CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Kathy Castor

Interview

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WHITFIELD: More than half of the U.S. is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, yet, despite that, deaths are still rising among the unvaccinated.

The U.S. is topping a daily average of nearly 2,000 per day, the highest it's been since March. The rate of the spike in new cases has slowed, but so have vaccinations and some states are suffering far greater than others.

Joining us right now Congresswoman Kathy Castor of Florida's 14th District representing the people of Tampa. Congresswoman, so good to see you.

REP. KATHY CASTOR (D-FL): Thank you for the chance to be here today.

WHITFIELD: So COVID cases are down slightly. Hillsborough County, which encompasses Tampa, but the C.D.C. says transmission rates remain high even with 58 percent of the eligible population vaccinated there. So the Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been adamantly opposed to

almost any mask or vaccination requirements. What are you doing or what can you do to help your constituents?

CASTOR: Fredricka, it's been a tragic summer here in the State of Florida due to COVID-19. Thousands and thousands of Floridians have lost their lives during this COVID surge. It is -- so God bless all of the families out there and the healthcare workers who have been struggling to provide care in our overwhelmed hospitals.

It's especially tragic because this was preventable. And one of the contributing factors has been Governor Ron DeSantis's refusal to follow public health experts. In fact, when the COVID delta variant surge took hold, he was disparaging public health officials. He was -- he took away the ability of our local mayors and officials to institute public health protocols.

He stopped providing the public health data like death rates and testing rates and vaccinations on the websites of the State of Florida. He has threatened universities and community colleges as kids came back to school not to have vaccination mandates and when local school board members during the delta surge early in the school year said we want to institute masks on a temporary basis, he bullied them and threatened them with retribution and is still threatening to withhold salaries and moneys from the public schools.

This is unfortunate and tragic.

WHITFIELD: So what kind of atmosphere does that -- yes, what kind of atmosphere does that promote in your district? Does it make you at all reticent? Nervous? Concerned about your safety or even that of your neighbors and friends in your district knowing that masking or getting vaccine is not being encouraged by the Governor?

CASTOR: You bet it does. People don't feel 100 percent safe. I have one of my very good friends, who is a nurse at Tampa General Hospital. She has worked there for decades. A couple of weeks ago, she said that was the first time in her career she didn't want to go to work. And when I saw her on Friday, she said this was the first time she was just overwhelmed because people are dying. So many people are dying in the hospitals.

And it's tragic because this was preventable. We have a safe and effective vaccine. But tragic because more people now have died since that vaccine became widely available in Florida than before that time.

WHITFIELD: And then now you've got coming from the White House, the President who is mandating all Federal employees be vaccinated, but Members of Congress are not in that group.

I mean, they don't have to be vaccinated. Do you think it should be the case? That with the new White House policy that even Members of Congress being Federal employees, they too should be vaccinated?

CASTOR: You bet, and they need to provide a good example to their constituents. Sometimes, in committee meetings, we don't really know who is vaccinated or not. That's unfortunate, but this isn't very important now that employers should take it into their own hands. People really need to take personal responsibility and go out and get vaccinated, help your family members and friends.

But boy, Governor DeSantis has just been cruel at this point in time when we know what works and disparaging public health experts and threatening retribution on local officials that simply want to keep people healthy and safe is just going way too far.

WHITFIELD: Well, let me get your point of view on other matters that involve young people, in particular this week, we learned from a report in "The Wall Street Journal," that Facebook is keenly aware of the negative mental health effects its platforms have on people, especially teenagers, and you actually signed a letter with Congresswoman Lori Trahan and Senator Edward Markey calling on Facebook to cease plans on developing an Instagram for kids under 13.

Why is this a priority for you?

[15:20:06]

CASTOR: Yes, Fredricka. This is a damning expose a in "The Wall Street Journal" for Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, and Instagram because it is their own research, their own employees now who've turned into whistleblowers to say, okay, we actually knew that Instagram was causing mental health harm to our kids, especially young girls, with anxiety, depression, problems with body image, even there's a correlation out to a higher suicide rate since young people started on Instagram.

But here's the problem. They continue to say that they want to expand Instagram for kids, to get kids hooked early in life. This reminds me directly of the cigarette and tobacco companies decades ago when they were marketing surreptitiously to children and young people to get them hooked at a young age.

So here's -- there are a few things that we're going to need to do. First, Instagram needs to -- and Facebook needs to tank any idea of Instagram for kids. And then at the end of July --

WHITFIELD: How do you, as a Member of Congress try to impose that point of view, that thought process on private enterprise on how to run their business? Because just as you mentioned with tobacco, that was a delicate balance that Congress, you know, had to tight rope. How do you do this in this case? How do you tell Facebook, Instagram not to have a separate app for kids under 13?

CASTOR: Well, we're going to bring a lot of political pressure, bipartisan pressure. It was heartening to see that the outrage on the Facebook files, a "Wall Street Journal" reporting was broad, deep, and bipartisan.

And then we've got to change the law. Congress also here has been derelict in its duty in updating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. At the end of July, I filed a new bill, the Kids Privacy Act that's been endorsed by fair play common sense, the American Academy of Pediatrics that would prohibit online apps from targeting our kids gathering their personal information. It would prohibit any behavioral advertising targeted towards kids. It would empower parents. It would allow them to sue for breaches in privacy and allowed the Federal Trade Commission to go after them imposing large fines.

WHITFIELD: All right, we'll leave it there for now. Congresswoman Kathy Castor, a pleasure you could be with us. Thank you so much. Come back.

CASTOR: Thank you.

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