Washington State Officially Bans Events Larger Than 250 People; How Governors Are Making Life & Death Decisions Amid Outbreak.
KEILAR: Just in, San Francisco is halting large gatherings of more than a thousand people. And this includes NBA games. The Golden State Warriors play there. And as of now, the order going to last for two weeks. We are seeing massive shutdowns around the world over the coronavirus. And here in the U.S., governors are having to start making tough decisions over just how far they need to go in order to keep people safe. Here's New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.</s>ANDREW CUOMO, (D), NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Like it or not, we're going to have to make some tough decisions and we're going to have to start to act united to reduce the density. More testing, more testing, more testing. That's the only way we reduce the spread.</s>KEILAR: Right now, there's close to 200 known cases in New York State that we're aware of. I want to bring in former Ohio Governor, John Kasich. And I wonder, you've been a governor dealing with situations of public health, with considerable issues. What do states need to do? Is there any place where you feel like they need to open their eyes and maybe confront something or think they're doing a good job here?</s>JOHN KASICH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Brianna, I think what has to happen is every governor has to assemble the best people they can get. And you don't want to have political people in there. You want to have the experts in there. And you want to reach inside of your state from some of the major hospital systems that are in your state, from the university researchers. And frankly, I would have the CDC on speed dial and ask them to have somebody assigned. Now, I went through this when we had an Ebola threat. And the key is you want to really, in a sense, overprepare. What you don't want to do is to worry about the criticism, you know, for example, why are they cancelling these games, why can't we get in, what about the impact. You can't worry about those things. You are -- think about it. You are either the mother or the father of your entire state. The same way you think about your family, the same way you think about your children or grandchildren is the same way you need to think about the residents inside of a state. And then try to be as consistent as you can. And I think as a leader, you want to be out front. You want to have your medical people out there. You want to have them speak. But at the end, you are the one in charge. And I think the ability to communicate all the things that you're doing -- and it should be on a regular basis. I mean, you need to be out there all the time trying to tell people what is going on. Now, you're going to have people who are going to complain, and that's OK. I mean, that's just part of being a leader. So the most important thing, be consistent, gather information, make sure you don't have people in that room who are afraid to tell you the truth. That's another thing. You have to hear the truth. And then you have to act. You act decisively. And you remain consistent. And you remain strong. And you communicate to the public. And ultimately, you'll be rewarded. That's what you have to do.</s>KEILAR: You can't keep everyone happy but maybe you can do your best to keep as many people safe as possible. That bring me to another question that I have. We've been watching these campaign rallies that these candidates are having. And Joe Biden's cancelled his rallies. Bernie Sanders cancelled. The president has -- is still going to go ahead with his rally, And I wonder if that's your state, and you are governor, what do you think of that? Do you think he should be cancelling that if his --</s>KEILAR: -- social distancing.</s>KASICH: Well, first of all, I am talking to epidemiologists and many doctors. I am convinced that it is very important to try to isolate or to have social distance. And, you know, I think that's an important part of it. So I would be very clear about the fact that at this point in time for the next several weeks that I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that people are not in close contact in large numbers. And this is what we're going to have to do. And if we can do that, then I think we can see -- particularly, if we can believe what we see in China -- that the ability to separate people, to maintain that clear distance seems to be working. And that's what we need to do. Now, there will be political pressure and economic pressure. The other thing that a governor can do is to begin to think about the economic impact. Are there some things that can be done to help small businesses? Are there some things that you can do dipping into some perhaps of your emergency funds, which would be, I think, appropriate at this point? Are there some tax things that you can do so that people can understand, once this is over, there's going to be an opportunity to gain some of this back? But we're all in this together. So the key is to be informed, be consistent, constantly stay on top of it, constantly communicate, explain the seriousness of the situation. But make it clear that we're going to get through this, because we are going to get through this as a society. It's going to happen. Then we need to learn from it. Brianna, we need to learn from it. When we have drugs critical in the treatment of medicine and 163 critical drugs being manufactured in China and India and not here, that's a big issue for our country.</s>KEILAR: Yes.</s>KASICH: There's many, many things we have to think about after. But in the process of dealing with this crisis, be strong, be firm, be knowledgeable and don't guess. Do not guess.</s>KASICH: And again, it's better to be safer than not.</s>KEILAR: Yes, very, very good advice. Governor John Kasich, thank you so much.</s>KASICH: OK, Brianna, thank you. 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