PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP on Friday declared a national emergency over the coronavirus crisis (White House photo).

President Donald Trump today (Friday) declared a national emergency, pledging $50 billion to fight the spread of the coronavirus, waiving interest on student loans and waiving regulations on doctors and hospitals to make the treatment of those affected more available.

He also said that millions of testing kits would be available soon, but “We don’t want everybody taking this test. It’s totally unnecessary.”

So far, 2,000 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the United States and 41 people have died.

Locally, the Orange County Public Library, with three branches in Garden Grove and one each in Westminster and Stanton, will stay open, but all activities will be cancelled until April 30.

The Westminster School District joined other local public education systems by cancelling all concerts, all sporting events and other gatherings that might lead to contagion.

An emergency meeting of the WSD Board of Trustees is scheduled for today at 3 p.m. in the district headquarters at 14121 Cedarwood Ave. in Westminster.

Some stores were swamped with customers stocking up not just on water, paper towels and toilet paper but food and beverages, anticipating possible shortages or quarantines.

At the Vons supermarket in West Garden Grove this afternoon, the store was packed with patrons and the lines to get to a cash register were estimated to be 45 minutes long.

Things were much less crowded at the Stater Brothers in Garden Grove, but the shelves were stripped of bottled water, paper towels, packaged fresh meats and nearly all facial tissue boxes.