Transcripts For CSPAN Missouri Gov. Parson Holds Coronavirus

State is expanding testing in the prison system and Medicaid Expansion will be on the primary allot this summer. Governor parson there has been a lot of news about lake of the ozarks and we might as well thards right off the bat. Unfortunately, there were some poor decisions that were made and social distancing was not followed as we all know. It is important when social distancing is not followed, it is potentially dangerous for everyone, especially our most atrisk individuals. A lot of those people were down at the lake. Theyre going to go down there. People have been shut up for a long time and wanting to be at the lake, but the problem is everybodys going back home, different districts and towns and everything, which complicated the issue to say the least. But i think that said, the lick of ozarks is a small sample of missouri. While poor choices were made by some at the lake, many other missourians across the state who did make safe and responsible choices over the holiday weekend. And i got to firsthand see that at my granddaughters High School Graduation in sparta, where social distancing was practiced, all the way from students to families and the school itself. On sunday, i attended church back home. Again, they accommodated to get people back into church by having three Different Services op sunday morning. People were escorted so nobody could congregate in the common areas, and everybody was separated by pews. Churches are doing that, along with many other churches that started this weekend. Overall we have witnessed responsible practices by our citizens, and these efforts have made a positive difference in our state. We know many are excited about progress we have made during the reopening, whether it be your church, favorite restaurant, your businesses, sporting events or whatever else are eager to get back to, the sum of all these places and things is and our misery. Missouri. And we must remember it is about a cause much bigger than ourselves. We have taken positive steps to move missouri forward at we must all continue to practice recommendations that will keep our state headed in a safe and healthy direction. Today we have good news about business expansions in missouri. As we continue to move forward with reopening our economy, two companies have decided to expand in missouri. Farm foods and nordstrom laboratories are expanding at a 55,000 squarefoot mandated limestone cave that was renovated into an underground business complex, offering a safe and secure location for companies to grow. This announcement is another example of positive things happening in our state and shows hat even in the aftermath of covid19, missouri is a top location for business. As i see these businesses expand and the growth and possibilities of that happening again, keep in mind, three or four months ago, our economy was rolling in this state we had is this expansions, businesses coming here from other states, from other countries, to expand. There is no reason we cant pick that up where we lost. Every state is going through what we are going through and competition will still be there to grow the economy and grow businesses, and missouri has every opportunity to lead again in those aspects of moving our state forward. Time is going to take care of covid19, but to get our economy going, weve got to be prepared and missouri is going to be a good place for businesses to expand. And we are going to make sure we are ready for that day when that comes. A recent topic of concern is Medicaid Expansion and when it will be placed on the ballot. Today i made the decision to place Medicaid Expansion on the august primary ballot. And i want to be clear. This was about policy, not olitics. At a time when our state is undergoing a major health, economic, and budget crisis. We need to know where we stand when it comes to a Massive Initiative for missouri. Our government is working to make the best decisions for the people of this state, and we need to know as much information as soon as possible. Misery is already one of the top five states in the United States for general revenue spending on edicaid. We are estimating we will need to and additionally 88 million in general revenue through 2021 because of covid19. So pass or fail, it is important we understand implications of what would be a new spending bill out of our depleted general revenue. It compares when you look at initiative petitions. If you compare Medicaid Expansion to the conservation, to the transportation, to modot, and their Funding Sources or as recently as medical marijuana, all those had Funding Sources attached to them. Medicaid expansion does not, and it will depend on medical revenue. It will compete against higher education, it will compete against Mental Health and public safety. All those things are a reality, whether you support or whether you dont, the reality is it will compete for general revenue dollars. There is no new funding to go along with that. It is important as we know where were at on the economy and what were facing going into 2021, again, i would say the reason we put in august, the sooner we know whether we are in and have to deal with it or we dont, we need to prepare for that for the budget for the state of missouri on that. Missourians will determine the outcome. And it is critical we hear their decision as soon as possible, which is why we are placing it on the august ballot. This will give us more time to account for the outcome in our state budget. Last week, i announced a plan to increase testing volume in missouri, with the goal of reaching 7,500 tests per day. Just a recap, the the plan includes three main testing strategies, boxed in outbreaks, sentinel testing and ommunity sampling. Even over the holiday weekend, we made Good Progress on testing and will continue to take more aggressive actions this week and next. I know there has been some things out there about memorial day weekend increases. I want to point out that the new positive cases over the weekend are not necessarily a direct reflection of memorial day. As i have said many times, our actions today will have impact days and weeks from now, so much of what took place over memorial day weekend will be seen in future data. Let me stress this again. Last week when we rolled out this plan, it was to do more testing. Er and more testing. The positive numbers are going to go up, because we are ramping up our testing. Which will happen. I know i read a recrept article, and im not sure where it came from, but it was talking about memorial weekend positive spikes. Anything you have seen as far as a spike would have been tests from last week. There was no immediate returns over memorial day weekend. You wont see the results until probably five to 10 days down the road. So its important for people back home to understand that when we report that information. Quest and i think dr. Williams is going to touch on that, but for quest, they are seven days behind. So eventually, theyre going to kick all of tests in, and the seventh day, lets just that as an example, and those tests are going to go up and it is going to look at a high positive ike simply because you get that data on one day. I think its important that people know that. And all of you today have the opportunity to explain that the best you can two people, because we get too concerned about the positive number which is really, without doing the health care side of it, without doing the hospitalization side of it, is really misleading to people up there to know. What we should be taking a good look at is what we have seen over the weekend, hospitalization went down by a large number. You can get that number off the site. Those are how we are moving the economy forward in making decisions. So again, i want to stress to you, testing the more we do, the more tests there is going to be a time delay on when we get results, so there is going to be spikes on that. It is important for people to know that. And again, the more testing we do, the more positive cases there will be, but this does not mean there has been a surge or that our Health Care System is overwhelmed. Our hospitals are in good shape and we continue to monitor this on a daily basis. And today, we started Community Testing in jackson and st. Charles counties, and well be testing in boone, cape gerardo green and jefferson counties next week. Any missouri resident who would like to be tested for covid19 can do so at these sites at no cost. Missouri resident is the only requirement. You do not have to live in the county offering Community Testing or be experiencing symptoms. Today sentinel testing will again taking place in all Missouri Department of corrections adult institutions. The director is here today to give us an update on that. But before i bring her up here, i just want to brag on her, and i want to talk about the department of corrections for the job theyve done in their state one of the highest risk institutions that we all know going across the United States, we were all concerned about early on. And thank goodness for our leadership. Thank goodness for the people that work every day on the front lines and thanks to coming to work every day when it would have been much easier for them maybe not to come in because of the risk and the fear they have, but they continue to support this state and continue to take care of business like they should. And i appreciate all of those guards that are out there, the administration and the trect or the for what theyve done director for what theyve done and thank goodness for the state our leadership is in. O with that, anne . Thank you, governor. Sentinel testing in missouri is important for the community, but also important for the road to recovery for corrections. We have all had to modify various routines to accommodate uncertainty of this pandemic. In order to resume some sense of normalcy in corrections, which ncludes inmate transfers and family visitation, it is incumbent upon us to participate in sentinel testing. This is important to the governor and me. We now have necessary supplies o meet the needs for testing our entire adult institutions offender population which is approximately 32,000 people. To accomplish this, in addition to already testing symptomatic offenders and those who have been exposed to the virus, the department is developing a comprehensive sentinel testing plan for staff, contract staff, and offenders. Phase one includes testing 3,500 staff offenders at two facilities. Phase two includes testing 2900 stefan defenders at two facilities over another fourday periods. Period. And we will make adjustments to phase two based on what we learn from phase one. The initial sights are Southeast Correctional Center in charleston, missouri and south west Correctional Center in linking are the facilities. Both are maximumsecurity prisons with the ability to limit movement if needed and adjust quickly to staffing changes that may occur. Sites selected for phase two are our womens prison in chillicothe and a prison in jefferson city. So Lessons Learned in Data Collected from these locations will enable us to adjust our processes as we continue testing other prison sites across the state. I would like to thank the Missouri National guard for assisting us with this process. They along with members of d. O. C. Were at both sites this morning at 5 00 a. M. And they began testing at 6 00 a. M. Everyone was properly fitted for n95 masks and ppe. We will run two eight hour shifts with five National Guard medics and one Employee Health nurse testing staff. And then following testing staff, the National Guard medics will go inside the facility to assist our Contract Health care providers with offender testing. And this will continue over the next four days. Our target is to test 875 individuals per institution per day. Test specimens will be transported to the testing lab multiple times daily and results will be returned in 24 hours. From beginning of this health crisis, the department has been conducting tests on all symptomatic offenders throughout the state. Weve been screening all new offenders at intake and testing and isolating those with symptoms. Now, with sufficient testing, we will be able to test all new arrivals at intake. We have been screening all new offenders prior to release and now, with additional supplies, we will be able to test everyone one week prior to their release from prison. I continue to remind staff, offenders and others, it is important for all missourians to understand testing is not something were doing excuse me, testing is something we are doing for you, not to you. We are finally in a position in missouri where we have the ability to test large numbers. This pandemic has caused us to say we dont know what we dont know, but the only way to know for sure is to do testing, and we need to test as many people as possible. I want staff to know with confidence if they are egative. I believe this approach will begin to give people confidence as they not only come to work, but does they go home to families. And with that, ill take any questions. Oh, sorry, governor. Well let the governor take questions. Governor parsons youll be back. Theyll have questions for you. I guarantee it. I would like to think my director and all my directors who have been outstanding during this time. But let me just say, again and again, i have to repeat this until we feel it we have mission accomplished. Testing is the key to missouris full recovery, and in order to restore consumer confidence, we must significantly increase our testing numbers. This goes along with getting schools back started this fall, to make sure we are prepared, whether it is universities or Elementary Schools k12, with got to get ready. More tests means more data which gives us a clearer grasp on the situation in missouri and reassurance for the people of our state that is key and ok to move forward. I want to remind all missourians to continue to be safe, smart, proactive. Even though things are improving, this virus is not gone. We must continue to protect ourselves and everyone around us. So with that, thank you, all, for being in. God bless. The director wants to get back up here and answer questions. Director. Inaudible] s none . Reporter Krystal Thomas with the kansas city star. For the facilities you listed, did you list st. Joseph Correctional Center . Not at this time. We are stocking at southeast correctional, southcentral correctional, alcoa and chillicothe next week. I have a time back at the office as we speak that is developing the plan for the next two weeks, so we can determine where to go next. Reporter st. Joseph is where an inmate died. Is there a reason it is not on the list . We have not had additional positives from that location. Weve started with institutions that with southeast. We might as well go ahead and test the whole facility there. Right now we tested one housing unit, three wings at negative ffenders, one wing where our first positive offender at southeast came from is the wing that had the additional positives. We tested 614 offenders and with have 44 positive offenders all of which have been at southeast correctional. Reporter how may guards have tested positive . Weve tested correctional officers, i dont have that number. We tested over 265 staff, 14 of which tested positive. Total across the state, so far. Inaudible] there are could be for governor parsons. But seeing those videos from the lake of the ozarks this weekend, you see hundreds of people in pools from several different business, most of these people were out of town, except people that work at these businesses. There is a concern there with transmission of this virus spread to them. Is there planning on testing for Camden County, miller county, region e tricounty around lake of the ozarks to make sure people working in this environment dont contract covid . Its a good point. You saw my press release yesterday. Obviously, it saddens me to see that, because we have done so well here in missouri, and the credit goes to missourians for getting us to where we are. We are in the fourth week of opening back up. Today we had 121 cases. As has been pointed out and the governor has pointed out,s is many of those people we think traveled there and are traveling back. You heard a lot of people talk about that, the problems that creates. Hat is very different from hairdressers, in which they kept a detailed record of who they were around. We can do Contact Tracing on that. But when it comes to the pictures you saw, it is ifficult to do that. That authority rests with locals, so we will work with them to see if we need to, given that massive exposure, need to do more testing and lake of the ozarks and those counties. So we will start that process now. But Going Forward, i would highly encourage people to practice social distancing. Just because you are outdoors, you still need to be six feet away. We think its great to be outdoors, but you still need to practice social distancing. So as we go into the next weekends and have warmer weather, we dont want backslide. We when i look at other states who havent even peaked yet and our peak was april 7th, weve done so well. You know, when i was a physician, you know, you prescribe an antibiotic for seven days and people take it two days in quitman say they felt better. There is a reason we gave it for seven days, that is how long it takes to knock out the respiratory infection or meningitis or whatever and when they quit taking it, they are sicker than the first time. By that analogy, we dont want people to quit the prescription weve given them. We need to continue the full course which is continued social distancing no matter where you are. Reporter the governor said he wants to avoid misleading representation of testing data. Speaking of misleading, last week you said the state is not including Medicaid Expansion<\/a> will be on the primary allot this summer. Governor parson there has been a lot of news about lake of the ozarks and we might as well thards right off the bat. Unfortunately, there were some poor decisions that were made and social distancing was not followed as we all know. It is important when social distancing is not followed, it is potentially dangerous for everyone, especially our most atrisk individuals. A lot of those people were down at the lake. Theyre going to go down there. People have been shut up for a long time and wanting to be at the lake, but the problem is everybodys going back home, different districts and towns and everything, which complicated the issue to say the least. But i think that said, the lick of ozarks is a small sample of missouri. While poor choices were made by some at the lake, many other missourians across the state who did make safe and responsible choices over the holiday weekend. And i got to firsthand see that at my granddaughters High School Graduation<\/a> in sparta, where social distancing was practiced, all the way from students to families and the school itself. On sunday, i attended church back home. Again, they accommodated to get people back into church by having three Different Services<\/a> op sunday morning. People were escorted so nobody could congregate in the common areas, and everybody was separated by pews. Churches are doing that, along with many other churches that started this weekend. Overall we have witnessed responsible practices by our citizens, and these efforts have made a positive difference in our state. We know many are excited about progress we have made during the reopening, whether it be your church, favorite restaurant, your businesses, sporting events or whatever else are eager to get back to, the sum of all these places and things is and our misery. Missouri. And we must remember it is about a cause much bigger than ourselves. We have taken positive steps to move missouri forward at we must all continue to practice recommendations that will keep our state headed in a safe and healthy direction. Today we have good news about business expansions in missouri. As we continue to move forward with reopening our economy, two companies have decided to expand in missouri. Farm foods and nordstrom laboratories are expanding at a 55,000 squarefoot mandated limestone cave that was renovated into an underground business complex, offering a safe and secure location for companies to grow. This announcement is another example of positive things happening in our state and shows hat even in the aftermath of covid19, missouri is a top location for business. As i see these businesses expand and the growth and possibilities of that happening again, keep in mind, three or four months ago, our economy was rolling in this state we had is this expansions, businesses coming here from other states, from other countries, to expand. There is no reason we cant pick that up where we lost. Every state is going through what we are going through and competition will still be there to grow the economy and grow businesses, and missouri has every opportunity to lead again in those aspects of moving our state forward. Time is going to take care of covid19, but to get our economy going, weve got to be prepared and missouri is going to be a good place for businesses to expand. And we are going to make sure we are ready for that day when that comes. A recent topic of concern is Medicaid Expansion<\/a> and when it will be placed on the ballot. Today i made the decision to place Medicaid Expansion<\/a> on the august primary ballot. And i want to be clear. This was about policy, not olitics. At a time when our state is undergoing a major health, economic, and budget crisis. We need to know where we stand when it comes to a Massive Initiative<\/a> for missouri. Our government is working to make the best decisions for the people of this state, and we need to know as much information as soon as possible. Misery is already one of the top five states in the United States<\/a> for general revenue spending on edicaid. We are estimating we will need to and additionally 88 million in general revenue through 2021 because of covid19. So pass or fail, it is important we understand implications of what would be a new spending bill out of our depleted general revenue. It compares when you look at initiative petitions. If you compare Medicaid Expansion<\/a> to the conservation, to the transportation, to modot, and their Funding Sources<\/a> or as recently as medical marijuana, all those had Funding Sources<\/a> attached to them. Medicaid expansion does not, and it will depend on medical revenue. It will compete against higher education, it will compete against Mental Health<\/a> and public safety. All those things are a reality, whether you support or whether you dont, the reality is it will compete for general revenue dollars. There is no new funding to go along with that. It is important as we know where were at on the economy and what were facing going into 2021, again, i would say the reason we put in august, the sooner we know whether we are in and have to deal with it or we dont, we need to prepare for that for the budget for the state of missouri on that. Missourians will determine the outcome. And it is critical we hear their decision as soon as possible, which is why we are placing it on the august ballot. This will give us more time to account for the outcome in our state budget. Last week, i announced a plan to increase testing volume in missouri, with the goal of reaching 7,500 tests per day. Just a recap, the the plan includes three main testing strategies, boxed in outbreaks, sentinel testing and ommunity sampling. Even over the holiday weekend, we made Good Progress<\/a> on testing and will continue to take more aggressive actions this week and next. I know there has been some things out there about memorial day weekend increases. I want to point out that the new positive cases over the weekend are not necessarily a direct reflection of memorial day. As i have said many times, our actions today will have impact days and weeks from now, so much of what took place over memorial day weekend will be seen in future data. Let me stress this again. Last week when we rolled out this plan, it was to do more testing. Er and more testing. The positive numbers are going to go up, because we are ramping up our testing. Which will happen. I know i read a recrept article, and im not sure where it came from, but it was talking about memorial weekend positive spikes. Anything you have seen as far as a spike would have been tests from last week. There was no immediate returns over memorial day weekend. You wont see the results until probably five to 10 days down the road. So its important for people back home to understand that when we report that information. Quest and i think dr. Williams is going to touch on that, but for quest, they are seven days behind. So eventually, theyre going to kick all of tests in, and the seventh day, lets just that as an example, and those tests are going to go up and it is going to look at a high positive ike simply because you get that data on one day. I think its important that people know that. And all of you today have the opportunity to explain that the best you can two people, because we get too concerned about the positive number which is really, without doing the health care side of it, without doing the hospitalization side of it, is really misleading to people up there to know. What we should be taking a good look at is what we have seen over the weekend, hospitalization went down by a large number. You can get that number off the site. Those are how we are moving the economy forward in making decisions. So again, i want to stress to you, testing the more we do, the more tests there is going to be a time delay on when we get results, so there is going to be spikes on that. It is important for people to know that. And again, the more testing we do, the more positive cases there will be, but this does not mean there has been a surge or that our Health Care System<\/a> is overwhelmed. Our hospitals are in good shape and we continue to monitor this on a daily basis. And today, we started Community Testing<\/a> in jackson and st. Charles counties, and well be testing in boone, cape gerardo green and jefferson counties next week. Any missouri resident who would like to be tested for covid19 can do so at these sites at no cost. Missouri resident is the only requirement. You do not have to live in the county offering Community Testing<\/a> or be experiencing symptoms. Today sentinel testing will again taking place in all Missouri Department<\/a> of corrections adult institutions. The director is here today to give us an update on that. But before i bring her up here, i just want to brag on her, and i want to talk about the department of corrections for the job theyve done in their state one of the highest risk institutions that we all know going across the United States<\/a>, we were all concerned about early on. And thank goodness for our leadership. Thank goodness for the people that work every day on the front lines and thanks to coming to work every day when it would have been much easier for them maybe not to come in because of the risk and the fear they have, but they continue to support this state and continue to take care of business like they should. And i appreciate all of those guards that are out there, the administration and the trect or the for what theyve done director for what theyve done and thank goodness for the state our leadership is in. O with that, anne . Thank you, governor. Sentinel testing in missouri is important for the community, but also important for the road to recovery for corrections. We have all had to modify various routines to accommodate uncertainty of this pandemic. In order to resume some sense of normalcy in corrections, which ncludes inmate transfers and family visitation, it is incumbent upon us to participate in sentinel testing. This is important to the governor and me. We now have necessary supplies o meet the needs for testing our entire adult institutions offender population which is approximately 32,000 people. To accomplish this, in addition to already testing symptomatic offenders and those who have been exposed to the virus, the department is developing a comprehensive sentinel testing plan for staff, contract staff, and offenders. Phase one includes testing 3,500 staff offenders at two facilities. Phase two includes testing 2900 stefan defenders at two facilities over another fourday periods. Period. And we will make adjustments to phase two based on what we learn from phase one. The initial sights are Southeast Correctional Center<\/a> in charleston, missouri and south west Correctional Center<\/a> in linking are the facilities. Both are maximumsecurity prisons with the ability to limit movement if needed and adjust quickly to staffing changes that may occur. Sites selected for phase two are our womens prison in chillicothe and a prison in jefferson city. So Lessons Learned<\/a> in Data Collected<\/a> from these locations will enable us to adjust our processes as we continue testing other prison sites across the state. I would like to thank the Missouri National<\/a> guard for assisting us with this process. They along with members of d. O. C. Were at both sites this morning at 5 00 a. M. And they began testing at 6 00 a. M. Everyone was properly fitted for n95 masks and ppe. We will run two eight hour shifts with five National Guard<\/a> medics and one Employee Health<\/a> nurse testing staff. And then following testing staff, the National Guard<\/a> medics will go inside the facility to assist our Contract Health<\/a> care providers with offender testing. And this will continue over the next four days. Our target is to test 875 individuals per institution per day. Test specimens will be transported to the testing lab multiple times daily and results will be returned in 24 hours. From beginning of this health crisis, the department has been conducting tests on all symptomatic offenders throughout the state. Weve been screening all new offenders at intake and testing and isolating those with symptoms. Now, with sufficient testing, we will be able to test all new arrivals at intake. We have been screening all new offenders prior to release and now, with additional supplies, we will be able to test everyone one week prior to their release from prison. I continue to remind staff, offenders and others, it is important for all missourians to understand testing is not something were doing excuse me, testing is something we are doing for you, not to you. We are finally in a position in missouri where we have the ability to test large numbers. This pandemic has caused us to say we dont know what we dont know, but the only way to know for sure is to do testing, and we need to test as many people as possible. I want staff to know with confidence if they are egative. I believe this approach will begin to give people confidence as they not only come to work, but does they go home to families. And with that, ill take any questions. Oh, sorry, governor. Well let the governor take questions. Governor parsons youll be back. Theyll have questions for you. I guarantee it. I would like to think my director and all my directors who have been outstanding during this time. But let me just say, again and again, i have to repeat this until we feel it we have mission accomplished. Testing is the key to missouris full recovery, and in order to restore consumer confidence, we must significantly increase our testing numbers. This goes along with getting schools back started this fall, to make sure we are prepared, whether it is universities or Elementary Schools<\/a> k12, with got to get ready. More tests means more data which gives us a clearer grasp on the situation in missouri and reassurance for the people of our state that is key and ok to move forward. I want to remind all missourians to continue to be safe, smart, proactive. Even though things are improving, this virus is not gone. We must continue to protect ourselves and everyone around us. So with that, thank you, all, for being in. God bless. The director wants to get back up here and answer questions. Director. Inaudible] s none . Reporter Krystal Thomas<\/a> with the kansas city star. For the facilities you listed, did you list st. Joseph Correctional Center<\/a> . Not at this time. We are stocking at southeast correctional, southcentral correctional, alcoa and chillicothe next week. I have a time back at the office as we speak that is developing the plan for the next two weeks, so we can determine where to go next. Reporter st. Joseph is where an inmate died. Is there a reason it is not on the list . We have not had additional positives from that location. Weve started with institutions that with southeast. We might as well go ahead and test the whole facility there. Right now we tested one housing unit, three wings at negative ffenders, one wing where our first positive offender at southeast came from is the wing that had the additional positives. We tested 614 offenders and with have 44 positive offenders all of which have been at southeast correctional. Reporter how may guards have tested positive . Weve tested correctional officers, i dont have that number. We tested over 265 staff, 14 of which tested positive. Total across the state, so far. Inaudible] there are could be for governor parsons. But seeing those videos from the lake of the ozarks this weekend, you see hundreds of people in pools from several different business, most of these people were out of town, except people that work at these businesses. There is a concern there with transmission of this virus spread to them. Is there planning on testing for Camden County<\/a>, miller county, region e tricounty around lake of the ozarks to make sure people working in this environment dont contract covid . Its a good point. You saw my press release yesterday. Obviously, it saddens me to see that, because we have done so well here in missouri, and the credit goes to missourians for getting us to where we are. We are in the fourth week of opening back up. Today we had 121 cases. As has been pointed out and the governor has pointed out,s is many of those people we think traveled there and are traveling back. You heard a lot of people talk about that, the problems that creates. Hat is very different from hairdressers, in which they kept a detailed record of who they were around. We can do Contact Tracing<\/a> on that. But when it comes to the pictures you saw, it is ifficult to do that. That authority rests with locals, so we will work with them to see if we need to, given that massive exposure, need to do more testing and lake of the ozarks and those counties. So we will start that process now. But Going Forward<\/a>, i would highly encourage people to practice social distancing. Just because you are outdoors, you still need to be six feet away. We think its great to be outdoors, but you still need to practice social distancing. So as we go into the next weekends and have warmer weather, we dont want backslide. We when i look at other states who havent even peaked yet and our peak was april 7th, weve done so well. You know, when i was a physician, you know, you prescribe an antibiotic for seven days and people take it two days in quitman say they felt better. There is a reason we gave it for seven days, that is how long it takes to knock out the respiratory infection or meningitis or whatever and when they quit taking it, they are sicker than the first time. By that analogy, we dont want people to quit the prescription weve given them. We need to continue the full course which is continued social distancing no matter where you are. Reporter the governor said he wants to avoid misleading representation of testing data. Speaking of misleading, last week you said the state is not including Antibody Testing<\/a> and overall testing. You said that repeatedly. Did you intentionally lie to missourians, or did you not know what was going on in your department . Yeah, thank you for letting me clarify that. And the answer is no, i did not know we were doing that so as you remember on january 27th, we put out an order saying that covid19 was a reportable disease, and consistent with our bureau of reporting disease that cluded cirologj and p. C. R. Testing. Testing. Y and p. C. R. I think the first serological test we did on missouri was april 4, and we have been doing pcr testing since late february, with our first positive are seven that first positive march 7. So i made it clear to our staff we could not conflate the two, they are two very Different Things<\/a> we are looking at. And that message was heard, and received, i thought. And then on wednesday, i reported out how many serological testing we had done, because we try to be transparent. I think i reported about 12,000 tests and it was about 400 positive. Ll, after i said that on wednesday, on thursday, we had a tremendous amount of tests come in of testing. And when i looked at the numbers, i thought, you know, we started this very aggressive testing, but we Vice President<\/a> start it yet. Where are these numbers coming from . At the seep time i was doing that, i got the call if our staff that in fact, unbeknownst to me and the lab and the Senior Leadership<\/a> team, the c. D. C. Had directed us to report we had staffers who did just that. They did as they were directed. It is a national story. The cdc has said they should not have done that. They wish they hadnt done it, and as soon as we knew it, we went back and spent all weekend backing out the data to distinguish it is on our website now. You can see how many tests weve done, when weve done them. You can see that the vast majority of those have been since may 11. We have 11,000, i think of the 18,000 tests of the last few weeks because now, people are getting serological testing. It was not even available in march. Am i frustrated that the directive that i thought was pretty clear did not happen . Yes, i am. Night talked to the people, i have to be gracious and i have seen the communication. They were told to do that. The cdc has now said they shouldnt have done that. Here in missouri, weve corrected it. I want to parenthetically add to that, ive seen reports in two different media things that there were cases here in february that were not reported. Let me make it very clear. Our first test positive here was on march 7. I remember it well. The governor and i were together in st. Louis for that. As part of our reporting, we asked people when they were symptomatic. If they say they were symptomatic on february 2, we enter the information. I would argue that somebody who tested positive on march 12 and says they were symptomatic for six weeks, that probably was not covid19. We put down what they say. Let me just be real clear. For two Media Outlets<\/a> here. We have no evidence that people were positive on february 4 or february 12. We just presented to you that they said that they were symptomatic that far back. The first case of tested, reportable, positive covid19 was on march 7. Reporter regardless of followup question followup question. Regardless of why the miscommunication occurred with the Antibody Testing<\/a>, how do you expect to earn back missourians trust that the data that you are providing is about this pandemic is accurate . I think that what we try to do is, in any novel, emerging disease, when the cdc is feeling which is the world fault leader its way along this on how to report the data, that all of us have to be very humble and say that we will constantly learn. Just to give you another example, we this weekend also added to our website Going Forward<\/a>, we were reporting positive tests of people who were doing serological tests. There might have been 90 cases but 10 of those people were getting tested two or three times. Phase, we are backing that out so that Going Forward<\/a> as we move into recovery phase, we are backing that out so that now, we are trying to identify not only separating the cases, but to give you and everyone else a true picture of how many people have tested positive as opposed to how many tests have been positive, because now that we have been doing this long enough. Use we were not doing tests. We dont want somebody that had four tests to be reported as four different cases. We are doing our very best to robustly put out the data that in any novel emerging disease we will learn as we go along and get better and change it. I appreciate their patience and that. I guess in that. I guess my commitment is that as we learn, we will share it. We are here to be accountable, which i think is incredibly important, and answer why, what happened, or why we did what we did. My Senior Leadership<\/a> team did not know that we were combining testing. Thank you. You are welcome. You mentioned that patients reported that they were soonomatic s s as february 2. At what point did the department know this information i and why was it not shared publicly . First of all, it was part of updating the dashboard. That was part of the information that we put out. I dont want to mischaracterize anything. If you said to me, i think there were positive patients before march 7 in missouri, i think we learn from washington state, that is probably true. I dont think that particular patient that came back from overseas was maybe the first patient. It is the first documented case we had. But, you know, i think all of us would understand that there may have been a patient that came in from germany or whatever who was mildly symptomatic or even a symptomatic. I dont want to represent to you that we absolutely know that this was the very first patient. I want to clarify the february numbers. Those are just based on symptoms. We dont have test results that show that they were truly positive on february 4. At what point did the department know that information . I dont know the exact date. I do know that when we decided to put the serological testing, we decided to share that as well. Was that information shared with [indiscernible] did the Department Share<\/a> that information with any municipalities or local Health Departments<\/a> that were looking to make decisions about big events in the area . I dont know exactly when we knew that. I think it was a very limited number of patients that have reported symptoms back. As i remember, a dozen. And so i dont know that that would significantly affect their decisions. For the serological testing, its real important to understand that of the 18,000 or so that have been positive, i think 11,000 of those are since may 11. We were making decisions in march and april. We were not doing any great degree of serological testing. Ithink in the first 10 days, think we did like 25 or 30 tests. Its only been in the last two weeks that it has significantly changed our numbers. Thank you. Just make a comment on that situation. Well let me just say this. Nobody knows when the coronavirus started in missouri. We know only when the first case was reported that we analyzed. To try can make to try to make a story out of who had it, nobody knows when the first case came here to missouri and nobody is going to know. I mean, to keep kind of beating iis horse to death here, dont even understand where you are going with it. You are trying to make a story out of something that somebody doesnt have the answer to what you are wanting. To me, it is a poor article to start off with. Kelly . Governor, do you think it is important for the missouri public to know the full picture of when tests happen, when cases are reported . The only thing we can do for the public is be transparent, me and you included. We should tell the people the truth and let them decide what it is or not. Nobody knew when the first case came to the state of missouri. Nobody knows that. All we know is the first active reported case. After we found that out, we did start going back for the information. We dont know that. You keep kind of wanting to ask that same question over and over again like we have not told the public something. We have been up front with the public. Next question. Going back to the lake of the ozarks situation this weekend, are you looking into these business is . Phase one of the plan set capacity guidelines. People say that pools and chlorine kill the virus. Are you looking into these poor bart businesses at all pool bar businesses thatll . Businesses at all . There is going to be followup with the department of health. Are we going to do more testing with miller and Camden County<\/a> . We told everybody early on, we are going to test everybody we can. How are we going to handle the situation moving forward with the owners . We are going to have to sit down and have that conversation. What happenedted at lake of the ozarks. We were on National News<\/a> for that. Now, we have to deal with the situation. We have to figure out how to move forward with that. For lake of the ozarks to which agency is responsible for enforcing social distancing orders if businesses refused to . Ive answered that multiple times. Its the local levels, the local Health Departments<\/a> are in charge of that. Order, itexecutive says both the state and local Health Departments<\/a> have the authority to enforce the six foot social distancing. If local agencies are not enforcing that, what is your and ministration going to do to ensure that people are following that six foot distance in order . Look, you cannot send somebody out with every person in the state of missouri to make sure they are staying six feet apart. I am not going to send the National Guard<\/a>, the Highway Patrol<\/a> out to monitor this. Thats just not going to happen. What the action is, the Health Department<\/a> would go to the courts and file a petition in the courts for an action against that business. Its like any other health order, whether you want to shut down a restaurant or for peoples safety. Thats the local Health Departments<\/a> responsibility to bring those cases . Thats correct. Do you recommend a local Health Departments<\/a> bring those cases where businesses have not enforced social distancing . Do i recommend that . Is that what you are asking me . We made in order to the effect. We have had that were in place for months now we have had that order in place for months now. Look, its the same question that has come up numerous times. Its the local levels, local Health Departments<\/a> to go. There is an action they take through the courts if they want to get something done. Thats the answer to your question. Just to clarify, youre saying look, let me just say this. Yeah, lets move around and let some of the rest of them ask some questions. Go ahead. Some republican governors have offered their state to President Trump<\/a> in case he decides to move the Republican National<\/a> convention from north carolina. Have you had any discussions with the administration about missouri possibly taking the place . I have not with the administration but if they called and asked, i would consider it. Actuallyansas city applied for that or try to get that convention to be here in missouri. I think either there or st. Louis. I am not sure about that. I think one of the bigger cities was trying to get that at the time. They were competing for it. Anybody else . Followup up to the wantsituation, would you these local agencies to file these things against these bars that were not practicing or enforcing social distancing . I dont want to get on the issue of the local issues. What they decide to do on the local levels is up to them. Thats their businesses, their people. Their economy depends on a lot of that. That has to be a decision people back there make. I trust of the people in those positions. Look, elected officials, whether its the city mayor, county commissioners, wherever you want to go, these people are elected to do these positions. I dont like the federal government coming in here and telling me what to do on a continuum basis, nor do i think the states should be telling the local levels what to do on a daily basis. Sometimes, you are in tough situations. You have to make decisions and i think they will make the right decisions. One more question for you. If there does happen to be a spike among locals down at the lake of the ozarks, obviously that is a hypothetical at this point, but do you have and d oes the department of health have any sort of idea on how to move forward with that . Ande do the box in strategy go down there and Start Testing<\/a> people if we see a little bit of an outbreak on the, which we could. Where did all the people go to who are down there . Whats their profession . I would go back to what we said earlier. The one thing we have said all if you need a test, you can get a test. I would hope some of them would take it upon themselves to go get a test. Again, you know, we cannot regulate everybody to do that. You have to be able to have that self responsibility that i have talked about from the beginning to be able to do that. Thanks, everybody, for being here today. Thank you. In his new book talking to stranger, welcome gladwell details why he thinks people make in accurate judgments about people they dont know. Step out of the car. Sir, you are going to drag me out of my own car . Forhes imprisoned resisting arrest and a few days later, hangs herself in her cell, a tragic and unexpected result, but the whole that exchange that we saw, which goes on and on and on, we saw a small snippet of it, that was the kind of when i first saw that online, that was what i realized right about because if you break that exchange down moment by moment, you see multiple failures of understanding, of empathy, of one million things. Sunday night at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. Watch cspan daily for unfiltered coverage of the governments response to the coronavirus pandemic with briefings from the white house, congress, and governors from across the country, plus join in the conversation on our live callin program, washington journal, and if you missed any of our live coverage, watch anytime ondemand at cspan. Org coronavirus. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer<\/a> gave an update on the states response to the coronavirus pandemic tuesday in lansing. Announced a new executive order to expand the number of people who can get tested as well as the type of Health Care Provider<\/a> who can order a test. Other topics include antibody hotspots, andtial the reporting of numbers by longterm care facilities. All right. Wonderful. 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