Sen. Rick Scott on coronavirus response: 'The federal government cannot solve every problem'

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Sen. Scott on calls for Americans to practice social distancing, Florida's decision to proceed with primary

Florida Senator Rick Scott is under self-quarantine for after coming in contact with Brazil's president, whose aide tested positive for coronavirus.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told Fox News Monday the federal government cannot solve every problem presented by the coronavirus pandemic, which has affected people in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Scott, who said he is self-quarantining after coming in contact with an infected member of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's entourage earlier this month, told "The Story" that state governments and private institutions can and have taken the lead on many aspects of fighting the contagion.

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"Health care is a locally-delivered system -- so our local health care systems with our local county health departments and our local physicians groups -- what can they produce that they don't have?" said Scott, a former health care industry executive.

"At every level, local, state and federal, we've got to waive regulations to take care [of the population]. We are all in a crisis and we all have to do this together.

"The federal government cannot solve every problem and we've got to have our families, our churches, our mayors, our communities, we've got to get together on this and solve the problem," Scott continued.

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The former Florida governor added that he believes the United States is moving in the direction of South Korea -- which has more than 8,200 coronavirus cases, but just 75 deaths -- as opposed to Italy, which has nearly 28,000 cases and more than 2,100 deaths.

"We have to get this testing up this week... we've got to secure our borders, and I think that's going to happen," he said.