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CNN Live Event/Special
Coronavirus Task Force Provides Outbreak Update; Thirty Deaths, 950-Plus Confirmed Coronavirus Cases In The U.S.; Voting Underway Now Across Six States; America's Choice 2020. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired March 10, 2020 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: President Trump has unveiled his proposals, strong proposals, for a temporary payroll tax cut holiday, which I think he would prefer to last through the end of the year.
Also, administratively, as Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and others have suggested, we're trying to -- we will use assistance to unpaid sick leave people, very important point.
Also, small and medium businesses, another important point, and also possibly to some distressed industries or sectors in the economy. Maybe tax deferral might be a useful tool and other means.
So, this is a strong across-the-board package. We are consulting with leaders in the House and Senate with respect to this package, and particularly the payroll tax holiday.
Let me just say, coming into this difficult period, the economy is in fundamentally good shape. We saw a blockbuster jobs report last Friday.
Today, for example, the small business confidence index, the NFIB business confidence index registered a very strong number, keeping its near record high.
The unemployment remains low at 3.5 percent. Other indicators look pretty good. We had a lot of momentum in the first quarter. Good thing. I recognize the challenges. And that is why we are proposing these fiscal measures to combine with monetary measures that have already taken.
And, again, I will repeat the president's words. It just struck me as his determination. He intends to bring the full power of the federal government to deal with these health and economic challenges.
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Well said.
And a word from Surgeon General Jerome Adams.
General?
DR. JEROME ADAMS, SURGEON GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES: Good evening, everyone.
As surgeon general, whether it's opioids or cigarettes or the coronavirus, my job is to help the American people understand how to live a healthy life.
And I'm asking all of you, I'm imploring all of you to help share my prescription for America to overcome this coronavirus situation that we're in.
There are three parts to it. Number one, know your risk. As you have heard many times, but it's still important to impress upon America, if you are immunocompromised, if you have chronic medical conditions, if you are over the age of 60, you are at higher risk.
If you are a child or a young adult, you are less likely to be impacted by the coronavirus.
Number two, the second part of the prescription, know your circumstances. Are you in an environment where you can telework? Are you planning ongoing to large gatherings like church? Do you live in a community that is being particularly impacted by the coronavirus?
And you can find out this information from your state or local health department. Does your state have a hot line that you can call into to help you assess symptoms, again, knowing your circumstances?
And number three -- and this is the most important part -- know what you can do to stay safe. And we have really leaned into coronavirus.gov. Please, send people to that Web site. We have put the tools on there for individual groups, specific audiences, so that people can understand how to stay safe.
If we follow this prescription, we will, we will overcome the coronavirus. As Dr. Fauci said, we will see more cases. Unfortunately, we are likely to see more deaths. We have not hit the peak of this epidemic quite yet.
But if we follow this prescription, then we will decrease the number of people impacted. We will decrease the number of people who will die, and we will more quickly get to the end of this situation.
Thank you.
PENCE: Great job.
Questions?
QUESTION: Mr. Vice President, that poster right, it there says to avoid crowding, consider rearranging large activities.
So, will the Pence-Trump campaign suspend campaign rallies and other activities?
PENCE: I think that will be a decision that's made literally on a day- to-day basis. I thought Dr. Fauci spoke to that yesterday very well, that we're
going to -- I'm very confident that the campaign will take the very best information and make the very best decision going forward.
But these proposals are things that every American can do all across the country that will reduce the risk of either contracting or being exposed to the coronavirus.
QUESTION: On the economic package, the word unveiled was just used, but so far the public has not seen it. How big is this package? How big is the payroll tax cut going to be? When is the general public going to see what you all have put together?
PENCE: Right.
Larry?
KUDLOW: We are working out details right now, so I don't want to quote any numbers ahead of time.
You know, you make a proposal. We're checking with the leaders of both parties in both houses and see what is doable and where the tough nuts are going to be. So, I don't want to get into any detail.
[18:05:09]
I think the outline of the thing is very important. The payroll tax holiday is probably the most important, powerful piece of this.
But, on the other hand I want to draw attention. We can use administration and executive authority, again, to help unpaid sick leave people, which is very important. We can use it for the medium and smaller businesses, which is very important, other distressed sectors.
We have some leverage on tax deferral.
We know -- look, I will say again, as I have for quite some time, the economy is strong. We also know there are going to be problems ahead. We know there are going to be challenges ahead, don't deny it. We will see. I want to take that a day at a time and a fact at a time, a statistical release at a time.
But, anyway, this will be the broad package. And at some point in the near future, we will outline a more detailed package for you.
QUESTION: Actually, maybe while Larry is still up here -- unless you want to answer it, Mr. Vice President.
PENCE: No. You can go right ahead.
(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: The president proposed to the GOP policy lunch today to remove the entire payroll tax from both employers and employees. That would be a 12.4 percent deduction. Back in 2010, we had a 2 percent reduction. Can you basically
eliminate for however number of months the payroll tax without blowing a huge hole in the budget?
And, furthermore, the president told the lunch he'd like to make that cut permanent. How do you do that?
KUDLOW: You know, the payroll tax holiday is a bold move. It's a very bold move. And this has always been a bold president.
And we have been cutting taxes and rolling back regulations and changing trade deals and opening up the energy sector and doing things that nobody thought we could do before, John. We have had pretty good economic results for it.
We're in a challenged period now. I get that. So with respect to your question on the specifics, I think there will be a big growth payoff. I think it will help deal with whatever challenges occur in the next few months.
I think, beyond that, ameliorating the tax burden on the middle class, the so-called blue-collar boom that I talk quite a bit about, that's what this is aimed for. That's really what the payroll tax is principally about.
By lifting the burden of those middle-class folks, I think we're going to get a big growth kicker. We have had a terrifically strong labor market, as you know. It may stall a bit or not. I'm just speculating on the challenges of the -- on the health side.
But I think over time we will make it up with much better economic growth. And I will remind also that, later on, way down the road, probably later this summer, early fall, we will unveil another package of tax cut and tax reform proposals.
But, yes, it's a bold proposal, and this is a bold president. And I think it's paid off.
QUESTION: If you were to make it permanent, can you backfill from general revenue to make up for -- I mean, in fiscal year '21, Social Security, unemployment insurance and Medicare Part A revenues are $1.2 trillion.
Can you find that money somewhere else?
KUDLOW: I would just say, we're not talking about Medicare at this point.
I'm going to -- by the way, the answer is, yes, you can backfill it. And that has been done before, because we have had over payroll tax cuts. And you mentioned one of them in 2010 or 2011.
So the answer to that is yes. And the answer is, we will always maintain a solvent Social Security system. But, you know, tax reform is very important. Economic growth is very important. Incentives for middle- and lower-income workers are very important. And I would just add, in terms of the boldness of this president's
policies, despite what some of our critics think, actually, it's the middle and lower-middle people that have done the best in wage growth terms. And I think this is absolutely consistent.
This lifts tax burdens on the middle class. I think it's absolutely consistent with his earlier policies.
PENCE: Let me also say, John, if I can, that the other piece of this is what the doctors have said to us, what the experts have said is, if you're sick, if you have reason to suspect that you may have coronavirus, we want you to stay home.
And the president's absolutely adamant, working with the Congress or using his executive authority, to ensure that hourly workers, people working for small- or medium-sized businesses that don't currently have paid family leave will be able to stay home and be confident that they're not losing a paycheck.
[18:10:01]
I think every American can identify with that concern. And we're going to work forward, whether we do it legislatively or the president has some resources in his executive authority to act. We're going to work to make sure that hourly workers don't feel like you have to go to work sick because you're risking a paycheck.
Get home, stay home, take those couple of weeks to get better.
Eamon.
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
I want to drill down on something that Larry just said, though, because in 2018, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, federal payroll taxes generated $1.17 trillion.
That's an enormous figure. Larry, you're suggesting that you can make that up from general revenue. Where are you going to get a trillion dollars from?
KUDLOW: Let us put the proposal out in concrete details and flesh that out, and we will have much better answers. Right now, I want to stay in my lane.
And I think the health story, the coronavirus story, is very, very important here. We will do the best we can, Eamon, to give you specific plans and details once we flesh them out.
PENCE: Yes, please.
QUESTION: I have a question about the increased testing capacity,
PENCE: Right.
QUESTION: we're still seeing reports of severe rationing in many cases because of the limited supply.
It appears to be close to impossible for average Americans to get tests without being hospitalized first. So, when can the American people expect to see these test kits available at doctor's offices, at urgent care, admitting clinics, that sort of thing, specifically when?
PENCE: Well, I'm going to have the secretary step forward and address that.
But let me say, we have made great progress over the last week. A million tests are in the field. Every state lab in America can do coronavirus tests. If you're concerned that you have coronavirus, your doctor can contact the state lab, can have a test processed.
By the end of this week, another four million tests will be distributed. But to your very important question, we're working day by day with the largest commercial labs in America.
We had some good discussions today with outside experts as well who said that, when the president brought the commercial labs in, he did exactly the right thing, because it's those big companies that have logistics infrastructure all over the country, have labs all over the country, that can distribute the tests, process the tests, whether it's Quest or whether it's LabCorp.
And we believe that in the days and weeks ahead, we're going to see the availability of tests dramatically rise. And we're driving toward that every day.
Mr. Secretary, did you want add to that?
ALEX AZAR, U.S. HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Sure. Maybe Dr. Redfield can add in also.
So, by the end of this weekend, we had 1.1 million tests that were actually shipped. We have another one million that are either in transit or waiting for orders.
So, we actually have a surplus capacity already of tests that have been produced. And as the vice president said, by the end of this week, there will be another four million tests. So, the tests are out there. The tests are in every public health lab in the country. They're in hospitals, they're in labs.
But I think there's a false premise in your question, which is the notion that just because I, as a person, say, oh, I'd like to be tested for the novel coronavirus, I should be going to a minute clinic or some other facility and just walking in, saying, give me my test, please.
That's not how diagnostic testing works in the United States or, frankly, almost anywhere in the world.
QUESTION: But isn't that what President Trump said on Friday? He said, anyone who wants to get tested can get tested.
AZAR: It always -- if their doctor -- we have always been clear.
If their doctor or public health physician believes they should be tested. It needs to always be clinically indicated to receive a test. So it's a false premise.
Go to your doctor. If you first -- actually, don't go to your doctor. Call your doctor's office if you believe you may have the novel coronavirus. Call the clinic, call the hospital, call the doctor's office, so that you don't just walk right in.
Follow their infection control procedures for doing that. And then they will decide, working with you, whether a test is appropriate to be done.
But there are millions of tests out there now. And it's going to -- as the vice president said, with Quest and LabCorp getting it at the doctor's office, swabbing, their distribution and transport system, it's going to be an even better, closer to the patient experience, as I promise -- as I talked to you on Saturday when we met together.
PENCE: That's very good.
And to answer you, I'm going to ask Dr. Birx to speak to this, too, because she's just done a tremendous job bringing our commercial labs to bear on this.
But, to your other point, the president directed us to essentially change the criteria that CDC was giving labs around the country. We heard from governors around the country that people that were only mildly symptomatic were being told that they couldn't be tested.
We changed that. We changed that description. And so, as the president said, anyone who on a doctor's order wants to be tested, can, at a doctor's indication, be tested now.
[18:15:08]
We're working to fill that need. And we're making great progress every single day.
But I wanted Dr. Birx to speak to it as well.
DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Yes, I just wanted to talk to you briefly about what happened and decreasing barriers.
I have been a lab person, I have been a vaccine developer, I have been a doctor. I have been all those things. But I have never in my lifetime of government service have worked with the CDC in a way that every time the state or local government calls and says, I have this barrier, I need a modification to the regulations, that has happened almost daily.
And the reason we have commercial labs willing to step in immediately is because the FDA has created that ability and posted on their Web site -- I don't know if you've been there -- this unbelievable waiver system and the clear definitions there.
Every single hospital, every single university can utilize this testing algorithm. And that's highly unusual, but it's also what's bringing the super large, high-throughput companies to the -- to the table.
And I just want to -- this has been unique for me to be able to see this unbelievable dialogue between what states need, what local governments need, and federal government being responsive with changing those regulations. And that has been really wonderful to watch.
PENCE: Thank you, Dr. Birx. Did I get you right here?
QUESTION: Yes, I wanted to ask -- I guess the administration has really touted the success of the travel ban on China and Iran. Why has it not extended those bans to South Korea or Japan or Italy? And is it still under consideration or has the administration really shifted to mitigation from containment?
PENCE: Well, I'm going to let -- I'm going to let Dr. Birx speak to that in a moment. But there is no question, as Dr. Fauci said just a few days ago, we would be in a very different place if President Trump had not suspended all travel from China.
And we would also, I suspect, be in a very different place if we hadn't issued travel advisories for portions of Italy or portions of South Korea, and initiated screening of all passengers on all direct flights into the United States from both of those countries.
I will tell you, we had a very -- we had a very thorough discussion today of the prospect of recommending to the President additional travel advisories. What we're doing, particularly as Dr. Fauci said, is we're following the facts. and we're going to bring those recommendations forward in the time and manner that we, as the White House Coronavirus Task Force, determine are appropriate.
But let me tell you, it is literally a day-to-day consideration. And we're going to continue to put the health and safety of America first.
Dr. Birx, did you want to amplify that or ...
BIRX: I think that was perfectly said.
PENCE: Dr. Fauci, did you want to?
How about you?
QUESTION: Thank you.
PENCE: Sure.
QUESTION: Tom Bossert, who used to be a part of this administration, had an op-ed where he basically said that the U.S. has 10 days before hospitals could be overrun. He recommended that schools be shut down for maybe eight weeks. What does the administration think about that? Does it agree that we -- that the U.S. could be at the point where there could be a turning point in the next 10 days or so? And what about keeping schools open? Should they be kept open?
PENCE: Well, let me say, the recommendations that you have and that every American now has at coronavirus.gov apply to every jurisdiction in the country, every state and every community, irrespective of whether or not there's been a coronavirus case established.
I will tell you that we're working very closely with California, Washington, New York, Florida to develop community-specific recommendations for those areas where we have had what is known as community spread: a number of coronavirus cases that appear that is being transmitted in the community.
In the next 24 hours, working with those states, we'll be publishing CDC's recommendations for what ought to be done. But I want to turn it over to Dr. Fauci to tell you that we really think the most important thing here is that we continue to bring the facts forward to the American people.
And that -- and that our proposals and our recommendations, while -- while all of these apply to everybody in the United States and it'll help reduce the infection rate of the coronavirus -- that, for those communities that are being impacted, we're going to develop specific recommendations that'll make the most sense for them.
[18:20:13]
Dr. Fauci?
QUESTION: Thank you. And, Dr. Fauci, can you say whether -- is it -- can you wait until there's community spread to make some of these decisions?
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, it depends on the degree of community spread. I mean, community spread could be just a small amount or you could start to see multiple generations.
But getting to your individual question -- that everything is on the table for consideration. So the idea that we're not closing all -- I mean, I think, for the country right now to say we're going to close all the schools in the country, I don't think would be appropriate.
With school closures, the appropriate -- depending upon not whether you have already -- the horse is out of the barn -- but when you start to see, "We're getting a little bit danger here, so let's do it."
So it's incorrect to say, "Now everything has happened bad, let's close the school." And it's incorrect to say, "Let's just blanket close the schools in the entire country tonight." I don't think that that would be appropriate. But I do think it would be appropriate to carefully try and do things like closing, but there's other things besides closing.
To do real mitigation sometime before you think you really need it -- that gets back to what I said a few moments ago about where the puck is going to be. But you want to make sure you're not so far ahead that you overshoot.
PENCE: Great.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Just real quick, should the president stop shaking hands with people? He just did it at the Medal of Freedom ceremony a few moments ago.
On this sign up here, it says you should stop handshaking if you're at your workplace and in your school or in commercial establishments. Should the president set that example?
I noticed you've been opting for the elbow bump.
PENCE: I have been shaking hands too.
(LAUGHTER)
ACOSTA: What do you make of that? Is that necessary, do you think, at this point?
PENCE: Well, look, as the president has said, in our line of work, you shake hands when someone wants to shake your hand. And I expect the president will continue to do that. I will continue to do it.
What -- what this is, is a broad recommendation for Americans. But a really good recommendation is to wash your hands often. and all the experts tell me that, while people want to -- want to get the various sanitizing lotions, washing your hands with hot soap and water for 20 seconds is just as good as any lotion you can buy.
So, how about right there? How about one or two more?
QUESTION: So is it a plan to coordinate a response with other countries?
PENCE: I'm sorry, say again?
QUESTION: Is it a plan to coordinate a response with other countries in the continent? President Trump met President from Brazil, Bolsonaro, this weekend. Did they talk about coronavirus?
PENCE: I know that they spoke about a broad range of issues, and I'm confident that coronavirus was discussed.
What I -- what I can tell you is that our focus is on the health and wellbeing of the American people. We're going to continue to communicate with nations across this hemisphere and across the country. But what the President has given us as a mission of the White House Coronavirus Task Force is to see to the health and wellbeing of the American people, and we'll continue to make recommendations to do just that.
How about one more?
QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Vice President.
Two questions. One on Washington State. They made a request of strategic stockpile for, they said, 233,000 masks. And they received half of that. Wondering if -- if that report is inaccurate, please speak to it.
And, secondly, on cruise lines: Are you looking at a bailout for cruise lines? Several of these companies are tax-exempt.
AZAR: So they got half of the shipment from the Strategic National Stockpile initially. And then, when the Vice President actually went out to the state of Washington, that's when the second half of the shipment arrived.
But I have spoken directly with Governor Inslee, with whom we've had a superb working relationship, and he has informed me that there are some additional personal protective equipment needs that a couple of their hospitals have. And we're working through the Strategic -- Strategic National Stockpile to make sure we are directing and fulfilling shipments to them as needed.
PENCE: All right. I want to echo, again, our gratitude to Governor Inslee and all the health officials in the state of Washington. I was there last week. Our teams are working very closely together. We'll follow up on that public report that the Secretary has indicated.
But, look, we're in -- as I said, in the next 24 hours, we'll be working with not only Washington State, but California, with New York, with Florida, and unveiling our recommendations, CDC's recommendations, to those areas that have been impacted by community spread. And then we'll continue to come alongside those communities to do everything in our power to mitigate the spread.
[18:25:15]
But let me just say again, as a resource -- thank you all -- we'll be back here again tomorrow.
Coronavirus.gov, practical information for every American, details for state labs that may yet have questions about performing their own tests. We have specifics, enzymes, agents, ingredients, that -- where they can be acquired and how, for the performance of coronavirus tests.
But for every American, I just want to say again, remember, the risks to the average American of contracting the coronavirus remains low.
But, however, the risk to senior citizens with serious underlying chronic health conditions is very significant. And it's important for all of us to continue to take all the steps necessary to look after the most vulnerable, to look after our health.
And I'm confident that we'll get through this together.
Thank you.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: OK.
That was Vice President Pence and the Coronavirus Task Force, leaders in the health and business communities within the administration talking about the steps that are being taken to help protect Americans from the pandemic of coronavirus.
We heard a lot of information there. There is a Web site, coronavirus.gov, that we have been told by the vice president to check out for more information. You heard the surgeon general talk about the importance of knowing your risk.
If you are immunocompromised or have a chronic medical condition or over 60, you are at higher risk for coronavirus, COVID-19, than others. Know your circumstance, whether or not you should be in a crowd, whether or not there are any cases of coronavirus in your community. And knowing what you can do to stay safe in terms of social distancing, in terms of washing your hands.
Let's talk about everything we just heard with our panel here.
And let's start with you, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
President Trump was up on Capitol Hill earlier today talking about how everything was going to be OK. And it was just on February 27, not even two weeks ago, that he said, we had 15 cases and it's going to go down to zero.
Not exactly what we heard from the task force today, armed with actual facts.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
No, I think there's there's a distinct change in how they're sort of describing this now. And I wrote this down, because Dr. Fauci said this, and I think it's really important.
Doesn't matter if you live in a state that has no cases or just even a single case, whatever. You have to take this seriously, because the cases are coming.
Now, obviously, when you when you hear it from someone like Dr. Fauci, it takes on an added gravitas. But I think this idea that we have known for some time that the cases we're going to, spread within communities, and that we haven't had clear vision on this because of the lack of testing.
He believes that those cases are there. So, people have used this word containment a lot. And we can still try and contain this within certain communities, just like you try and contain flu within certain communities. But for the most part, the United States seems like it's now moving towards mitigation, which is accepting that the cases are there, trying to decrease the spread as much as possible.
TAPPER: And, Dr. Murthy, we heard the idea today that there are going to be, by the end of this week, four million testing kits on their way to health care providers around the country. But what we didn't hear there, which we know from reporting, is that
it is a big question as to whether or not there are the labs to do that testing.
We know for example, firefighters, first responders in Washington state, which is where the first and worst cluster was, are now in quarantine and being retested, because seven firefighters there were tested, had their lab results sent to the lab -- or had their swabs sent to the lab, and then they weren't tested and soon enough, and they now have to be retested in quarantine.
There is -- that's where the bottleneck is right now.
DR. VIVEK MURTHY, FORMER U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: Yes, so making sure that we have adequate testing capacity is an extremely high priority.
Without it, we're just flying blind, not knowing how many cases we're really dealing with. And getting to that capacity means that we don't have to just ship out the cases, but we got to make sure that they get to where they're needed in sufficient capacity.
And we're finding that this is a process that takes time, which is why, as we think about how we need to deal with this in the future, we have to make sure that we have the ability to produce testing capacity and deliver it to the places that it's needed much, much faster.
And other countries have done this. They have shown us it's possible. We should be able to do that as well.
There is one other point that came up in this conference that I think is worth mentioning, which is the stresses that will be placed on hospital systems as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Now, what we're already seeing, during flu season, is that many hospitals are stretched to the limit. Their ICU beds are full. Their beds on their main floors are full. Their staffing
MURTHY: -- we're already seeing during flu season is that many hospitals are stretched to the limit.
[18:30:04]
Their ICU beds are full, their beds on the main floor are full, their staffing is also stretched to its limit.
And what we've ask to ourselves is what will happen as the number as a number of coronavirus cases increases. We're going to see even more pressure on hospitals. Their impact will show up in three big ways, the lack of space, the lack of people and the lack of equipment. Already we're hearing from hospitals that don't have enough masks and gloves, where ventilators are running short.
So part of what we have to think about as a country knowing that this is coming is how do we make sure that those hospital systems are supported in terms of resources and also that we have a plan to help support the workforce as people get sick. TAPPER: And something else we heard talked about in there, in that press conference, was the question about whether the Trump/Pence campaign will continue to hold rallies given the fact that all these doctors and medical professionals are saying, avoid large crowds. Bernie Sanders canceled a rally in Ohio today. Joe Biden canceled a rally in Ohio today. Sports events are being canceled. Concerts are being canceled. The idea of being in a room with more than a dozen people is being frowned upon. And their response was they're thinking about it on a day to day basis, but they have not canceled anything.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, that was his response. And as he was talking, I was communicating with a Trump campaign source who said that what CNN had previously reported is still going to happen, meaning, we do expect a Trump campaign rally to be announced this evening. We don't know where. We don't know exactly when, how soon, but the announcement is still going forward. This is coming from the candidate.
I mean the president, you've kind of started out this conversation reminding us what he said today, what he said all along. He is desperate for things to go on as usual as much as possible. And this is something he can control. It's his campaign.
TAPPER: Dr. Fauci just said, we cannot live our lives the way we were living them a few weeks ago. I mean, this is not what we were supposed to do.
BASH: Yes. Well, that might be, but the president right now is -- wants his campaign to continue on with the plans that it has.
TAPPER: There does seem to be this message, Sanjay, and I know you don't like to get political, but there does seem to be this message from the president that everything is okay. He wants things to be okay and, therefore, he has been downplaying the risks of this. Meanwhile, Vice President Pence, Dr. Fauci, others in his administration are being very clear-eyed about what's going on.
GUPTA: Yes. I mean, there is a definite cognitive dissonance. And I think it's really interesting when you hear how they answer some these questions. And, again, Dr. Fauci is -- he's a doctor, he's a scientist. So he doesn't like to be political either, I imagine, but he was asked about the campaign events, and I wrote this down as well. He said, if someone canceled the campaign event, I would not criticize them. That's about as close as he gets to saying what he's trying to say here for now.
TAPPER: Well, he's trying to keep his job at the same time. Because if you say things that the president dislikes, you could get fired specifically. I mean, I think a lot of people would want Dr. Fauci to stay in that job.
GUPTA: Absolutely.
TAPPER: And then, of course, there's the question about schools. Should there be schools closed? People are worried. Kids are not really affected by this in terms of mortality, but they certainly can get it. And you heard Dr. Fauci say, there should be no blanket rule, it's really up to the school district.
MURTHY: That's exactly right. We have to make decisions based on what's happening in a particular community. And if we find for example, that there is a lot of local spread in a local community, and we may need to take more aggressive action there. But what matters is not just the number of cases, it's where those cases are, how fast they're growing and whether the contacts of the people who are infected are able to be contained. So there are number of factors that go into deciding how aggressive it could be.
We've already seen some localities in the United States have made the decision to close schools for a short period of time. And I think that that is appropriate. But it's worth coming back to the point that in order to make these decisions, communities need know how many cases they have. And with that adequate testing capacity, they can make those decisions as well.
TAPPER: A really good idea, maybe not necessarily cancelling school but cancelling grandparents' day. That's what happened at my kid's school. They still have school, but they canceled grandparents' day because you don't want the most vulnerable people, not the kids, but the grandparents, to be affected.
GUPTA: Yes. I mean, that we do know. We do know who the most vulnerable people are, and they are the elderly. So everything and anyone can possibly be spreading the virus to them.
I think the school thing is going to be really interesting, and, obviously, Dr. Murthy and I have been talking about this, but most of the modeling as to why schools should be closed and the benefit of doing so is based on the flu. And this is a different virus.
TAPPER: Well the flu -- there's a higher mortality rate for the flu with kids than the coronavirus with kids.
GUPTA: That's right.
BASH: But is it accurate that maybe, as you said, that there's not a high mortality rate among children, but they can carry it?
GUPTA: They can carry it. There's not a high mortality rate and they can carry it. But their carrying it seems to be a smaller driver of spread. It can happen.
[18:35:00]
But to sort of base these large policies on that idea, you know, we'll have to see. I mean, this is a novel coronavirus, so we have to learn this as we go along. But it's a big decision to close these massive schools and colleges, and I'm not sure that we have proven the reward of that yet versus the risk.
TAPPER: Sanjay, what should be we be calling this? I mean, it's been called everything from the Wuhan virus to coronavirus. Coronavirus, as you know better that I, is more of a wide spread term.
GUPTA: A family of viruses.
TAPPER: Yes. MERS was a coronavirus. People call it a novel coronavirus. Should we just be calling this COVID-19?
GUPTA: Perhaps. We made a decision to call it novel coronavirus here because that's what we started calling. COVID-19, we felt, was a little too clinical and people sort of understood that, but the novel in front of it is definitely important.
TAPPER: All right. Thanks so much. Coming up next, our first exit polls of the night to the first hint of what voters are thinking about in the six states holding Democratic contests tonight. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.
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[18:40:00]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome back. We're a little bit more than an hour away from the first poll results actually coming in on this Super Tuesday round two. But we are getting some fascinating information from the exit polls.
David Chalian is joining us right now. David, what have you learn?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Wolf, in one of the states voting today, Washington State, where you know the coronavirus outbreak has been pronounced, we actually asked voters in Washington State what their concerns were, what level of concern did they have about the effects of coronavirus. Take a look at this in Washington state. 38 percent of the electorate very concerned.
I will note among senior citizens, that goes up to a majority, 51 percent of seniors very concerned. Under 45, it's down at 20 percent. Adding the 44 percent somewhat concerned, you get to 82 percent, more than eight in ten voters in Washington are very or somewhat concerned about the effects of coronavirus.
Now, I also want to take you through this question that we asked voters in several states today about who do you trust to handle a major crisis. Take a look here. This is a strong Joe Biden category. In Washington state, 46 percent say Biden, 27 percent say Sanders. That's a 19-point gap there for Joe Biden on handling a major crisis.
Take a look in Michigan. You're going to see similar numbers here across the board. Look at this. A majority of Michigan voters, election day voters in Michigan, those showing up at the polls today, 51 percent say Biden is who they trust to handle a major crisis, 32 percent Sanders.
And then take a look in Missouri. This is the widest gap we've seen on this question. 61 percent of voters in Missouri trust Joe Biden to handle a major crisis, 27 percent, Sanders. With all that's going on right now, Anderson, this is clearly a Biden strength. I think we should watch him to try press that advantage going forward in this campaign. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yes. David Chalian, thanks very much. Unclear how the coronavirus is going to play into ultimately election results months from now.
Michael Smerconish what do you make of what we're seeing so far?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So a big night ahead. Already, the Biden campaign and the Sanders campaign have canceled the rallies for tonight. And the way in which we're interpreting that is that, wisely, out of concern for the communities, best to not move forward.
I'm mindful of the fact that the president is 73, Vice President Biden is 77, Bernie Sanders is 78. We've heard the administration speak to going to coronavirus.gov, which I've done. When you go there, what you're told is that older adults should stay close to home. In lay language, that's what they say.
So when does this become a conversation about, hey, what's the president going to do to protect himself, what's Bernie Sanders going to do to protect himself, same with Joe Biden. Is it really wise for them to engage in any of the kind of retail politicking that we've come to expect? That will be a very interesting issue to watch.
COOPER: Also, I mean, if there no large rallies, I don't know what kind of impact that actually has on an election day.
JESS MCINTOSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it obviously is a detriment to Bernie Sanders, who is capable of bringing out with the large crowds. That's where the momentum narratives come from. That where we see those great images of all of the younger people out there rooting for him. I think it certainly probably cuts more against him than Biden who has struggled to get those crowds, although clearly not to get the respective people who think --
COOPER: But does it turn out more vote? I mean, because, obviously, you know, the young people that they expected to come out have not necessarily come out.
MCINTOSH: Right, yes. And there's a chance that it doesn't actually affect the vote. I think we had a complete unintended consequence of moving from a caucus to a primary state in Washington this year, where they did a complete mail-in-ballot. We have no idea what would have happened on election day in Washington State given what they're dealing with had they not done that. So add another one in the pro- column from moving from caucuses to primaries and for making it easier to vote by voting via mail.
We're experiencing a complete dereliction of leadership from the president right now. We can't trust the things he says. His own administration contradicts him. There's a moment when propaganda runs up against reality and that moment is usually a major crisis.
So either one of these men, either Biden or Bernie, or both, have the opportunity to step in and be the reality-based voice in the room at this point. And it looks like with both of them cancelling their rallies, tey understand that and that's where they're going.
COOPER: We're going to get a quick break and we're going to come right back to our folks here.
Coming up, we'll dive deeper into our exit polls. How are Democrats feeling about President Trump in Michigan, the state that helped him seal his win in 2016, we'll find out, next.
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[18:49:48]
BLITZER: We're only an hour and 10 minutes away from the first polls closing on this Super Tuesday, round two. Six states holding Democratic presidential contests.
David Chalian is getting more information, intriguing information from our exit polls.
[18:50:04]
What are you learning?
CHALIAN: That's right, Wolf.
We are taking a look at the Trump factor in two critical states tonight, Michigan and Washington. We asked voters this question we've been asking all cycle long. What are you looking for in your candidate that you're voting for tonight? Somebody who can beat Donald Trump, 57 percent of Democratic primary voters, election-day voters, that's what this exit poll is about, election-day voters in Michigan said that can beat Trump, 38 percent somebody that agrees with you on the issues.
Look in Washington state, you see a similar divide, even bigger one here, 69 percent of voters in the Washington Democratic primary are looking for a Trump defeater. Only 29 percent are looking for somebody who agrees with them on the issues. We also asked about feelings among the Trump administration among these Democratic primary voters.
In Michigan, the angry number, 63 percent of election day voters in Michigan say they are angry when they are asked about their feelings about the Trump administration. And in Washington, that number jumps 20 points.
Take a look. In Washington state, Democratic primary voters there, 83 percent of them are angry when asked about their feelings about the Trump administration -- Anderson.
COOPER: David Chalian, thanks very much with the exit polls.
Mayor Landrieu, I mean, can you even assess at this point? I mean, we can't assess what the impact of coronavirus is going to be on anything. We can't assess really what is going to be on this race --
MITCH LANDRIEU, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, a couple things. I think Tony Fauci told you everything you needed to know. He is an expert on this kind of thing in the world. And he basically said we need to go where we think the puck's going to be.
COOPER: Right.
LANDRIEU: Which is to say, his expectation is, it's going to get worse.
COOPER: Right. If it's not in your community, it's coming.
LANDRIEU: And even though 80 percent of the people are going to be fine, to him, 20 percent is a significant number so he said get ready. The president's message seems to be, don't worry about it, it's going to go away when it gets warm. And just the juxtaposition of those two messages.
I thought the press conference was really good. I thought the vice president handled it well. But what was not said is really the most important thing.
So I would think, again, this is not a time to panic. It is absolutely a time to be prepared. It is absolutely a time to lean forward. And, by the way, everybody can't get a test when they want it. That's not accurate because the test has not gotten down to the ground yet.
So I think, here, there is more to come. And I do think the rest of the campaign will be seen through the prism of what impact the coronavirus has on the economic system, what it has on the debt and deficit, what it has on the healthcare system because it will stretch the system and we will be able to see it more clearly like a magnifying glass, like we did in New Orleans after Katrina.
ANDREW GILLUM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I love where Mitch was going. It also brings into focus, the leadership question. Which, you know, hard to speak about. In many ways, it's like I can tell you when I see it. I know it when I see it. And right now, people don't see it nationally.
So those early returns we saw come in around who do you trust in a time of leadership? These candidates, and I mean both of them, right now have an opportunity to step into a void that exists nationally under the Trump administration to say, look, in these times, in these moments, you want a calm, a soothing, a reassuring, and a fact-based voice that doesn't send us into hysteria but levels with us at a very honest level, gives us information about what we can do.
And what they did today was they put the experts first and foremost, and allow them to build their credibility with the American people. And I think that is going to have a huge opportunity for a turning point as we move forward in this race.
COOPER: If it gets to a situation of hospitals overwhelmed as one of the officials from Trump administration has indicated it could get there quite quickly. You know, just as you said with Katrina, who in leadership is a hustler, and what they say isn't true. And who is actually telling the truth? That becomes much more important and much clearer, to your point, in an emergency when life and death is actually hang in the balance. DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right. You can't
spin biology. And you look at the doubling time of this virus. We are talking about six days between when you start with one case to two, a thousand to 2,000. So this is coming.
I will say that I think campaigns have started to really focus on this. Whether it be their operations and thinking about how do you push a digital-focused campaign, which you can do with the Internet? But also, in terms of showing leadership. Senator Sanders held a -- a roundtable on this issue just yesterday, bringing together a group. And I will admit I was on that roundtable, to talk about, specifically, the science.
And I will say, you know, his directive to us was speak to the science. What would competent leadership look like?
And I also want to just make sure we all understand this. We draw this false dichotomy between politics and public health. As if dealing with science and focusing science and bringing science to the fore, isn't a matter of politics, right? There are politicians who choose to do and there are politicians who choose not to.
So we have got a responsibility to understand where politics does meet public health.
[18:55:04]
And have a thoughtful, coherent conversation that admits that public health can be political. And, at the same time, drives the science forward and demands our leaders pay attention to it.
COOPER: We are closing in on the first poll closings of the night. Our special coverage continues right after this.
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