CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) Discusses About Vice President Claim There's No Enough Coronavirus Test Kits Today to Meet The Anticipated Demand

Interview

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OUTFRONT now, Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington. Her state has the largest number of coronavirus cases in the United States, 70 people infected, 11 fatalities there. And Senator Murray is also the top Democrat on the Senate Health Committee.

Senator, I appreciate your time tonight.

SEN. PATTY MURRAY (D-WA): Thanks, Erin.

BURNETT: So look, you heard Vice President Pence. He says that today we don't have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand. That is important that he's being honest about it, but also a very sobering admission.

[19:05:01]

Do you have confidence that the United States will have enough tests to meet demand to actually even know who has the coronavirus when those tests are needed?

MURRAY: Erin, there's no way and with the mixed messages, the chaotic back and forth the you're going to be fine, you're not going to be fine, we have a million, we only have 75,000 is creating real confusion at home in my state.

Families right now are being told if you're sick, stay home. They cannot get tested, so they can't verify that so everyone is told to stay home. Community leaders, school districts, mayors, county executives are making decisions about closing down public events. Businesses are closing and telling their employees thousands of them to stay at home, whether they're sick or not today.

This is having a huge impact. I've been talking to parents. Our school districts have been closed and they're saying I don't have daycare, I don't have a way to take care of my kids. Families who are told don't come to work and if you're sick, stay home.

And they don't have sick leave, they don't have any way to pay their rent or put food on their table. This confusion, this lack of testing is causing real confusion and chaos and it's dangerous. BURNETT: So you sent a letter I know to Vice President Pence demanding

answers about the delays with testing. You're laying out the real world implications of those delays. Have you heard back from him?

MURRAY: I have not heard back from him. There's two issues. One is what the heck happened. Two months ago, you were telling us where you were going to have tests out there, then some kind of issue happened and they said they didn't work, but we're going to get them out right away and then they never did.

And then we're told we're going to have a million by the end of the week. Obviously, we're not. The President and Vice President are telling us different messages. And on the ground, we are not seeing enough tests to make decisions.

The second thing is we need these tests out there so people can make the kinds of decisions that are impacting their families, their businesses and our economy, obviously. And without them, we don't know the number of people that actually have been impacted, so it has tremendous impact not to have the facts.

BURNETT: Right. And you're on the Senate Health Committee, you've been briefed on the information that's out there. You referenced some of the issues with testing, but another issue is just whether these tests work.

We know a woman was released from quarantine at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, after she tested negative twice, but then her third test came back positive, but those results didn't come back until after she was released. So do you even know - I mean, now, look, that could be the way the virus acts. We don't know. It could be faulty testing. Do you know whether the tests actually work?

MURRAY: Well, I don't know who to ask to get that assurance. I will say this that. Dr. Fauci, the folks at CDC, I believe are telling us the best information they can.

BURNETT: Yes.

MURRAY: But oftentimes they're overridden by someone at the administration or someone who's just trying to calm fears who don't realize that the impact of what they are saying is real. We need tests that we know work and we need to get them out there quickly. And if we don't have that, then we need to tell businesses to make and families to make a decision based on containing this very contagious virus.

BURNETT: So some schools in your state, you reference this, have closed because of coronavirus. That is a big deal for those children and missing the school and the learning for the families for countless people. You held a hearing today with the Education Secretary Betsy Devos, you brought up this issue. What do you think needs to happen?

Obviously, you want to be on the side of safety, but when you're keeping millions of children out of school who are not sick, is that the right thing to do? I mean, what's the right thing to do here? MURRAY: These are the decisions every school district is struggling to

make the correct decision. One school district that I know of in the Seattle area, 30,000 plus kids is now telling them to stay home for several weeks. Their absentee rate was at 20 percent.

They have a high number of employees who are over 60. Public health is telling you if you're over 60, that this virus can have a serious impact. So stay home so they had school employees now coming home. They're working really hard to try and make sure the kids are getting an education.

But I will tell you parents who don't have paid sick leave are now having to stay home with their kids or kids are staying home alone or they're staying with grandparents who are at that age of the highest impact or they're hanging out in the mall. So these are really difficult decisions for school districts to make.

I can tell you from on the ground in Washington State, everyone is trying to do the best that they can. But what this means is we need policies in place in this country that are there for us when we have these kinds of public health emergencies.

BURNETT: So the bottom line though, your state, Starbucks is based there today, they said the coronavirus as it is right now could cut earnings by 30 percent. That's 30 percent from Starbucks. Airlines are cutting back. The CEO of Southwest says that the impact on air travel has a 9/11 like feel, which is an absolutely stunning thing to say when you think about the nature of 9/11.

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Do you worry, Senator, that fear here has far outplaced reality or not?

MURRAY: I will tell you this, that the way we replace fear is by having real, concrete information. Without the tests that are credible, we don't have that. And therefore, we don't know and community leaders and school districts and businesses don't know how to make the wisest decisions.

So that's why I really hold this administration accountable and I'm demanding that they get us answers.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Senator Murray. I appreciate your time tonight. As I said from Washington State, the hardest hit state thus far in this country.

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