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

Interview

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TAPPER: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jake Tapper.

President Trump on dozens of occasions has falsely said that coronavirus will just disappear.

[09:35:00]

And now, as the U.S. approaches 200,000 new cases of coronavirus every day in the United States, cases are exploding across the country, including in the state of Ohio, which had over 8,000 new cases just on Friday.

Joining us now, the Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine.

Governor DeWine, in the last two weeks, daily cases in your state have more than doubled. The report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force this week said Ohio has -- quote -- "vast and unmitigated community spread," with -- quote -- "no evidence of improvement."

How much worse do you expect this to get in Ohio? And why? Why does it keep getting worse?

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Jake, I think people are tired.

As Dr. Fauci said, there is the fatigue that has set in. Also, the experts such as Dr. Fauci also told -- all the time told us that, when we got to the fall, and it got colder, we were going to see an uptick. I don't think anyone has thought we would see an uptick like we have.

We're looking at hospitalization. For example, a month ago, we had 1,000 people in our hospitals in Ohio. A week ago, just a week ago, we had 2,000. Now we have over 3,000.

So, it's rolling through Ohio. We had a mask order on that we put on in July. It still remains on. We have agents tomorrow for the first time who are actually going out into the different retail establishments to make sure that the people are, in fact, wearing a mask.

If you're a clerk at a grocery store, you're 65, you may be diabetic, you have every right to expect that the people who come through there have a mask on. And while there is good compliance in many places, we do have some, unfortunately, that are outlaw -- outliers. And we are going to work to take care of that. TAPPER: You warned this week of the toll on health care staff. And

you said the critical question now is whether you're going to have enough healthy and qualified health care workers.

Hospitalizations in Ohio, as you noted at a record level. How much longer until your health care system is just overwhelmed?

DEWINE: Well, we are certainly not overwhelmed yet, but we monitor this every day. We have a good system in Ohio that we set up early on with three different zones in the state, and the bigger hospitals taking care of the smaller hospitals.

But we have already seen some of our major hospitals pull back this past week in regard to elective -- some elective surgeries. So, we don't like to see that. We don't like to see any kind of health care delayed. So, that is the early sign that certainly a problem.

So, the other thing, as you pointed out, we have health care workers who have run a marathon, and now we're asking them to run another marathon. And so, when I talk to the people of Ohio about wearing masks, when I talk about keep down these social events, be careful, it's for these health workers. We have got to protect them. We have got to do everything that we can to help them.

And you talked about community spread. It's exactly what we have got. We have got significant community spread. And my message every day to Ohioans is that this community spread endangers your grandparents who are in a nursing home, because, once it's in the community and widespread, it is going to eventually get into that nursing home.

Our schools -- we like to have our kids in school, but community spread threatens that. We're already seeing some of our schools that are having to pull back because they don't have a bus driver, or they don't have enough teachers, or they have got too many kids that have been quarantined.

So, these are things that are just naturally starting to happen. And so the importance of each one of us, as tired as we are and sick of this as we are, to remember basically two things. One, if we wear a mask, we're keeping our kids in school, and we're protecting our elderly, and we're protecting our hospitals.

And, two, the good news is that we got this week the vaccine is coming.

TAPPER: Yes.

DEWINE: And it's coming in December.

And so we can see the end of this. We just have to tough out -- tough it out for a few more months and do what we need to do, so we can get through this, so that, when the light comes out, and everyone is getting vaccinated...

TAPPER: Yes.

DEWINE: ... we're all here, and we can enjoy baseball or whatever we love -- like to do next.

TAPPER: So, Governor, let's talk about the vaccine.

When it has been approved and manufactured, is Ohio ready?

DEWINE: Yes, we're...

TAPPER: I mean, do you have the infrastructure ready to inoculate your citizens?

DEWINE: Well, sure. I mean, we are ready.

That doesn't mean there's not going to be potential glitches. Nothing runs perfectly. But our team has certainly been working on this. And we are waiting anxiously.

The last we had from the -- word we had from the White House, I think, is, the first batch, they thought, was going to be about 30,000 doses. So, we will start to try to surround our people who are in nursing homes and protect them.

And the way we are going to do that, of course, is to give the vaccine to the workers there, because the workers, that's how it comes in. So, if you can vaccinate your workers, then you're putting a shell around and you protect the most vulnerable.

[09:40:03]

TAPPER: Yes.

DEWINE: And then we will move out from there.

TAPPER: So, you heard earlier in the show Dr. Fauci say that, from a public health perspective, obviously, being able to work with the incoming Biden/Harris administration would be better than being blocked.

And President Trump, because he is refusing to acknowledge the reality of his loss, is still blocking the formal transition with the Biden/Harris administration.

President Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly said in a statement -- quote -- "The delay in transitioning is an increasing national security and health crisis."

Do you share those concerns, that this delay could actually ultimately hurt the American people and that the transition should start as soon as possible?

DEWINE: You know, Jake, I think we have to have faith in our judicial system, faith in our electoral system.

And I'd say this to both sides of this. And I was certainly a supporter and remain a supporter of the president. But the president has every right to go into court, every right to bring any kind of evidence that he has. And no one should begrudge him that or say that there is anything irregular about that.

On the other hand, it's clear that, certainly, based on what we know now, that Joe Biden is the president-elect. And that transition, for the country's sake, it's important for a normal transition to start through.

And the president can go on his other track and his legal track. We should respect that, but we also need to begin that process.

TAPPER: All right, Governor Mike DeWine from the great state of Ohio, we are thinking about your citizens and hoping for the best for you.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

DEWINE: Thanks, Jake.

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