CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview With Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) On Social Distancing And Sen. Rand Paul

Interview

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. A number of Florida beaches now closed, but there is no statewide ban in effect, this after seeing images like this, large numbers of crowds spotted ignoring calls to practice social distancing.

Joining me right now by phone is Florida senator and former governor, Rick Scott.

Senator, so glad you can be with me right now. I understand, you are still self-quarantining, you say, until Tuesday after your contact with the Brazilian delegate. How are you feeling?

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): I feel fine. I've never taken my temperature like this, and so I know what my temperature is during the day. It's 97.5, and at nights, it's 97.9. I've never known this much about my health before. But I'm fine. I've been -- you know, I've just been making phone calls, probably making a couple hundred phone calls a day talking to mayors, police chiefs, sheriffs, hospitals, just trying to connect people. The White House. Just trying to connect people to get things done.

WHITFIELD: So, Senator, you saw those images, right? You know, of what everyone saw.

SCOTT: Well (INAUDIBLE), disappointed.

WHITFIELD: People enjoying the beaches. Yes.

SCOTT: Annoying. I mean, look, we can beat this, but we're not going to beat it if we don't take it seriously. I put out a plan, and we have to have a plan and then work a plan. We have got to social distance. We have got to put people in quarantine if they're tested positive. You shouldn't go out if you don't have to go out. Close our airports, close our borders. And give people relief for a while. Give people -- give them a 30-day, at least, quarantine, you know, a

moratorium on all their payments. Like, their mortgage payment, their rent, so we make it easy for people. And let our doctors use all the medicine at their disposal to take care of people and keep ramping up this testing. So we can beat this, we just have to have a plan and work a plan. I'm very hopeful.

WHITFIELD: So, when you talk about a plan, and you're hopeful, you're not just talking about the state of Florida, you are, you know, as a senator now, talking about this proposed stimulus plan. How hopeful are you that this plan is one that everyone can agree on, among your Senate colleagues, that will, indeed, address the greatest needs of the American people.

Many who are losing their jobs or losing their paychecks or worried about their health, their families' health, are really worried not just about today, but they're worried about a month from now, two months' from now, making mortgage, making rent, paying for groceries.

SCOTT: The big thing is, the biggest focus we should have every day is how do we stop the spread of this virus. That's the biggest focus. And then after that, we say to ourselves, who do we need to help? Think about what's going on all across our state and all across the country. People that are hourly workers, people that are tip workers. So many of them are getting hurt.

So my focus is, how do we help them and how do we help the small businesses. And how -- and so, I think the best thing we can do right now, the first thing we should do is have a moratorium on these payments and then ramp up our unemployment system. When I left as governor, I think it was $4 billion in the bank. So if we need to expand who's covered, let's start doing that. Because that will be immediate money to these individuals, way faster than the federal government. And let's remember, we have to be fiscally responsible. Bailouts for big companies, I'm not for them.

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I think we have to -- we've got a trillion deficit already, $20 trillion with the debt. How much more can we go before we have long- term problems?

WHITFIELD: So, you are self-quarantining at your home there in Florida. Let's talk about your colleague. Senator Rand Paul, who has tested positive, the first U.S. senator to test positive of coronavirus. His colleague, Senator Moran, says he saw him at the gym this morning.

What's your response to this positive test of your colleague, Senator Rand Paul, and what should happen next? What kind of questions do you have about his interaction with others there on the hill, as they work on a stimulus plan?

SCOTT: Well, I stayed in D.C., as soon as I found out, I didn't want to get on an airplane, that I might have, you know, been in -- I might impact anybody, so I just stayed up here. So I'm staying in a house up here. But I like to understand exactly what -- where Rand was and what the risk is. I think everybody ought to be talking to the Senate physician about what their risk is and whether they need to be quarantined.

That's what I did, as soon as I found out that somebody had been tested positive with the Brazilian delegation that I was around. I called the physician at the Senate. He said, look, you probably don't have high risk. And I said, well, I decided, I can't expect everybody else to quarantine if I'm not going to do it. So I said, I'm not going to take a chance.

WHITFIELD: Good to hear you stayed put there in D.C. and there have been others, other colleagues who have expressed real concern now. Others who may have been in a lunch today, working meetings over the last few days with Senator Paul. What concerns can you identify with?

SCOTT: Yes, I think everybody is going to have to find out how close they were to him. I mean, they'll need to talk to the Senate physician and their own physician and make a decision for themselves. I hope that, you know, the Senate continues to work the way it's supposed to work, and I know they're working hard to come up with a stimulus bill that they hope is going to help Americans. So -- but, you know, I think everybody will be calling their physician to find out what they should be doing.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well, we're also hoping the best for you, as you continue to quarantine until Tuesday and hopefully everything, your health, remains good and that of your family.

Senator Rick Scott, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

SCOTT: Thanks, Fredricka.

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