Verdict with Ted Cruz - Cruz's Coronavirus Quarantine

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.480 Guaranteed human.

00:00:04.800 Coronavirus is sweeping the globe.

00:00:08.080 And so live from the self-quarantine studios,

00:00:11.620 this is Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:19.780 Welcome back to Verdict with Ted Cruz.

00:00:22.000 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:00:23.280 And Senator, I have to ask,

00:00:25.240 as somebody who spent a lot of time with you at CPAC,

00:00:27.920 how are you feeling?

00:00:30.000 You know, I'm feeling great.

00:00:31.620 Thank you for asking.

00:00:32.640 How are you feeling, Michael?

00:00:34.700 Well, I'm feeling good and I'm feeling better now

00:00:37.200 that I know that it would appear

00:00:38.740 that you have not suffered any consequences

00:00:41.700 as a result of exposure to coronavirus.

00:00:45.160 Well, I think that's right.

00:00:46.800 But let me tell you what happened

00:00:48.660 and how it came for me to be alone

00:00:50.860 in my living room right now.

00:00:53.120 Saturday night, so three days ago,

00:00:55.420 I got a call from the organizers of CPAC.

00:00:58.540 And they called and said at CPAC,

00:01:02.960 there was an individual who had since gotten sick

00:01:07.180 and tested positive for coronavirus.

00:01:10.400 And they asked him,

00:01:11.800 who did you interact with while you were at CPAC?

00:01:14.680 And he mentioned one senator, me.

00:01:17.960 And so the CPAC organizers described this to me.

00:01:20.780 And I remembered,

00:01:21.480 I saw this gentleman backstage outside the green room

00:01:25.280 and we said hello and I shook his hand.

00:01:28.160 The whole interaction was probably less than 60 seconds.

00:01:31.700 It was just, good to see you shook his hand.

00:01:33.580 We may have taken a selfie.

00:01:35.500 And that was it.

00:01:37.060 So anyway, CPAC tells me,

00:01:38.660 well, this individual unfortunately is now sick

00:01:41.040 and he's tested positive.

00:01:42.760 So I sat down and made a whole series of phone calls.

00:01:45.580 And I reached out to health professionals,

00:01:48.260 reached out to CDC,

00:01:50.040 reached out to Health and Human Services,

00:01:52.180 reached out to the health director of the city of Houston

00:01:54.840 and of Harris County

00:01:55.800 and asked all of them,

00:01:58.640 all right, what should I do?

00:01:59.960 What is the proper conduct in this circumstance?

00:02:03.260 What the doctors told me

00:02:04.900 is that given the very brief interaction,

00:02:07.980 that it was less than a minute, number one.

00:02:10.340 And number two,

00:02:11.400 given that it had been at the time,

00:02:12.920 nine days since I'd seen him

00:02:14.780 and I had and have today no symptoms,

00:02:18.420 I feel fine, I feel great.

00:02:19.840 They said the chances that I had contracted the virus

00:02:23.820 were very, very low.

00:02:25.500 And in fact, they said,

00:02:26.500 I did not meet the CDC criteria for self-quarantine.

00:02:31.200 That being said, as I thought about it,

00:02:33.580 I decided the right thing for me to do

00:02:36.440 was to self-quarantine nonetheless.

00:02:39.140 That just given the nature of the job,

00:02:41.880 that representing 28 million people in Texas,

00:02:44.700 I am out, I'm seeing people,

00:02:46.440 I am engaging with people frequently,

00:02:50.760 that it made sense to be prudent.

00:02:53.020 And so I stayed home that evening

00:02:54.620 and since that time have stayed at my house,

00:02:58.340 self-quarantining for 14 days

00:03:01.600 from the point of the incident.

00:03:02.600 But I am feeling great and healthy and strong.

00:03:06.340 Well, that's good

00:03:07.060 because I think people wanna hear

00:03:09.820 your personal experience.

00:03:12.440 You're one of the main people we've seen

00:03:14.660 in the public eye who self-quarantined.

00:03:16.860 And I think there are two narratives emerging.

00:03:18.880 On the one hand, we're being told

00:03:20.540 that this is no worse than the flu.

00:03:22.400 It's not a big deal.

00:03:23.480 Everybody's overreacting.

00:03:25.060 On the other hand, we're being told

00:03:26.500 this is gonna crash the global economy

00:03:28.280 and we're all gonna die.

00:03:30.200 From your perspective, talking to experts,

00:03:33.540 which narrative is closer to the truth?

00:03:36.460 Listen, I think both of those extremes are wrong.

00:03:39.720 This is a serious public health threat

00:03:41.740 and we should treat it seriously.

00:03:43.260 The numbers are alarming.

00:03:46.940 Since it began to spread,

00:03:48.740 we've had over 116,000 cases worldwide.

00:03:53.660 We've had over 4,000 deaths worldwide.

00:03:57.020 Those numbers are very alarming.

00:03:59.680 What we know about the coronavirus

00:04:01.080 is that it is quite infectious

00:04:03.500 and that its mortality rate

00:04:07.340 appears to be substantially higher than the flu.

00:04:11.200 And in particular,

00:04:13.260 the population that is most vulnerable

00:04:16.200 to coronavirus are older people

00:04:18.780 and particularly older people

00:04:19.900 who have other significant health issues.

00:04:22.120 That's why, for example, in Washington State,

00:04:25.220 we saw a concentrated number of deaths

00:04:27.980 because a retirement home

00:04:30.560 or retirement community,

00:04:31.820 one person became infected

00:04:33.660 and it spread in a very vulnerable community.

00:04:36.680 I think we need to take those threats seriously.

00:04:38.980 And I do think we're seeing local health authorities,

00:04:44.200 state health authorities,

00:04:45.180 and federal health authorities

00:04:46.240 taking it seriously

00:04:47.460 because we've got an epidemic

00:04:49.320 and an epidemic that's dangerous.

00:04:50.900 Well, I want to know

00:04:52.340 how seriously they're taking it

00:04:53.780 because we saw in Italy

00:04:54.740 that certain regions became quarantined.

00:04:57.500 Now the whole country of Italy is quarantined.

00:05:00.220 Do you think there's a chance

00:05:01.220 that we could see those kind of measures

00:05:02.480 here in the United States?

00:05:03.420 I think it is certainly possible.

00:05:06.580 We don't know right now

00:05:08.360 about the scope of the spread,

00:05:10.020 but if you look at the numbers,

00:05:11.780 so this virus originated,

00:05:13.960 as we know, in China,

00:05:15.280 in the Wuhan province,

00:05:16.840 there are now over 80,000 reported

00:05:20.240 and confirmed cases of the virus

00:05:22.560 in China alone.

00:05:24.220 We're seeing numbers spread.

00:05:26.880 I was looking at some of the numbers this morning

00:05:28.960 that the United States,

00:05:31.780 as of this morning,

00:05:32.960 there were 761 cases.

00:05:35.260 But we saw just this afternoon

00:05:37.100 an additional 51 confirmed cases

00:05:39.940 in the state of Massachusetts.

00:05:41.700 Not only that,

00:05:42.680 if we look at today's numbers

00:05:43.900 just from Italy,

00:05:44.840 Italy is the country

00:05:46.900 with the second worst concentration

00:05:48.460 of it after China.

00:05:50.020 Just today,

00:05:50.800 we had reported 977 new cases

00:05:53.980 and 168 new deaths.

00:05:56.440 I mean, that is troubling.

00:05:57.760 And if we see those numbers grow,

00:06:02.180 then I think we will see,

00:06:03.960 we've already seen events being canceled.

00:06:06.160 I think in particular,

00:06:07.840 nobody should be surprised

00:06:09.200 to see large events

00:06:10.660 that have people coming internationally

00:06:12.400 to see those being canceled.

00:06:14.200 We've seen a number of them canceled already,

00:06:16.480 things like South by Southwest here in Texas.

00:06:19.140 And I think that there's a good likelihood

00:06:22.260 of that going forward.

00:06:23.560 But if the numbers spread,

00:06:25.700 if you look at what they've done in Italy,

00:06:27.340 they've got the entire country

00:06:29.480 basically under lockdown.

00:06:30.960 They've canceled sporting events.

00:06:32.400 They've shut down public gatherings

00:06:35.740 because they're trying to contain

00:06:37.420 the spread of it.

00:06:38.320 And I think as the facts merit it,

00:06:41.080 we should respond accordingly.

00:06:42.660 But it seems to me

00:06:43.680 the wrong way to approach this

00:06:45.780 is from the perspective of politics,

00:06:47.940 is from rhetoric.

00:06:49.780 And you see both sides

00:06:52.460 trying to jockey for advantage.

00:06:54.520 We ought to be calm and sober-minded

00:06:57.620 and we ought to be driven by the facts.

00:06:59.300 We ought to be driven by the science

00:07:00.640 and we ought to be listening

00:07:01.420 to the medical professionals.

00:07:02.740 Well, Senator,

00:07:03.600 I know that you don't want to approach this

00:07:05.520 from a political angle,

00:07:06.540 which means you probably didn't watch

00:07:08.500 MSNBC's coverage here

00:07:10.340 because you just used

00:07:11.880 an absolutely forbidden phrase.

00:07:14.020 You pointed out that the virus

00:07:15.820 originated in Wuhan,

00:07:17.940 which left-wing commentators

00:07:19.460 have been saying is now racist

00:07:21.220 to observe the origins of the virus.

00:07:23.820 Your take.

00:07:25.140 Well, I think there are times

00:07:28.360 when the media becomes self-parodying

00:07:30.220 and that's a great example of it.

00:07:32.380 One of the reasons

00:07:33.540 that this virus spread so rapidly

00:07:36.360 and has been so difficult to contain

00:07:38.460 is that early on,

00:07:40.240 the communist government in China

00:07:41.620 did not want to be public about it.

00:07:43.400 And so they held quiet,

00:07:44.760 they suppressed information.

00:07:46.640 Look, we know that

00:07:47.420 the communist government of China

00:07:48.740 has a long history of lying,

00:07:50.440 that they're not to be trusted to begin with.

00:07:53.180 So the stats I gave you

00:07:54.840 of 80,000 confirmed cases of the virus

00:07:58.560 and deaths in China

00:07:59.880 over 3,000 deaths in China,

00:08:03.360 that's based on what the communist government

00:08:05.280 is telling us.

00:08:06.020 Those numbers could be much, much worse.

00:08:09.180 And their longstanding policy

00:08:12.100 of state propaganda,

00:08:14.100 I think substantially contributed

00:08:16.820 to the spread of this virus.

00:08:18.360 I will say,

00:08:19.740 I think the president

00:08:20.460 of the Trump administration,

00:08:21.760 perhaps the most important decision

00:08:23.660 that was made early

00:08:25.300 at the outset of this outbreak

00:08:26.900 was to shut off commercial air travel

00:08:29.220 to and from China,

00:08:30.220 to shut off both air travel

00:08:31.600 and for Americans coming home

00:08:34.080 to quarantine them and have screening.

00:08:35.860 I think that was an unprecedented step.

00:08:40.080 And just over a week ago,

00:08:42.120 I chaired a hearing on the Senate

00:08:43.540 listening to expert testimony

00:08:46.040 from the CDC

00:08:46.900 and from Health and Human Services

00:08:49.300 and from Border and Customs Patrol.

00:08:52.060 All of the expert witnesses

00:08:53.960 testified that the fact

00:08:55.500 that we stopped air travel to China

00:08:57.920 played a significant role

00:08:59.740 slowing down the virus.

00:09:01.240 It didn't stop it,

00:09:02.680 but it slowed it down.

00:09:03.940 And it may be one of the reasons

00:09:05.340 why countries like Italy and Iran

00:09:07.780 have a much higher level

00:09:09.720 of infection right now

00:09:11.420 because they were not

00:09:12.420 not as quick to stop air travel.

00:09:14.740 That being said,

00:09:15.920 it is now in the United States.

00:09:17.500 It is spreading in the United States

00:09:19.380 and we've got to treat it seriously.

00:09:20.800 It is a virus that is contagious

00:09:23.800 and is dangerous.

00:09:25.640 Well, you bring up the deception

00:09:26.900 of the Chinese government.

00:09:28.380 And I think that's what a lot of people

00:09:29.840 are wondering about now.

00:09:31.060 It would be good to get your own

00:09:33.080 insider perspective from Washington.

00:09:35.720 Some people are saying

00:09:37.460 this was just a bad case of bat soup,

00:09:39.740 that people ate something

00:09:40.860 they shouldn't have eaten

00:09:41.560 and that's how it spread.

00:09:42.880 Others have pointed

00:09:43.700 to this strange coincidence

00:09:44.900 that there is a virus testing laboratory

00:09:48.060 in Wuhan.

00:09:49.620 Do we have any sense

00:09:50.700 of the true origins of the virus?

00:09:54.440 Well, we don't know for sure.

00:09:56.420 I've asked medical experts

00:09:58.040 and they've said based on

00:09:59.340 the sequencing of the genomes,

00:10:01.080 it does not appear

00:10:01.860 to be artificially created,

00:10:03.840 that it appears to be a virus

00:10:05.200 that has occurred in nature.

00:10:07.540 You're right that a lot of people

00:10:08.800 have focused on the Wuhan

00:10:10.420 Virology Institute

00:10:12.160 that is located right there.

00:10:14.300 And indeed,

00:10:15.300 they've got researchers there

00:10:16.540 that are studying coronavirus

00:10:18.140 and studying bats.

00:10:19.700 I mean, that raises

00:10:22.120 some obvious questions.

00:10:24.000 At the same time,

00:10:25.160 it's very interesting.

00:10:26.200 Do you remember back last fall

00:10:28.720 when the Houston Rockets,

00:10:30.500 when Daryl Morey,

00:10:31.120 the general manager,

00:10:32.160 tweeted out about Hong Kong,

00:10:33.820 he said,

00:10:34.260 stand with Hong Kong,

00:10:35.240 stand for liberty.

00:10:36.360 Right.

00:10:36.740 And the NBA went crazy

00:10:38.500 and China went crazy

00:10:39.580 and the NBA apologized profusely.

00:10:42.780 I have to admit,

00:10:44.080 it's kind of the same thing

00:10:45.260 that anyone suggests.

00:10:46.640 Well, gosh, you know,

00:10:47.860 there are thousands,

00:10:50.140 hundreds of thousands

00:10:51.080 of cities all across the world.

00:10:52.680 It just so happens

00:10:53.660 this outbreak is there

00:10:54.980 right where this virology lab is.

00:10:57.060 And the collective media

00:10:58.780 acts with this outrage

00:11:01.180 of, OK, take your,

00:11:03.200 take your tin hat off.

00:11:05.140 How dare you even ask that question?

00:11:07.800 You know, it, it,

00:11:08.760 it's obviously a question

00:11:10.700 that people are going to inquire.

00:11:12.060 Look, the first step

00:11:12.840 needs to be stopping this,

00:11:14.540 this virus,

00:11:15.200 stopping the disease

00:11:16.000 and protecting human life right now.

00:11:17.980 But, but there are certainly

00:11:19.260 going to be questions following up

00:11:20.940 if, if there is any connection or not.

00:11:22.860 Um, and, and that seems

00:11:24.540 at least a reasonable

00:11:25.360 question to ask.

00:11:26.660 What are the odds

00:11:28.620 that this has an effect

00:11:30.200 on the 2020 election?

00:11:31.340 And I don't mean just

00:11:32.520 one candidate is going to do

00:11:34.160 better than another candidate.

00:11:35.440 Some people have written

00:11:36.500 into the show to ask

00:11:37.580 if there's a chance

00:11:38.680 that if this really

00:11:39.600 becomes a pandemic,

00:11:40.900 everyone's quarantined,

00:11:42.140 that they could even delay

00:11:43.700 or postpone the election.

00:11:46.200 You know, that,

00:11:47.340 that would strike me

00:11:48.520 as an extreme circumstance.

00:11:49.780 I don't see that

00:11:50.780 as terribly likely.

00:11:52.460 Uh, but I do think

00:11:53.560 it is clearly an epidemic

00:11:54.680 right now, a pandemic.

00:11:56.160 In fact, one of the questions

00:11:57.340 I asked the experts

00:11:58.240 at the beginning,

00:11:58.720 I said, all right,

00:11:59.080 what's the difference

00:11:59.740 between an epidemic

00:12:00.400 and pandemic?

00:12:00.980 I didn't know the difference.

00:12:02.620 They, they, they said

00:12:03.340 a pandemic is essentially

00:12:04.800 where you have an epidemic

00:12:05.920 in multiple geographic regions

00:12:08.420 and multiple countries.

00:12:09.340 This may well qualify

00:12:10.500 as a pandemic.

00:12:11.180 Now you certainly have

00:12:12.540 outbreaks, not just in China now,

00:12:14.580 but in over a hundred

00:12:15.280 countries worldwide.

00:12:16.160 And so, so the,

00:12:18.120 the breadth of it

00:12:19.000 is, is significant.

00:12:20.840 Um, you know,

00:12:21.760 it is unfortunate

00:12:22.780 seeing some partisans

00:12:24.780 who, who want to use this

00:12:25.940 for political purposes.

00:12:26.900 So, so they want to,

00:12:28.460 they want to blame it all

00:12:30.200 on, on President Trump

00:12:31.540 and we get,

00:12:32.340 they don't like Donald Trump.

00:12:33.440 That, that's not lost

00:12:34.380 on anybody.

00:12:35.100 Right.

00:12:35.620 But, but at the same time,

00:12:37.040 I mean, he, he wasn't

00:12:38.380 serving bat soup

00:12:39.620 in, in the Wuhan province.

00:12:40.900 I mean, I mean,

00:12:41.500 it, you know,

00:12:42.520 putting all of this,

00:12:44.120 blaming all of this

00:12:44.920 on Donald Trump

00:12:45.680 is, is a little absurd

00:12:46.980 and you can see the media

00:12:48.340 trying to turn it politically.

00:12:51.040 They want it to be

00:12:51.940 the equivalent of Katrina.

00:12:53.100 And, you know,

00:12:53.780 President Bush,

00:12:54.520 the way he handled Katrina,

00:12:56.000 it was not,

00:12:57.440 he got a lot of criticism,

00:12:58.880 a lot of blame

00:12:59.500 for how he responded

00:13:00.400 to Katrina.

00:13:01.060 The media is gleeful

00:13:02.280 to, to, to see,

00:13:05.080 see the president stumble

00:13:07.980 and how he's handled it.

00:13:09.080 I, I do think at the outset,

00:13:10.580 as I said,

00:13:11.260 the decision to halt air traffic

00:13:13.480 was the right decision.

00:13:15.240 And I'll tell you,

00:13:15.840 the president Trump called me,

00:13:17.120 I think it was two days

00:13:17.840 after he made that decision.

00:13:19.400 And, and he, he asked,

00:13:20.700 he said, said,

00:13:21.200 what did you think?

00:13:21.900 Did I, did I do the right thing?

00:13:23.040 I said, Mr. President,

00:13:23.680 I think you did exactly

00:13:24.560 the right thing.

00:13:25.900 There, there,

00:13:26.200 there are serious

00:13:27.060 economic repercussions.

00:13:28.620 And this was early.

00:13:29.420 This was right

00:13:30.220 when the outbreak

00:13:30.880 had been reported

00:13:31.700 that we stopped air traffic.

00:13:33.380 And so it,

00:13:34.020 there was some risk

00:13:34.900 to the decision

00:13:35.540 that the administration made,

00:13:36.720 the president made.

00:13:37.680 But I said, look,

00:13:38.480 our, our first priority

00:13:39.920 has to be protecting

00:13:41.480 human lives and safety.

00:13:42.940 And, and, and,

00:13:43.600 and I think this is a,

00:13:44.860 a, a common sense precaution

00:13:46.960 that, that proved right.

00:13:49.620 You also see some in the media

00:13:51.680 that, that, that seemed to be

00:13:53.500 rooting for an economic collapse.

00:13:55.320 So, so we, we've seen,

00:13:57.180 look, it's been a wild week

00:13:58.440 in the stock market.

00:13:59.220 We've seen stocks plummet.

00:14:00.480 It has not helped

00:14:01.440 that we've also got

00:14:02.740 an oil price war

00:14:03.800 breaking out at the same time.

00:14:05.300 Both of those

00:14:06.000 are having pretty negative impacts

00:14:07.940 on the economy.

00:14:08.680 I, this, I, I think

00:14:11.800 it is fair to expect

00:14:13.100 that, that the coronavirus

00:14:14.200 outbreak is, is going

00:14:15.520 to impact people's lives.

00:14:16.680 It's going to restrict,

00:14:18.180 it's going to restrict

00:14:19.120 what they do.

00:14:19.960 And, and, and it may well

00:14:21.280 have a real impact

00:14:22.700 on the economy.

00:14:23.660 That, that doesn't mean

00:14:25.060 we're, we're headed

00:14:25.820 into the Great Depression.

00:14:26.960 I mean, there are some

00:14:28.060 that are eager to, to,

00:14:29.600 to, to hold up signs

00:14:30.820 saying the end is nigh.

00:14:32.840 But, but it is a real

00:14:34.480 public health crisis

00:14:36.100 and it needs to be

00:14:37.160 treated accordingly.

00:14:37.860 And it would seem

00:14:38.880 to qualify as a pandemic.

00:14:40.060 I like your definition

00:14:41.200 because the question

00:14:42.320 I had initially was,

00:14:43.580 is this a pandemic

00:14:44.700 or a Dem panic, you know,

00:14:46.400 or the media just trying

00:14:48.120 to blow this out of proportion.

00:14:49.380 And it would seem to be

00:14:50.760 somewhere in the middle

00:14:52.060 of those two things.

00:14:53.840 Is there a risk?

00:14:55.200 I mean, now you've

00:14:56.160 self-quarantined,

00:14:57.400 members of the House

00:14:58.200 of Representatives

00:14:58.860 have self-quarantined.

00:15:00.100 The people most at risk

00:15:01.720 here are older Americans

00:15:03.100 in their seventies.

00:15:04.780 I think the median age

00:15:05.780 of the U.S. Senate

00:15:06.600 is somewhere around 150,

00:15:08.260 you know, it tends

00:15:09.040 to skew a little bit older.

00:15:10.560 Is there a chance

00:15:11.500 that we could see

00:15:12.820 a suspension

00:15:14.380 of some of the services

00:15:15.840 of our government

00:15:16.960 if people get too nervous

00:15:18.040 that the virus

00:15:18.600 is going to spread?

00:15:20.260 Look, I think essential

00:15:21.640 and critical government

00:15:22.920 services will continue,

00:15:24.340 but we've got to make sure

00:15:25.400 that our first responders

00:15:26.480 have safety equipment.

00:15:27.940 I've spoken this week

00:15:29.500 with the mayor of Houston.

00:15:30.620 I've spoken with the mayor

00:15:31.280 several times.

00:15:32.080 I've spoken with

00:15:32.620 the governor of Texas.

00:15:33.460 One of the real focuses

00:15:34.640 that I'm trying to assist on

00:15:36.260 is making sure

00:15:37.480 first responders

00:15:38.280 get protective gear

00:15:39.620 if this escalates.

00:15:42.380 I think all of us

00:15:43.500 also need to listen

00:15:44.620 to the professionals.

00:15:45.660 We need to listen

00:15:46.140 to the CDC,

00:15:46.940 listen to the health professionals.

00:15:48.340 So what are they telling us?

00:15:49.980 Number one,

00:15:50.620 they're telling seniors

00:15:51.500 if you can, stay home.

00:15:53.280 I can tell you,

00:15:54.120 I've called both my parents,

00:15:55.420 my mom and my dad,

00:15:56.820 and they're 81 and 85,

00:15:59.160 and I've said,

00:15:59.580 look, just stay home.

00:16:01.080 Just for the time being,

00:16:03.580 you don't need to go out

00:16:04.300 on the town.

00:16:05.060 You don't need to,

00:16:05.900 I'd actually told my mom

00:16:07.340 that I wasn't going to come

00:16:09.080 see her this weekend

00:16:09.980 even before I knew

00:16:10.880 I'd contacted someone

00:16:12.300 with the virus

00:16:12.980 because at 85,

00:16:14.700 my mom's a two-time

00:16:15.600 cancer survivor.

00:16:17.320 I'd just rather she stay

00:16:18.720 in her apartment

00:16:19.300 with the door closed,

00:16:20.340 and that's not forever,

00:16:22.200 but it is at least

00:16:23.360 for a period of time.

00:16:24.300 So I think that is good advice.

00:16:25.880 I've advised people

00:16:26.780 in my family,

00:16:27.680 particularly if they're seniors

00:16:29.640 and they have health issues,

00:16:31.520 if you can stay home,

00:16:33.040 you should stay home.

00:16:34.400 Beyond that,

00:16:35.160 the advice people are giving,

00:16:36.480 wash your hands,

00:16:37.240 wash your hands frequently.

00:16:38.600 Interestingly enough,

00:16:40.060 the health professionals

00:16:40.860 are saying soap and water

00:16:42.120 is more effective

00:16:43.100 than hand sanitizer.

00:16:45.720 And, you know,

00:16:46.800 we're seeing more people

00:16:48.000 just shaking hands

00:16:49.040 instead of that

00:16:49.800 bumping elbows,

00:16:51.380 and I think that

00:16:52.380 is a wise precaution.

00:16:57.380 If you're sick,

00:16:58.460 stay home.

00:16:58.900 Look, if you've got,

00:17:00.020 if you're coughing,

00:17:00.840 if you're sick,

00:17:02.000 you might be inclined

00:17:03.240 to just motor through

00:17:04.340 and go to work.

00:17:05.200 I think now is a very good time

00:17:06.540 if you're sick,

00:17:07.240 stay home.

00:17:07.960 So all of us should listen

00:17:09.420 to the health professionals,

00:17:10.560 should listen to the CDC.

00:17:12.340 For example,

00:17:13.040 health professionals

00:17:13.700 are advising older Americans,

00:17:16.220 if you can,

00:17:17.000 stay home.

00:17:18.060 That's what I've told

00:17:18.920 my parents.

00:17:20.920 Both my mom and my dad,

00:17:22.500 I've advised them,

00:17:23.340 stay home.

00:17:24.700 My dad's 81.

00:17:25.900 My mom is 85.

00:17:27.080 In fact,

00:17:27.500 I had told my mother

00:17:28.740 even before I'd found out

00:17:30.360 that I had encountered

00:17:31.400 someone who tested positive.

00:17:33.480 I told my mom,

00:17:34.440 you know,

00:17:34.600 I'm just not going to come by

00:17:35.480 and see you this weekend

00:17:36.440 because she's,

00:17:37.840 she's 85 years old.

00:17:39.080 She's a two-time cancer survivor.

00:17:40.800 And, and, and I said,

00:17:42.380 look, it's just better

00:17:43.100 just stay in the apartment.

00:17:44.300 And if you need groceries,

00:17:45.820 call and have them delivered.

00:17:46.740 But, but just,

00:17:48.500 and this is not forever.

00:17:49.600 This is just for a period of time.

00:17:51.460 And while there's a serious

00:17:53.560 public health risk,

00:17:54.480 that's what I'm advising

00:17:55.540 people in my family.

00:17:57.120 If you can stay home,

00:17:58.540 uh, it particularly,

00:18:00.040 if you're in a vulnerable population,

00:18:01.940 you probably should,

00:18:03.040 uh, beyond that,

00:18:04.160 you should follow

00:18:04.920 common sense steps

00:18:06.600 of wash your hands,

00:18:07.560 use soap and water.

00:18:08.720 Uh, they say soap and water

00:18:10.080 is much more effective

00:18:10.980 against this virus

00:18:12.340 than, than is a hand sanitizer.

00:18:13.960 Uh, don't shake hands.

00:18:15.680 Just, just bump elbows instead.

00:18:17.220 Um, if, if you cough,

00:18:19.600 cough, well, they say

00:18:20.620 cough into your elbow,

00:18:21.580 then the bumping elbows.

00:18:22.960 See, I mean, that's,

00:18:23.560 that's where,

00:18:24.820 look, you just have

00:18:25.680 to use common sense.

00:18:27.640 Um, and if you're sick,

00:18:30.800 stay home.

00:18:31.840 You know, you might be

00:18:32.780 inclined to just power through

00:18:34.260 and go to work anyway.

00:18:35.820 Well, don't, if you wake up

00:18:36.900 and you have a cough,

00:18:37.660 just stay home

00:18:38.380 and, and, and listen

00:18:39.240 to the doctor.

00:18:40.500 Uh, that's, uh,

00:18:41.460 good advice for all of us

00:18:42.980 to take.

00:18:43.480 I think I'm going to ignore

00:18:44.620 the whole elbow thing.

00:18:45.520 I'm just going to bow

00:18:46.660 like I'm a Japanese

00:18:47.980 or something.

00:18:48.800 No touching.

00:18:49.620 I don't want any contact

00:18:50.920 with anybody.

00:18:51.680 What I want to know though

00:18:52.600 is what can we look for

00:18:54.840 the government to be doing?

00:18:56.280 You know, I,

00:18:56.780 wasn't that how Obama

00:18:57.680 treated foreign leaders?

00:18:58.560 That's true.

00:18:59.460 Yeah.

00:18:59.940 I don't want to do

00:19:00.700 that kind of bow.

00:19:01.820 Definitely a sort of

00:19:03.000 mutual respect would be good.

00:19:04.360 Uh, you know,

00:19:05.860 in the coming weeks

00:19:07.100 and months,

00:19:07.600 if this really does

00:19:08.400 continue to grow,

00:19:09.520 obviously we're all

00:19:10.500 going to keep washing

00:19:11.080 our hands.

00:19:11.620 Hopefully people will

00:19:12.280 stay home from big events.

00:19:14.200 Uh, there are several

00:19:14.960 proposals out for the

00:19:16.160 government to intervene

00:19:17.320 both for public health

00:19:18.520 and for the economy.

00:19:19.720 What are some of the,

00:19:20.900 those proposals

00:19:21.300 that we can look

00:19:22.040 down the line?

00:19:22.800 Do you think

00:19:23.340 they're feasible?

00:19:24.440 Uh, and how soon

00:19:25.460 do you think

00:19:25.740 we could see them?

00:19:27.020 Well, I think it's

00:19:27.880 been interesting

00:19:28.460 in the last few days

00:19:29.560 seeing congressional

00:19:30.500 Democrats,

00:19:31.260 their proposal

00:19:31.820 to this crisis

00:19:32.780 is past the entire

00:19:35.020 agenda that they

00:19:35.700 wanted to pass

00:19:36.340 before the crisis

00:19:37.180 began.

00:19:37.720 So they're saying,

00:19:38.600 well, the only

00:19:39.440 response to this

00:19:40.380 is wage controls

00:19:41.260 and price controls

00:19:42.140 and socialism

00:19:42.920 and, and, and,

00:19:44.220 and what they call

00:19:45.000 Medicare for all,

00:19:46.000 which is socialized

00:19:46.680 medicine.

00:19:47.620 Look, I don't think

00:19:49.000 people ought to use

00:19:49.900 this as an excuse

00:19:50.800 to fight broader

00:19:51.840 political battles.

00:19:53.000 We should keep

00:19:54.020 the public policy

00:19:54.920 response targeted

00:19:56.140 on, on actually

00:19:57.540 where the problem

00:19:58.220 is.

00:19:58.480 That, that means

00:19:59.100 we ought to be

00:19:59.620 focusing on number

00:20:00.540 one, we just passed

00:20:01.640 $8.3 billion

00:20:03.160 in emergency funding

00:20:04.580 for things like

00:20:05.420 first responders,

00:20:06.460 for things like

00:20:07.260 screening, for things

00:20:08.660 like additional

00:20:09.380 resources for testing.

00:20:11.180 I think all of that

00:20:11.980 makes sense.

00:20:12.600 I think we need

00:20:13.180 to put more

00:20:13.880 into protective gear.

00:20:15.460 When I visited

00:20:16.020 with the governor

00:20:16.620 of Texas, uh, just

00:20:18.060 a couple of days

00:20:18.640 ago, that was one

00:20:19.280 of his biggest

00:20:19.860 concerns was making

00:20:21.020 sure that, that

00:20:21.920 state and local

00:20:22.560 officials had

00:20:23.680 protective gear.

00:20:24.480 I think looking

00:20:25.840 at removing

00:20:27.040 regulatory barriers

00:20:28.420 to developing a

00:20:29.440 vaccine or developing

00:20:30.620 treatment protocols

00:20:31.880 for coronavirus,

00:20:32.900 that makes a lot

00:20:33.940 of sense.

00:20:34.400 I, I've got

00:20:35.140 legislation that

00:20:36.020 I've introduced,

00:20:36.720 uh, for several

00:20:37.940 Congresses called

00:20:38.720 the results acts

00:20:39.680 that, that removes

00:20:40.560 the barriers to new

00:20:41.900 pharmaceuticals and

00:20:43.220 medical devices

00:20:43.960 getting, getting

00:20:44.720 approved.

00:20:45.620 And what it says

00:20:46.320 is if another major

00:20:48.240 developed country

00:20:49.080 like, like an EU

00:20:50.160 or, or, or, or

00:20:51.140 like a Canada, uh,

00:20:52.780 approves a, a

00:20:54.020 pharmaceutical or a

00:20:54.920 medical device, that

00:20:56.260 the FDA has 30 days

00:20:57.620 to approve it here.

00:20:58.480 It, it, it accelerates

00:20:59.720 it.

00:20:59.900 I think particularly

00:21:00.660 in the context of the

00:21:01.560 coronavirus, that makes

00:21:03.280 sense.

00:21:03.620 We ought to maximize

00:21:04.520 the incentives for

00:21:06.180 medical research and

00:21:07.400 innovation to number

00:21:08.800 one, prevent the spread

00:21:10.180 of this disease and

00:21:11.100 number two, to, to

00:21:12.580 help people who do

00:21:13.680 contract the virus to,

00:21:14.940 to, to protect their,

00:21:15.840 their, their lives and

00:21:16.620 safety.

00:21:17.360 Right.

00:21:17.840 Well, while, uh, all

00:21:19.020 of our listeners are

00:21:19.840 self-quarantining

00:21:20.700 themselves, they've sent

00:21:21.820 in a few questions.

00:21:22.940 And so in our last, you

00:21:24.420 know, minute or two that

00:21:25.240 we've got here, uh, let's

00:21:26.420 see if we can run

00:21:27.040 through them.

00:21:27.660 We've got one from

00:21:29.340 stop anime.

00:21:31.040 I guess that's a

00:21:31.560 Twitter account.

00:21:32.220 Stop anime asks, uh,

00:21:34.080 there seems to be some

00:21:34.880 pretend potential that Ted

00:21:36.220 Cruz gave Nigel Farage

00:21:37.540 coronavirus.

00:21:38.120 How is Ted doing slash

00:21:40.100 what action is he

00:21:41.200 taking and have you

00:21:42.240 told Nigel?

00:21:43.380 Thanks.

00:21:44.560 Well, I, I appreciate

00:21:46.000 that question.

00:21:46.740 Actually, the odds of

00:21:47.800 that are, are zero

00:21:48.920 because I did the

00:21:49.660 Nigel Farage, uh,

00:21:51.000 interview before we

00:21:52.020 went to CPAC.

00:21:53.140 Right.

00:21:53.400 Uh, and so I saw

00:21:54.240 Nigel the day before,

00:21:55.300 before I encountered

00:21:56.140 the individual with the

00:21:57.640 virus.

00:21:57.960 Now, look, that being

00:21:59.040 said, Nigel, like me,

00:22:00.620 like, like a lot of

00:22:01.520 people in public life

00:22:02.520 encounters a lot of

00:22:03.920 people.

00:22:04.280 And, and when you

00:22:05.020 have a virus that is

00:22:06.100 an epidemic that is

00:22:07.060 spreading, you're

00:22:08.120 all of us have some

00:22:09.240 risk of contacting it.

00:22:10.540 But the person that I,

00:22:12.160 I, I saw Nigel the day

00:22:13.680 before I went to CPAC.

00:22:15.060 You know, Nigel got

00:22:16.140 out of our studios just

00:22:18.180 in time, much like

00:22:19.300 Great Britain got out

00:22:20.060 of the European Union

00:22:20.840 just in time.

00:22:21.500 So that guy really

00:22:22.520 impeccable on his

00:22:23.900 timing.

00:22:24.640 Uh, we've got a

00:22:25.820 question about, uh,

00:22:27.520 your colleague,

00:22:28.420 Senator Chuck Schumer.

00:22:29.680 Uh, this is from

00:22:30.480 James.

00:22:31.020 James points out that

00:22:31.960 Senator Schumer the

00:22:33.080 other day at a rally

00:22:34.160 outside of the Supreme

00:22:35.120 court seemed to

00:22:36.340 threaten justices

00:22:38.040 Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.

00:22:39.240 He said, quote, I

00:22:40.100 want to tell you

00:22:40.680 Gorsuch, I want to

00:22:41.420 tell you Kavanaugh,

00:22:42.280 you've released the

00:22:43.240 whirlwind and you will

00:22:44.300 pay the price.

00:22:45.140 You will not know

00:22:46.000 what hit you if you

00:22:47.300 go forward with these

00:22:48.520 awful decisions.

00:22:50.040 Uh, James wants to

00:22:50.740 know if this violates

00:22:51.940 any law and if there

00:22:53.420 will be any consequences

00:22:54.480 that he'll face.

00:22:55.320 Well, I, I certainly

00:22:56.460 hope so.

00:22:57.140 And, and what Chuck

00:22:58.540 Schumer did, it was

00:22:59.840 disgraceful.

00:23:00.720 It was wrong.

00:23:02.180 Uh, he stood in front

00:23:03.120 of the court and he

00:23:04.040 really crossed a line

00:23:05.080 where he was, he was

00:23:05.960 threatening and he was

00:23:06.880 trying to intimidate

00:23:07.940 Supreme court justices to

00:23:09.640 affect the outcome of a

00:23:10.760 case.

00:23:11.080 And, and he threatened

00:23:12.060 at a minimum political

00:23:13.740 retribution, but, but

00:23:15.040 there was more than a

00:23:16.000 tinge of, of, of violence

00:23:17.480 and the words he used.

00:23:18.860 And, and, and those

00:23:19.920 threats are not something

00:23:20.820 that should be taken

00:23:21.500 lightly.

00:23:21.820 We live in an era where

00:23:23.680 we saw a, a crazed

00:23:25.660 leftist madman open fire

00:23:27.680 at Republican congressmen

00:23:29.180 at, at, at baseball

00:23:30.480 practice because that madman

00:23:32.500 wanted to kill specifically

00:23:34.080 Republican congressmen.

00:23:35.180 We've seen judges

00:23:36.020 targeted for violence.

00:23:37.660 So when you have Chuck

00:23:38.600 Schumer calling for the

00:23:40.280 whirlwind to, to be

00:23:41.440 unleashed and to target

00:23:42.560 these justices, it really

00:23:44.340 crossed a line.

00:23:45.380 And, and I've joined with

00:23:46.800 a number of other

00:23:47.500 senators in, in, in a

00:23:49.180 resolution to censure

00:23:50.500 Chuck Schumer.

00:23:51.220 I think the Senate should

00:23:52.500 act formally to censure

00:23:54.280 him and to say, this is

00:23:55.780 not acceptable.

00:23:56.540 You can have political

00:23:57.560 arguments, but trying to

00:23:59.080 intimidate and threaten

00:23:59.980 justices that, that really

00:24:01.200 crosses the line.

00:24:01.960 Uh, Senator, before we

00:24:03.300 go here, I just have to

00:24:04.600 know, because I've been

00:24:06.060 getting a lot of messages

00:24:07.080 asking about you, asking

00:24:08.880 about what it was like

00:24:10.120 being backstage at CPAC and

00:24:11.660 interacting with these

00:24:12.320 people.

00:24:13.320 Could you just describe the

00:24:14.820 moment when you get the

00:24:15.960 call that, that you had

00:24:17.460 interacted with someone who

00:24:19.020 had been infected with

00:24:20.400 coronavirus?

00:24:22.080 Well, well, sure.

00:24:22.800 So, so I was at home and,

00:24:24.420 and I was, Heidi and I

00:24:25.820 were getting dressed.

00:24:26.680 We were getting ready to

00:24:27.300 head out the door because

00:24:28.780 it was Saturday evening and,

00:24:30.220 and we had an event, a

00:24:31.560 campaign fundraiser that we

00:24:32.820 had scheduled, uh, at the

00:24:34.560 Eagles concert.

00:24:35.400 Uh, the, the Eagles were in

00:24:36.700 concert in Houston.

00:24:37.500 I'm a big Eagles fan.

00:24:38.860 So I had, I had suggested

00:24:40.680 it, I'd suggested it months

00:24:41.740 earlier, said, Hey, wouldn't

00:24:42.780 it be great to do a

00:24:43.720 fundraiser at the concert?

00:24:45.060 People will want to come and

00:24:46.040 they'll want to, want to

00:24:46.660 support the campaign.

00:24:47.820 And so we had a suite full of

00:24:50.240 friends of ours who, who had

00:24:51.540 come and contributed and

00:24:52.680 were at the concert and

00:24:54.280 Heidi is, is like fully

00:24:55.880 dressed up and dressed up to

00:24:57.340 the nines and coming down

00:24:58.560 the stairs.

00:24:59.520 And, and I'm like, well,

00:25:00.920 sweetheart, I think we're

00:25:02.180 not going to go.

00:25:03.200 And she's like, what do you

00:25:03.920 mean?

00:25:04.080 We're not going to go.

00:25:04.780 I mean, she was, she was

00:25:05.680 less than thrilled with

00:25:07.740 that news.

00:25:09.840 And so we had to call our

00:25:11.600 friends who were already

00:25:12.560 there.

00:25:12.920 So we were late because I'm

00:25:14.320 sitting there on the phone

00:25:15.480 trying to talk through what

00:25:17.060 to do with this.

00:25:17.800 And our friends are at the

00:25:19.260 concert, it's getting ready

00:25:20.120 to start.

00:25:21.180 And one of them just put it

00:25:22.420 on speakerphone and there

00:25:23.460 was a group of them there.

00:25:24.260 I said, look, I, this, this

00:25:25.620 may sound like a very

00:25:26.500 strange thing, but, but

00:25:27.980 Heidi and I are not going

00:25:29.060 to come join you because,

00:25:30.340 because we're staying home

00:25:31.500 because I just got a call

00:25:33.280 that, that I interacted

00:25:34.220 with someone who tested

00:25:35.120 positive.

00:25:35.560 And so I think the wise

00:25:37.360 thing to do is just stay

00:25:39.060 home and not expose you

00:25:40.460 guys.

00:25:40.700 So, so, so I missed the

00:25:42.440 Eagles concert much to my

00:25:43.720 great annoyance, but I did

00:25:44.760 put on hotel California at

00:25:46.200 home and we listened to it

00:25:47.220 in our living room.

00:25:48.440 That's almost the same

00:25:49.520 thing.

00:25:49.740 I got to tell you,

00:25:50.280 Senator, you're much

00:25:50.860 responsible than I am.

00:25:52.460 If, if I had gotten that

00:25:54.280 phone call, I would have

00:25:55.620 called my friends and said,

00:25:56.840 listen, guys, I'm not

00:25:57.800 missing the box suite.

00:25:58.920 You're all going to get

00:25:59.620 the woo flu.

00:26:00.280 I don't care.

00:26:01.340 Come at your own peril.

00:26:02.320 But what you did is the

00:26:03.160 more responsible thing.

00:26:04.240 Michael, I'll tell you

00:26:04.920 this.

00:26:05.200 If I have no musical

00:26:06.440 talent whatsoever, but if

00:26:07.720 I could play one song on

00:26:09.180 the piano, it would be

00:26:10.620 Desperado.

00:26:11.580 And, and Heidi is a

00:26:12.560 wonderful piano player

00:26:13.900 and periodically she'll

00:26:15.680 play in the evenings and

00:26:16.640 I, and I'll often ask her

00:26:17.900 to play Desperado for me.

00:26:19.160 And it's just, it's, it's,

00:26:20.880 it's a beautiful, powerful

00:26:22.900 song.

00:26:23.300 Well, you might have

00:26:24.360 some time in your self

00:26:25.280 quarantine to learn it

00:26:26.280 and then hopefully we'll

00:26:26.900 get you back to Washington

00:26:27.760 soon so that we can do

00:26:29.040 this in person and we can

00:26:30.660 shut down our self

00:26:31.500 quarantine studios.

00:26:32.640 I can do that.

00:26:37.600 That's about it.

00:26:38.600 Well, everybody's got to

00:26:39.560 start somewhere, I suppose.

00:26:41.520 And you also have to end

00:26:43.100 somewhere too.

00:26:43.860 Unfortunately, we are out

00:26:44.960 of time, but we will be

00:26:46.560 back again soon.

00:26:47.780 I'm Michael Knowles.

00:26:48.580 This is Verdict with Ted

00:26:49.740 Cruz.

00:26:53.300 This episode of Verdict

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - March 11, 2020

Cruz's Coronavirus Quarantine

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