CNN "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" - Transcript Interview with Tate Reeves

Interview

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Governor Reeves, thanks so much for joining us today.

So, Mississippi saw record high hospitalizations and daily new cases just this past week. Your top health adviser said on Friday that there were at least eight major medical centers with zero ICU beds available.

How close is Mississippi's hospital system to having to triage patients and even deny some of them medical care because you don't have capacity?

REEVES: Well, first of all, thanks for having me on, Jake.

I wouldn't suggest that our health care system is in a position in which we are going to have to triage patients. We certainly have more patients in ICU beds today than we have ever had with COVID-19. We have more patients on ventilators than we have ever had, our total hospitalization on COVID-19 patients.

But let's keep this in perspective. The number on June the 27th was approximately 490 patients in hospital beds. Today, that number is closer to 890. And so we haven't quite doubled over the last three weeks, but we are seeing significant increased hospitalization.

We are -- and that's the reason that we have worked with our hospitals and mandated the surge capacity for ICU beds. And we're making the decisions that need to be made to make sure that we achieve our goal.

And, Jake, our goal in Mississippi is that every single Mississippian that can get better with quality care, that they receive that quality care. And we're going to do everything in our power to make sure that becomes a reality.

TAPPER: OK, but I'm just going by what your own health director said, which he said that there are eight major medical centers with zero ICU beds available.

What happens if somebody walks into one of those major medical centers and needs an ICU bed?

REEVES: Well, we have contingency plans in place. And we have contingency plans to our contingency plans.

And so we're going to make sure that we work with our hospitals. We have the ability to surge ICU beds. Understand that, in our state, and quite frankly, Jake, in many states around the country, there are ICU bed capacity issues without COVID-19.

Most -- in many hospitals around Mississippi, we have to deal with trauma issues. And we -- and we have a trauma care system where we have level one facilities and level two facilities. And it is not unusual for our patients to be transferred from one hospital to the next. That's just the nature of the beast in a rural state. And so this is not something that is uncommon. Is it challenging?

Absolutely, it is. Does COVID-19 make more difficult and more challenging? Absolutely, it does. But we are prepared. And we will make the decisions to make sure that every patient gets quality care.

TAPPER: So, there's an unpublished report prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force which lists Mississippi as one of 18 states in the so-called red zone for cases and one of 11 states for test positivity.

This unpublished report recommends, among other actions, closing bars, closing gyms, restricting indoor dining.

Did the White House alert you about this report and Mississippi being on the list before you read about it in the media? And are you going to take any of those steps to try to control the spread?

REEVES: Well, what I would tell you is that we had a conversation with Dr. Birx in the middle of this week. In fact, she was in our state. Had a very good conversation.

And what we find is, when you look at their model, what they look at is, they're looking at two things. Number one, has any particular county had more than 100 cases in the last seven days, and is the test positivity rate greater than 10 percent?

[09:20:04]

The model that we're actually looking at is very similar, but we say, if you have, as a county, 200 cases in the last 14 days, or if you have over 500 per 100,000 residents over the last 14 days, then we're going to implement additional and more strict measures.

We have already done that. We don't have a statewide mask mandate in Mississippi, but we do have a mask mandate in 13 of our 82 counties.

The one thing that your previous guest, the mayor, mentioned that I will agree with, and perhaps the only thing that I will agree with, is the fact that we have to take a surgical approach.

Now, I don't understand how you can argue that we have to take a surgical approach to the coronavirus and then advocate for a top-down management approach from Washington, where they make all of the decisions.

But we do believe that you have got to take a surgical approach. In our state, there's no question that, in the county that our capital city is in, in Hinds County, we have got to take a different approach here. We have got to be more strict, take on additional measures here than we do, say, in Tishomingo County, where they have only had a small number of cases over the last four months.

And so we are -- we are doing that. We have implemented mask mandates. We're looking at bars. We have talked a lot about bars and the potential spread there over the last six or seven days. And we're taking stock of what's going on there. And we may implement additional measures in the near future.

TAPPER: Yes, the bars are still open in Mississippi.

So, you noted that there's a mask mandate in 13 out of 82 counties. The Mississippi State Medical Association this past week said that you should implement a statewide mask mandate.

They said -- quote -- "We strongly believe that, without a statewide mask mandate, our state's health care system cannot sustain the trajectory of this outbreak, which could ultimately result in the loss of the lives of many Mississippians."

Now, you have encouraged residents to wear masks, but, as you note, it's only 13 out of 82 counties that have the mask mandate. The medical association says it should be the whole county.

Isn't -- you call it surgical, but isn't the idea of having a mask mandate only in some places, and not the whole state, isn't that like having -- as I heard one health expert say once -- isn't that like having, like, part of the pool that it's OK to pee in?

I mean, people travel from county to county.

REEVES: Yes. No, it's not at all like that.

Actually, first of all, let me just say that I have nothing but great respect and admiration for our state medical association. Many of the docs are longtime friends of mine.

But think about what your previous guest said, Jake. Your previous guest was very clear that, in L.A., they were one of the first cities to implement a mask mandate. They have had a mask mandate for months and months and months, yet they have over 150,000 cases. They have four, six -- five to six times more cases than we have in our entire state.

And so what I would suggest to you is, it's not about the words you write on the page. It's not about these words like mandate. It's about, how do you get the vast -- the majority of your citizens to actually adhere to doing what's right?

The things that we believe right now are the right things to do is that people wear masks in public, that they maintain social distancing, that they stay at least six feet apart from other people, and that we not gather in large groups of thousands and thousands and thousands of people.

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: And so my view is, the best way for me to get my constituents to adhere to those simple things, if we will do the little things, we can make a difference in slowing the spread of this virus.

The best way to do that is to highlight those counties where it's most needed.

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: I will tell you that compliance in those 13 counties is exceptionally better today than it was a week ago.

And I will also tell you that compliance of wearing masks in the other 69 counties across my state is better today as well, because they under -- because we go to them every. Every single day, we have a press conference. We talk to them. We tell them the truth. We're transparent.

And they -- and they're doing better today.

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: There's no question than, across America, the guard was let down in late May. There's no doubt about that. But the reality is, we have got to talk about the future and what can we do to get the most people to comply...

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: ... with wearing a mask and with social distancing.

TAPPER: Right.

REEVES: And I believe this surgical approach is the best way to do that in Mississippi.

TAPPER: But you agree that wearing masks will slow the spread and save lives. And you agree that people in the 13 counties where they're told to wear masks are complying and it's helping.

I have heard from business owners who have said that politicians not imposing state mandates put them in a tough spot, and they wish that politicians would do the brave thing, as other governors -- I think it's 36 states across the country have statewide mandates, including Alabama. It's not just California -- Los Angeles or whatever. It's red -- deep red states as well.

If it saves lives, why not do it?

REEVES: Well, and that's the point, Jake.

In fact, there's -- there's a statewide mask mandate in Texas and Louisiana and Arkansas and in Alabama. They're all around me. If I believed that was the best way to save lives in my state, I would have done it a long time ago.

[09:25:07]

But, yes, I do believe that wearing masks and maintaining social distancing is a -- is a strategy that is worth implementing.

Now, I will remind you that, in early March and early April, there were organizations like the World Health Organization that said, you shouldn't wear a mask, that it would do you no good. It's those kind of mixed messages that are being sent from those

central planners that is the problem.

TAPPER: Right. But that was a while ago. That was a long time ago.

REEVES: Of course it was a while ago, but, you know, people were paying attention then.

There are a lot of people in my state who said, well, these central planners, these people who want to tell us what to do, they said six months ago that this is what we should do, and now they have completely changed their mind.

And so it's a complicated process. And to those business owners that suggest that things are difficult on them, well, things are difficult on everybody across America right now. We have got to come together and unite, recognizing that our enemy is the virus. Our enemy is not one another.

And we have got to work together to slow the spread of this virus in our state and across the country.

TAPPER: Right. Obviously, the science changed when scientists learned more. But I hear you.

Governor Reeves, thank you so much for your time today. And our thoughts and prayers and best wishes with the good citizens of Mississippi today.

Thank you so much, sir.

REEVES: Thanks, Jake, for having me on. And God bless.

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