CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Governor Jared Polis

Interview

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[20:41:01]

BLITZER: For months, governors have had to make very, very life and death tough decisions about how to respond to the pandemic in their states. Over the summer, Colorado's Governor Jared Polis required residents to wear masks when they were at public indoor spaces and could not social distance. Now like much of the country the virus is surging in Colorado, just days before Thanksgiving.

The Colorado governor Jared Polis is joining us right now.

Governor, I know you've got a lot going on. Thanks so much for joining us. I know there has been some serious resistance to your mask requirement in Colorado. What would you say to critics who would look at those rising case numbers and think, you know what, it's not working, the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, all over the country right now are exploding?

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): Well, if not for the masks, we'd probably be in a similar situation to the Dakotas and the upper Midwest. Frankly, what we found is first of all the science shows mask wearing is about 50 percent to 75 percent effective. So here we are, Wolf, waiting for a vaccine that's 94 percent or 96 percent effective. We basically have a very simple prevention mechanism that's somewhere between 50 percent and 75 percent effective today.

And so we saw that the counties that required it had higher more mask wearing. We did it statewide. I think it's one of the reasons that Colorado isn't as bad as some of the states to our north.

BLITZER: As you know, President-elect Biden's team is discussing ways to persuade Republican governors to get on board with mandating masks. So what advice would you offer? I know you were part of the meeting, 10 governors, five Republicans, five Democrats, who had that virtual meeting with the president-elect the other day.

POLIS: I saw recently the Iowa governor, a Republican, she did it.

Yes, it's common sense because you know what? I mean, whether you're Republican or Democrat, you hear about the economy, you hear about jobs. Wearing a mask, while of course not the most convenient thing in the world, and we all can't wait until we no longer have to wear them again, doesn't cost the economy, doesn't cost jobs.

So it's an easy intervention from that perspective. Higher mask wearing lower the spread of the virus, more opening, more jobs.

BLITZER: President Trump, as you know, is still throwing up major roadblocks for a Biden transition, even as this pandemic is spiraling maybe out of control. On Friday, you said the state's intensive compare capacity in Colorado is at 80 percent to 85 percent right now. Are you concerned the Trump administration's stalling on transition could harm efforts to help residents of Colorado and indeed the American people?

POLIS: Absolutely. You know what, they should put politics aside, start working on the transition in good faith. If they want to, they can call it contingency planning. If somewhere in President Trump's head he thinks he's won the election, at least do what the military is very familiar with, what people in business are very familiar with, contingency planning. If Biden wins the electoral college, becomes president, let's plan to make this a seamless transition, including sharing information on coronavirus and response.

BLITZER: How did that meeting go the other day? You had five Republican governors, five Democratic governors, that meeting with the president-elect? I know the president-elect was anxious to hear what you guys had to say. How did it work out?

POLIS: It was very, very cordial. We had five Democrats, five Republicans. You know, everybody I think knows that, you know, President-elect Biden won the election, is going to become president. Really, scoping out what that relation will look like with governors. And then what we need in terms of the next economic package and the next health package to set up governors and set up states for success in dealing with the aftermath of the pandemic.

BLITZER: I know the president-elect is going to have a bipartisan meeting with mayors tomorrow from around the country. All that very, very important in this transition process.

Governor Polis, good luck to you and good luck to everyone in Colorado. I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for joining us.

POLIS: And a safe Thanksgiving, hopefully with people in your own household as well.

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