Alaska governor on beginning process of reopening economy

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Alaska governor on beginning process of reopening economy

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy discusses his state's coronavirus response on 'Your World.'

This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," April 17, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Bill, thank you very much.

I think this is why Wall Street's rejoicing, beaches soon to be open in Jacksonville, Florida, the first palpable sign America is getting back, well, to something. We don't know it's business as usual. We will never get back to the way it was, but at least confidence that we're moving in that direction, as a number of states follow suit with slow reopening plans of their own.

Welcome, everybody. I'm Neil Cavuto. You're watching "Your World."

And we're on top of those openings right now, the very, very latest, as we see all of this unfold, with Jonathan Serrie -- Jonathan.

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Neil.

Jacksonville is one of the first Florida cities to welcome visitors back to its beaches. As of today, local governments are now allowed to reopen public parks, as long as users follow social distancing guidelines outlined in an executive order from the governor.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Now, you're not going to have large gatherings out there, but I think to be able to get people get out and sunshine and be able to get some fresh air, in my -- anything I have done, I always promoted essential activities with recreation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERRIE: This afternoon, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced all state parks in his state will reopen Monday.

However, visitors will be required to maintain six feet of social distancing. And they have to wear face masks. Texas schools will remain closed for the rest of this academic year.

And, today, an executive order took effect in New York state requiring people there to wear face coverings in public spaces where social distancing is not possible, places such as buses, subways or crowded grocery stores.

Today, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves tweeted: "I have to extend the shelter-in-place order for seven more days, while taking some new steps to help Mississippians mentally and financially. We are still in the eye of the storm."

Now, earlier, the governor has acknowledged all of the job losses in his state as a result of COVID-19. In fact, just yesterday, he had tweeted: "This is insane. The bleeding has to stop."

Neil, this just illustrates the predicament the nation's governments are -- governors are in, as they try to weigh lives with livelihoods -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Jonathan Serrie, thank you very, very much.

And we will have more than those openings and the slow unwinding of them very, very soon.

In the meantime, did you hear about this a little bit of nastiness between the president of the United States and New York Governor Cuomo? Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): First of all, if he's sitting home watching TV, maybe he should get up and go to work, right?

Second, the -- let's keep emotion and politics out of this and personal ego, if we can, because this is about the people, and it's about our job. And let's try to focus on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAVUTO: All right, he went there.

And the president, the governor says, started this by a nasty tweet to him that he's all talk and no action. Bottom line is, it's gotten even nastier since then, no doubt will come up today in the health task force briefing at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.

David Lee Miller has been following all these developments.

What happened, David Lee?

DAVID LEE MILLER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Neil, the governor had some very harsh words for the president during his regularly scheduled briefing today.

The two have had a strained relationship since the beginning of this crisis. And now it appears to have escalated. As Cuomo was speaking, President Trump tweeted out criticism, accusing the governor of not being grateful for help provided and for asking for more assistance than was actually needed.

The tweet said, in part -- and I quote -- "We built you thousands of hospital beds that you didn't -- that you didn't need or use. These great men and women who did the job never hear you say thanks."

And after a reporter read a portion of the president's tweets, Cuomo thanked the president more than a dozen times, asking: "What am I supposed to do, send him a bouquet of flowers?"

Cuomo said requests to increase hospital bed capacity were based on projections provided by the CDC and the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: That's why we built 2,500 beds at Javits, because we listened to you, Mr. President. And if we were foolish for listening to you, then shame on us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: Cuomo said the additional hospital bed might have been needed if the spread of the virus had not been slowed.

In the last day, 630 New Yorkers lost their life to the virus, raising the statewide death toll now to more than 15,400. Cuomo went on to call the president for -- to implement assistance in wide-scale testing and for financial help.

And, again, he reaffirmed that the opening of the economy is the job for governors. Talking about the president's role, Neil, Governor Cuomo said -- and I quote -- "All he's doing is walking in front of the parade, but he has nothing to do with the timing of the parade" -- Neil.

CAVUTO: David Lee, among his criticisms were that, when it comes to testing, that more testing for the virus that is needed in all of these states, New York chief among them, since it's the worst case for them, the states can't do that on their own. They're going to need federal help.

Was there any issue at all under President Trump that they wouldn't get it?

MILLER: The president has maintained that is going to be the responsibility of the states.

The governor said many times that the states, especially New York, cannot do the type of large-scale testing that is going to be required to restore the economy, and although he says, when it comes to actually pulling the switch to put the economy back in operation, the testing is a requirement, and that will require the help of the federal government.

So, right now, there is something of a stalemate -- Neil.

CAVUTO: You know, David, you just have to wonder. People that have very little sleep, it gets hot and nasty, and people are overwrought, overworked, so maybe just chalk it up to frayed nerves, my friend, David Lee Miller in New York on all of that.

Now, one of the big issues that kept coming up -- and, again, David Lee was mentioning, as was I -- this need for testing. And a lot of top experts in the medical community have said, you're going to need a lot more of it before you start opening a lot more of it.

Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider with us now from the San Francisco Sutter Health Internal Medicine there.

Now, Doctor, I was reading recently, in an interview you had, where you said, testing isn't only a good idea, it's necessary. You're worried about the whole lack of widespread testing. What did you mean by that?

DR. SHOSHANA UNGERLEIDER, SUTTER HEALTH: Well, thanks, Neil.

Everybody wants to get our economy back up and running and get people back to work.

But we have a responsibility to make sure that we do this in a safe way, and we're not just ramping everything back up at once and endangering the lives of potentially millions of people.

And, as we all know, with this new virus, we're learning about it as we go. We're trying to gather as much new information and data as possible and base our decisions on science and evidence.

And so any reopening strategy needs to carefully balance, of course, the economic objectives with our public health objectives of this country. And it's critical, Neil, that we get this -- that we get this right and have the proper infrastructure in place with testing capacity.

We know that asymptomatic people can spread this virus. So, in many ways, it's an invisible virus. And so that's why widespread testing is so critical. And we also need, of course, reporting and the ability to trace and isolate cases to do this right, and -- because, as we know, American lives are at risk.

What I will say is that testing capacity isn't where it needs to be anywhere in this country. Most Americans, for example, don't know, if they themselves are sick and need to get tested, do I call my doctor? Where do I go to get tested? How do I get those results?

I sure don't know those answers for myself and my family.

CAVUTO: Well, you know, Doctor, a lot of states are planning to ease up on these lockdown provisions.

Bill Hemmer was just talking to the governor of Ohio, who has a plan eventually to do that. Even some of the states that have put that off until at least May 15 are working on plans where they can do this in a staggered fashion. The president has a three-phase program that addresses it the same way.

Are you saying, right now, the way we stand right out, it's too soon to be doing any of this?  UNGERLEIDER: Well, I'm saying that in order to enact that three-phase approach, we need to do -- we need to have three things in place. We need to have the data about numbers of cases.

So increase of widespread testing capacity is really critical. We don't yet have that anywhere, the capacity, number two, to treat patients within the health care system, and then have enough PPE so that health care workers can safely do their jobs.

And then, three, the ability to trace the contacts of those who are infected, and they need data and evidence to drive all of these decisions, not an arbitrary timeline. And what would be disastrous is if each state doesn't have a clear sense of who's sick and where they are.

And to do this, we need to be running up to millions of tests a week, which isn't happening. This is dependent on things like a resilient supply chain of testing supplies. So we can't wait run out of the swabs that you need to test, or else this will hold up the process.

And, unfortunately, we just aren't there yet in terms of our testing capacity. I think we will get there. That's the goal, but we definitely have a ways to go.

CAVUTO: All right, Doctor, thank you very much. A good reminder for us all. Much appreciated.

Have a safe, healthy weekend yourself.

If this were a worry to Wall Street, the testing thing, it didn't show it today. I want to show you a remarkable surge in the Dow today that really picked up steam literally in the last 20 minutes of trading, the Dow up better than 704 points.

Now, a lot of that wasn't really built on economic news. As you know, by and large, that news has been horrible. But it was well-telegraphed to be horrible.

No, a report that Gilead Sciences just might be showing signs of an effective drug against the coronavirus. They're not even calling it a vaccine, per se, just something that shows great promise in treating this virus.

Just news of that sent Gilead shares soaring today. But for the market, it provided a ray of hope that there is that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. And that, coupled with a lot of these states unwinding their lockdown provisions, had some people thinking, maybe between these developments, and what the president wants to do on a three-phase sort of a coming-out process for the U.S. economy, we're moving in that direction.

Heather Zumarraga joining us all on these developments.

Heather, did the market overdo it, get too excited, ahead of its skis? What other trite cliches can I come up with? But what do you make of that?

HEATHER ZUMARRAGA, FINANCIAL ANALYST: Well, I think, as you know, the market is forward-looking. So this steady move into the close today, on the backs of horrible economic data, 22 million Americans now unemployed, as awful as that is, it was largely expected and already discounted into the marketplace.

So this is just another anecdote, this promising news from Gilead, Gilead, though, cautioning that they do not have clinical trials yet, so they're cautioning on the optimism. But despite that, it was enough for the markets to rally into the close.

CAVUTO: You know, Heather, I just want to show you something.

I don't know if you could see this here, but for our viewers back home -- and, Sam, if we can just show the market in the aggregate here, the Dow now crossing over 24000. As you know, Heather, it wasn't that long ago, in the lows of the bear market, it was in and out of 18000.

The fact of the matter is, we have retraced about 55 percent from the lows. And we're a little bit more than 5,000 points from the old highs in February.

Is the market reflecting the reality here? I mean, it was fast on the way down. It seems to be fast on the way up. Which is real?

ZUMARRAGA: It really is. Well, it depends, if you're an investor or retail investor sitting at home, how you want to view things.

It's glass half-full or half-empty. As you rightfully pointed out, we had a rapid decline, almost 40 percent from the market highs. And we have recovered about half of that, over half that decline in a matter of two weeks as well.

So as shocking and rapid move as we saw on the downside, we're seeing that on the upside. One clear winner is the technology sector from a shutdown economy. People are now working from home. If you have kept your job and you're not those that are joining the unemployed portion of Americans, you're keeping your job, working from home.

And the health care sector is only down 3 percent from its highs this year.

CAVUTO: Yes.

And we should point out, besides the excitement over Gilead, Sanofi says that it can mass-produce a vaccine that, if it works, up to 600 million doses next year, again, if it works.

Moderna getting about $483 million from the federal government funding a virus vaccine that looks promising.

I really think these type of developments -- and you follow them so well, Heather -- kind of make average folks, let alone investors, feel maybe something could be coming. It's on the cusp to make us worry a lot less about this virus, because I have always said the market and I think average folks ignore the stimulus around the virus.

They welcome it. But they really would much prefer progress on kicking this virus, right?

ZUMARRAGA: You're right.

People in the administration, such as Peter Navarro, have warned that shutting down the economy could be as bad or worse than the virus itself. And you couple these drug developments with the administration's plan to reopen the economy in four to six weeks, and whether you agree or disagree with that, there's a commonsense approach in three phases.

You leave it up to the state and local governments and the governors to decide what is best for their states and communities on a local level, because every state is different. But, eventually, we need to reopen the economy. That's what needs to happen.

CAVUTO: Heather, great talking to you again. Have a safe weekend.

ZUMARRAGA: Yes, sir.

CAVUTO: Heather Zumarraga follows this so, so well.

She touched on it here, but, again, anything that helps the economy.

Now, we should also point out that that stimulus that has been in a holding pattern in Washington, the $250 billion thing that's going nowhere fast, it suddenly started moving, because of more stimulus and a deal that could be in the making.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, you are watching live right now Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards talking to residents about the state, where it stands right now.

They had, remember, just a few weeks ago, a severe flare-up in cases that affected much of the state, but particularly around the New Orleans area. And things are getting a little bit better right now, and so far no sign that he is rolling back any provisions in the state to watch where people go and how far they travel from their homes. But we're monitoring it.

Right now, speaking of Louisiana, that state's Senator John Kennedy, the Republican, joins us right now.

Senator, a lot going on in an area of special interest to you, especially on this small business lending help, the Paycheck Protection Program, which might live, after all, but it apparently involves a deal with Democrats to provide more health worker, health care, hospital funding.

Can you enlighten us where things stand now?

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I have heard the rumors. I hope they're true.

But what often happens -- and I hope it doesn't happen this time, Neil -- they tell us they have reached a deal, and then you start reading the bill, and you find that somebody slipped something in there. I call it spending pork.

And then they tell you, yes, but you have -- you have got to -- you have got to vote for it. And you feel like you have taken the bullet train to chump town, you know? I mean, you said you weren't going to vote for any more of this crap, and they slip it in there, and say, you have no choice.

I'm not saying that's what happened -- is going to happen this time. I am saying that this has got to be unanimous. And they're not going to get unanimity if -- if they -- and I'm talking to both sides -- if they -- if they play games here.

I'll consider anything they come up with, but they need to think a little bit more about the next generation, instead of the next election.

CAVUTO: Do you think, Senator, that, if it were a measure for health care workers or providing funding for them, it's going to be a lot more money -- I'm told -- we were looking at this earlier today -- where it might be as much as another $100 billion, $150 billion, could be $200 billion. I lose track of these things.

I don't know how you guys keep track. But -- but if it were just to that, on top of the small business aid, would that, even with a wince here and there, that you would accept it?

KENNEDY: You bet I'll consider it, if it's clean, if they don't try to take advantage of the American people at the worst possible time.

Look, Neil, last time I was on your show, I was very optimistic about the numbers, economic numbers and the health numbers. And you were skeptical. And I know you're not happy with this, but you were right. I was wrong.

I mean, the health numbers in Louisiana and elsewhere are better. We're -- our numbers are headed in the right direction. Economically, I mean, these numbers that have come out lately just take my breath away, 22 million jobs?

And now that the small business loan program is shut down, all those small businesses that were in line and that are waiting, you know what they're going to do? They got to lay people off. I don't know what...

CAVUTO: Yes, you're right about that.

KENNEDY: I don't want to make this partisan, but I don't know -- I don't know why Speaker Pelosi is being this way.

CAVUTO: All right.

We will watch it closely.

KENNEDY: We got to do something here.

CAVUTO: Senator, I appreciate your time, as always.

KENNEDY: And -- and...

CAVUTO: All right. Be well.

Senator, I'm jumping on you, because that hard break comes whether I'm yapping or not.

But thank you, sir, very, very much. All right.

The fallout on lockdowns -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  CAVUTO: All right, I think these protests over lockdowns, shutdowns, whatever you want to call them, are going viral themselves.

The latest state to experience them, Minnesota.

Mike Tobin with more from there.

Mike, what's happening?

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Neil, demonstrators had some success in Minnesota, led -- Minnesota, led by a group called Liberate Minnesota.

The demonstrators have been out in front of the governor's residence in St. Paul for two days. And what resulted is an executive order from Democratic Governor Tim Walz. He has issued that order that opened up a lot of outdoor activities, golf, fishing, hiking, hunting. They're all fair game now.

And that means bait shop, gun ranges, golf courses are back in business. And the executive order came with encouragement to maintain distance from others and stay close to home.

Another state that had pressure from demonstrations is Texas. Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued an order allowing stores to open for what he called retail to go. He also established what he called a strike force to reopen Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Standards that will prevent the spread of the -- of COVID-19. If we do that, we will be able to continue to open up our economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TOBIN: Wisconsin's governor, Democrat Tony Evers, extended the lockdown there until May 26.

And Michigan's Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who has been under a lot of pressure from demonstrators, put a little pressure back on them, saying that, by gathering up, they may have created a need to extend the quarantine, although she says she's hopeful to open the state by May the 1st -- Neil.

CAVUTO: Mike Tobin, thank you very much, my friend.

With us now, Jimmy John Liautaud.

You probably know that name, because he's a founder of Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches. Delicious. Now, he has since sold the company. He is not connected with the company, but he's the guy who started the company.

I'm very happy to have him join me right now, because he's still a very big cheese, no pun intended here, because he's part of the president's advisory council. So, he's a big deal still.

Very good to have you, Jimmy. Thanks for coming.

JIMMY JOHN LIAUTAUD, FOUNDER, JIMMY JOHN'S: Nice to be here. Thanks for having me, Neil.  CAVUTO: Let's talk a little bit about how you would advise the president on this, how you already have.

He has a three-phase program to get America back to work. You can see impatience in cities and states like Minnesota and Michigan, where people are saying, enough already, let's start doing the unwinding thing.

What do you think of that?

LIAUTAUD: Well, I think that -- I totally understand what -- if there's a - - if you're in Montana, and you don't have a lot of the disease going on, I mean, I think it'd be perfectly OK to open up certain areas in Montana or the whole state of Montana.

But I think what you're seeing with the president is, I see is -- that he's managing this situation, and he's now open to opening selective areas and letting governors decide, like Minnesota just did today, opening up fishing, hunting and golfing. And I think that was a good move.

So, obviously people are going nuts, Neil. But it's different strokes for different folks. And he's having to make decisions. And that's what businesspeople have to do. Things don't always go as planned. And neither did this. And so he's doing the best that he can with what he's got and making decisions along the way. And I support him.

CAVUTO: Now, in your role in still very active and quite popular restaurant chain, do most go in there takeout anyway, they take a sandwich and go? I know there's some seating available, but mostly you just take it and go, don't you?

LIAUTAUD: You know, you would be surprised.

About 40 percent of the stores have drive-throughs, Neil. And at the end of the day, only about 35 percent of the business is delivery. So I'd say about a third is delivery.

CAVUTO: Oh, wow.

LIAUTAUD: A third is carry-out, and about a third is inside the restaurant. It's right around there, that -- I think that's probably pretty close to accurate.

CAVUTO: Because the reason why I ask is, you know they want to phase restaurants back in.

But they're going to be on less seating capacity to keep the distance thing going for a while. So I'm just wondering. I'm sure restaurants of all sorts will welcome getting back to business, probably fewer customers, right?

LIAUTAUD: Oh, for sure.

But, yes, there's -- they're obviously -- and they're going to have to just adapt. And the people that run the restaurants are going to adapt really, really quickly. And whatever the consumer demand is telling you, these small business owners will make those decisions, and they will adapt, and they we will do what it is that the consumer wants it to do.

That's why the small business and free enterprise and the free market is so efficient. So, these small businesses will do what the customers want. If customers -- if the consumer demands masks, if the consumer wants a screen, if the consumer wants spacing, they will provide spacing.

And they will do it before the government tells them to, because they're pretty quick on their feet. So, it's going to be what it is. It's going to be awkward. It's going to be uncomfortable. But they will adapt. And they are resilient and they will adapt to whatever -- whatever it is that the consumer demands.

And they will couple that with what the rules are currently in place for that moment or that day or that week. And I think they're going to do just fine.

CAVUTO: Do you think it's going to take a while? I mean, obviously, people have to get used to a whole new way of interacting, ordering food, all that stuff.

How do you think it's all going to go?

LIAUTAUD: Well, with this particular industry, with the restaurant industry, I think that we're the first ones to be affected. And I think that we're going to be the last ones that are going to get back to normal.

So, this one in particular is very affected. And since -- we're at war right now. This is -- this is an unknown. Nobody knows what's going to happen. We don't know. We don't know when it's going to slow down, when it's going to end, when it's -- if it's going to pick up again or not.

So there's going to be a lot of adapting, and there's going to be a lot of thinking on your feet. And there's going to be some mistakes made, not only by the business owners and the operators, but also by our governors and our president.

CAVUTO: All right.

LIAUTAUD: We're going to make mistakes.

And when we make a mistake, we will back up, we will change it, and we will try it and try it again. But there is no -- there is no -- there is no -- we can't go based on what's happened in the past, because this has never happened before. I mean, this is -- this is unknown territory.

CAVUTO: You're right about that.

LIAUTAUD: This is scary stuff.

CAVUTO: We will get through it, to your point, though, my friend.

Jimmy, thank you very, very much, and for all those delicious sandwiches, all right, Jimmy John's.

By the way, Alaska distancing seems like a moot point, right? It's a big old state, but they're doing it, and they're winning with it.

The state's governor -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: This is Huntington Beach, California.

And protesters there are not happy that beaches are not open. They probably just heard the news that, in Jacksonville, Florida, the beaches there are going to reopen in less than half-an-hour. They want the same.

Good luck -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  CAVUTO: All right, when I heard they were practicing social distancing in Alaska, I mean, this thing is bigger than most countries. It's really spread out.

And then I remembered, having visited the state so many times -- love it, fantastic, awesome -- you do have Juneau and Fairbanks and Anchorage and a lot of other people who are tucked into fairly tight squeezes here, but in a massive state.

The governor was sort of shepherding that process and trying to give an indication as to how people sort of get back to business as usual.

Mike Dunleavy, Republican governor of that beautiful state of Alaska.

Governor, very good to have you. Thank you for taking the time.

GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY (R-AK): Thanks for being here, Neil. I'm glad to be on.

CAVUTO: Let me ask you, what's the latest?

Last I'd read, cases are largely under control in your state, but you didn't want to take any -- any chances. Can you update me now, Governor, where things stand?

DUNLEAVY: So, we have 309 cases as of today, about 172 active cases, Neil. And we will probably have the lowest caseload in the entire country.

Again, we got on this pretty early. We received that plane from Wuhan with U.S. diplomats and their families back in January. And, immediately, we began to stand up a response to what we thought was going to be a pandemic here in the state of Alaska, just understanding what the nature of that virus was.

And so we have been on this since mid-January. And we have kept our caseload down, our numbers down. We have had a different type of social distancing here in Alaska. We tell people, you can do whatever you want, as long as you're six feet or more away from others.

We have put some sanctions on certain businesses that -- where you would get crowds. But, for the most part, if you want to go hiking, running, walking, fishing, you can do it here in Alaska.

CAVUTO: Yes.

And there's some parts where it would be tough enough to comply with six miles of distancing between you, such a big and beautiful state.

DUNLEAVY: True.

CAVUTO: You know, Governor, you had talked about the need in the retail and the impact there. You want to get that go, and obviously return to things like elective surgery, which in many states across the country something they're not doing.

But that's a hard process. So, where are you in that right now?

DUNLEAVY: So, we have opened up our elective surgeries. We will be doing that here shortly. We have opened up all of our health care now, so folks can go see their chiropractors, their doctors, et cetera.

We're working on our fishing industry. Our fishing industry is huge in the state of Alaska. And fishing starts here in May.

CAVUTO: Sure.

DUNLEAVY: So, we're working through that process as well.

And in terms of retail, we should have some guidance out here early next week in expanding our opening of retail also. And we're looking at restaurants too. For example, we have been having a conversation with the industry.

And there is takeout. There's curbside. But for those that want to go to a restaurant, we're having discussions as to whether we could have a situation where a family that's under the same roof calls in for reservation and potentially goes to that restaurant. The adequate distance between others occurs, other families.

But we're looking at a whole host of things, because, again, our caseload is not that high, and it looks like it's flattening out. And we do have the health care capacity now.

So, we're feeling pretty good about things.

CAVUTO: You know, you had reminded me -- and I'd forgotten, Governor, I'm glad you did -- that, back in January, you had that delegation from China had come in.

And I'm wondering, now, with all of this second-guessing on what the Chinese knew and what they didn't know or what they were saying and what they weren't saying, did you have any idea then that something was afoot or not smelling right, because a lot of people feel now, even with China updating some numbers out of Wuhan and elsewhere, that they're still not giving us the full truth about the severity of all of this?

DUNLEAVY: Yes, good question.

When this -- when we had the discussions with the State Department, and the plane came in, and when they landed, they -- the families cheered, obviously, because they were back here in America.

We stood up. We sat up in our seats.

CAVUTO: Sure.

DUNLEAVY: And we looked at each other and we said, we're not really sure what's going on here. This is kind of -- this is sounding kind of strange.

So, then we heard rumors, like everyone else does, as to where this came from and so forth. But long story short, we knew this was going to be something that was a little -- that's going to be bigger than the flu, that was going to be different than other things, just by the urgency in getting those folks out of there and what was happening in Wuhan at that time.

And so we're glad we did what we did. It's time for us to start easing off, because we can. But we don't know where this is going to go. We don't have a vaccination. We don't have antivirals at this point. We're prepared in Alaska to make sure that we have our testing in place.

We're producing our own tests here in Alaska. We're getting some from the federal government as well. And that cooperation has been pretty good, Neil, but, long story short, Alaska is used to all kinds of natural disasters, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, fires, floods.

CAVUTO: Yes.

DUNLEAVY: And so we're kind of a -- kind of a do-it-on-our-own group up here to begin with.

CAVUTO: Well, you were right to be cautious back then and raise some alarms.

But, Governor, be well, be safe. My best to the residents in your beautiful state, the governor of Alaska, Mike Dunleavy.

I'm sorry. There -- by the way, when I was reading this, there is something else I just want to alert you here. There are right now seven more states that have pushed back the school year or canceled it outright, bringing to, I believe, 24 states now that have nixed the rest of the school year.

I hope to get an updated list for you right now. But it is the first time essentially half the country schools are not only shuttered, but shuttered for the rest of the year.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  CAVUTO: All right, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont is updating reporters on the status of cases in the Nutmeg State.

Sadly, we can report right now that the number of deaths has just topped 1,000 in Connecticut, the first time it has topped 1,000.

Governor Lamont will be joining me tomorrow on my Saturday show, "Cavuto Live," to address this and other issues that have come up, in cooperation, he is, with other Northeast governors, including those in New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania, to -- this coordinated plan that they hope to start in the middle of next month, May 15.

They have pushed back the sort of easing on a lot of these lockdown restrictions until at least then, while other states, like Texas, begin to essentially unwind those conditions, like, now, but, again, the death toll topic 1,000 in Connecticut.

I will be speaking with the governor tomorrow.

In the meantime, speaking of death tolls and all that, we're getting some mixed signals out of China. A lot of people have been suspicious the figures coming out of there. Then along comes a revision in the Wuhan death rate that effectively suddenly soared 50 percent.

Gillian Turner on all of that, and what's really going on here -- Gillian.

GILLIAN TURNER, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: So, Neil, early this morning, the Chinese government admitted that the number of people who have died from coronavirus inside the city of Wuhan is, as you say, 50 percent higher than what they have been reporting.

The numbers are now totaling almost 3,900. And this is a big deal, because U.S. officials have been saying for weeks that you can't trust the official numbers coming out of the country. Today, we're also seeing senior White House officials, administration officials speak out about the ongoing investigation into Wuhan.

Take a listen to Secretary Mike Pompeo.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We know this the first sightings of this occurred within miles of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

We know that this history of the facility, first BSL-4 lab where there's high-end virus research being conducted, took place at that site. And, most importantly, we know that they have not permitted the world's scientists to go into that laboratory to evaluate what took place there.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

TURNER: Now, yesterday, FOX News confirmed there is an intelligence investigation into the origins of the outbreak.

And now today we're learning brand-new details about how that investigation is unfolding. Right now, we know intelligence analysts are looking into the Wuhan Institute of Virology and looking at what actions the Chinese government took and when they took them.

Once they got what they are calling a complete site picture on all this, they're going to president their findings to the Trump administration. Ultimately, from there, President Trump, of course, will make a determination how to hold China accountable.

That's where we're headed with all this next.

Today, in the interim, China's government's punching back against the U.S. Take a listen to their Foreign Ministry.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZHAO LIJIAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN (through translator): We urge the U.S. to stop political manipulation, do their part and focus more on how to overcome the virus and boost the economy as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: We're also learning today, Neil, that the U.S. intelligence community is ruling out the possibility that this virus was manmade, that it was somehow engineered inside a lab to become a bioweapon.

They're saying that's off the table right now. That could change, because you know better than anyone investigations can ebb and flow and move all over the place.

The other thing we're circling the wagons on this evening is claims that this that -- the virus, let's see -- I don't want to mince words here -- our sources are saying that more than ever before they are convinced this didn't come from a food market. So we will keep you apprised of that -- Neil.

CAVUTO: All right, Gillian, great reporting, as always.

Two quick things to update you on before we get to a break here.

The number of schools in this country -- or the number of states and schools that have essentially said class dismissed for the rest of the, there are 24 states now that have essentially given up on the school year, and saying there will be no school now for the rest of the year, among them, Oregon and Washington, Nebraska, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Alabama.

I could go through them all here. There are at least five others, though, that are going to be closed through May, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Delaware, New York, and New Jersey, and Connecticut.

If those other states hold, that would mean close to 60 percent of the of the nation's schools will be closed effective the rest of the year.

Also, when we come back, the excitement around one company's drug, Gilead Sciences. It got more attention than even the company was talking about on an effective treatment for the coronavirus. Is it?

A top doctor on that -- after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAVUTO: All right, Gilead, boy, those shares were racing today.

It could be coming up with a treatment for the coronavirus. I don't even know if they would go so far as to call on a vaccine, but something that does look promising.

We have Dr. Janette Nesheiwat joining us right now on the phone.

Doctor, obviously, the markets pounced on this as something extremely significant. The company itself was very reticent to say much on the subject, outside of it's working on something.

Do you know what this is?

DR. JANETTE NESHEIWAT, FOX NEWS MEDICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Neil. Hi.

So, remdesivir, this is actually an antiviral drug. It's given an I.V. form. And it's under investigation. And it was actually first used to help fight a virus, a disease called Marburg disease, and Ebola years ago.

But it's now being shown to maybe give some hope, some promise to those who are really critically and in the hospital. A small study showed that some patients who were given remdesivir were actually able to be discharged home in a matter of six days.

So it gives us a little hope. But we still need a lot more data, a lot more research to know, is this safe? Is it efficacious? Is there any side effects? Because it's not a controlled study. It's just an anecdotal study.

And we need to know more about it, because those patients could have just improved from time alone vs. did the medicine remdesivir really help?

Last week, Neil, "The New England Journal of Medicine" published data on hospitalized patients who were given I.V. remdesivir under a compassionate use basis. And the results were shown to be promising.

But, again, we need a lot more data, a lot more research to see, is this accurate? Is it going to work, or is it just maybe mild improvement of symptoms?

It has been shown to be successful in vitro and in lab animals, but, as we know, what happens in the lab and in vitro doesn't always translate into reality.

CAVUTO: No, you're right about that.

Elsewhere, there are a number of pots on various stoves bubbling right now, Doctor. Sanofi says that it is capable of mass-producing a vaccine that, if it works, they could churn it out at a rate of 600 million doses next year.

Separately, Moderna is getting about half -- $483 billion, I should say, in federal funding for a separate vaccine that it's developing.

So, there's a lot going on. How soon do you think before something is happening like right now, available right now?

NESHEIWAT: Oh, well, for the vaccines, those usually take years to get on the market.

But this one is...

CAVUTO: Right.

NESHEIWAT: The ones that we have now are being expedited.

So, hopefully, in about a year, we will get some vaccines on the market. We need to make sure they're safe. We need to make sure that they're effective. And we need to make sure we don't see anyone with life- threatening side effects.

So we have to do -- undergo trials. We have already started phase one trial this month actually. So, hopefully, within about a year, we will have a vaccine on the market. But it's very hopeful and reassuring that, while we're waiting for vaccines...

CAVUTO: Absolutely.

NESHEIWAT: ... that we can test and try these therapeutics, these medications, just to help potentially save lives.

We can't wait a year or two years for a vaccine on the market, when we have people critically ill now. We need to do everything we can to try to keep people alive, whether...

CAVUTO: All right.

NESHEIWAT: Even if these medications such as remdesivir and hydroxychloroquine don't have proven data to show that they can really save lives and make a difference.

CAVUTO: OK, Doctor, thank you very much.

Stick around. We will have more.

NESHEIWAT: Thank you, Neil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)  CAVUTO: These protests continuing right now in Huntington Beach, California.

They just heard that Jacksonville beaches are going to be open, and they want theirs open, but, so far, that ain't happening. They're not pleased, among many things that we will be exploring, of course, tomorrow on a live show, as more protests are planned in other locales.

The Connecticut governor, the Mississippi governor with us tomorrow.

See you then.

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