[Tapper:] Early aggressive action may explain why the pandemic is not worse in Washington state, the first state to confirm a case of coronavirus in the U.S. back in January. Now, new cases still fluctuate, but Washington state has managed to keep the death toll relatively low, compared to other states, all the more remarkable, considering Washington was the first to face the outbreak in the U.S. CNN's Sara Sidner now explains for us why.
[Sara Sidner, Cnn National Correspondent:] This E.R. in suburban Seattle was in the first U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. [on camera]: Describe what that was like.
[Dr. Kevin Hanson, Evergreenhealth:] Yes, it was a little chaotic.
[Sidner:] Two months later, it's a symbol of how to contain the virus. Washington state has less than 1,000 COVID deaths, while densely populated New York has more than 25,000.
[Hanson:] We're down to probably 10 to 15 percent of what we were seeing with COVID at sort of the peak.
[Sidner:] Wow. [voice-over]: Washington state avoided the predicted COVID-19 search, partly due to its reaction to a discovery by Dr. Francis Riedo. In February, he tested two patients with no connection to infected countries. Both came back positive. [on camera]: What did you think?
[Dr. Francis Riedo, Evergreenhealth:] It was a moment of recognition, realizing that now everything had changed.
[Sidner:] Then, the first node COVID-19 death in America occurred here. Washington Governor Jay Inslee took immediate action.
[Gov. Jay Inslee:] I declared an emergency. And so this was an all-points bulletin.
[Sidner:] Three days after the emergency declaration, we were here. There was a noticeable emptying of the streets. That's because the tech giants headquartered here in Washington, like Amazon and Microsoft, urged all their employees who could to stay home before any order. That was not by chance, according to Seattle's mayor.
[Jenny Durkan , Mayor Of Seattle, Washington:] We include them in our plans and conversations from the beginning. The data is really clear. That first phase of having people telecommute and not come downtown really started breaking the back of the virus.
[Sidner:] The governor then banned gatherings of 250 or more, ordered schools closed, then restaurants and bars. [on camera]: Why not say, all right, we're closing everything down right away?
[Inslee:] If you're going to lead a parade, you have got to make sure someone is behind you. And if you go too fast and the public is unwilling to accept, then you have lost your connection to your community.
[Sidner:] It's a page right out of the CDC's pandemic handbook on communication. Finally, the stay-at-home order came. We watched boards go up over businesses, and now, two months later, those boards beautified by artists commissioned to remind the public the city is not down and out, just on a break. [on camera]: The world's most famous coffee shop, a Seattle original, is no longer just drive-through only. [voice-over]: The state's largest private employer, Boeing, slowly taking off, but cutting its work force, empty parks now family playgrounds again, construction back in business. Washington went from number one in U.S. COVID-19 deaths to 18th. Still, there's a slow march to reopening here.
[Inslee:] And the pace of that will be dictated by the data. It will be based on what we learn every day. This is very important, because, as we move away from the blunt instrument of social distancing towards the smart weapon of testing, contact tracing, and isolation, we have to have that capability up and running.
[Sidner:] One thing Governor Inslee isn't being praised for, the nursing home at the center of the deadly outbreak went more than a week without any hands-on government help. [on camera]: Should you have stepped in and said, we got to get people in there faster than this?
[Inslee:] This corporation had a responsibility for the medical care of their patients. We couldn't just walk in on day one, without some coordination with them, to really understand the circumstance.
[Sidner:] But just like hospitals, it was struggling to get testing and worrying about securing protective equipment.
[Inslee:] And we did not have enough PPE for nurses in many facilities, and still don't.
[Sidner:] He says, though, that there is simply no way his state can fully reopen without enough PPE, without enough testing. And so he's made that very clear. However, this was like seeing a silent movie. This is the famous Pike Place. And now it is more bustling than we have seen it when I got here in March. You see folks out here. Now, some of these places have been open, Jake, but there just haven't been the customers. There are now. We're seeing far more people out here, commerce, some of them in masks, some of them not. So, clearly, the state is starting to reopen and people are starting to respond Jake.
[Tapper:] All right, Sara Sidner in Seattle, Washington, thank you so much. As food workers continue to contract the virus in those highly dense food plants, a top Trump administration official is now apparently at least partly blaming the employees for getting sick. His stunning comments next.