Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Post live. I am bob costa, National Political reporter at the Washington Post. Joining me is Governor Gretchen Whitmer of michigan. She was elected in 2018 and her long career in state politics including serving in the state legislature. A few months ago, it feels like a long time ago, but she did deliver the democratic response to President Trump state of the union address. Welcome to Washington Post live. Gov. Whitmer good to be with you. Based on the data and what is happening in your state, are you thinking about extending the stayathome order beyond may 1 . Gov. Whitmer there is no question we have to be slow and methodical. We have to Pay Attention to the data, listen to the medical experts and our Public Health experts to know that we are ready. What does it look like when we do begin to reengage . Be mindful there are different sectors of our economy, different sectors and regions of our state. We need we are going to be really data driven. Exercise wegorous are going through to plan this work. Willdds are everyone resume life as normal r0. Zerowe do as normal are. Ramp up a bitto where it is lower risk and where we think we can do so safely without risking a second wave of covid19. Some form of an order will continue on. Is we will start to slowly reengage sectors of our economy in a way keeps our employees and customers safe alike. Reopenedectors can be in may even if part of the order stays in place . Gov. Whitmer my order is one of the most aggressive in the nation. I think we can look to what other states have been doing to understand where there is additional risk or not risk. As we assess beyond that first wave there will be many waves of opening up a variety of sectors of the economy, we are asking questions like, is it indoor or outdoor work . How closely does it interface with the public . Is it getting your nails done where you are touching one another or is it a landscaping activity . Is it something that there are shared tools or machinery . These are all things that impact the risk associated with various type of business enterprise. These are just three out of many factors we are looking at to work with our Public Health experts and working with the university of michigan and a number of experts around the state of michigan so that we are mindful of where the lowest risk is. We will try it out for a little while. Watch the numbers and make sure we are able to meet Health Care Needs in regions of our state and perhaps take the next step. We have to be nimble enough to recognize where there has been a growth of covid19 where we pull back. Or if there has not been where we take may be next cautious step forward. Careful. Ing to be very we are going to Pay Attention to the science. We are going to protect people every step of the way. When you look at the phased reopening that could happen in michigan, are you open at all to what the republicans in our statehouse have proposed, the three tiers in the state in terms of reopening in that framework or do you support a different plan . Gov. Whitmer there are some things that would complement the work we are thinking about and the work we are planning to do. We need to build alliances. I welcome all input no matter where it comes from. At the end of the day, the most important voices helping us direct and phased this in safely are those of our health care experts. The work we are doing centers around the best science. We have to ramp up testing. We need to see continually flatten and declining in terms of the curve and hospitalizations. Of asure there are pieces variety of plans i will be taking to fashion the right one from my state. When you say ramp up testing, are you speaking to something specific . We hear something we hear so much about testing. What is michigan really need when it comes to testing . Is these toolst that go into the tests that we are all competing for that we are all trying to get. I know there was a comment by the white house that they would be moving forward and using the defense production act to start producing swabs. I have not seen if that is coming or that is going to become a reality, but i do know that is one piece of the test we do not have enough of. We could do to or even three times we could do two or even three times more, but we need swabs or reagents so that we can process the tests. Tasku recently started a force and a mission to look at racial disparity. What will that grew what will that group do . What you hope it achieve . Gov. Whitmer michigan was one of the first states to start reporting data about the race of people who are testing positive for covid19 and people who have lost the battle for covid19. It was us and illinois. I know youre going to talk to my friend jb shortly. And louisiana. We need to prioritize this as a country. To ourolding a mirror up country and the generational inequities people of color have confronted. The ability to get a good job that has health care. The ability to Access Health care in a meaningful way. There are a lot of different factors that go into this. That is precisely why it is not good enough to just have the data. Have to study it and put together a plan for how we attack the root problem. Deaths there is no question that this has disproportionately impacted people of color and we have a duty to understand it and address it. Is there anything the federal government could do on that issue . Gov. Whitmer a few weeks ago when the data first started coming in before everyone was focused on it, we saw the difference. I raised it in a with the Vice President. Acknowledging that we think there is a racial component and we would like the federal government to help get all of the data to coordinate. I have been vocal in terms of my observation that we need more of a National Strategy on a variety of fronts. This is one of those as well. What is happening in michigan is who we are seeing it is happening in other parts of our country as well. It needs to be a National Issue with a federal solution as a part of it. Do you feel like Vice President fans Vice President pence has been effective for democratic governors such as yourself . Gov. Whitmer i have found Vice President pence to be very cordial and accessible and i appreciate that. As a former governor, especially one from the midwest, we have been able to build a type of rapport and i know that that is not unique to me. Governors make sure have all of the tools we need to lead in this moment to protect lives and to hopefully responsibly ramp back up our economies. We need the complete partnership from the federal government. I have found the Vice President to be very helpful and accessible and responsive. The first thing that went through your mind you so President Trump tweeted liver michigan . Tweeted liberate michigan . Gov. Whitmer we had just come off a demonstration at the capital. We had a lot of people show up who are not who were not wearing masks, who were not staying six feet apart. I sell adults handing things to children barehanded. We know this kind of activity flies in the face of all the best science including the scientists who are standing up at the nightly briefing with the president who have told us 30 days. They have promulgated a lot of the same best practices that we are encouraging people to undertake. To see this play out was unfortunate. I respectat while their right to dissent and demonstrate as long as they are doing it responsibly and not endangering themselves or other people, i respect that. To see people come from across the state and converge and congregate and then go back into different parts of the state is very concerning because i know the purported rationale for it was because they do not like the stayathome order. That activity might necessitate lengthening the stayathome order because if they brought covid19 into parts of the state where it was not prevalent, that is going to be a problem for us to reengage at the earliest moment. You said you respect their First Amendment rights to protest. At the same time, you raise Public Health issues and concerns. If there are future protests, are you considering shutting down those protests are bringing in a Police Presence to enforce social distancing at some level . Gov. Whitmer i think there are a lot of complications with that. We have a lot of first responders. We have to protect their health as well. Throwing a number of people into think is a a thing i smart strategy when youre trying to stop the spread of what is a global pandemic. That is precisely why on the phone call with the governors yesterday, i did ask the Vice President for some assistance from the federal government to reiterate how important it is to observe the stayathome orders. I know we have all seen the pictures of these demonstrations. The good news is the vast majority of people in my state and all these other states that are having demonstrations, the vast majority of people are doing the right thing. We see that bear out in the google says how many people are traveling. The vast majority of people are doing the right thing. If we can get some support out of the federal government to reiterate how important it is to stay the course, the stayathome, that is how we stop the spread. That is how we get to a place where we can safely start to reengage sectors of our economy. I know that is what everyone wants. When you watch those protesters and i know you are trying to work with the federal government and Vice President pence and even President Trump, you partly hold President Trump responsible for the unrest in your state . Av. Whitmer i do think that consistent, cohesive message from everyone who has a platform would go a long way toward quelling some of the anxiety people are feeling. I get it. People are feeling isolated. They are lonely. They are worried about their business reopening. They are worried about getting a job again. A lot of people are mourning the loss of loved ones. This is not easy. I also know this is a finite period of time. We are asking people to take this action now but the betterment of everyone. It is not about taking your right to assemble away. It is about making sure my fathers right to live is protected. That is the tradeoff here. We are not asking people to go into our factories and build bombers we did in world war ii. We are asking people to stay home. That is what doing your part looks like in a war with an enemy that is a virus. We need to focus on the part on the fact that this is a short period of time and we have to do our best to educate people to quell the anxieties and to discourage this behavior so we can get through this with fewer lives lost and in a way that we can safely reengage with the economy. I appreciate you having this conversation about the pandemic. One final question. Has Vice President biden or his campaign asked you for any vetting or personal information in recent weeks . Gov. Whitmer i have talked to joe biden many times. He checks in relatively regularly to see what goes on in michigan. We have not had that conversation. He has a wonderful guy. I am happy to be one of his supporters. I trust him implicitly. At this point, i am not spending any more energy in politics. All im focused on is trying to do everything i can to save lives in michigan. Heisey asked for documents or not . Gov. Whitmer no, not yet. Thank you very much for your time. Stay with us if youre watching Washington Post. Jb pritzker of illinois will be with those momentarily. Will be with us momentarily. Historywill go down in as a profound failure of our national government. Us to shutt advise down major events, sporting events, we made those decisions on our own. We made those decisions on our own. This curve may not flatten. It may go up again if we do not adhere to the stayathome order. We need to stay the course for now for our efforts to remain truly effective. Welcome back. Amyou are just running us, i bob costa, National Political at the Washington Post. Joining me now is jb pritzker of illinois. Spent elected in 2018 and years in business and philanthropy often with a focus on chicago. Thank you for being with us this afternoon. Gov. Pritzker glad to be here. You spent a lot of time on medical supplies. You have ordered personal protective equipment from china. What is the latest on that front . Gov. Pritzker we have managed to get millions of items of pp back to illinois. We have been working on this project for more than a month now making sure we have the supply chain worked out so we can get the gallons and goggles and n95 masks and surgical masks to keep people protected. We have needed to acquire ventilators. That is a difficult endeavor. The way we have been the curve now, it looks like we may need fewer ventilators than we did before. We are still going to need an awful lot of ppe as we move forward thinking about how we are going to reopen aspects of the economy in the months ahead. We got a lot of questions from our viewers and readers about what drove the decision to turn to china for the supplies rather than to the National Stockpile . Gov. Pritzker the National Stockpile has been depleted. The president and the federal government have not distributed much of anything to the states considering what we asked for. In illinois, we have received maybe 10 of what we needed. They have turned it back to the states and said, you guys are on your own. We have had to compete with all of the other states and with other countries and even with our own federal government to get ppe. I did not turn to china. I turned to the world wherever it is that i can acquire it. Most of the ppe that comes to hospitals and that is needed in the United States is manufactured in china. We went to where the manufacturers were, acquired the ppe and shifted over here directly to the state of illinois. Can you shed a little light on the details . How much of the supplies are in illinois right now . Gov. Pritzker we have acquired millions and millions of items. Of ppe when we receive it, we distribute it. Counties andwo Public Health department across the state of illinois. We back up the city of chicago and all the hospitals across the state to make sure they get what they need. We are in the business of being the stockpile for everybody here in the state or the backup for them. Fortunately, we have been able to supply everybody with seven to 10 days on a consistent basis. We know what the burn rate is at each of these places so we can keep replenishing them. Has the federal government and frustrated with your effort . Have they tried to seize any of the equipment . Gov. Pritzker we are aware that across the country, the federal government has seized items of ppe that have come in from outside the country. They have not managed to interrupt our supply or at least our direct supply efforts. To goed private aircraft pick up what we needed and have it delivered here. Those two flights we already arranged have arrived here. We have the ppe in our state stockpile. It is coming from a different country and it is not going through the fda and other agencies so how are you testing the equipment to make sure it is prepared for use by frontline workers . Gov. Pritzker much of it is designed to meet the fdas specifications. When it arrives here, what we do is we take it to our warehouses. We open up the boxes and make sure you cannot go through take samplesut you from each of the shipments that have come over to make sure we got what we paid for and also that it is effective and can be used where we need it. You are part of this National Debate about when to reopen certain states. What does the data show about illinois . Has illinois peaked or is it ready to reopen . Gov. Pritzker we have not peaked. You may know we are the second state to have put forward our stay at home rule. People have been abiding by it for the most part. The result of that has been the pushing out of what had been anticipated to be a peeking in the middle or near the end of april. It has been pushed out according to the models to maybe midmay but at a lower level. We are moving, inching toward that date. People are doing what they need to do in the state of illinois. Wearing masks outside as i have urged everybody to do, making sure they are washing their hands and all of the other things we have asked people to do. The result is we have had many fewer deaths than were anticipated. Our hospitalization rate is somewhat stable. Climbing a little but somewhat stabilizing. Our ventilator needs have gone down partly because we bent the curve but also because the treatment, the way doctors are treating the people who seem likely need to go on ventilators is different than it used to be. They are trying to keep them off a ventilator and using their own therapies, turning people over or having people lay on their back to oxygenate the entire lungs. We are fortunate all that has developed over time and we are going to be able to keep more and more people alive. You said most people are following the rules and the order. I did take note of the protest in springfield. Is there a divide between those downstate and those in the chicago area in terms of following your stayed home order . Or stayathome order . Gov. Pritzker the protest that occurred, there were about 20 protesters that showed up. There were about 10 counterprotesters that showed up. They understand why we need to have a stayathome order in place. A different question is the question of whether things are in rule areas of our state. 75 of our landmass in illinois as farmland. Much of the population is in the Northeast Corner of the state. When we look at all of the counties, the 102 counties across the state, there are differe