Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

St. Louis County Executive, Dr. Sam Page, Discusses Family Defying Self-Quarantine Instructions; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Discusses Coronavirus In N.Y., What The State Needs From The Federal Government, The Democratic Primary Race, The CLEAR Act; Sporting World Braces For Wave Of Cancellations, Restrictions; NBA Considers Playing Games Without Fans. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired March 09, 2020 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:43]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Missouri confirmed its first case of coronavirus. A young woman from the St. Louis area who recently returned from Italy. Before her test results came in, county health officials told her and the family to immediately self-quarantine inside their home.

But the father ignored that warning and, days later, took his other daughter to a school dance at a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, possibly exposing dozens of others. The younger daughter's school was closed today for cleaning and disinfecting.

And now the family has been warned to stay put or risk a mandatory quarantine.

Dr. Sam Page is the St. Louis County executive, who issued the warning to this family. He was a practicing anesthesiologist for more than 20 years.

Dr. Page, thank you so much for being here.

DR. SAM PAGE, EXECUTIVE, ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI: Thank you and good afternoon.

BALDWIN: The question everyone is thinking as they're listening to the story: How did this happen? How can someone just defy quarantine orders?

PAGE: I think it's important to first recognize that the young woman who was symptomatic and was quarantined in her home acted responsibly and maturely and followed the directions from the Public Health Department. Unfortunately, the father appeared at a school function with his other daughter later on in the week, just Saturday night.

And we had been in constant contact with that family through the week, multiple times per day and impressed upon them that a quarantine of the patient and the family was enforced, that it was a self- quarantine. And we had reassurances from the family they were complying.

BALDWIN: And they didn't. And the dad went to the event at the hotel. I'm curious, how many people might have been exposed as a result?

PAGE: We don't know that. We have a very responsible and professional Public Health Department. We have the assistance of the Department of Health from the state of Missouri. And they're tracking down all those contacts and --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Are we talking five people, 50 people? Ballpark?

PAGE: I really can't give you that number, but it's a school function of moderately sized school, so it was a decent number of folks.

BALDWIN: How is the family's health? What is the condition of the daughter infected and other family members? Have been tested?

PAGE: The condition of the daughter is private health information, so we can't release that. But she was tested at a local community hospital on Friday and was immediately released because she was not sick enough to be hospitalized and she's a young person and we're all optimistic. The other family members are not showing any symptoMs.

BALDWIN: Good. Let's hope it stays that way.

And then, Dr. Page, this coronavirus, as more people are getting it, it will continue to spread.

How do you -- whether you're in Missouri or Georgia or California, how do you enforce a mandatory quarantine on a family or anyone else? And then what do you do when they don't comply? What are your options?

PAGE: I think, first, we follow the guidelines of the CDC, the surgeon general, regarding quarantines and social isolation. And those recommendations and instructions will change depending on where you are in the country and the prevalence of the virus.

But it's very important. We depend on the goodwill and the common sense and appropriate behavior of everyone. When the Department of Public Health gives you instructions, we really ask that you comply. And if you don't, it doesn't just affect you but our whole community.

BALDWIN: Dr. Sam Page, thank you very much.

PAGE: Thank you.

[14:35:05]

BALDWIN: Let's go to New York State now. New York has the highest number of cases of the coronavirus in the United States. And so we'll talk to New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand next, talk about what the state needs from the federal government.

We're also waiting and watching for the arrival of the cruise ship in the port of Oakland in California. And 3500 people on board. Infected passengers preparing for mandatory quarantine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Right now, New York State has the most confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country. At least 142 cases. That number shooting up from 106 just from this morning.

The state's Senators, minority leader, Chuck Schumer, and Kirsten Gillibrand are urging the federal government to loosen those restrictions immediately so more people across New York State can get tested as soon as possible.

In this letter to the FDA and the CDC, they're warning that the current testing capacity is not sufficient to meet New York's needs. They want more facilities across the state to be allowed to test for coronavirus. And they want automated testing so that more tests can be done and done faster.

[14:40:12]

And with me now, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Senator, a pleasure. Thank you for coming on.

Let me dive right in and ask you, tell me more about this letter.

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D-NY): The biggest problem we have right now is people can't get tested. Only a few people are able to get testing, if they qualify, by all the CDC standards. And it's simply not sufficient.

We need permission for every test center that can do tests. Every hospital, every research facility should be able to do tests, 24/7. So that if we need to test hundreds and thousands of people each day, we can.

Once you can get tests that are readily available, then people can have a sense of calmness. They know that they will know whether they're sick. They will know how to treat it. And then we also know the people who are sick can just stay home. It will make it easier for us not to have to close schools.

If you don't have a rapid test, I don't know how you're not going to have to close schools. And every school child has to stay home because the school is closed means a parent or a family member has to stay home with them, which means someone is not going to work, which means someone is not getting a paycheck.

It also shows the severe need we have for sick leave. We don't have national sick leave in this country. I believe that every worker should have two weeks mandatory national sick leave available to them. And I'm focused on legislation in the Senate right now to do that.

BALDWIN: Right, which is why we're worried because so many people don't get the paid sick leave and they're showing up to work when they're not feeling well, potentially exposing others. GILLIBRAND: Yes.

BALDWIN: Someone we did learn, Senator, who has coronavirus, tested positive, the head of the port authority in New York and New Jersey. And listen, there's not a lot of information around him. According to Governor Cuomo, may have could have gotten sick working around a lot of the airports. What's your number-one concern when you hear he tested positive?

GILLIBRAND: I want to make sure everyone in his family, everyone in his immediate circle can also be tested. We need to know how many people need to stay home.

And I just urge your viewers to use common sense. What we've heard so far about this particular virus is that it's a lot like a flu. It can be particularly dangerous for people who have suppressed immune systems or elderly patients.

So protect those who are more vulnerable. Make sure they don't go to places with lots of people. Make sure they stay home, help them. Bring them food. Bring them all the things they need so they don't feel like they need to go out to protect the vulnerable.

And if you're sick, if you have any flu-like symptoms, stay home. Let your employer know. Absent readily available testing, you don't know if it's a coronavirus or just a regular flu.

So what I'm working on, along with Senator Schumer and our governor, is getting permission from the CDC to test in all facilities. And we need the CDC to come up with a rapid test, just like when you go to a pediatrician's office and can get a strep test for your child or a flu test. You need a test for coronavirus for every school nurse, pediatrician and hospital and every community center, community health center.

BALDWIN: What about in Washington? Senator Ted Cruz, Congressman Paul Gosar have self-quarantined after interacting with an individual with coronavirus. What are you all doing? Are you going to keep lawmakers out of Washington for a few weeks? What's the plan?

GILLIBRAND: As of now, there's no protocol in place, except for obviously using your common sense. If you feel sick, stay home. But again, there's not a lot of tests available in Washington, D.C., either. And so families are struggling.

People are getting information about people in their school communities who may have been in contact with someone with coronavirus, that's very concerning to people.

And until, again, every pediatrician and every nurse and every hospital can do a test quickly, people don't know whether they're supposed to stay at home or not.

So I'm just urging caution, common sense. Imagine this is just a bad flu and you'll do exactly what you do if you have the flu. If you don't feel well, stay home. Make sure you blow your nose. If your child doesn't feel well, have your child stay home. Call their

pediatrician, ask for a test. If tests aren't available, stay home until they feel better.

The good news for parents is that young people tend to recover quickly and seem to be less harmed. That's not the case though for our seniors and anyone, again, who's immunocompromised.

So protect the vulnerable. Stay home if you're sick. And keep asking for tests and, hopefully, the CDC catches up with the needs of the American people and makes the tests readily available.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you - let's pivot to politics in 2020. Your colleague in the Senate, Cory Booker, has now officially endorsed Joe Biden. Senator Gillibrand, here's your chance. Have you decided?

GILLIBRAND: Well, I respect both my colleagues very much. And I know whether we have Senator Sanders or Vice President Biden, both of them will be able to beat President Trump. And so I stand ready to support our nominee. I may well endorse before the New York primary. So I'm just going to keep supporting my colleagues along the way.

[14:45:15]

I'm also focusing on making sure we can flip the U.S. Senate because, when we have a new president, we need to govern. And making sure we have a majority in the U.S. Senate will be one of the most important things I can work on between now and the time we actually have a nominee.

BALDWIN: OK. So what I'm hearing is we're going to get maybe news from you before New York primary.

Last question, the CLEAR Act. I know you introduced the CLEAR Act to reduce corruption in politics. What would this legislation do and what prompted you to say this is the time?

GILLIBRAND: Well, I think we need to get money out of politics. Because the truth is, if you think of any so-called unsolvable problem, I will show you the special interest group that's spending millions of dollars to make sure that problem doesn't get solved.

If you look at the gun crime epidemic, the NRA stands poised to spend millions to guarantee we don't get votes on the issue. You look at global climate change, the fossil fuel industry will make sure there's no votes to even just have energy efficiency, to invest in our renewables and green economy because they care more about their bottom line than the people.

So our job is to get money out of politics.

And we also want to pass anything in H.R.-1. We want to do ethics reform. We want to make sure the Supreme Court has ethical standards they have to abide by.

We want to make sure that voting rights are supported, that we don't have unfair gerrymandering, that Election Day could be a day off, that more people could be guaranteed a right to vote, have better voter registration online.

These are all the commonsense solutions that are in this bill for a full top to bottom voting rights, ethics reform, and money out of politics.

BALDWIN: Great.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, thank you for your time. A pleasure. And we'll see for the tests in New York. We'll see where --

GILLIBRAND: Yes.

BALDWIN: -- where your request goes.

GILLIBRAND: And keep demanding those tests.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Keep demanding those tests.

GILLIBRAND: Yes.

BALDWIN: Keep, keep, keep.

GILLIBRAND: Keep demanding.

BALDWIN: Thank you. Senator, I appreciate it.

Some Americans are being warned to avoid large crowds and big social gatherings and that's bad news for these huge sports events. The fans, the players are now bracing for disappointment.

Also, we are waiting and watching for the arrival of the cruise ship to the port of Oakland, California. It is cruising along and making its way right now. Infected passengers will soon disembark and all of them will head to quarantine.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:52:09]

BALDWIN: The sports world is bracing for a wave of cancellations because of coronavirus. The Indian Wells tennis tournament in southern California has become the first major U.S. sporting event to cancel over concerns about the spread of the virus and more could follow.

At the moment, the NAACP -- excuse me. Sorry. The NCAA plans to go ahead with the upcoming March Madness tournament. But the NBA is considering playing games without fans.

Carolyn Manno is a CNN sports correspondent.

Listen, I went to North Carolina and I'm all in on March Madness and wondering how this will work and Major League Baseball is around the corner. How possible is it they play without fans?

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I think Indian Wells is an indication that something could happen. Normally, sports fans are impervious to what's happening in the real world. But that was really important.

If we start with the NCAA tournament, massive, brings in a ton of money and huge fans, played in more than 20 cities across the country between both the men's and women's tournament.

Right now, the NCAA says they're going to move forward with the tournament as schedule but there have been some discussions about reducing the number of sites where games will be played.

The "New York Times" recently reporting that NCAA officials have made a short list of sites that make sense for them. Major League Baseball said in a statement they're asking everybody, including members of the media who have visited the high-risk areas in the last 14 days -- those high-risk areas are the ones that are defined by the CDC -- to hold back from visiting team facilities.

But leagues are trying to disseminate as much information as they possibly can --

BALDWIN: Sure.

MANNO: -- and answer as many questions as they possibly can.

But there's a lot of money at stake. Fan attendance is something that is really important. So we'll have to see what moves on from here.

But the Indian Wells cancelation is the most concrete evidence so far hat sports are going to be significantly impacted by this.

BALDWIN: The NBA is talking about playing these games without fans. But this is how Lebron James feels about that. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, PRO BASKETBALL PLAYER: We play games without the fans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

JAMES: No. It's impossible. I ain't playing.

(LAUGHTER)

JAMES: If you ain't got the fans in the crowd. That is who I play for. Play for my teammates and fans. That's what it's all about.

So if I show up to an arena and there ain't no fans in there, I ain't playing. They can do what they want to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He said no now but it is a health issue. It could get worse before it gets better. Do you think other players and Lebron will have to come around?

MANNO: This is not something that the NBA or Adam Silver said, man, we're so glad the coronavirus is here.

BALDWIN: Right.

MANNO: But make no mistake, Lebron James' voice carries far. He is the undisputed voice of the players in the NBA. So when he says something like this, it matters. Money and TV revenue matters.

So if these games continued to be played, if the games count, it is my kind of understanding and feeling that players are going to play. Lebron aside, the revenue really matters. There's nothing in the contract that said they have to play in front of X amount of fans.

(CROSSTALK)

[14:55:08]

BALDWIN: Sure.

MANNO: If the games go on, the players play. The season matters and the games matter.

A couple of things quickly with the NBA. They're also making contingency plans. CNN learned they had a bunch of conference calls today. They're putting a lot of efforts in place for testing for coronavirus for the players, to making sure the employees are around players as little as possible.

So there's a lot that the league is doing to try to figure this out. But it is a state by state league. So if the government gets involved it gets messy.

BALDWIN: And it affects everybody.

MANNO: Yes.

BALDWIN: Carolyn Manno, thank you.

MANNO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Good to have you on.

Special coverage of the coronavirus pandemic continues. You see the markets now. An hour to go. The trading day has been the worst day in more than a decade.

Also the virus-stricken cruise ship heading toward Oakland, California, right this very moment. We're watching to see what happens next.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)