On cspans cumin day. Joining us from little rock is arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson. Thank you for being with us. Guest it is great to be with you any great to be on cspan again. Host new job numbers out today showing an estimated 3 million americans filing for unemployment this week alone. What has been the Economic Impact on this pandemic on your state of arkansas . Guest we have taken a serious hit. Whenever you look at the businesses closed for a couple months, you look at the unemployment figures that go up. Whenever you look at those who do not qualify for unemployment, the barbers and salon operators that are struggling, that has been a hit. Businesses,ditional we were not a shelter in place state. We did not issue that order. Many of our Retail Businesses stayed open. The consumers were careful. Many of them stayed home. They did not shop. The spending took a hit during that time. They are starting to come back. People are starting to have some confidence in going out and spending and reengaging in the economy. We took a serious hit but not as bad as it would have been if we laid off another 100,000 or so had we done the shelter in place early on. I think we managed to carefully with a targeted response to the coronavirus to the koba 19 virus, trying to address it, being careful, putting restrictions in place, recognizing we needed to move with our economy and reduce the Economic Impact on so many. Host as you probably know, one of the headlines getting attention, plans for a concert in your state. This is a headline from usa today. How has that been resolved and what was the concert . Guest the concert was travis mccready. Venue. In fort smith at a the challenge was it was coming about before we permitted that type of event in an indoor venue and we did not have it approved by the department of health. They clearly violated our requirements. There was a little bit of a standoff. The proprietors, i think they understood that they should not violate those kind of Health Department regulations. They postponed the concert. We want the music to return. I believe they have rescheduled it for next week. We will look at that from a Health Department standpoint, how of the social distancing have the social distancing in place. Hopefully that concert will go on. It will still be less than one third of their capacity in their venue. Spread out. It will happen. Music will return. I just could not in the timeframe they originally scheduled it for. Host we have been talking with governor larry hogan who has been discussing the hotspots in his state of maryland. Most notably nursing homes. Half of the cases in that state are in nursing homes. What is the situation in arkansas . Guest and has been a challenge for us like other states. We did not at first allow visitors in the nursing home. We go in very quickly. We do all the testing. We do the isolation. Every time we have had an outbreak in a nursing home, we have taken quick action that minimized the spread. It is still a challenge because they are the most vulnerable age group. We have had the number of deaths in there. We are looking at ways to improve the. Were looking at the possibility in theing everyone nursing home staff. We are looking at ways to do that to ensure the safety of the residents and make sure it does not get spread any further. St our line for arkansans, 202 7488002 appeared and other vulnerable group, those in prisons across the state could what have you thought out so far . Guest we have had in outbreak at the maximum security in outbreak at the maximum security facility. We had one at the federal facility in forrest city. This results in 300 and each facility or more have tested positive. We immediately segregate the populations. Those that test positive. Those that test negative. We make sure there is not crosscontamination in that environment. That has passed us enough that we are starting to see them recover and those numbers are going down. Like today, we had about 100 some cases that were tested positive only less than 10 were in the prison populations. We are making the progress that is needed. What we have to do also is control it within the prison. But then you worry about the staff, the officers and others that live in the community and go back and forth. We have an aggressive plan and regime to testing them so it does not get spread into the community. We have a good Health Department that acts very aggressively. Int is our future that whatever venue you are in, if we have positive cases, we have to test, isolate, track them and hopefully reduce the spread to go about our business because we cannot shut down our economy, our education system. We have to learn to live with a certain part of this virus and contain it so that we can go about our lives with a sense of somewhat normalcy even though it will be different. Host we have been hearing from governor andrew cuomo. New york has been a hotspot. He has complained in terms of buying ppe or n95 masks or ventilators, most comparing it to a game of thrones to get the equipment to his state. Are you finding that in arkansas . To, wei have compared it are trying to buy as a state, competing against the federal government, other states and so, it was very difficult and continues to be. Ppe hasay our supply of settled down in the sins of the sufficiency of in this sense of the sufficiency of the supplies are growing every day. We have increased our production in the united states. We have increased the supply chain overseas. Today, it is not the problem it was 30 days ago. We are fairly well positioned right now for ppe in the coming days. We have expanded the use. Now that we have opened our dental offices again, we have opened up our hospitals to surgeries. That results in more use of ppe. We believe we have a better supply chain now then we did 30 and have some confidence it will remain that way in the future. Host what is the biggest lesson you can take away if and when we are hit with a similar pandemic . Is it a governor as a governor dealing with the federal government, what is the biggest lesson . Guest transparency and Clear Communication with the people of our country, our state is absolutely critical. Once they understand, they usually make good judgments. You always have outliers who do large, and they have good information, they make good judgments. Secondly, in terms of lessons learned, the use of the defense production act was a critical tool. It made a difference for ventilators whenever we went in to the supply chain and meat processing. Those were critical steps the government took. Also in terms of the reagents and supplies for testing kits, the federal action in making sure the states had an adequate supply chain for those were critical steps. When you look back, maybe it could have been done earlier. Put those actions in place and made a real difference. Host we will go to brooklyn, wisconsin. You are on with governor hutchinson. Caller good evening. I am so glad to hear how you are talking because you are right on target on a lot of things. I have to admire you. Either you are a republican or democrat, you are a person governor. I like very much what you have said and done. I support you. I support what you are thinking because i am 77 years old. We make mistakes, but we learn from those mistakes. This is a very terrible conflict we are dealing with. I feel that you are doing a great job. You stick to your guns. Remember, you are a governor of people. Not republicans, not democrats. You are the governor of people. You care about peoples lives. I believe strongly that is what you are putting first, is there lives. Guest thank you very much for that encouragement. Let me comment in terms of the partisanship. The virus knows no political boundaries obviously. It has been refreshing to me to see republican governors, democrat governors sharing information, best practices. How does this work . It has brought all of the governors together. So much responsibility has been thrust upon the governors. It has been nice to see that working together atmosphere. I hope that sets a good example for the nation. Host we will go to harold in california. Good evening. Caller good evening. I would like to say to all the i am listening to the hearings on cspan. Everything is about not being prepared. I worked my last three and a half years in maintenance for the city. I would like to say that you need to look at your cities and counties. Time, theyes budget end up throwing a lot of stuff away when they are doing their inventories. If they haveto see stuff left, do not throw it away. Take and have give them a credit for it or give them something so they stop doing that. I have seen respirators and paper and Everything Else thrown away. In the dumps. My son, i was talking to him about it. Said in theme he 1970s, we used to go dumpster diving in the school and get papers and pencils. It has been happening for a long time. The waste needs to stop when cities and counties are pressured on their budgets. Host thank you for the call. Guest that is a very good point. Whenever we look at next year and of course people worry about a resurgence of the virus nobody knows, first of all, but we are trying to plan for it. That planning includes our cities, counties and hospitals. We want to make sure that whenever it recedes, we do not discard our inventory. We want to be able to save it for any possible future needs. We want to be able to make sure our cities and counties are part of the planning effort. Governor hutchinson served in the u. S. House of representatives and in the george w. Bush administration. Our next call is from mountain home, arkansas. You are on the phone with your governor. Caller i have a question. Why are there fewer and fewer masks being worn when initially, there was more when we were told to wear masks . Now that we are reopening, it seems that there are fewer people wearing masks. Guest that is a very good question. Of course, i set the example. I wear a mask when i cannot socially distance. That is something we urged everybody to do. We do not arrest somebody if they do not have a mask on, but what i ask is that the employers set the example in their stores by having the social distancing. They lay out their stores so people can be safe as they shop. They wear masks within the staff. That itself encourages the patrons to wear masks as well. It varies on the store you go into. I have been in some stores that 90 of them will have masks on. You going to others, it is a smaller percent. We continually try to push the message that we want to open up all the businesses. We want to make sure our economy continues to move forward. To do that, we have to be able to contribute our own selfdiscipline. Wearing a mask, social discipline so we do not add to the danger of others and spread the virus. Hopefully we can disciplined in that, but thank you. And the Fitness Centers opened on may 4. Barber opening on may 6. If you go to a restaurant in arkansas tonight, what is it like . Guest good question. I went out to lunch at a dining restaurant today. They are good they are doing an incredible job. All of the staff wear masks. Mask untilwears a the order or the meal is served meal or drink is served. You take the mask off and you enjoy yourself. There has to be social distancing between the tables. Has to be one third occupancy. Some of the restaurants say we cannot operate well when it is one third occupancy. We feel like in phase one, that is necessary. We are anxious to get where they can expand and have more space that is occupied by the dining customers. The owners are delighted to have that opportunity. They are being careful. I went into a restaurant today and they signaled, everybody wash her hands. Wash your hands. They are adding to the safety of the. The challenge is that a lot of people, maybe they are not comfortable to go out. We want people to have confidence in the safety and those measures at the restaurants they go to. Host the latest numbers from Johns Hopkins university in terms of cases in arkansas, just over 4200. The vast majority have recovered. So far, 97 confirmed deaths. A lot of people from your state want to talk to you. John is on the phone from arkansas. Caller good evening. I do not know if you remember me. A few years ago, you came to my high school in wake county. Us. Talked to a couple years down the road, i never expected to be where we are at. There is no stayathome order in arkansas that i know of. Part, the people have been doing a pretty good job. A tremendous rise in cases such as new york or california. Those states are suffering deeply. As you go out, there are some people wearing a mask. There are some people that are not. They have to go out and buy these essential supplies in order to live. They are trying to hang on to the last hopes of life they still can process. Home. Till have to stay at unemployment is rising. I just wondering, as an arkansan , as someone who is speaking for the population of arkansas, is there any way our state can get more tests or more masks that can keep us safe as a people . That can be this light in the shadow to lead this coronavirus effort. Not as a democrat republican but as an american. Our federal government is trying, state governments are trying. We still see the rise in cases. A lot of us are scared for our lives. Are there any encouraging words you can give to us, any information you can give to continue this fight Going Forward . Guest what a great perspective and great question. In your area, there has not been that many cases, but you go a little further north to cleburne county, and we had a breakout because early on, there was a Church Service that a lot of people tested positive from. We learned from that. People, of encouraging first, in terms of testing, which to me is like the radar. That gives us an Early Warning system of where the risk are risks are. We are increasing our testing. This month, we want to do 2 of the population. It will be more widespread and available. That helps us. Secondly, in terms of where we are, you ought to be encouraged by that. As long as people take it seriously, we are able to control this. We are able to go about more normal activity. We all have to set that example of making sure we do not contribute to the spread. I think we are in pretty good shape. We just cannot take it for granted. We have to relying we have to realize how long of a haul this could be. Regional there been a approach with tennessee, alabama, louisiana, texas and arkansas . Are you in coordination to make sure it is not just one state . Guest we communicate regularly and share information, which has been very helpful. We have great governors. Democrat and republican on both sides. Everybody is in a different position. Had a muchour south more to our south had a much more severe number of cases. They even got to the point that we offered to send some of our ventilators to louisiana. In tennessee, they have more population centers. Across our river into memphis, they had some spread. We share information, but everybody is in a different position. We make different judgments. We manage it at your. Own pace. In arkansas, we have been fortunate. I am glad for Good Neighbors who tried to keep a control on it. But also to make sure they do the testing that is necessary and that they are also trying to open up the business. We do watch each other. We have so many border cities. As texas opens up the restaurants, the texarkana arkansas side says, when are we going to open hours . We have those conversations because we are close together. Host we welcome our cspan radio audience. Our guest is Governor Asa Hutchinson who is joining us from the governors residence in little rock, arkansas. Welcome to the conversation. Caller hello. Is, [indiscernible] what is the question again . Caller what is the guidelines for the sleep labs in jonesboro even though we are increasing with the virus . Guest in terms of jonesboro, great city. Arkansas state university. Had yourday, we county had plus 20 in cases, which is something we want to watch. That is one of the areas we are trying to keep an eye on. Activities, you have the restaurants that are opening up for dining service. I hope you will see they are trying to follow the guidelines. The mayor, we work closely with. We have to watch that. We want to make sure we do not let that 20 plus increase rise to a higher level. That is why we are doing our contact tracing, trying to keep a handle on early. Host how big of a financial hit has your state budget had as a result of this . Guest it is about a 15 hit right now. That is just a guess. Gas is not the right word. Ess isa projection gu not the right word. It is a projection. No one knows the severity in the loss of revenue. Our best estimate is a 50 loss of revenue a 15 loss in revenue. We tighten the belt. We can get through this. We hope not to have to redo services. We are going to have to cut some things out. Some of the things we can postpone. Some of the investments we were going to make otherwise. It is a challenge for us, but we can get through it. The cares act funding that Congress Passed is a great benefit to us. We are trying to look at that carefully. We used part of it to bolster some of our Small Businesses and give them some grant money. Forre utilizing parts of it our Health Care Infrastructure from our increased testing tracing to our contact to making sure our higher ofcation has the capability quick testing of students if need be of faculty and staff. We are looking ahead to the future to utilize that money not to supplement the budget but to use the investment we need to make sure we can have a stronger economy next fall. Host brenda, you are on with the governor. She is joining us from montgomery, alabama. Caller what my problem is is children going back to school this fall. There is not enough testing. They do not have any cure. Re is nothing [indiscernible] we do not need to put children through unnecessary trauma. Host brenda, thank you. What is the projection for arkansas students . Guest of course, we closed for this year. We do hope to start next year. Schools,intendent of our commissioner of education is looking at ways we can restart with in classroom instruction next year. All of that depends upon where we will be at the time. The projections and what we believe will be in august is that we will be at minimal cases and we will be in a position to start school. We also want to be prepared in the event there is a resurgence in cases next year, that we are prepared to do quick testing, isolation, tracking and to continue on. We might have to shut down for a week in a particular school environment, but i see that more as an isolated response versus a statewide response. And then to do online instruction during that time. Classroom start to in instruction and we are making plans to do that. Host tourism is a big part of the state. If people are not coming to arkansas, what will that mean . Guest it means a terrible loss of revenue and tourism dollars to our state. Our Tourism Industry is our second largest economic driver in arkansas. It is mainly made up of small fitness owners that participate in the hospitality industry. Restaurants, hotels or gift shops. They are the ones that are hurting. As we open it back up, we have such great attractions. They will be coming back, but right now, it is going to take us some time to rebuild our Tourism Industry. We have to be careful. We wantscourage them to quarantine if they come from a hotspot here into arkansas. We are discouraging some of those outofstate visitors. We will slowly and gradually get back. Our state parks are such an attraction. Our Hotel Industry has been struggling. We will get back to where we can open those up. From our last color is fargo, north dakota. Is fromast caller fargo, north dakota. Caller just wanted to make a comment, governor. It is so refreshing to hear you tell the American People that or avirus is not democrat republican. It is getting to the point you cannot even watch the news. It is so bipartisan. It is out the window. It is so refreshing to hear you talk. It sounds like you are doing a great job in your state as ours is in north dakota. You are to be praised for the job you are doing. Thank you. Guest will thank you. That is very kind. North dakota i know they are doing very well. I applaud you all. Outerms of what this brings in americans, i love to see the compassion. I love to see trung to take care of neighbors even though to see trying to take care of neighbors even though we are isolated and trying to help struggling businesses. Anytime you have a crisis like this, it does bring people together. I love seeing i just so governor murphy from new jersey. His spirit and what he has gone through it is not in a partisan way. He is a democrat and i am a republican. You have John Bel Edwards from louisiana. He is a democrat, but he is a friend. We Work Together on these things. I hope that does had a good example for america. Every once in a while, there are philosophical differences, but it does not apply when it comes to fighting this battle. Host before we let you go, what part of the residents are you in this evening . Guest we are in the library here. Room inan historic which we do our budget negotiations. I have pictures of old governors. I have a picture of billy graham whenever he was here in the mansion as well as bob hope. A little bit of history. It also has some Great Outdoor pictures on the walls from some of our Great Outdoor duck hunting in the state of arkansas. Host Governor Asa Hutchinson, republican from that state is Available Online at cspan. Org. Joining us from new zealand is the beijing bureau chief for the washington post, anna fifield