CAMP MURRAY, Wash. – Vice President Mike Pence brought praise Thursday for the state’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak, assurances of federal help and much needed supplies to aid in that effort.

“Washington state is on the front lines of the coronavirus,” Pence said as he stood next to Gov. Jay Inslee and in front of most of the state’s congressional delegation. “We’re with you. We’re here to help and we’re here to stay.”

Pence arrived at nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord on Air Force Two, toured the state’s Emergency Operations Center with Inslee, met with state and local officials, then took questions from reporters.

The governor and vice president greeted members of Congress with “elbow bumps” – the preferred replacement for a handshake or fist bump to prevent the spread of the virus – and stood at a lectern in front of a large American flag where cases with the 3M logo supported stacks of face masks, latex gloves and bleach wipes.

Pence was tasked with heading up the nation’s response to COVID-19, and he said President Donald Trump wanted him to come to Washington, with the most deaths and most reported cases, to talk to people on the ground.

The nation has about 150 confirmed cases, and 70 are in Washington, mostly in King and Thurston counties, he said.

The nation is making “steady progress” on testing kits, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is priortizing the delivery of test kits to Washington and California, he said. Private laboratories are forming a consortium to develop more test kits, which could be available to doctors or at local pharmacies “in a matter of weeks,” he said. A vaccine for COVID-19 may be a year and a half away, he said.

“We have a ways to go. I know we’ll get there together,” Pence said.

The federal government will cover the cost of testing for Medicare and Medicaid patients, and will also require private insurance companies to cover them, he said.

Trump is expected to sign legislation with some $8 billion to fight the virus, with money for state and local efforts as well as the federal response, Pence said.

Along with top health officials from the federal government, Pence said he brought with him on Air Force Two some 200,000 masks, 200 doses of a new therapy, supplies of disposable surgical gowns and gloves, and the promise of ongoing resupplies. It wasn’t immediately clear how those therapeutic doses would be used.

When Trump first named Pence to head up the nation’s response to the virus, Inslee was critical, tweeting at one point that he should stick to science and the truth. On Thursday, however, there was no sign of friction, as Pence complimented Inslee for leading the state’s response and Inslee said they were getting good science and expects “a good partnership moving forward.”

Asked about Trump’s statement that he thought the fatality rate would be much lower than the World Health Organization’s current prediction of 3.4%, Pence said the president was suggesting the number would go down as the nation learns more about the disease.

“We may well arrive at a lower number,” he said.

Debbie Birx, a White House adviser on infectious disease, said the World Health Organization’s estimate may suffer from “the tyranny of averages,” because it doesn’t take into account the people who have mild or moderate symptoms and recover without being tested for the disease.

Most fatalities are elderly people or those who have other underlying health problems or compromised immune systems. In South Korea, there have been no fatalities under 30; in Italy, the average age of a fatal COVID-19 case is 82, she said.