Count, and Campaign Coverage with all of the candidates located in one place. It is free, easy to use. Its all there at cspan. Org campaign2020. Floridaer today, Governor Ron Desantis held a News Conference in tallahassee on the States Coronavirus response efforts. Speaking from the Emergency Operations center, the governor announced the establishment of drivethrough testing states and provided an update on the number of tests performed. Gov. Desantis good afternoon. Theres still a lot that we dont necessarily know about this virus, but i think one thing we have known for a relatively decent amount of time is that it tends to target those who are elderly and those who are immunocompromised or have other underlying medical conditions. And so with that knowledge, both the federal government, with the cms guidelines, as well as the state of florida, with the guidelines put out by our secretary, have been very clear about the need for people who are operating Nursing Homes and assisted living facilities to protect their residence. Twortheless, there are now confirmed deaths from the same als in Broward County. Site,e got 96 on the als 123 on the independent site. There are seven positive cases total. Two of the positives are deceased. Five positives are from the als side and two are from the independent side. Pending. Are with the investigation found out is that construction workers, staff, and those who were ill were not screened and were allowed to go work their jobs and mix with the residents unimpeded. That is exactly what you are not supposed to do. Will beaw enforcement there to help monitor the situation. Weve requested the cdc to imbed a control pressure list specialist onsite. We have staff and facility aroundtheclock. But if you are an operator of one of these facilities, you need to take responsibility to protect your residence. This is a virus that is in certain communities spreading in florida. Robert is one of them. And you need to take broward is one of them. And you need to take action. Tothe other hand, im proud report we announced the launching of a drivethrough test site in Broward County in conjunction with Memorial Health care and the Florida National guard. Aboutwas very measured what to expect because most of these sites that try to lunch dont endup launch up working out. But im happy to report that as of 4 00, the initial goal was to do to do 50 samples and theyve 250 samples and theyve already collected over 400 samples on their first day. This is in pembroke pines, florida, and really the only thing you can do is go into the main gate. Hours of operation, 9 00 a. M. Through 5 00, started today, friday, march 20. There are backlogs with the private labs. Memorial health lab is almost done, but we would love to turn those test results as soon as possible. This is something where they go in, they get screened. If they passed the initial screening, they go to step two. They fill out the registration. Theres a collection. Then they leave in their car and broward memorial will run the lab. Upwould like to scale this and hopefully replicate it around the state because i really think that the number one thing that we need is just a lot more people to have been tested. If we have that, i think we would be able to make some more informed choices. , thankeral government you mr. President , has sent three packs, basically readymade test sites. The one in jacksonville is here and ready to go. Theres about 2500 swabs and that is not going to be run by the federal government. That is supposed to open tomorrow. Baptistd i have helped in jacksonville. We provided swabs so they are doing some drivethrough testing as well. I think you are starting to see Real Movement on this, which is exciting. At theworking at a lunch villages, big drivethrough testing sites. They are not going to be driving automobiles. They will be driving their golf carts. But we think having high volume testing there would be very good. So, expanding testing continues to be one of the highest priorities of our response and we are going to continue to do it. I put out a number of different executive orders today. One of the ones involved Restaurant Service in florida. We had restricted that, initially statewide, but did allow limited sit in as long as they were spaced out enough enough swear someone couldnt affect enough where someone couldnt infect someone else. Sometimes families need a place to go. The vast majority of restaurants did it. Some didnt and its the type of thing we dont have time to police that, so we are going to take out and delivery only, which is somewhat unfortunate because its going to be hard for some of these restaurants to survive in this environment. The one way we can help is i have waived applicable regulations, and we will allow the restaurants to deliver alcohol deliveries, as well. We stop theause bars on st. Patricks day, a lot of people have bought a lot of good stuff for that night. We are waving regulations to allow them to sell it back because the retailers, there is big demand for this. Some of these Small Businesses were able to do that. We are trying to help as best we can, weve got to do what is safe for everybody. We also issued an executive order, stopping elective and unnecessary surgeries. Part of this is you dont want those elective surgeries to take too much space in the hospital. Search, if theres a to have more surge, more beds available. Protectivesonal equipment is in such short supply, we need to make sure all our Health Care Providers are saving their ppe and using them for potential covid19 patients. And so the executive order goes into effect immediately. As signed an executive order to waive requirements so officials can do their duties without impediment. Im also working on a plan. We did the virtual semester for the universities. And the hope is that the students that actually go back to their homes and do it from there. Unfortunately, a lot of them were at the universities, going to bars. Then we close the bars and they started going to fraternity houses. We want them to go back. They can take classes, virtually. Some of the people who do that will have refunds or credits due if they havent used their food Service Payments or the room,s o were going to work on refunding that doing theyre doing remote learning, they dont need to pay room and board. Im also happy to report that the first Small Business bridge loans have been approved by the department of economic opportunity. We had full press apparel and jersey mikes subs, Small Business owners for both of those in tallahassee. Theyre relieving loans. A very quick three day review process after the program was activated monday. And for government work, it doesnt get any quicker than that. I want to thank ken lawson for what hes doing. Were also working hard on reemployment assistance. Its going to be tough for a lot of people. Some people have been asking about the numbers. The department of until the week is out to put the numbers out. If you go back two weeks, you saw an increase last week, and an even bigger spike this week. But ive directed ken to no longer claim register to actively seek employment. Obviously were in a situation where its going to be tough before the dust settles. Were also going to waive penalties for employers for any type of registration with the system. Right now, there is a perverse incentive an employer may have to keep an employee on the payroll. Therefore preventing them from seeking unemployment exists assistance. We want to remove unintentional gamesmanship. Finally, some of the work requirements, which im supportive of in this environment, wed rather get the relief to people. The department of health has over 700 School Nurses ready to help with the covid19 response. Theyre doh employees. They can be employed in their communities since school is out, and we really appreciate all that theyre doing. Now,e have had, close to as we sit here today, a little over 9000 tests that have been conducted between the doh labs and the private laboratories. So there is a pretty steep increase, and we officially want to continue to scale that up. The latest numbers, so we had a total of 520 cases, 474 photo residence. There will be an up florida residents. There will be an update later tonight. 113 inal in robert, miamidade. You do have some in other parts of the state, but i think the way we look at it is if were able to get these testing supplies where we needed to go, and you have a county that had 510 positives, we have an opportunity to isolate, trace test,ntext, test, test, kind of a south korea model. Thats the good news. The bad news in proper date is that its broward dade is that its spreading across the community. In broward, 57 have documented to be travel related, and 52 have been a know in known contact with a covid patient. 20, andl have a dozen hat range. In tah related,e, 44 travel and 30 with a known contact of covid19. So, again, you have a majority were you can trace, but then you have some of these other cases. So, were tracking all of this. We have thousands of pending test results. Based on today, that number is going to continue to grow. I think there is progress being made. I think a lot of people, its a difficult time for folks. If you look at california, new york doing things that are really extraordinary, and things we havent seen in this country in a long time. People dont know what surround the corner. They dont really understand what this virus can mean. The thing i want to say is this is not going to be easy, but we will get through it. Were going to work hard together as a community and were going to come out of this on the others stronger than we are now. I can tell you, people around the state are working incredibly hard on the response. You know, if you look at what our Health Care Professionals are doing, this is the equivalent of the navy seals going to go get bin laden. This is big time, all hands on deck. They are working selflessly and tirelessly. So are our first responders. A lot of folks at the local level and our local governments have been doing a great job. Folks up here have been doing well. And in the federal government, the president , the Vice President , and their task force. They are working around the clock, as well. I just want to thank everyone for their efforts and let floridians know were in it together. Were going to get through it. Its not going to be easy, but we will get through it, and wel l be there for you. With that, ill take some questions. I have a question. Theyre concerned people arent following quarantine measures. Theyre asking why you havent instituted mandatory quarantine. Actually,tis well, so the people that are self isolating. That would be a question for the Surgeon General. You want to address that . Its actually essential for someone with covid19 that they have to selfisolate. If we become aware of an individual who is out and about, we will issue a quarantine. Thank you. They dont have the teeth were now because its a voluntary quarantine. So, the guy who got on the jetblue flight from new york, he tested positive, he gets on the flight. Jetblue banned him for life, which i think is good. He lands and he wasnt going to selfisolate. He canthe sheriff issue a quarantine order. Were willing to do that. So, Law Enforcement has people who are supposed to selfisolate, particularly those who are infected. Give youow and well the tools to be able to enforce an order like that. For a guy to get on a plane like that and want to go out in the community afterward, i mean come on. You got to do a better job than that. Were getting a lot of calls from people who work in retail establishments that want to wear protective masks or protective gloves as they deal with customers, yet their employees are telling them they cant do that because they dont want to scare the customers. Do you want to weigh in on that . Gov. Desantis i think people should be able to protect themselves. If you look at what south korea did, they did not do a shut down the way weve kind of done in the United States. What they did was, they protected the folks that were the most vulnerable. They tested, tested, tested, but then they protected themselves. You have people wearing the masks and going to work, and i just think employee safety is paramount. A situation now if this were a month ago or a year ago, people would be like, what are you doing . But i think people understand the environment were in. I would just say keep people safe. Obviously youve seen some businesses take a hit, but we still have a lot of employees out there and i know a lot of them in a variety of industries have concerns. So i would just say safety is important and its really the Smart Business decision, because if you have an employee that gets infected, then youve got to isolate other people. Its not going to be good for your business either. Speaking of masks, we have by march 25, well have 1, 250,000 masks. We have is they want to push that out to our Health Care Providers and personnel. But the mask issue and the ppe, account, the gallons, there there is the gowns, major shortage of this stuff. Theyre going at it every day, putting themselves at risk with this. And thats not an easy feeling. Some of the other things they can be exposed to, they know about it. We dont know about this. There is no vaccine. We dont have an antiviral. We appreciate what theyre doing. Governor, you mentioned before about being aware that people arent going to shut in forever. After a while, theyll start to get just too tired of this. How essential is this, the testing part of it, then, to have that done in a quick and timely matter . There going to be another curve gov. Desantis right, so doing this stuff theres a limited duration that the society is going to be able to do it. Thats just the reality. How long . Maybe people can disagree. One of the reasons i say you have to practice social distancing, but you dont have to necessarily shut in to any four hours a day because i think 24 hours a day because i think thats a more sustainable model. The villages, and obviously thats a demographic threatened by this, the t sheets are filled on the golf course. But what theyre doing is, they wipe down the cart. Only one person sits in the cart. They dont shake hands. They practice social distancing in every aspect, but are at least able to get out, have fun while abiding by these restrictions. Theyre not going to get sick if they follow these guidelines. I think thats a more sustainable model if people have the ability to do things in a safe way. That all being said, the more you test, the less restrictive some of these things will need to be on society. South korea never did a lockdown because they did over 200,000 tests. The understood where the virus had gone and they were able to contain it amongst a large group of people. We had not the data to do that. We were in a situation the virus was here. Initially, people were only allowed to get tested if they had been to china or Something Like that. That has obviously broadened, and as we get more supplies, were going to be able to broaden it even more. Thats going to be a huge help. Any of these mitigation measures will be more targeted, and i think kind of less harmful for society. But theres a lot of angst. The kids are not in school. And then parents are going to that,r doing this, doing maybe a parent loses a job. Theres just a lot of angst at their. If we can do that out there. If we can do this in a way that gives people an outlet, within the context of being safe, were better for it. Ive been speaking to experts and youre in a position where youre balancing 14th amendment rights with the need to protect the public. How much of that goes into your strategy to have a mandate like ohio and illinois and indiana . Gov. Desantis part of that, though, is that i want to do things that will be followed and will be affect if. And if you go effective. And if you go to heart, people will too hard, people will rebel against it. Governors have Serious Police powers. Im not somebody that likes, necessarily, wielding that. I dont want to tell anyone what to do. Thats my nature. But in this situation, youve got to do it. Weve laid down some mandates. At the end of the day, i can issue a mandate. But if the local communities, folks dont want to enforce it, its toothless. If local electives are saying re not going to have this, so if were all on the same page, we have a chance to make progress. But its not because of power, not power. A lot of what these governors are doing, traditionally in american history, they do wield a power that the federal government does not possess under a limited constitution. The states have that residual power. The amount of tests to get done each day, or a certain amount by a certain deadline . It doesnt sound like gov. Desantis so, do we have enough test kits that would lead to that . We dont have enough collection swabs. We have an order thats supposed to be filled for half a million swabs. The government is sending stuff, which is great. Some of the hospitals are getting some, too. But if we were getting swabs in, we would push that out and get rationed as soon as possible. Weve been getting it in dribs and drabs. Helpful,000, which is but if i could get more, we could start running through people. Ive said this before. We could also then launch diagnostic sentinel programs, where we just want, hey, if y oure h 2535 and youve had a sniffle, come through. And we can be able to use that. I mean, we really dont know. I have two young kids. I think its clear a kid can get it. Is not clear whether a kid can transmit or not. Know,ats important to especially when they go back to school. The testing capacity, i think, would allow us to really defeat it, in a way that without is going to be much were difficult. I have a question for the secretary, maybe. Gov. Desantis sure. You mentioned facilities. If there were five residents that tested positive, but would be the protocol for testing the rest of the residents . Im really going to defer to the Surgeon General because this falls under the department of health. Yeah, thank you. When we become aware of this we will send in a strike team, a nurse, an epidemiologist, Infection Control specialist, and someone from avca and we will go doortodoor. We did this last week. We will check every resident for their temperature, major they were well, isolated, that they had proper d contamination a decontamination and protocols in place. And if we found a resident that was ill, we would find someone with medical attention. I cant emphasize enough we have to keep covid out of these facilities. We have to make sure workers going in there are screened. We need to make sure contractors going there are screened. And we actually have a command center where if the facility has a concern, they can call us 24 hours a day, and we will send in teams. Thank you. Gov. Desantis also, i havent addressed it yet, but you see the reporting coming out of the origination of this virus and the actions of the Chinese Government to try and cover it up, rp skate, and not do the types of things that could have been done to save the world from having to face it. And i can tell you that, given their actions and given what has happened here and will continue to happen hopefully not too much longer, their view, however view them will never be the same. Theyve never been terribly popular as a country here, but i think that we have got to hold china accountable. Weve got to look at how were making things. We cant have a hostile country be dependent on a hostile country for key things that we may need in an emergency. I just think that youre going to see a seachange in how china is discussed in american politics, and rightfully so. They think some of the comments made by some members of congress, especially in the floor delegation, or hindering efforts in terms of stirring up the masses, and explains of why didnt you shut down beaches or this and that . Gov. Desantis i wouldnt know because i havent followed the stuff they do. People are going to church. Thats the weight chirp. Thats the way politicians are. This is more challenging than a hurricane, so were just going to keep going. Everything weve done is in consultation with local governments and all these issues and were trying to strike the right balance and get different policies for different parts of the state, given the challenges youre facing. And weve been able to work with people, whether theyre republican or democrat. Were there to serve. Were not there to play politics. I wouldnt expect much more from members of congress, frankly, but im going to let them chirp and im going to work. Theres been a couple requests from lawmakers to extend deadlines on different things, basically a moratorium on evictions, certain payments i think Corporate Income tax came into it. Have you heard any of that . Have those requests gotten to you . Any more of that . Gov. Desantis i dont know specifically what requests weve received, but were interested in looking at any action we can take that will get us through this, hopefully shortterm, but difficult period. And we understand how government policy at the federal, state, and local level have caused some of the Business Interruption here, and whether thats an individual worker or business, we have to look at everything we can to make it as smooth as possible to get on the others of this. I think we can come back really strong. Weve got a lot of great things coming on in the state, but this is not something thats going to happen overnight. Its going to require hard work. If folks are negatively impacted, i think the least we can do is see the lay of the land. We have done a bunch of stuff already, but if theres more to do, im interested in helping. Thanks. We are joined on the phone by councilman Richie Torres. Is a new York City Councilman and he has tested positive for the corona 19 covid19 coronavirus. First question is, how are you feeling . I am actually feeling fine. On saturday, my chief of staff developed serious symptoms, coughing, fever, vomiting, nausea, and he went to see a doctor, underwent testing, and found out he had the coronavirus, and since i had extensive contact with them, i underwent testing and came to discover monday evening that i tested positive. Since then, i have been isolated in my apartment and ive directed my campaign and government staff to isolate themselves in order to avoid spreading the virus. I have a 60yearold mother who struggles with chronic conditions, and the coronavirus could be fatal to people like my mother. Host how long do you have to stay self isolated . Guest about two weeks. Should have i developed an immunity. Host has your physician given you guidance in terms of what to do to treat it . Guest as far as i know, there are no antiviral or vaccinations, so i have to quarantine myself for two weeks and then i will reach out to my doctor. Host your symptoms are minimal, you say you are feeling fine. Meanwhile, your chief of staff is very ill. How is he or she feeling . Guest he is improving. His symptoms were worse over the weekend but he has been recovering successfully ever facts about my case, i am the youngest member of the new York City Council at 32, i am a millennial, and if you are young, and a millennial, it is tempting to lull yourself into a false sense of security, but that could not be farther from the truth. There are thousands of young people who could be spreading the virus without even knowing and could be spreading the virus to those with compromised immune systems. The mortality rate for the Novel Coronavirus could be as high as 16 for those at or above the age of 80. Host your guidance, reflected headline, younger adults are a large percentage of coronavirus hospitalizations, according to new cdc data. The city of new york, a week or so ago, the state of new york called for ending all assemblies over 500, closed the theaters on broadway, and shortly thereafter, the mayor called for closing all of restaurants in the city. How do you gauge the response of the governor and mayor in terms of the measures they have taken to stop the spread of the virus . Guest the governors leadership has been exceptional. Priority seems to be in the right place which is to build capacity in the hospital system. The highest priority is the stability of the hospital system. I am in favor of a shelterinplace. My position is that we are facing the greatest pandemic in a century and it is better to extremehe side of caution an overreaction because if we do too little, too late, the Health Care System is going to be overwhelmed, and i am concerned about what is unfolding in italy. System there is dangerously overburdened, and there is a famous image of a nurse collapsing face down from exhaustion. Die,nts have been left to funerals have been postponed, and we have to do Everything Possible to prevent that kind of nightmare scenario, especially in new york city which is become the epicenter. Host what do you think is the biggest medical need . Guest ventilators. We have a dangerous shortage of ventilators and if we run out of ventilators, then doctors are going to be in the nightmare position of deciding who gets to live and who gets to die. Host what is the city or state doing to get more . Guest we have a limited stockpile. That is why we need the federal government to mobilize its resources to manufacture more ventilators. Infusionately need an of support from the federal government and the state and local governments cannot do it on their own, and we are all dangerously ill prepared for the pandemic which could affect as much as 60 of the population. Host congressman Richie Torres rescouncilman ritchie tor joining cspans washington journal live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up saturday morning, arthur evans, ceo of the American Psychological association, will discuss stress and coping strategies during the coronavirus endemic. An reuters correspondent David Shepherdson will be on. Hell talk about what the federal government may do to stabilize the airline and auto industry. Be sure to watch cspans washington journal 7 00 eastern. Join the discussion. To follow the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak at cspan. Org coron avirus. Track the spread throughout the u. S. And the world through interactive maps and charts. Watch briefings and hearings with Public Health specialist anytime, unfiltered, at cspan. Org coronavirus. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced stricter measures due to the coronavirus and canada. He said the u. S. Canadian border would be closed by the end of the day for nonessential travel. Were ineau discussion with Canadian Airlines to help canadians started abroad come home. We will have more details to share, but the first flight will be picking up canadians from morocco this weekend. As i announced wednesday, canada and the United States have agreed to stop nonessential travel, specifically for tourism and recreation
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