JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor
Andy Beshear of Kentucky
is one of the many
leaders across the country

competing with the federal
government and with other states
to secure critical medical

equipment needed by
hospitals in his state.

Governor Beshear joins
us now from Frankfort.

Governor, thank you so
much for talking with us.

Give us an update. I believe
Kentucky is a state with a
population of, what, 4.4 million

people. Give us an overall
update on how you are handling
coronavirus at this point.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY):
Well, thank you for having me.

And let me start the
way I start every time
I talk to Kentuckians
at every day at 5:00.

And that's saying that we
will get through this, and we
will get through it together.

Battling this coronavirus
is our patriotic duty
as Kentuckians and
as Americans. And

I could not be prouder of how
Kentuckians have banded together
to address this coronavirus.

We address it in three ways
right now. Number one is using
social distancing to make sure

that we can flatten our curve.
And I believe that our people
have bought in and are actively

doing that. And I couldn't be
prouder of them. We have had
to change our way of life.

We have had to close
and hundreds, thousands
of small businesses. We
have people not going

to work that otherwise would
have, but they understand that
sacrifice is going to save

lives.

Second is, we work every day
to increase our health care
capacity, to make sure, when we

have our surge hit, that we have
a bed for those that need it
and that we have a ventilator

for those that need it.

And, third, we work on
increasing our testing
as a state. That is a
challenge. All the across

the country right now, the
major issue is having enough
swabs. It's not our testing

capacity.

Now, number two and
three there are limited
by personal protective
equipment. And I, like

every other governor, are out
there trying to scratch and
claw to buy as much as we can.

I don't place blame in any
of that. And none of us knew
about this specific virus four

months ago. But it is a
difficult system, where our
people on the front lines don't

have what they need.

But if I can, really quickly,
it just makes what they are
doing more heroic. Doctors,

nurses and others in my state go
to work every single day knowing
that their co-workers have

contracted the coronavirus and
that they don't have enough
personal protective equipment.

And that just makes their
sacrifice and their willingness
to do it that much more amazing.

This is National
Public Health Week.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor...

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: And
we appreciate them.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor, you
said over the weekend that every
order for personal protective

equipment had been, in
your words, circumvented
by the federal government.

So are you getting
what you need now?

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: We are not
getting nearly what we need on
personal protective equipment.

And that's not just me. And I'm
not feeling sorry for myself or
for Kentucky. That's everybody.

One of two things will happen.
Either an order that we believe
is coming in will be diverted

by the federal government, by
FEMA, and sent to a place that
needs it. I know we need it.

And there are other places
that need it too, many of which
have a spike in cases right

now. And my heart goes out to
them in New York or New Orleans.

But the other thing that
will happen is, those
who've contracted with
will call you right

at the end and say, well,
we don't have it or it
went to another place.

Buying personal protective
equipment right now is one of
the most difficult things that

any of us have ever had
to do through government.
And we are reaching out
through every possible

lead. That's what I do in
large part of my day every
day, is try to chase down these

leads.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So, my question
is, is the current system
that requires governors to

compete the way you are the
best way to have done this?
Should this have been something

where it was allocated
in one central place?

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: Oh, I mean,
a system where governors are
competing against each other

is a bad system.

But, again, I try not to place
blame, because we didn't know
that we would need this much

personal protective equipment
as a world, not just as a
country, until the coronavirus

truly hit.

We -- I hope that we don't just
learn our lessons, but that
we can increase our capacity,

and we can have a better way
to get this out where it's
needed as we move forward. It is

tough to say, as a state, you
should go out and get it on your
own, and then have to compete

with the federal government.

But we're just doing
what everybody else is.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Yes.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: But let me
mention two other ways that
we get it, both of which are

important.

We're working with our local
businesses to try to manufacture
it. And we have got a company

that changed their
leather-making into a
face shield manufacturing,
which has been really

significant and helpful. And
we're working with others to
try to create masks and gowns

and the other forms of PPE.

But let me say that the third
way we do it is donations.
And we have seen everything

from our veterinarians to our
large industrial manufacturers
step up and provide us hundreds

of thousands of pieces of PPE
that are going directly to
our health care providers.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor, very...

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR:
That's what happens when
we unify as a state.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor, very
quickly, you obviously have
had a stay-at-home order in

Kentucky.

Two states, not your neighboring
states, but they're close,
they are Arkansas and then

South Carolina, which is a
couple of states away, but still
in the region where you are,

do not have stay-at-home orders.

Does that affect the ability
of people in Kentucky to
stay healthy, to stay safe?

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: Well,
in Kentucky, we have
taken aggressive action.

And what that means is, we
don't just issue what we call
a healthy-at-home order, but

it means we have had to
shut businesses. We have
our houses of worship
doing virtual services,

tens of thousands of
people not going to work.

We have made sacrifices. And
this coronavirus doesn't know
boundaries, state boundaries

or county boundaries. And when
others don't take aggressive
action, what they do is at

least thwart the sacrifice
of millions of Kentuckians
and residents of other states

that are doing what it
takes to defeat this virus.

And so I wouldn't ask another
governor to look at me and
explain it. I would ask them

to look at my people, who
aren't going to work, who have
shut down a small business

that was their dream, because
they want to protect each other.

This is a test of our humanity,
whether we will put each
other's lives ahead of our own

economic self-interest. I
know we're passing it here in
Kentucky. We need to pass it as

a country.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Governor Andy
Beshear, thank you very much
for talking with us. And we

wish you and the people
of Kentucky the very
best in all this.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR: Thank you.