CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Rep. John Garamendi (D-CA) Discusses About The Coronavirus Patient With Unknown Origin

Interview

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BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Stephanie. This California patient is in Democratic Congressman John Garamendi's

district and he is OUTFRONT now.

And Congressman, look, I know you just spoke to someone who's administrating care to the patient. What did you learn?

REP. JOHN GARAMENDI (D-CA): Well, first of all, this patient is in serious condition and our prayers go out to her and to her family. Beyond that, there is a very serious probability that this virus is in the community and the steps that have been taken by Solano County to try to identify, to try to do the normal public health track down of people that may have been exposed, absolutely essential.

But there's a critical element that is missing in this and this lays it directly on the CDC and that is the testing. This lady was denied testing for at least three days and quite possibly longer than that. And the CDC's protocol prohibited her from being tested because she did not fit their protocol of ...

BURNETT: Having traveled or interacted with someone who had, basically.

GARAMENDI: Exactly.

BURNETT: OK.

GARAMENDI: Now today, testing is not rapidly available in California even though California does have two laboratories that can do very rapid testing. The CDC has refused to certify those laboratories so that they could be used for this process. Beyond that, we do know that testing kits are not readily available. They're very, very limited in supply and there are questions as to their efficacy.

We know that Korea has developed a rapid testing program. They're able to test thousands of people a day. There's a company that can produce 100,000 test kits a day. Those test kits could be in California tomorrow. If the CDC would allow it. It is a major question. All of this work is being done by the public health folks ultimately will require testing of those people that might have been infected.

BURNETT: I know you're pointing out one, there's an issue of their willingness to get the supply, but two, their willingness to test because of fitting the profile.

[19:20:02]

GARAMENDI: Exactly.

BURNETT: So on this crucial point, because you just heard Stephanie Elam say this is the county where those flights came in.

GARAMENDI: Yes.

BURNETT: But from everything that they understand and then of trace from this particular individual, she had no contact with anyone related to any of those flights. So do you have any information on how this disease was transmitted? How she may have contracted coronavirus?

GARAMENDI: Well, the answer is no. That is what the county is doing now. The public health resources are going around doing the tracking down of individuals that may have come in contact with this person. Whether this person can actually talk or not is a question. She's been incubated and so may not be in a position to discuss it.

Even if they're able to follow who she was with, where they were, the test is essential to understand who and whether those individuals are infected. There's no way, no quick, easy, available way today because of the CDC protocols and the unwillingness of CDC to allow the state of California that does have laboratories that can do this quickly and rapidly to do those laboratory tests.

And beyond that, we really ought to be bringing from Korea test kits that are proven to be working South Korea right now.

BURNETT: Right. Now, look, I hear this and it's like when you talk about the global nature of this crisis, a hundred thousand a day is a lot and I hear you, but there's going to be a need possibly for more than that. Just in California alone, your governor today said 8,400 people just in California are now being monitored for the virus.

Now, I'm just asking you how in the world can you monitor 8,400 people? Never mind getting to the point of testing and what does that mean for how broad this could be in the United States right now?

GARAMENDI: Well, let me stick with this testing for a while.

BURNETT: Yes.

GARAMENDI: If we have the testing facilities available, we could go to each one of those 8,400 people in probably a day or maybe two days of effort, and we could test whether they are infected. If they're not infected, then we don't need to be continuing to monitor those people, they can go back to work, carry on their normal tasks.

But until we know whether they are or are not affected, they will be quarantined. We know that there was, perhaps, 84 healthcare workers at the facility that are not there today, because they came in some sort of contact with the affected - infected individual. So those people are not being tested, even though they are now been sent home for self-quarantine.

So it's really a situation where the CDC needs to get its act together for whatever reason. We have known, America has known, certainly the CDC has known for two months that this was an epidemic in China, that the effort to contain it in China was not working, that it would be in America. So where, CDC, did you ever come up with a protocol that was restricted to people that only traveled to China?

I mean, come on. This is now around the world and we know that it is in our community. We can deal with this. This is not a time for panic. It's a time for CDC to get up and get its job done. Why they're not doing this is a very, very important question.

BURNETT: All right. Well, sir, I appreciate your time. Congressman Garamendi, thank you.

GARAMENDI: Thank you.

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