American Enterprise Institute about his States Coronavirus response and the federal response to the pandemic. This is about half an hour. Thank you for joining us today. Were here with governor larry hogan of maryland to talk about the challenges we face as a country, grappling with the covid pandemic and some of the things that pamaryland has doneo deal with their epidemic of covid spread. This is really an unprecedented time of Global Pandemic. The Intelligence Community had long warned us about the risks of a pandemic and put it on par with risks of weapons of mass destruction and counterterrorism and cyber attack. As much as we thought we were prepared for this as a nation, we found going through this episode that we really didnt have all the preparations that we thought we had. And weve been unable to find, as a nation, a medium between allowing this virus to spread in a way thats causing a lot of death and suffering and strict lockdown, something thats acceptable to enough people that we can implement some kind of approach that enough people find socially and culturally and economically acceptable. So, were continuing to see spread around the nation, particularly in the south right now. Maryland is among states that have grappled with epidemic spread and managed to really crush the epidemic and bring virus levels down. So i wanted to talk to the governor today about the things that he did to try to control the epidemic here in the state, restart a lot of the activity in the state, try to bring back to marylanders what was important to them with respect to trying to open schools and restart the economy and do the things that are important to people and preserve those things that are important to people even amidst continued risk from this ep demic and the risk that it comes back at some point this fall. So, governor, thank you for joining us. I want to start with a question just generally. What do you think is going to evolve . What are you looking at with respect to the fall . What do you think the risks are right now . First of all, dr. Gottlieb, let me just thank you for hosting here today. I want to thank aei. Its a real honor to be here with you. Thank you for your service and giving us advice throughout this thing and serving on our Coronavirus Task force. Its been invaluable. I think youre obviously one of the most important voices and leaders in this entire pandemic. So, thank you for everything youve done. Its been a pleasure working with you. I look forward to discussion today. I think as we move forward, were concerned, as everybody else is, looking at whats happening around the country. Weve really we were very early and aggressive in trying to go after this, thanks to the advice from smart people like you and aeis plan that they put out early on. We took a lot of that advice from people like Johns Hopkins and university of maryland, smart doctors and ep deem yol deemologists and Public Health officials. Luckily our numbers are looking pretty good. Our Positivity Rate has been on a flat and slightly declining level for at least three weeks now. Were better than whats going on in a lot of places, but were very concerned about seeing the spikes in places all around the country. Were not immune to that, and this virus doesnt recognize borders. Were concerned about how this might spread into the fall, especially as we think about not only how do we restart our economy, how do we get kids back to learning again, back into schools if we can do it in a safe way and how this is going to affect us when we run into the confluence with the flu season. So, its, as you know, nowhere near behind us. Were going to be struggling with this for a long time. Can you talk a little bit about what maryland did to try to get the levels down, what you think this state did that was successful . And was there anything that you did in this state that was different than what other states might have done that would be Lessons Learned . Im not sure if we did things that were that different. We may have taken action quicker than other states and been a little bit more aggressive. The very first day that we got our very first case first of all, i think we started watching this in january when we first started hearing about what was going on in china. We had a great the National Governors association in february. We had a great presentation from the federal governments top experts, kind of gave us awareness of what might be happening, advised the governors. We were watching it. On top of it, our whole team, Emergency Management professionals, our whole cabinet and Health Department was ready and trying to be prepared in advance. And when our first case broke out in march, i immediately within hours declared a state of emergency, and it set off a succession of, i think, maybe 40 executive orders rolling back and tightening down things to try to every time we got advice about what could help us save lives and keep people safe, we took those actions quickly. I think i was the first or maybe governor dewine in ohio and i simultaneously closed our schools. We were the first to do so. We took action to first shut down casinos and large events and restaurants and bars and then stayathome order and masking and all those kinds of things. And then we had a safe which you helped us come up with really good advice on a safe, gradua gradual and effective reopening plan that kept many of those things in place. And now weve had our economy open. 98 of our economy is allowed to open but in a safe, manageable way. We kept all of our essential businesses open throughout this pandemic. And while obviously its impacted us economically, were doing much better economically than most other states as well. Our Unemployment Rate is 8 . Many states are 23 or 25 . You talk about that meeting that you pulled together for the National Governors association where you brought in those experts in february. That was early on. Yeah, first week of february. Before a lot of people were focused on this. What inspired you to do that . What was the mood in that meeting, in the meeting and coming out of it . Was that a key moment . It was interesting. We have a couple of days where all the governors descend on washington. Its the annual meeting of the governors association. We had a full agenda. This was not on the agenda, but we squeezed it in because lest lets get this emergency meeting in. And we had dr. Redfield. We had anthony fauci, and we had a couple other key leaders from the Administration Come in to talk to us. It was right before we had to switch into tuxedos to go to the white house dinner that night, which is an annual event. And everybody was complaining about we cant do another meeting. Weve got to change clothes and get ready to go to this dinner. But we stressed how important this was going to be. I can tell you when we heard from these experts at the federal level what we were going to be faced with as they talked about this is potentially more contagious than sars,that the death toll could be, you know, really bad, that this is going to be spreading like wild fire, that this is going to be at the time i think we had just had the cases in the state of washington. We just heard the news about the outbreak in the first nursing home that was all over the television. But it wasnt yet spread across the country. And every governor, most of the governors, i think, left that day, left that meet something what shocked but very aware and very concerned about weve got to take immediate action. I know i came back to my office the day after that. We had already been working on it for a month or so. And said we are going into high gear. Yeah, youve talked about the challenges. You wrote in the Washington Post recently about some of the challenges and in your book as well, getting Testing Services into the state and country. This state has done better than other states. Testing about 25,000 people a day, continuing to ramp, building out a facility at the university of maryland to do additional level. What do you think we could do on a National Level to better support and states and labs to get better testing. When this collides with flu season, everyone who has any kind of flulike symptoms is now going to need to get ruled out for covid. So, were going to need to put more strain on testing. So, there was an oped in the Washington Post a few days wasnt really about the current story. It was an excerpt from the book talking about the early stages of this pandemic where i think we could have taken more steps to develop a National Testing strategy. But we i think weve done a better job of getting testing ramped up not only in our state but across the country. But now were running into problems again where states are having shortages. Theres lines where the labs are so overloaded that theyre taking up to ten days or even longer to get tests back. Thats almost worthless. You cant really make decisions based on somebody that got found positive ten days late. So, we here developed a longterm testing strategy back in april. We acquired a massive kind of Strategic Lab and other facilities all over our state. And we have a plan that lasts us through the fall strategically because were concerned. Our lab we built our own lab at the university of maryland with state of the artu robotics. We can turn around our tests when we need ton these outbreaks and clusters in 24 hours, 48 hours at the latest, where were seeing private labs backed up ten days or two weeks. Im concerned were going to have to keep working so we dont have these issues in the fall with the flu comes out. Chapt 38 titled Global Pandemic you observed following the marylands counties that the pandemic is quote going to be the most important challenge of our lives. You specifically remark, quote, as diverse a group we are republicans, democrat action, urban, rural, suburban, we could all feel the weight of the moment. We were all in this together even if none of us knew what this was. There was so much to be done. Weve seen a lot of shifts in the public mood over the last decade or so. Weve seen a lot of shifts recently as a result of the pandemic were grappling with. What do you think the majority of voters are looking for now . How has this pandemic sort of reshaped public mood, if you will . Its a great question. Look, i think this 2020 has been the most difficult year that any of us have probably gone through, everybody in america. Its really challenged leaders at the federal, state and local level, but its really challenged everyday americans, Small Business owner, people who have lost their job, people who have gone through the tragedy of losing a loved one or going through fighting this illness. Its impacked almost every packt every aspect of society. It will continue to do so for quite some time. I believe it will continue through the fall and into early next year until we can get a vaccine. None of us really expected to go through this. It is the biggest challenge i know ive ever had to deal with, and ive been through some challenges before. I think how we deal with this crisis will be a defining moment for america. Its really going to take everybody at the federal, state and local level as well as the private sector all working together to try and come out of this and bring our economy back and get the Health Crisis under control. I want to. Just touch on the book again. A very clear theme in the book is the importance of transparency. On page two 93 you say, quote, we have overwhelming public support after shutting down dining rooms, gyms and movie theaters. We were so clear about explaining the reasoning behind these drastic actions. You received from government officials in your official briefing, you talk about leveling with the American People. The way we go about our daily lives and our work is going to be significantly different. To pretend otherwise would be dishonest. What advice could you give to other leaders about this kind of candor in a moment of crisis . Leveling with people. Not just about what you know and calling on collective action, but what we do not know which was a lot of things with respect to covid. I think its probably one of the most important things at a time like this. When theres so much in certainty and the American People are scared and worried about the future and have so many questions. They are looking to leaders and to smart people like you who know much more about these diseases than they do, to give them clear, unfiltered advice and guidance. They want the facts as directly as possible. Even if you are delivering bad news or things they dont want to hear, i think its just important to be as frank and direct and open as possible. Ive said, not just to be critical, but ive said to the president one of the mistakes i think they made is not communicating clearly. Weve had some great discussions with some of the top leaders in the administration. The Vice President leading the Coronavirus Task force. The president would Say Something almost completely opposite to what all of them were saying. That communicating is essential. Particularly in a crisis. Ive tried to be straightforward and direct all the time, but in it crisis its even more important. January 19th of this year was the day that they announced that the cases had gone from 50 to 200 and wuhan. It was a turning point of sorts. I remember where i was during that day and the phone calls i made right after that. It was the first time the chinese said they believed there was a sustained human to human transmission. Whos the first time we had evidence that there is transmission between people. On that monday i believe it was, they actually announced that about a dozen people or so doctors had been infected. We are almost exactly six months from that point. Its remarkable that its that short a period of time. It feels longer. Exactly. I think it reinforces how much we do not know. Were only six months into this. Given all the uncertainty, Everyone Wants to send kids back to school, you are focused on that. We recognize the importance of getting kids back into the classroom. How are you grappling with that . Trying to get kids back in school but doing it safely, given theres a lot of unknowns especially with respect to children. First of all i agree. It does not seem like six months, it seems like three years have gone by. It is amazing how much has happened since then. We still do not know all of the answers. The end is not in sight. We do not know what is going to happen next. Given all the weight of all the decisions weve had to make, this is one of the most difficult. How do we get our kids back to School Safely . We all want our kids back learning again. We cant go forever without kids having a socialization of being together in the classroom. Its difficult three distance learning. But, we also have to keep them safe. I dont think there is a one size fits all and we will have to watch the numbers very carefully. Our state superintendent of schools is looking we had a great discussion with robert red field at the cdc. We had a good discussion with the Vice President on the Coronavirus Task force. We are taking all of that advice. Our state student superintendent is getting input from all different jurisdictions. Some are better at Long Distance learning and some are more rural and have issues with a Long Distance learning. I want to get kids back in the classroom though. We want to do it safely, we do not want kids spreading this infection, so that is an issue we will be trying to grapple with through the next few weeks. Weve asked our local School Systems to also submit proposed plans. We will give them some flexibility but the state will set some guidelines i dont think people fully appreciate how diverse maryland is. I used to live in maryland for many years and its a very diverse state and a very diverse economy. You seem to have made a very deliberate decision to try and give a lot of control and decisionmaking down to local authorities in the state to try and tailor the need based on local needs, local resources and customs. Its what the federal government was recommending. They are talking about county by county instead of state by state. In our state, all of our local governments requested authority and flexibility. We have some very large jurisdictions. We have a couple of them close to 1 Million People in population. Some are very almost urban or populated and suburban. Some are very rural and small counties. They have different needs and theres no one size fits all. We sit a floor of standards. If a local jurisdiction had high positivity like we had in Prince George is county outside of washington, it was almost 30 positivity, they could go slower if they want to have more instructions. We now have come down to 6 . Its higher than the rest of the state but it is way down from their peak 90 days ago. How do you think that plays into schools . Im working with the governor in my home state. inaudible sorry we lost you by the way. laughs we thought about reopening schools. A lot of governors havent thought about how they will close schools again potentially. Im not saying youve made decisions about doing that but , what do you think some of the criteria would be in doing that . We havent thought of that, but again you have to plan for the worstcase scenario. I would love to get your input and maybe talk about this afterwards. When we reach certain points, if you have an outbreak or infection in a school, if it reaches a certain level, if we get Positivity Rates in that area that are over a certain level, you must ha