Need to be disciplined to continue social distancing, which we are doing in washington. Peter what are you telling the california, nevada, and what you have learned being the first to deal with the pandemic . Ee i think weve been disciplined as a state and we have huge compliance with my stay home, stay healthy order. We have been relatively early in our decisions to declare emergency and close schools, and then have our stay home, Stay Healthy Initiative. That did help to bend the curve, we have a long ways to go in my state. It is not like i have something to offer any other governor. We are all sharing experiences. The one thing we have learned is take care ofre to longterm care facilities. These things can explode, and im glad we are putting strike teams in our state to go to facilities to make sure we have the topnotch Infection Control and to be early in that regard. You saw thatrse, firsthand in kirkland, washington, at a nursing home facility. Why was that hotspot so early . Is. Inslee you know, there research that is continuing to figure that out. It was early. Im sure these lessons we have earned in Infection Control, the thing that is unusual, or at least from our observations, it was not the worst longterm care facility, yet, it ran rampant. I think that people have learned lessons from that experience, surely other Nursing Homes have. This rapidlyt putting limitations so visitors could not go into a longterm care facility. That is one lesson we took in our state, and other states, as well, to try to keep the virus out of longterm care facilities. That is the first line of defense. To have really strong testing on are tested andey their temperature is taken and thelike, and then you have topnotch, worldclass infection protocols, which we have been trained in Nursing Homes to prevent that right now. There is another thing we have desperately needed, and that is adequate testing capability to test people, and particularly at staff in Nursing Homes. We have not had that because we have not had the test kits to sample everyone. That is why i have been so adamant that we needed the president weeks ago to start a National Program to manufacture the testing supplies. We have tilt analytical capability in our state and analyzed 20,000 tests a day, but you only test 4000 because of lack of supplies. I am glad the president has finally come around a bit on this. It is now helping us. We got good news today that the federal government is going to deliver about half a million of these swabs to us, which we desperately need. We will address in longterm care facilities and other places. Peter lets look at the number of cases, courtesy of john hopkins university, in Washington State, just over 14,000 with 801 confirmed deaths. We will get to your phone calls in a moment. If you are in Washington State, 202 7488002. Governor, i would like to go it iso your point about compared to game of thrones, where one state competes with another for testing or ventilators. Why was that system in place to begin with . Was anslee well, there universal cry for help from republican and democratic governors to try and come up with a more National Procurement strategy. The reason for that is that we were just bidding against each wherever in the world we could find supplies. Why didnt that start out of the gate . This is not a partisan statement but an accurate one. The president decided, what he described it, he thought it was the meaning to them to be thought of as a shipping clerk. We thought that was the most exalted position in america and to really come up with a National Plan for procurement. He refused to do that for weeks. That was disappointing to the public in and democratic governors, and particularly a problem with testing supplies. We have now had some help in the ppe. The federal government has helped to some degree getting ppe, but even as late as the first time we got help from the federal government on the swabs when we were told we had some coming to Washington State, and we really need the federal government to get in this game because we need the mobilization of the Manufacturing Committee i cannot order a company to make swabs, and the president can under the defense production act. I think they have finally come around, and the Vice President has been good talking to me another governors and various governors are pitching in. The wheel is starting to crank, and we need it as quickly as we can. Peter lets go to michael in brooklyn, new york. You are on the air with governor inslee in washington. Good evening. Caller good evening. Thank you for cspan. Tot is your response reopening Washington State . And im also wondering the next step in crossing the horizons. Gov. Inslee i missed the last part. We will get back to that, but we have started some things in our state. We started back up ongoing construction and hunting and fishing. We have a more aggressive position on that than virtually other states, but we are now in a position where we have the vitals to come down a bit and that has allowed some reopening. Inave announced a phased approach, or we will phase in our businesses reopening. We are continuing our stay home, stay healthy order after may 4. It will continue. Yesterday we went through the dials and metrics we look at, and there are over a dozen metrics we look at. Once those metrics get to a low enough level where we are confident to contain the virus, very will start this phase in approach and i will lay out detailed tomorrow. Two conditions need to exist to really start that process. Number one, we have to get the numbers down low enough so we are confident we can contain them with what you might think is the smart weapons of testing and Contact Tracing, and isolation. It is a onetwo punch against the virus to get the numbers down and then bring in bigtime testing and an army of Contact Tracing folks. Have people who will go out when a person is infected and to look at everyone they have been in contact with, get them tested and isolated as necessary, and we are using about 700 members of the Washington National guard and parts of that. That will be a very, very critical effort. I did not understand the second question. Peter actually, we will move on because mike is on the phone from kenmore, washington. Caller hello. I was wondering, you have allowed us to play golf on the fifth of may into sums, and i was wondering if you are theidering allowing more in logic behind two if we are in separate carts . Just one of my questions. Peter thank you, mike. Gov. Inslee if you are in the same household, you can be in a foursome. The logic of this is we need to reduce the physical interactions of people, and what the epidemiologist will tell you is any increase in physical interaction is the risk of increasing transmission, so it is the matter of scale and scope. We are starting the process with two sums and eventually it will grow. We are hopeful people can enjoy a good game with one person and get back to three little bit later in the progress. The theory as we are going to and we are not turning a light switch a dial, and we have turned it to twosomes and then foursomes as soon as we get to a position where we are safe to go to to the normal way of doing business. Peter if you were to write a headline for your speech tomorrow and your agenda for moving ahead in Washington State, what will you be saying . Gov. Inslee well, i would say first off, we are headed in the right direction. We have had good success and have been to the curb as much or more as other states. We do think we are on the downhill slope but tomorrow what im going to say is how we are going to really bring back, and what stages, and what industries are the first we can bring back. When we do so, what are the general protocols about how to do so . Whatve people a sense of the sequencing we are to bring back the full economy of the state of washington. The exact time period of that, we will talk about that tomorrow, but it is largely dependent on the course of the virus. As i have said, we have had a dozen metrics we talked about yesterday. If anyone has insomnia, they can go watch me talk about those for one hour. We look atuation that looks at all the great data, and the modeling, and we are fortunate in washington because we have some of the best geneticist and modelers in the world, and we are fortunate for that. And we feature some of them on the program from the university of washington. Back to phone calls, sophia is up next in the bronx and new york. Caller hi, steve, how are you . Thank you for accepting my call. The way Governor Cuomo has been handling their job in new york is great. In new york, and especially in the bronx, five blocks down for me, it is almost like it is. Nother world the people they died, they say they estimated it is about 1000 people. Works, they wear the gloves, they were the masks, say to you isg to my daughter is in a alexandria, virginia, and is an architect, and my son is in maryland. He is a computer engineer. Please, will you decide to open it . We decide to open it to the way mayor de blasio and Governor Cuomo [indiscernible] host i will leave it there. Thank you for your call. Are you finding that people are adhering to the guidelines you put in place, including face coverings on the rest . We have had broad compliance with their order, and it has been gratifying to see that. The reason we have enabled able to bend our curve down is have beenshingtonians by massive percentages. I have hardly seen washingtonians united as much as this. It is really something to be proud of. The only legal action we have had to take about people not withying was attorney people violating the nonpayment of rent and the moratoriums. That has been successful, but it will be tough. We are going to have to buckle down, and we are going to have to help each other remain distanced. I shared what the lady was going through. We are feeling the pain in new york. We have not had as many people and i just learned of a friend losing and uncle here this afternoon. We are all in this together. I want to thank Governor Cuomo, who has been a good voice for governors across the United States in so many different ways. Host our next call is from washington. Are on the phone with their governor. Caller hello, governor inslee. I am curious based on our numbers throughout the state and are death rates, and being that level of 50on the states in deaths and infections, when do you anticipate opening portions or how do you anticipate opening portions of county wise so counties can have revenue so they can generate the revenue and those people out of work can start work . I am a contractor myself, and im curious to know your timeline for opening our state backup. Host thank you. Gov. Inslee i know that you had a hiatus in your construction work, and im glad we have gotten the ongoing work started up again. My son is in construction, carpenter, and i want to thank the construction industry. They have been designing the protocol to return to work safely. We hope that will be a template for other industries as we bring them back. We will talk about this more tomorrow as to the timing, but basically what we want to do is to get the numbers down of infections per day, percentages of new hospitalizations, percentages of positive tests, amount of daily totalitys, the number of tests have to be high enough so we can really test, and get those numbers in a position that this will not rebound. I believe the best thing we can do to make sure businesses can permanently reopen is to make sure we do this right once instead of having to do it twice. I do not want to tell half to shut down businesses in july and august because we let off too soon right now and may. Decisions. Make tough i hope they will be successful so we do not have to go through this agony again. My son was laid off. We know how tough that is in construction and everything else. I hope we will be successful in this. Host i want to go back to the economic impact. For the residents in your state without Health Insurance, what are the options . Gov. Inslee im really glad we have obamacare available to people, in addition to medicaid, and we encourage people if they lose their Health Insurance to look at the options on the exchange and the Medicaid Program and their children. Beenlad my state has vigorous in expanding coverage availability, and we have now up the first public option in the United States. We believe health care is a right, and i encourage people to look at those potential options, but the best thing to do is get people back to work and make sure they stay back at work. That is why we are dedicated to making sure we are successful this time and do not have to go through this, again for health care or otherwise. Host you were the first governor to declare a state of emergency. When was that . Gov. Inslee was it march 11 . Maybe . Im not sure exactly. It could have been the 11th, or it might have been earlier than that because it might have been new e of the host the dates all rent together, dont they . Gov. Inslee listen, when you are a governor, you are hopping pretty quickly. Host lets get to jane in creston, iowa. Caller good evening. Thank you for your honesty and being able to tell the facts to the american people. I appreciate it. I want to know what you thought about the meatpacking plants in iowa that have terrible conditions in making people work. Gov. Inslee well, i have a lot of thoughts and feelings for the people who work there. These folks really work hard. They put food on the table, obviously, and they have to work in difficult situations on the best of days. We all need to buckle down to get them personal Protection Equipment that you need, and this is one of the reasons why i have been fairly assertive that we needed the federal government to start making ppe so everyone could have it. Our nurses have not even had access to ppe for some period of time, so we need to ramp up the manufacturing capacity in the United States so that those workers can have the protection that they deserve. They also have to have testing capability. We ought to be able to test everyone in these circumstances who have to work close together. To do that, we have to have why iand, again, this is tried to get the president to activate that. We want to do that as quickly as possible. This is also important for those of us who like to eat, which is a High Percentage of washingtonians in america, so keeping that food supply is necessary. We are working in my state and we have some meatpacking issues but also in our orchards and fields to try and get farmworkers to get decent housing so they do not have to travel and buses that are dangerous, so we are working on a rule that will essentially require workers to have safe housing and transportation. These folks are some of the hardest working people in america. They deserve a safe place to work. Host we welcome our listeners on cspan radio. We are talking with governor inslee, democrat, from olympia, washington. I want to talk about the statement by Mitch Mcconnell that states should declare bankruptcy if they need to. Can you declare bankruptcy . Gov. Inslee we should not even have to think about that. That a u. S. Senator would think that is a solution to this problem is astounding. Recent few years, we have heard a lot about sounding things a lot of outstanding things, and this talk has to be hugely ridiculed because you look at the services, estates are not some sort of hypothetical group. Gettinggroup about people in schools, providing Police Protection and you cannot provide those services adequately as a bankrupt facility. What he is really saying when you drill it down a seat wants to take away the pensions and Retirement Benefits from people who dedicated their working toto Public Servants public service. I think that is an amazing slap in the face against teachers, state troopers, Public Health workers that dedicated their lives. You basically said we really do not care about those people and retirement. That is what Mitch Mcconnell is saying. I find that more than aggravating. I do not believe it is going to happen, so im glad people are standing up against it. Host our next caller is lisa from seattle. Thank you for waiting period caller hello, governor. I am a Small Business owner and i provide housing inside seattle. I have two questions. One, do you have plans to help out those Small Business landlords who are not receiving rent from their tenants . Specifically, with the seattle city council, there are members who have supported the rent strike. What is your opinion about the city of Seattle Councilmembers telling people to not pay their rent . Proposedee i have not such an article is governor of state of washington. The best thing i can do is to get people back to work. When they get back to work, these people can pay rent. Dedicated to that. That is something i will talk about tomorrow in our rebuilding program to get people back to work. Im eager to do that. I know this sounds a longterm sure weut i am making do this stay home, Stay Healthy Initiative one time and get through this and we will not have to take people off the work september, and not having rent paid to you. So that is what we are focused on right now so everyone can become economically healthy, including folks who provide housing. And thist know is an interesting question about your eligibility for some of the federal funds. I would think you would be eligible for that, and we will make sure. We would like to make sure you can take advantage of it. Host mark on the phone from lynnwood, washington. Good evening. Caller good evening. Inslee. Ensley mr. I have a similar question. I own a duplex and rent the other side. The tenant is not paying rent, and i depend on that rent to pay my mortgage and the property taxes, insurance, all of that. I am at risk of losing my house because he is not paying me rent. He filed for unemployment because he got laid off on the lockdown, and he got denied his unemployment because he cheated the last time and over claimed, so he has no income, and i have torent, and i just want understand, is the state of washington going to assume any liability if they say the renters do not have to pay rent . Gov. Inslee well, we are not saying that. We have not eliminated the rental obligation. We have simply said people cannot be evicted right now during this temporary emergency that would have created a lot more homelessness, but that moratorium has not eliminated the contractual obligation ultimately to make payments. I should also point out for your mortgage, we have been successful by and large obtaining a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures, as well. Your description, both your renter and yourself are not going to be homeless because of this. Both of you will have some obligation. He will have an obligation to pay rent ultimately, and you will have an obligation ultimately to pay her mortgage, but we have made sure neither one of you become homeless right now. That is something we have got to except in this emergency situation. I hope that works out for both of you, and that is what the state is doing now. Host host from tampa, florida, rudy, you are on the air with governor inslee of Washington State. Caller thank you to cspan for putting me in touch with the governor. Governor, i have a daughter who goes to the university of washington and getting her masters in communications, and she is also working for a particular department in the city of seattle. First of all, she sings your praises for the job you have been doing, and you are the first one because of the way this situation hit your particular state first, so you are kind of leading. And i have been following her lead from what she gets from you and what the state is doing from what i have to do here in florida, so i thank you for that , and i thank you, as she does for the job you have been doing in leading washington down this tough road. The question is, how does the with work in cooperation the metro cities in your state and preparing a budget so that as you open up the cities to the Different Things the cities need to be prepared for, how does the state work with a major city like seattle in being able to budget since you are not getting any help from the federal government . Thank you for the job you are doing. Gov. Inslee congratulations to your daughter. And wea husky, as, stick together, so maybe that is why she has been kind to me, but i wish her well. Talkedst step is we have closely with the cities and seattle to try and coordinate activities. We would still like to maintain and remain hopeful that congress will eventually help the states and cities because we just provide such essential services. Government has the physical ability to do things we cannot, including the ability to do deficit spending. Frankly, at the moment, since we are on the precipice of economic c, i will not say disaster but major challenges, both republican and democratic governors believe that it would be a good thing for the federal government to help state and local communities more than they have to keep these essential services going. If we look at a multibilliondollar goal and counties are in that same situation, we just cannot stop educating our children, stop releasing the roads, or stop putting out forest fires. That is unacceptable, so we are hoping congress can take another look at this and help states at least as much as they help the los angeles lakers. We hope that is going to happen. Host the Senate Returns on monday. The house is expected to return sometime in may. In our returning minute, barbara, you are next from longview, washington. Caller thank you. Good afternoon. I have a question regarding the 2020 graduations and the students. I know it is a terrible time and theyve done a good job as far as closing down the schools and everyone keeping their distance in town. The question is if these students can have their distancing and the safety issues in the stadium filled, and just the class with no spectators, and the principal, if they could conduct a Graduation Ceremony there so they are all together as a class and they, the kids, are measured out with at least 16 feet in but between them six feet in between them, and they would be able to do it as a class and all the parents and everyone, they are fine and we will watch it on television, but let the kids be together . Gov. Inslee you know, we have had to make some tough decisions, one of which is to prevent large gatherings of people, and the reason is we have found social distancing sounds great in the abstract, but it is difficult to achieve it with large groups of people. You cannot figure out which person is supposed to move to get to six feet, you or me. I do not think in the short term will happen in washington, but i do believe that as the summer goes on, there will be opportunities for gatherings physically for people and we will have great graduations electronically. I just think congratulation to the cougars on their graduation and i think our kids are going to be resilient enough to look at this as an experience that will give them some strength and resilience and some pride in what they have been able to achieve. I think a little later in the summer, hopefully there will be a time where they can get back together and enjoy seeing their friends physically hurt i remain hopeful about that. Host governor j friends physically. I remain hopeful about that. Host governor inslee, thank you for being with us on the washington journal. Thank you, please wash her hands. Bidens campaign would not butuss the msnbc interview, his top advisers have been discussing for days how to handle the matter