RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
COOPER: “One of the things you claim, you take your lead from Dr. Fauci. Dr. Fauci does not, I mean, let me play something Dr. Fauci has said about reopening and about social distancing.”
GOODMAN: “Wait, wait. The whole thing is, when I was asked, who are the people advising you, I had said different physicians, different people out there, I mean, a whole bunch of people that I hear from all the time, because I am the mayor, and fortunately I get their input. Some good, some bad and the reality was when I was asked through the governor’s office, who’s my authority because he’s relying on his authority, let’s go to the top of the line. I hear, I don’t know Dr. Fauci but I take his word and when he said, this, wait one second, you asked the question.”
COOPER: “I’m not interrupting you, I’m listening.”
GOODMAN: “Maybe it’s breathing. Being silly here. The reason is he said this very serious disease that’s out there could last into December, could recur every year, and could be part of something that we will be dealing with for a long, long time. So taking that into consideration and that we have, once you’re diagnosed, you’re positive, we have no preventative treatment other than staying away from everybody, which is your choice to do, and has been asked by our governor and everybody’s doing, but with no timeline, no treatment, and no cure, no vaccine, this could go on for months, maybe even a year.”
COOPER: “But science tells us, and Dr. Fauci isn’t saying wait a year, Dr. Fauci is saying and all scientists are saying, it just needs some more time to get this to where medical establishment is up and running and where there’s enough ppe and there’s enough testing being done and contact tracing. What are you doing as mayor to improve contact tracing and testing in Las Vegas?”
GOODMAN: “Well, first of all, as someone who’s pretty sure possibly had in January, I have already been into the hospitals. They take my plasma.”
COOPER: “I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about, what are you doing as mayor?”
GOODMAN: “I am calling upon everyone to go ahead, if they’re positive, to go ahead and see if they can help be part of the preventative or the treatment pool that will have this plasma available.”
COOPER: “Are you doing anything on testing and contact tracing? Because in order to open businesses —“
GOODMAN: “I don’t have that. Well, no, that’s for our scientists and the whole thing is fact.”
COOPER: “Fact, you’re calling for businesses to reopen. Every scientist and person who looks at this says, what we really need to do that is more testing.”
GOODMAN: “Wait, wait, you’re saying — no, that can’t work. We’re not getting the truth. I know over the years, going back to the 1950s with the atomic bomb, don’t worry about more testing in Nevada. You’ll all be fine. Take a shower. The reality is the southwest —“
COOPER: “I said testing and contact —“
GOODMAN: “No, you’re putting words in my mouth. I said, open up Las Vegas. Let us get started and go back to work.”
COOPER: “As mayor, what are you doing to encourage —“
GOODMAN: “Feed their families or take care of their —“
COOPER: “I get the pain that’s out there and it’s real. I’m not minimizing it at all. I’m just asking you as mayor, what are you doing to improve testing, make it more accessible and improve contact tracing because every scientist who you say you listen to will tell you that’s what you need in order to get online as fast as possible. What are you doing?”
GOODMAN: “Every single email that comes in with offers to give us the kits and get everything here, I send it up to the people in the hospitals for them to filter through to find out if these test kits and everything that’s being offered and provided.”
COOPER: “You said in another interview, you talked to Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti. Did you actually talk —“
GOODMAN: “Yes.”
COOPER: “He’s doing everything he can to improve testing in Los Angeles.”
GOODMAN: “I think that’s wonderful, and —“
COOPER: “You said it’s your job.”
GOODMAN: “It’s part of our hospital Jobs, our labs, those are the ones with the experience.”
COOPER: “You’re not going to roll up your sleeves, helping out your health department?”
GOODMAN: “My days are so full, I am everywhere in this city trying to hold the hands of families, and everyone else to get them back to work so they can pay for the food for their children and keep a roof over their head and we are 2.3 million and we have so many, probably close to 900,000 out of work because this wonderful city has been shut down.”
COOPER: “Listen, again, I don’t want to seem — I’m not — you know, I understand your position, but I don’t really understand your position because I think you see your position, I guess because you have no control over the casinos, and take no responsibility for it, you can call for whatever you want to call for. But the people who actually do have to be responsible for the health and safety of the people in those casinos and the employees who you seem to care so much about —“
GOODMAN: “Without question, absolutely.”
COOPER: “Right, those people are saying —“
GOODMAN: “Without question. The owners.”
COOPER: “— it’s not time for that yet.”
GOODMAN: “No, they aren’t. No, no, no. The hotels, depending upon with whom you speak, I hear all the time from the casino owners who want to put their employees back to work, 7,000 people.”
COOPER: “I’m sure a lot of owners want their businesses up and running.”
GOODMAN: “Yes. And Anderson, you can find people to speak on either side. What’s happened in this country is so much anger and just everything being fanned, it’s fine.”
COOPER: “The governor says —“
GOODMAN: “I admire our governor.”
COOPER: “Yeah. The governor says, ‘Unfortunately, I’ve known the mayor. I don’t need politicians weighing in on what —‘“
GOODMAN: “I am not a politician. I am a politician because I’m the mayor. No, no, no. And who are his people? And are they, in fact, the best that we can have? I’m assuming yes. And all I’m doing is asking for a plan so I can tell our people, who are calling by the thousands, when are they going to get a paycheck, how can they get a roof over their heads. I am down in the groundwork with the people who have o made this city what it is, who have come here to live, come here to build it, and we were not broken. And we need to get back to work. That’s it.”
COOPER: “There’s — Chinese researchers have shown how this virus spreads.”
GOODMAN: “Oh, you are good. Anderson, you are tough. We’re back to China. This isn’t China. This is Las Vegas, Nevada.”
COOPER: “Wow. Okay, that’s really ignorant. This is a restaurant —“
GOODMAN: “That’s ignorant to say that —“
COOPER: “An ignorant statement. That’s a restaurant, and yes, it’s in China, but there are human beings too. That yellow is a person —“
GOODMAN: “Of course there are.”
COOPER: “ — who is asymptomatic and infected, and all those red circles are other diners who that one diner passed the virus to. All those that had air-conditioning and they believe it was the air-conditioning which helped the virus spread to all of the other people.”
GOODMAN: “And you remember the legionnaires’ disease in 1976 in Philadelphia. Came all through the air-conditioning. You don’t remember because you’re younger.”
COOPER: “I do remember.”
GOODMAN: “Typhoid Mary. Who I think passed away — well any way during the late ‘30s, rode the buses and was a cook and was asymptomatic and spread it, a fear of getting typhoid and she never showed a sign of it and she lived most of her life quarantined. The reality was I think 58 people passed away from typhoid and so we’re aware of this. We learn from history. We’ve had ebola. We’ve had the west nile. We’ve had Polio. We’ve had these —“
COOPER: “None of those were as infectious in Las Vegas. You didn’t have people with ebola on a casino floor. If you did —“
GOODMAN: “Well we don’t know that.”
COOPER: “Well you do because if you had it —“
GOODMAN: “And remember west nile because the swimming pool on the next property was filled with mosquitos and the people who had abandoned the house left the pool full.”
COOPER: “Just as mayor, aren’t you —“
GOODMAN: “ — The challenges —“
COOPER: “Are you mayor are you not concerned when you see just that restaurant —“
GOODMAN: “Yes I’m concerned every day.”
COOPER: “How air-conditioning spreads this and other people become infected.”
GOODMAN: “Just from legionnaires’ disease. That is what I said. We lost a lot of people in that hotel who had gone ahead and been in the hotel.”
COOPER: “And there were steps — right and there were steps to take to stop that by changing the air filtering if my memory serves me correct on Legionnaires disease. There are not yet the steps to take with this other than social distancing.”
GOODMAN: “Right. So people do that. I love watching our people here. They’re so careful. And even as we have — we work every single day. I have not missed a day. And anybody who was in or comes into the office that needs an appointment or has an issue, they all are with their masks on or we always enforce social distancing and the office is absolutely pristine with germs —“
COOPER: “You’re talking about your office.”
GOODMAN: “Well hopefully everything in the building. We shut down the lobby.”
COOPER: “But if you — you know — look, mayor, you love your city and I get you want it to go back to work and I totally get that and you hear from people and you’re in a tough position. I get it. But it just seems really irresponsible given that, a., you are actually have no responsibility or say over casinos or what happens on the strip, that you’re not out there —“
GOODMAN: “ — That’s true.”
COOPER: “ — You’re not doing anything about trying to improve testing like your friend mayor garcetti is in Los Angeles or contract tracing. You’re saying there get back to work and get the casinos open again and you have no idea or plan or done nothing to figure out what is the best way to make that happen. How far apart should a — a dealer be from the people. How should the hours — you’re offering nothing other than being a cheerleader which I guess is what part of your job is and I respect that. And you seem like a very nice person. But I don’t understand do you not have any sense of responsibility if you’re calling for something to at least try to work to make it —“