DENVER – Colorado Gov. Jared Polis sat down for a one-on-one discussion on the state’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak Tuesday with Denver7’s Anne Trujillo. You can watch the full interview in the player below and read the full transcript of the interview.
Anne Trujillo
Thank you for taking the time to visit with us. Obviously honoring the stay-at-home order by both of us speaking on Skype today, so thanks for the time.
Let’s start with that April 26 date. Why that? I mean, we hear the mayor saying say April 30. Why the 26th?
Gov. Jared Polis
Well, I, frankly, hope it can be sooner, honestly. The sooner we can roll off these really difficult and economically-devastating health orders, the better. I think it’s a realistic date. I mean, it’s possible we could do it sooner. If we can, we will. And as I said very clearly yesterday, if the death toll continues to accelerate, then it could be extended. I feel confident that’s where we’re headed. I’d like – if Colorado can do it a few days ahead of the national date, I think that’s a good thing. And it means that Coloradans are successful at staying at home and doing what we’re supposed to be doing. It’s nothing I did; it’s nothing the government did; it’s nothing that you did. It’s just individual decisions that people are making that show responsibility in not leaving their home unless they absolutely need to in the next couple of weeks.
Anne Trujillo
What will you use as benchmarks to determine when to lift that stay-at-home order?
Gov. Jared Polis
We’re monitoring, really, everything that we report on our public dashboard, covid19.colorado.gov. It just posted the update moments ago. It’s really everything from the number of hospitalizations, the number of diagnosed cases. We have metadata about movements. We’re at 179 deaths right now. So that ticked up considerably, 29 in the last day. It is likely to get worse before it gets better. But the deaths have a lag effect. Remember, people get this, they’re exposed to it. Four, five, six days later, you come down with it. Many people are then hospitalized, if they need to be, eight, nine, 10 days later. And then they, if they’re not going to make it, it could be another five or 10 days. So, that might reflect some people that got it 20 or 30 days ago. Some might have gotten it as recently as 12 days ago. But with this social distancing, with people staying at home, with people wearing masks if they’re going grocery shopping or interacting with others, it’s beginning to show a difference. It really, truly is. And if we can keep it up, I’m really confident that we can make that April 26 date.
Anne Trujillo
So, let’s say we lift the stay-at-home order before other states are deemed safe. Jeanette asked us from Facebook, how will we protect our state from another wave of COVID-19 due to visitors coming to Colorado?
Gov. Jared Polis
It’s at a different place and pace in many different states, in many different cities within different states. There’s areas that have a much higher infection rate – Manhattan, New York. You’ve all seen early on, Washington spiked. It’s been brought a little bit down, the rate of increase, with the steps that they took. And there are places that will likely peak weeks or months after Colorado. Airlines have cut back a lot of their service. Until there’s demand, that’s likely to continue. Once we’re able to get it under control and really squash this community transmission case, what we’ll be able to do is the monitoring and tracking of cases. Meaning rather than trying to use a mallet and say, “Everybody’s got to close,” you have several people that get it, they are connected to a particular place of business, you just close that place, you lock them down, their families down for a week or two. But not the whole economy. So that’s what kind of isolation and tracing that people can likely expect when the overall restrictions roll off.
Anne Trujillo
Governor, we’ve heard from so many small businesses that are struggling right now to navigate the Personal Payroll Protection (PPP) loan. Is anything being done at the state level to cure up this program and help businesses access those benefits?
Gov. Jared Polis
Yeah, we are launching very soon, in the next couple days a statewide portal where people can find out all the different types of assistance that businesses can get. Most of these are federally administered. In the case of the Paycheck Protection Program, largely administered through banks. And so what I’ve heard from people is, “I can’t get into my bank.” Or, especially with some of the banks that haven’t quite set it up as quickly. I did have a call with our federal delegation today. I expressed, first of all, our gratitude for that Paycheck Protection Act. It’s enabling small and medium business to keep people on payroll during this, which is so important, because that’s where people get benefits, health care retirement, and they don’t lose their job – even though others will. A lot more would without that program. But they know, the federal delegation, that they need to step it up. They likely need to increase the dollar allocation. And we expressed, and I’m sure that people are directly in touch with them, about some of the shortcomings in how it’s being administered.
Anne Trujillo
Can you reassure businesses that Colorado’s doing everything they can for these small businesses? And what percentage of businesses do you think will go under because of this?
Gov. Jared Polis
So, what we can do as a state is obviously less than the federal government. But I feel we’re doing everything we can. We are deferring income tax, deferring property tax, sales and use tax for a month, till May 20. So, all of the normal taxes are being delayed, deferred, no penalties, no nothing. Folks can use, or hold on to it, depending on the tax, for managing cash flow and not have any penalties for doing that. So, we’re doing that to the extent we can on everything the state does. We’re also trying to waive every costly regulation, or barrier, or red tape that we can to allow them to do business – whether it’s, for instance, for restaurants that are doing delivery, we waived the insurance requirement around waiters and bus staff that want to be doing delivery. They can now do it on their personal automobile insurance that they have, rather than have to go through something that would take weeks of red tape. People can renew their driver’s license at home. Normally, if you were over 65 or under 21, you had to go into your DMV. Of course, we’ve waived all that. Anybody can renew online. Over 65 was one of the first things we did. We just added under 21 because we want people to be able to do that online. So really, everything that we can do to make staying at home as convenient as possible and as easy as possible. Because the whole trajectory of this, how soon we can open everything back up, really just depends on how well people are doing at staying at home. And so far, Colorado, so far, we’re doing good. We just need to keep it up.
Anne Trujillo
And what do you think is the percentage of business that won’t make it through this?
Gov. Jared Polis
Well, it’s going to depend on the sector. I would say the two sectors that are going to be the hardest-hit – not just in Colorado, nationally – tourism and recreation, and the energy industry. Those are going to be two that are going to be affected internationally, frankly. If you’re asking me to guess when tourists might start traveling again, I have no idea. I don’t have a crystal ball on that. I’m trying to get the health info. When those individual decisions of people from other states and other countries, to resume visiting and spending money occurs because they’re no longer in fear, I have no idea. We’re going to do everything we can to squash the virus, to control its outbreak here. There will be a cure. There will be a vaccine. We hope that’s sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, there’s going to be some real difficult times for some of Colorado’s leading industries.
Anne Trujillo
And speaking of difficult times, the unemployment side, I know, has had some difficulties. What’s the plan to get that ready? When will it be fully up and running and able to help Coloradans who are dealing with frustrations with that?
Gov. Jared Polis
So, the other change that was made was the $600 additional unemployment insurance. Colorado is taking applications all the time. We’re grateful the federal government extended that. Obviously, that’s a short-term gap. People need jobs. People want to get back to work. Nobody wants to have to live off a government check. Everybody wants to get back to work. Small businesses, workers – that’s the only real solution, is us getting back to work. We’ve got to be able to grow our economy and recover. One of the first actions we took is we got a very strong economic recovery council of leading business people, independents, Republicans, Democrats – nobody asked their ideology, representatives and workers too – that are really just working on these common-sense ways that we can help make sure that Colorado’s in the forefront of this recovery from this challenging global downturn. It’s not a Colorado or American thing. I mean, there’s vast ramifications to the global economy here.
Anne Trujillo
We’ve heard from a lot of viewers, and Kimberly emailed us saying, first of all, she wants to thank you for your efforts. And she asks, why can’t we press pause on literally everything except for urgent medical care right now?
Gov. Jared Polis
Well, I think that’s largely what the stay-at-home means. I mean, obviously, people can get their groceries and they can do the critical things they need to. That’s why there was some confusion, initially, about what it’s called. People that called it “shelter-in-place,” that’s a different thing. That means you can’t literally leave your home. That’s usually for two hours, or four hours, or eight hours. You can’t really keep that up. If you’re going to do that, that’s like when there’s an active shooter. People, of course, need to get their basic supplies. I hope folks are going to the grocery store less frequently, and I hope they’re wearing a mask and washing up afterwards. But no, you can’t shut down the way that people live. We want to have longer-term compliance with staying home rather than a mass panic and shortage of supplies when there is no shortage.
Anne Trujillo
And Shavonne emailed saying a huge number of individuals that fall into the high-risk groups are also receiving SNAP benefits. Grocery delivery and/or pickup is the best option for these people, however, they can’t utilize their SNAP benefits in that way. Is there talk about maybe changing that to their advantage?
Gov. Jared Polis
I’m all for it. If it’s a federal restriction, we’ll take a note and ask. If it’s something the state can do, we’ll do it right away. But yeah, obviously, people who have SNAP benefits – they might be healthy too, by the way. Just because you get SNAP doesn’t mean you’re not healthy. But among SNAP recipients, there are people who are elderly or have respiratory conditions, some are perfectly healthy. But yes, we would love to prioritize anybody who is older or with those type of respiratory conditions to be able to get delivery. That would be absolutely terrific. And if there’s a way to take those restrictions off, we’d love for SNAP to do that.
Anne Trujillo
A person who emailed said, “Those of us who are sick, why can’t we get tested?” And someone else said, “When are we/everyone going to have access to testing?”
Gov. Jared Polis
So, this is really important. Because if you’re sick and having COVID-like symptoms, you may have COVID, you may have something else. We don’t want you just randomly going out and trying to get tested and exposing others. Nine out of 10 COVID-19 patients just recover on their own at home. You can take Tylenol and you’ll be better in anywhere from 3-10 days. One in 10 need medical intervention. If you have any disease – it could be non-COVID, it could be anything – if you need medical attention, go get that medical attention. But we want to use our medical resources for people who need that medical attention – not for the 90% of people with COVID, because there’s probably 30,000 people with COVID in our state, if they all were going into hospitals and trying to get tested, it would completely overwhelm them. Ninety percent don’t need anything besides rest like you would for any other cold or flu. It’s really that 10% that this turns into something more sinister and severe for. And that’s what we need all our resources for.
Anne Trujillo
Is there any consideration of something like hazard pay for, say, our frontline medical people? Nurses, doctors, first responders?
Gov. Jared Polis
I think that many providers are dealing with that now. I think, at the very least, some are getting overtime, time and a half, or double. The state workers, obviously, are just a small piece of this. It’s mostly hospital workers and others. First responders are stepping up. So many others, they’re really being called upon. And that’s why we’re showing our appreciation for our health care workers, our frontline workers, in so many ways because of them putting themselves at risk. And if it’s not a good enough reason to save your own life, or save your grandma’s life, to wear a mask or not leave home when necessary, also, please do it to help save lives of our health care workers.
Anne Trujillo
And what about our long-term care facilities – because that seems to be where the outbreaks are occurring most. What’s being done to keep these areas cleaner, safe, just a better place for these folks?
Gov. Jared Polis
We knew very early on, from the early days, that our most-vulnerable population were in their 70s and 80s and with respiratory conditions. That’s why some of the very first actions that we took restricted visitation at those facilities, required that people and staff going to work are checked. Nevertheless, of course when it takes off, it’s not that it spreads quicker. What it is, is the fatality rate is much, much, much, much higher. So that’s why it’s so important to protect those nursing homes, long-term care facilities and others.
Anne Trujillo
And are we doing enough to protect them?
Gov. Jared Polis
Well, it’s never enough. They had some of the very first restrictions. And it’s frustrating for people. Because it means that you can’t go and visit grandma in a nursing home, or there’s a very limited way to do that. Whereas, you are accustomed to once a week going with kids and visiting. So that’s all restricted because we, of course, are valuing the life of people. There will come a day again when we can have those normal interactions, but that day is not today; it’s not tomorrow. We’re hoping it’s sooner rather than later. It’ll be sooner the more we’re staying home and the more that we’re wearing facial masks if we absolutely have to go out.
Anne Trujillo
And how are you making sure that the state is ready for the next outbreak – not necessarily from this virus, but whatever comes next. I mean we’ve all learned a lot, I think.
Gov. Jared Polis
We absolutely have. Let’s go through this one, please. Right? What we need to have in place is a mechanism where there’s not this mallet, this societal quarantine for the next one. We need to do the tracing, the isolation, and a much more systemic approach.
Anne Trujillo
What do you say to those people who are not social distancing, not wearing masks?
Gov. Jared Polis
Well, look: It’s for yourself. It’s for your loved ones. It’s for you family. It’s for all of us. The more that we stay at home except when absolutely necessary, wear masks when we go out, the more people do that, the sooner everything we love and enjoy will be available once again. And I’m confident we can do that by April 26 – hopefully even sooner. But if too many people are making that decision and the death toll is piling up, we don’t want Colorado to go the way of Spain and Italy.
Anne Trujillo
Could we do more, say, with grocery workers? Because people still walk into the grocery stores, you see people not wearing masks, not wearing gloves – the workers and even some of the customers. Is there a way to mandate that, or take better control of what’s happening in those sometimes-crowded stores?
Gov. Jared Polis
We’re encouraging everybody to wear masks when they go out. And of course, that means when you work too. And you can go to ColoradoMaskProject.com. People think, “Oh, I have to go out and buy one.” No, you don’t have to buy anything. You can make it from an old t-shirt, from any cloth. The main thing is that it covers your nose, your mouth and it doesn’t get in the way of your breathing. In addition to reducing particles, and potentially reducing the infection rates, it also just prevents people from just testing their mouth and their nose, which is the main way that this is spread. So really, the more people that wear masks, the better.
Anne Trujillo
So, you wouldn’t consider mandating that, because that’s the one place that people are going.
Gov. Jared Polis
Well, we’re trying to go to what we call a mask-wearing culture. Because the societies that have contained this, that are back to work and doing fine – South Korea, Taiwan – they wear masks normally when they’re worried about illness. Not just COVID-19. At that doesn’t mean that everybody is wearing a mask every second. But certainly, at grocery stores, when you go shopping. People say “when I go biking and walking and there’s no one near me” – you know, more of your judgment call. We wear a mask when we’re out walking now, and many people are. But certainly, when you’re in a situation where you’re encountering others. Very important thing.
Anne Trujillo
Jory wrote on Facebook, “If people are crowding parks and trails, why don’t you consider removing hiking from that essential narrative in your orders?”
Gov. Jared Polis
Being outside is an important part of people’s health. People should go out and if they need to walk their dog, take their kids out. We do that once a day. And obviously we have a lot of public land. What we want to make sure is that people aren’t crowding there, that people aren’t within 6, 8, 10 feet of one another. Parks are great, but playgrounds are closed. But by all means, space out and do it in a safe way. And that’s an important part of being health. The other thing is, do it in your neighborhood or in your area. Don’t drive halfway across the state to go to some park. Just be safe in your area.
Anne Trujillo
We’re talking new territory for all of us, including you. So, what do you want to say to the people of Colorado as we are navigating this crisis?
Gov. Jared Polis
That we’ll get through this together. We’re going to get through this. And it doesn’t mean that we won’t suffer loss. We have already: 179 deaths. There will be more. And it will still very likely get worse in the next few days, but then it will get better. And the better it gets, the quicker we’ll be able to return to something resembling normalcy. And that will be as close to normal as possible. It doesn’t mean that everything will be the same wayit was with large groups and everything we took for granted as recently as February. But we’ll get through this. And even most people who contract COVID-19 will recover and do just fine. And we know that while we’re going to suffer loss, we’re going to get through this together.
Anne Trujillo
And I know you have little kids – what are you telling your kids about this situation?
Gov. Jared Polis
Just that same message. I think that families across the state, if they have kids, are talking to them. And they’re using technology to reach out to grandma and other folks. And that’s important in this time, is that even if we can’t be physically together, we can be emotionally together. And using all those tools of phone, and FaceTime, and Skype, and Google Chat, and Zoom, and all those different things, to be able to have that physical intimacy and fellowship that we need in this time of isolation.
