New Orleans Homeland Security Director Interview Transcript: "Skyrocketing" Coronavirus Cases

Collin Arnold: (00:05) It can't be understated. People use the words unprecedented, dynamic. It's changed every day. I never would have imagined this for our economy in particular. Lives are always most important and that's the way we have approached this from the beginning. But the longterm effect from this is equally as frightening to me. Fourth state in the country right now, and the numbers for our parish, for the city of New Orleans, we're right behind New York. Many of the counties in New York right now, it's a skyrocketing rate of cases, which is very concerning. The faster we can get everyone to comply with this, go inside, stay inside to the greatest extent possible, the faster we can potentially recover from this. And it is a huge ask and a difficult decision that had to be made. Collin Arnold: (00:56) But it is for public safety and public health. It's for the right reasons. I know that we need more medical supplies and we need more personal protective equipment for first responders. It's difficult to get. We route a lot of our requests through the state. We're really hoping the strategic national stockpile, it's been opened up and that we continue to receive that because our EMTs and our firemen and our policemen are on the front line of this and we are running low on these things, and now that I foresee this being an issue as far as human services, food, shelter, unemployment. I see this extending out certainly for the foreseeable future.