CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview With Sen. Rick Scott

Interview

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Kaitlan Collins, thank you very much. Joining us now, Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida. He's a

member of the Homeland Security Committee. He's also the former governor of Florida.

Governor -- Senator, I should say, thanks so much for joining us.

We have lots to discuss.

But I want to quickly get your reaction to what we heard just now from the governor of California, Gavin Newsom. He just said this. And I will read it to you.

"We project that roughly 56 percent of our state's population, 25.5 million people, will be infected with the virus over an eight-week period."

Do you share that concern about the people in Florida?

SCOTT: I don't know what the number is going to be. But it's actually up to us.

If everybody does the right thing, if everybody's self-quarantines when they should, if we get all these testing centers up, and everybody that -- if you're around somebody that has tested positive, or your waiting to find out, I mean, you don't have a choice.

You have got to self-quarantine. We got to stop the spread of this. This thing spreads rapidly. So it's -- everything we're doing, it takes you as an individual. You got to show up and do the right thing. Don't -- don't go out if you don't need to go out. Work at home. Do everything you can to stay away from other people.

And if we do that, then I think we're going to do a way better job than that.

I look at it this way. We can go down a path to Taiwan, where I think they have lost one person so far and only had 108 cases this morning, or South Korea, where less than 100 people have died. Or we can go -- keep going down the path of -- towards Italy.

And so I believe that we're heading in the right direction, but if and only -- Wolf, we all got to do it, each one of us. I'm in quarantine. I was in the same room as an individual a week ago Monday that was tested positive.

So I immediately went into quarantine. Is it the most fun thing to do? No. But I have been able to be productive. I have called around the state. I have called mayors and hospitals. I have tried to get everybody to work together.

Today, I talked to the CEO of 3M. I have worked a lot on the supply chain today, just getting people to work together. That's basically what I did as a governor. How do you get people to work together to solve a problem?

BLITZER: Yes, it's a huge issue. I want to get to that quarantine in a moment.

But let me get your reaction to the other breaking news, the State Department issuing the highest possible level of travel advisory, as it's warning Americans not to travel at all outside the country.

Do you think that's necessary?

SCOTT: Absolutely.

We should shut down our border. And you -- give people notice. If you want to travel, we -- you might not be able to come back. We have got to stop this in its tracks.

So, close the border, get the testing done, isolate yourself. And at every level, governors, mayors, everybody's got to push this social distances, and we have got to work on the supply chain.

However we can get these masks made, we have got to. If we have to do it by hand, whatever we have to do to build these things, we have got to get the supply chain done, so we keep these health workers safe.

[18:15:03]

BLITZER: Well, tell us how you're doing. You're in self-quarantine. You have been in self-quarantine now, Senator, for a few days after coming into contact with someone who did test positive for the coronavirus.

First of all, how are you doing?

SCOTT: I'm doing fine. I miss my family, of course. And I love the people I work with, but I check my temperature every two or three hours. It's been generally about 97.5. I haven't had any symptoms.

But this is what people should do and figure out how you don't come in contact with people. I don't want anybody I love or anybody I come into contact with to get coronavirus. I don't want to get it.

And I -- here's what we're doing, Wolf. We're fighting to stop the spread until we get -- we know how to treat it and how we get a vaccine. That's what we're doing. Every day now, we're buying time.

And I hope people don't get it. But if they do, I want to make sure we know how to treat it. And I want to get this vaccine done as quickly as we can.

BLITZER: Like you, I love Florida.

Let me just ask you about the beach situation over there. Pinellas County has now voted to close its beaches, including popular beaches of Clearwater, starting tomorrow night.

Does Governor DeSantis need to close all of Florida's beaches right now?

SCOTT: Get off the beach. It's irresponsible. It's stupid. It's selfish.

At every level of government, we have got to do everything we can to get people off the beach. Now, if you could be on the beach and there's nobody around, have at it.

But if you're going to go down there and be around people, all you're doing is, you're putting your loved ones, your friends, people you work with eventually at risk. That is selfish. You should not be doing that.

BLITZER: Well, why not have the governor simply announce that he's closing all the beaches?

SCOTT: Well, it's a decision for governors to make.

I believe in every state the governor's have to and the mayors, they have to sit down and say, and what -- it could be a lot of different things. But you have got to sit down and say, how do I get people off the beach?

BLITZER: All right, well, Senator Scott, thanks so much for joining us. Good luck to you. Hopefully, after a few more days, you will be out of self-quarantine.

SCOTT: We will get through it, Wolf. We're going to come together.

Wolf, we will come together. We will get past this.

BLITZER: We certainly will. But the question is, at what price? And we're watching it very closely.

Thank you so much, Senator Scott, for joining us.

SCOTT: Thanks, Wolf.

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