CNN "Erin Burnett Outfront" - Transcript: Gov. Mike DeWine (R) Ohio Discusses About Not Relying on the Federal Government All of the Time When it Comes to Supply

Interview

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BURNETT: It comes as state governments are warning they lack the resources needed to effectively fight the coronavirus.

OUTFRONT now, Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio. And Governor, I appreciate your time, of course, and I know you have a lot going on right now.

You warned earlier that your state needs ventilators, your state needs other resources as well. But it sounds like you cannot count on the federal government for that. Are you counting on them at all at this point or are you assuming that because that stockpile is gone and he's saying it's gone that it's over from the feds?

GOV. MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Well, we have states that really need it right now and I'm sure they're getting it, New York, for example, Louisiana is coming online. And so, we've always had the attitude we're Ohioans and we're going to go try to figure this out ourselves. Look, we've got help from the White House last weekend, for example,

the President intervened and we got an approval from the FDA about what Patel Lab was doing, what they've come up with. It's an amazing thing they can sanitize, sterilized 80,000 of the N95 mask every day. So that's really going to be a big help to us and that's frankly the kind of help that we need from the White House and this White House has been forthcoming in doing it.

BURNETT: So you're getting everything you need.

[19:20:08]

DEWINE: Well, look, everybody is looking for more masks. Everyone is looking for more tests. I mean, if you want to take a big lesson away, I guess, from this tragedy once we get done we'll look back and I think everybody will say, we've got to invest more in public health in the United States. We've not historically done that and we need to do that.

Second, we got to make this stuff ourselves. The fact that we now have to go to other countries to get this personal protection gear, for example, of our first responders and our doctors and our nurses, that's just not a good situation. So we got to change that in the long run. But right now, as governor of Ohio, we're focused on sourcing and procuring and finding whatever we can find and we also have - frankly, we've asked manufacturing based in Ohio and they've come forward, and they're trying to repurpose and manufacture some of the things that we need, so it's a race.

Look, we've told our people to stay home. Help us flatten that curve out. Give us more time to get ready. We're building out more hospital beds, doubling the capacity there. So we're getting ready and we're in a big race.

BURNETT: So you've told people to stay home, of course. And you've been praised for that for reacting early as obviously you're a little bit earlier on the curve and I know your surge is expected to come in weeks, not days. At least from the numbers that we've seen, Gov. DeWine.

Your stay-at-home water in Ohio, I understand extends till May 1st. But you have states in this country that have not issued stay at home orders at all. The President says he leaves that decision up to those governors, all of whom happened to be Republican governors. Is that the right public health decision or should the President just ask them to do it because they'll do it if he asks them to?

DEWINE: Well, I think everybody is coming around to that. And as you said, 90 percent of the population in the country is already there. The states around Ohio has certainly done that. I just got off a call with the governor of Kentucky and Indiana and we're working very, very closely together.

We did this early on, but we had an incident or not an incident, but we had something scheduled called the Arnold Classic in Columbus, Ohio and it kind of forced us to make this decision early. We're going to have 60,000 people come in for four days from 80 different countries and it made just absolutely no sense.

So early on we made that decision and we started down the pathway, frankly, of closing things and trying to, as I say, flatten that curve and buying us time and saving lives.

BURNETT: So you those governors will get there? Does it frustrate you though that the President hasn't asked them to do so? I mean, in the sense of people from those places could be coming to Ohio. I mean, this isn't a state by state issue. We don't have militarized borders in this country.

DEWINE: No, that's right. And look, we've said anybody coming to Ohio today who's not just passing through, but is actually going to come here, we've asked them to shelter in place, wherever they're going for 14 days and that's the right attitude. So we're conscious of people coming in from other states and certainly that does concern us.

BURNETT: Are you going to enforce that? Try to enforce that?

DEWINE: We've made that as a recommendation to them. I don't anticipate we're going to be arresting anybody for that. But, again, it's a very strong recommendation and we're telling people don't come here. We got to protect Ohioans.

BURNETT: Before we go, I want to ask you - right, one final question here. Your stay-at-home order does not apply to religious institutions. And one mega church in your state is continuing to hold services, downplaying the threat of the virus.

Last Sunday, Pastor Darlene Bishop Driscoll was talking about like, "We've already got rid of this thing they're calling the coronavirus or whatever, I'm praising Him," speaking of God, "like it's already done because it's already in Him." Are you OK with services like that still being held? What are you going to do about that?

DEWINE: No. No. Our churches - 99.9 percent of our churches are closed in Ohio, I would say. When I talk to pastors, I'm amazed at what they're doing remotely. When I talk to people, they tell me they're online with their congregation or they're doing it by radio, they're doing it some other way.

So the vast, vast majority of people in this state get it, the pastors get it, rabbis, priests, everybody, everybody gets this. There may be one or two or three outliers. We've told them this is a mistake. I've talked directly into the camera and address them.

[19:25:00]

I said, look, you're putting your congregation at risk and you should not do that. That is not the right thing to do.

BURNETT: All right. Gov. DeWine, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you, sir.

DEWINE: Thank you very much.

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