CNN "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" - Transcript: Gov. Ned Lamont (D- CT) Is Interviewed About The Coronavirus Crisis

Interview

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Joining me now is Governor Ned Lamont of Connecticut, which announced another 578 cases today. It's one of the country's hot spots on the virus.

Governor, thanks for being with us.

Where do things stand in terms of resources in your state? Do you have -- I mean, I think I know the answer to this -- but do you have enough ventilators, supplies, and equipment right now?

GOV. NED LAMONT (D-CT): Hey, good evening, Anderson.

We're working very closely with Andrew Cuomo. As he said, New York needs relief. I would broaden that. I would say the New York metropolitan area needs relief because we, in southern Connecticut, are part of that pandemic that's coming out of New York City.

A lot of the resources are going state by state. They ought to think about this in terms of the region. No, we're very short. We had our ventilators all set to come. And at the last moment, FEMA redirected them.

COOPER: What do you mean they redirect -- where did they redirect them to?

LAMONT: I'm not sure, but we're scheduled for delivery. We're waiting expectedly. And then they found another place that they considered more urgent than Connecticut.

But, frankly, Southern Connecticut is again part of what's going on in New York City. We have a very high infection rate there and that's where we need the help.

Look, Andrew can't put out the fire in New York if we have a fire in Fairfield County, Connecticut. They got to think about this as a region.

COOPER: You were on a video conference earlier today with the president, vice president, and governors. What did the president communicate to you during that call?

LAMONT: Interesting, the point of view.

I mean, John Bel Edwards from Louisiana. How did New Orleans become such a hotspot? Mardi Gras.

You know, Governor Polis in Colorado, talking about skiers coming in from around the world that came in from the mountains.

For us, the pandemic began, probably, in the town of New Rochelle, just south of Connecticut. And from there, it expanded into New York City and up into southern Connecticut. Now, it's going into Central Connecticut. You can watch it move.

COOPER: According to "The New York Times," the president told governors on that call that the shortage of test kits has been resolved. After at least one governor said they don't have adequate tests.

Can you give some clarity on that? I mean, is -- is testing a problem in -- in your state? Is it a problem -- I mean, we know, from Dr. Fauci, that even in states where there haven't been a high number of reported cases or confirmed cases, there still needs to be more testing because they, frankly, just don't have enough testing. That was last week. LAMONT: No, we desperately need more testing. Three weeks ago, we were

doing 20 tests. Now, we're doing closer to 2,000 a day.

But especially in the part of the state where, right now, we don't have the high infection rate, this is when you test. This is when you can quarantine people.

But our real need is PPE and vents. I need nurses going in, and they're scared to go in, scared to go into the hospital, scared to go into the nursing homes. Our policemen and our firemen, you know, they -- looking for support as well. Everybody wants that protection. We can't get it.

COOPER: The CDC travel advisory that went out yesterday for Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, for the next two weeks, rather than a quarantine. Was that the right move, in your mind?

LAMONT: That was the right move. It took us a while to get there. And the thought of a mandatory quarantine that the president mused about -- you know, my phone was ringing off the hook. What does that mean? Are you going to shut down the highways?

But we worked collaboratively with the White House and said it's impossible to enforce that, we have hundreds of roads leading into Connecticut and New York.

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No way to enforce that.

And I think what they did in the end with the travel advisory made sense. We want people to get tested when they come back and forth, in and out of the state.

COOPER: Governor Ned Lamont, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

LAMONT: Nice to see you, Anderson.

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