CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Interview with Mike DeWine

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Governor DeWine, good to see you again.

DEWINE: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Let's talk about Ohio.

Barbershops and nail salons opened on Friday in your state. Campgrounds are opening this week. Swimming pools, gyms, sports leagues can resume next week.

But you have said you're still concerned about this virus. How likely is it, do you think, that, a few weeks from now, you're going to see a spike of new cases in Ohio, and you might need to put some of the measures back in place?

DEWINE: Well, we certainly hope we don't see that.

What I have said to Ohioans this week is that so much is in every individual's control, 11.7 million people in Ohio. We have got to continue to have -- keep the space. I have really urged people to wear a mask when they go out in public. Every employee in Ohio is wearing a mask today.

So, this is way -- I have described it, Jake, is, this is really probably the most crucial time, the most dangerous time, because we are opening back up, because we have to open back up.

But, at the same time, that creates more exposure, more opportunity for this virus to spread. So, people have to add that extra layer. We're asking them to put the mask on, do all the things that everyone now knows that you have to do to keep that separated and to slow this down.

[09:35:18]

If you look at our numbers, we're at a plateau, candidly. We have been a plateau for about a month in regard to hospitalization, the same way in regard to deaths, same way in regards to new cases. So, we wish we were going down.

Our replication rate is about one to one, which is a lot better than it was. But we would like to get that down as well. So, we're trying to do two things at once. And we're working at it.

TAPPER: so, Governor, keeping that in mind, everything you just said, I want you to take a look at these pictures from a bar in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday. This was the first day that outdoor dining businesses were allowed to reopen.

That's a pretty big crowd of people. They don't seem to be wearing masks. They don't seem to be separated from each other six feet or whatever, not a lot of distance between patrons. You have seen these images. Does it concern you?

DEWINE: Absolutely.

I saw those images very early. We had people there last night. The good news is that the ownership, people running the bar, seem to get control of it last night. We didn't have to issue any citations.

We did issue a citation for another bar in Columbus. And, candidly, we have worked with the attorney general, Dave Yost. And we're going to do whatever we have to do if these things are -- in fact, occur across Ohio, wherever they occur. But, ultimately, it's going to come to Ohioans doing what Ohioans have done for the last two months, and that is, by and large, done exactly what they should do, try to keep the distance.

We're encouraging more people to wear a mask, as I said. But it's going to really be determined by what we do in the next month or so. What the fall looks like, when we hope to be able to open school, it's going to depend on what we're doing right now and in the next month or so.

TAPPER: This week, Dr. Anthony Fauci cautioned against parts of the U.S. reopening too quickly.

I want you to take a listen to what he said about schools reopening in the fall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I don't have an easy answer to that.

As we get into the period of time with the fall about reopening the schools, I would imagine that situations regarding school will be very different in one region vs. another.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What would keep you from reopening schools in September?

DEWINE: Well, if we start really seeing a spike in the spread go very significantly up.

I mean, I think what sometimes people miss is that the schools were closed primarily because of spread issue. We have seen the inflammation that you have talked about on your show today. We don't know how widespread that is or how big a problem.

But, basically, what we have found with this COVID-19 is that kids are not at great risk, but they are spreaders. They can get it, they can not show the symptoms, and they can spread it.

So, you closed schools down. We closed schools down very early. And we did it because -- not because you specifically worried about the kids, but you have 30 kids go into -- in a classroom, one kid is in there, and he's got no symptoms, but he's carrying it, now you got maybe 25 kids now are going back to their families.

And it just spreads and multiplies. So, that's the concern.

What I have asked the schools to do is to assume they're going back, but to come up with all kinds of alternatives. Assume, if you're back, for example, how do you achieve some sort of distancing? How do you do things in regards to when kids go to the cafeteria, when younger kids may go to a playground? All of those things.

You know, what is the -- trying to follow the best health guidance and come up with very specific plans that are unique to your school, but are guided by the local health department and guided by the -- by health guidance.

But we hope to be open in August, when school starts back up in most places in Ohio, but we don't know yet, frankly.

TAPPER: Yes, but that's in the fall.

May 31, coming right up, child care centers in Ohio are slated to open. Now, I understand you're going to be taking precautions. The people running the child care centers are going to be taking precautions, smaller groups of children in each room, much more handwashing.

But, as you acknowledge, we have already seen reported cases of children in Ohio experiencing this new phenomenon, this horrific thing, multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. It could be linked to coronavirus.

How much does that horrible illness weigh on your decision for May 31, the child care centers, especially given how little we know about COVID-19?

[09:40:07]

DEWINE: Well, all -- Jake, all of this weighs on me. Fran and I have eight kids. We have 24 grandkids. We have kids who are going back -- be going back to school in the fall.

What we try to do and what we did do in regard to the child care, we pushed it back. It's another couple of weeks. We think we will have the lowest ratio in the country, smallest number of classes, smallest number of kids in a room.

We think we have the best practices that can be put in place in regard to child care. But we're going to monitor all this. As has been pointed out on your show already today several times, this is a virus that we're still learning a lot about.

We don't know a great deal about it. We will know more today than we did two months ago or three months ago. So, we're looking at the numbers every single day. We're getting reports from our health departments around the state. We have 113 local health departments.

So, all of this is a work in progress. We made the decision to start opening up Ohio, and about 90 percent of our economy is back open, because we thought it was a huge risk not to open. But we also know it's a huge risk in opening.

And we go into this with our eyes wide open. We're prepared to do what we have to do to pull back. But what I have said to my fellow Ohioans on Friday, and Thursday particularly, when we did our press conference, I said, look, we don't want to be like some of the countries we have seen, where they shut down, opened up, and now are starting to shut down again. That is not where we want to be. And it's in everyone's collective hands, how we act in the next month or two, whether or not we're going to be in that position or not.

TAPPER: All right, best of luck to you, Governor Mike DeWine, the governor of Ohio.

We always appreciate your time.

DEWINE: Thank you so much.

TAPPER: We will see you again soon.

DEWINE: Thank you, Jake. Thank you.

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