” what he called “a very serious public health threat.”

Azar was one of the first Trump officials to appear Monday morning on TV, promising in an interview on Fox News that the Trump administration has “been on this from day one” and defending the availability of testing around the country, which he said was quickly ramping up.

Azar also claimed that “rapid work” is underway on a possible vaccine that “should go to clinical trials very soon” while a therapeutic treatment is already in clinical trials.

While he said he hadn't spoken to the president about the plunging stock market, he sought to calm fears of a wider economic fallout from the virus' spread.

"His No. 1 concern across the whole of government along with Vice President Pence is leading the public health preparedness and response effort here," Azar said. "Our economic team will work on economic aspects of this, and President Trump, having delivered the best economy in modern history has the tools and knows the tools to keep this economy going — but his first focus is public health."

Trump is scheduled to work through some of those tools with his top economic advisers at the White House ahead of a meeting with Wall Street executives on Wednesday.

Paid leave for workers, relief for small businesses and aid to certain sectors that are facing diminished business because of the virus were options floated before Trump‘s appearance at the Monday evening briefing. Economic officials have also been weighing the idea of providing government-backed relief to specific geographic regions in the country hit hard by the coronavirus.

But despite Azar’s expression of confidence, after his appearance on Fox, the secretary delivered a brief, roughly one-minute statement mostly focused on the economy to reporters gathered nearby. He then retreated to the West Wing without taking questions.

Trump’s off-topic messages on Monday morning also came as a cruise ship carrying nearly two dozen passengers who have tested positive for coronavirus was set to dock at the Port of Oakland in California. The Defense Department announced Monday that it will provide four facilities to support the roughly 3,000 travelers coming off the Grand Princess cruise ship.

At the evening briefing, Pence said that the ship had docked, that all people aboard would be tested and that officials hoped some of the passengers would be taken off the ship by the end of the day.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), whose congressional district includes the city of Oakland, said in an interview Monday that state and local officials have been working with federal partners “to make sure that this becomes the safest and the most high-level public health response that we have seen yet.”

Lee also sharply criticized Trump's suggestion on Friday that the infected passengers should remain on board so as not to increase the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S.

"The president, I don't believe he has a clue," she said. "And so I wish that he would allow our health officials and the CDC and all of those who know what they're talking about, who are being transparent, to conduct this response. This is an emergency, and the experts know exactly how to respond. The president of this United States of America does not."

Over the weekend, the number of Americans infected with the virus surpassed 500, with cases popping up in D.C. and its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

And at least four congressional Republicans have announced they would self-quarantine out of an abundance of caution after interacting with an attendee at the Conservative Political Action Conference, attended by numerous Trump officials, who tested positive for the virus. One of those members, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, had accompanied Trump as he visited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday and was present for a White House meeting with top House and Senate Republicans last week before he learned of the CPAC interaction. Another, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz , was spotted boarding Air Force One earlier Monday before he learned of the contact in midflight. In addition, California Democrat Julia Brownley also announced a self-quarantine Monday after meeting with someone last week who tested positive for coronavirus.

In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan announced that two more residents tested positive for the virus, bring the state's cases to five. Hogan said he signed emergency legislation allowing his administration to draw down up to $50 million from the state's rain day fund.

As the president was beginning his day Monday, a church back home in Washington announced that it would temporarily close after its rector tested positive for the virus. Farther up the East Coast, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York announced that the head of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, a major transportation hub, had also tested positive for the virus.

And in Florida, five state lawmakers and a staffer are in self-quarantine after attending D.C. events last month where they could have come in contact with people who have tested positive for coronavirus.

In the mid-morning, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham rapped the media, shooting down reports that the White House had issued guidance instructing staff to limit in-person interactions and meetings as “completely false.”

“While we have asked all Americans to exercise common-sense hygiene measures, we are conducting business as usual. I want to remind the media once again to be responsible with all reporting,” she said in a statement. White House press pool reports noted that Trump shook hands with supporters and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in defiance of advice from health officials, upon his arrival in Orlando for the day’s events.

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Despite the White House denying that it had ordered such drastic precautions, that is exactly what played out across at least part of the government on Monday.

At a press briefing at the Pentagon, Defense Department chief spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said the department is trying to practice “common sense” measures like so-called social distancing, and held a high-level meeting in the morning that was spread over multiple rooms and linked via video conference rather than cramming officials into the same room. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and other senior leaders attended, standing six feet apart — in accordance with CDC guidelines — Hoffman said.

Additionally, the Defense Department is evaluating whether to cancel tours of the Pentagon and limit leadership travel, Hoffman said.

Later Monday, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy disclosed in a statement that the commander of U.S. Army Europe, along with several staff members, may have been exposed to COVID-19 during a recent conference. Out of an abundance of caution and following recommended protocols, the commander and others potentially affected are self-monitoring and working remotely to fulfill their command duties and responsibilities, McCarthy's statement said.

And in Italy, which has emerged as one of the global hotspots for the virus, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte ordered a nationwide lockdown limiting movement for the country’s 60 million people.

Quint Forgey, Lara Seligman, Dan Goldberg and Matthew Choi contributed to this report.