(gentle music) (dramatic music) - [Narrator] PBS Utah presents The Governor's Monthly News Conference, an exchange between Utah reporters and Governor Spencer Cox.

- Good morning, ladies and gentlemen it's great to be with you again, as another month has flown by.

We appreciate you taking time to spend it with us this morning.

I'd like to take just a little bit of time to give you an update on where we are with our pandemic response.

I just want to speak briefly about hospitalization.

So, some good news is that we've had, of course, over the last several months, real reductions in the number of hospitalizations, including and especially those above the age of 65.

However, we want to note that the pandemic is still with us and we are still seeing hospitalizations.

We consider 72% of our ICU utilization to be high use, anytime we're above 72%.

We've been below 72%, right around there.

We ticked just up a little bit, and of course, that's not just COVID.

COVID is a small portion of that, but the COVID hospitalizations and ICU utilizations are really important.

So, we just want to make people aware, if you have not been vaccinated, that you should still wear a mask and exercise caution.

Just something to note, if you look back around October, people who were ages 65 to 84 were the most hospitalized age group every week by a significant portion, but in April, and of course, extending into May, it actually fell to third place.

So, that's the good news.

It shows that vaccinations absolutely work.

As soon as we opened up vaccinations to those over the age of 65, we saw a huge decrease.

So they went from the most hospitalized group to the third most hospitalized group, behind people ages 45 to 64 and people ages 25 to 44.

We have not seen vaccination rates in those age groups that match those above 65, and so we just want to continue to encourage people to get those vaccinations.

We've now administered more than 2.4 million total doses of the vaccine, and around 55% of eligible people in Utah have gotten at least one dose, and we are continuing to see those numbers go up.

In fact, the good news is we've seen vaccine numbers higher on days this week than we did the week before.

Part of that has to do with the availability of children ages 12 to 15 to get the vaccine.

We've certainly seen an influx of kids those age, including my own 14 year old daughter, and so we're excited about that, and encourage those young people to get their vaccines.

I want to give a special shout out to Summit County, which has the highest number of eligible people vaccinated, at 66% of people ages 12 and older.

Nationally speaking, of those 12 to 15 year olds, approximately 4% have received at least one dose.

In Utah, we are leading the nation in that percentage at 9% that have received at least one dose.

So, almost, that's right about 20,000 kids ages 12 to 15 have received that dose.

It is interesting to note, as I've been able to talk to some of the vaccination clinics across the state, while they have seen an influx of 12 to 15, they also saw an increase in people in older age groups coming in to get their first doses.

So, that was good news to see that more and more people were getting out over the past week.

Just an update on our push to get vaccinations into our multicultural communities.

As of yesterday, we had about 42% of Asian adults that had received at least one vaccine, about 35% of Hispanic adults, 24% of Black adults, and a 23.4% of our Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community.

So we're making great progress there, but we do still have quite a ways to go, and we're pushing those vaccinations out to more local areas and to more community centers.

For comparison, we have 50% of white adults that have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

We now have more than 1.1 million, or just under 44%, of all eligible Utahns fully immunized against COVID-19, and 88% of people 65 and older also received at least one dose, and 77% of those 65 and older are fully vaccinated.

I do want to give an update on our rolling case counts.

Since Dr. Dunn isn't with us to do that, as she used to do, our rolling seven day average for positive cases is 312 per day.

So, we're excited.

Our goal was always to get back down under 400, and soon, we expect to be under 300.

That compares to a rolling average last week of 328.

So we're continuing to see those numbers come down.

Just by way of note, the last time we were this low in our seven day rolling average was June 5th of last year.

So it's almost been a full year since we had a rolling average.

We were at 324 on June 5th of last year.

I just want to briefly, we continue to see some misinformation coming out around vaccines.

We've been talking to doctors, especially fetal medicine specialists, and they've made it clear and asked us to make it clear that vaccines do not affect fertility in any way.

Women who are or who may become pregnant can feel safe, but you don't have to take my word for it.

I would encourage you, as always, to talk to your doctor.

So, just as to note how how far we've come in slowing the spread of the virus, it took us eight months to reach our first 100,000 cases of COVID on October 21st.

It only took 1.5 months to hit the next hundred thousand cases.

We did that on December 1st, and it took one month to hit the next 100,000 cases.

That, we hit on January 7th, and now it took us four months to reach the 400,000 case mark.

We did that on May 7th.

So we're absolutely trending in the right direction.

We're excited for what's happening, excited to get things back to normal as quickly as possible.

And with that, I'm happy to answer some questions.

- Governor, what are your thoughts with the legislature passing resolutions in a extraordinary special session on critical race theory and declaring Utah a second amendment sanctuary, considering that you wouldn't put it on the call and it appears they went around you?

- Sure, look.

So, we do have three branches of government in this state and every branch has the opportunity and ability to speak for themselves, and I think it's perfectly fine and important for the legislature to have those opportunities.

They actually did what I asked them to do.

I issued a lengthy letter, and I hope those that are interested in these topics will take the opportunity to read that, and in that letter, I explained why I thought it was important on these issues to do them in the right way before we passed a bill that, and again, this is the Utah way.

We bring people together.

We work through these hard issues.

We listen to all voices and then we we try to make an appropriate and rational and measured decision, and if you actually read the resolutions, that's exactly what they did.

In my letter, I said we need to give the school board an opportunity.

It's their constitutional duty, first of all, and also something that they're working hard on, and I've had conversations with Chair Huntsman.

I've had conversations with Superintendent Dickson, and they are doing it the right way, and I'm very impressed with what they're doing, and if you look at those resolutions, that's basically all they did, was to say, "Hey, we want to work on this.

We have some concerns."

I thought it was interesting, and I would encourage people to listen to the conversation or the debate as it were in the Senate, where I thought there was some very thoughtful debate.

I thought Senator Fillmore did a great job of saying, you know, no one really knows what critical race theory is.

If you ask 50 different people, and I have, that are concerned about it, they will give you 50 different answers as to what it is, and so those definitions really matter.

It's also hard for people to point to any evidence of where it's being taught in our schools, and so the school board and the superintendent have told me that any time there has been a report of something that is being taught, they have gone and investigated those reports, as have superintendents.

It is not part of the curriculum, and they have not been able to find any evidence that it is being taught.

That being said, we know that there is pressure in some circles, and there's definitely concern in circles around this, and so they are working towards definitions, making sure that we're teaching the curriculum as it's supposed to be taught, but also just as importantly, making sure we're not avoiding the hard conversations about our history, and I just want to emphasize how important that piece is.

We live in the greatest nation in the history of the world, and we have so much to be proud of, and we have to teach those things, and we should teach those things.

We've also made some very serious mistakes in our past.

We shouldn't shy away from those things.

Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and we need to make sure that our kids, our school kids, that they learn the ugly parts of our history as well.

That's what makes us stronger.

Again, our country was formed on an idea.

Part of that idea is that we let ideas compete and the best ideas win out.

- Just so we're clear, you support the resolutions as written.

Is that correct?

- Yeah, if you read the resolutions, there's nothing really controversial in them.

The resolution say that they encourage the state school board to work on this issue, which is exactly what my letter said.

- Okay, Governor, a couple of questions.

One, your reaction to what the Democrats in the house did yesterday and walking out, and two, you said earlier this week in a letter to legislators that critical race theory should not have a place in Utah curriculum.

Why shouldn't it have place in Utah curriculum?

- Well, so, first of all, it doesn't have a place in Utah curriculum.

It's not being taught anywhere, - [Brian] Should it?

- Not in K through 12, no.

And again, it depends on how you define critical race theory.

There are certain portions of critical race theory, that, again, from what I understand, it's a theory, are problematic.

I have no problem with kids learning about other theories, but teaching those things as truth, I think, can be problematic, and so it's one of those things where it's how you define it that matters, and that's going to be really important, and that's the work that the school board is undertaking right now.

- Okay, and the Democrats, the walkout in the house, your reaction to the walkout.

- That's their way of making their voices heard, and I don't have a problem with that either.

I think what's really great about these institutions, and in my letter, I mentioned this, is that we have these institutions for a reason, and we have opportunities.

There have certainly been shows of passion like that in the past, where certain legislators have walked off the floor in an effort to to make their voices heard and to get their point across.

I did like what happened in the Senate better than what happened in the House.

I will say that.

I thought there was some very thoughtful discussion in the Senate, and that's why I encourage people to go back and listen to it.

I thought it was very honest.

I mean, even the sponsor of the bill said that he didn't know what critical race theory was, and he had tried to research it, and there was a lot of confusion about what it was or what was being taught or where it was being taught, and so I like that better.

I like when we put people, and this institution gives us an opportunity to do that, to have the debate.

Now, my understanding is that the Democrats in the House felt that they had not been consulted, that they had not been included in any of those discussions, and so they left the floor, and there was no debate.

I would prefer to have debate.

I think it's healthy to have disagreement and discussion and debate around a topic, which is what happened in the Senate, and so that's my preference, but you know, I don't hold that against them.

- When legislators walk off the floor, are they doing their job?

- Well, their job is to represent their constituencies, and I don't think it's my determination to tell them whether or not they're doing their job.

If they feel that that's how they get their message across, their votes were not recorded, but that shows up in a very low vote total.

So I think every legislator has to make that determination for themselves.

Their job is to represent their constituents, and their constituents will decide whether they're doing their job or not when they go to the polls next year.

- Governor, you said no critical race theory in K through 12, but what about higher education?

- So, in higher education, again, one of the things I loved about my education is, again, the ability to learn different theories.

I worry when we exclude any type of idea or theory out there, What's remarkable about our institutions of higher ed is the ability to debate these things and to become critical thinkers and to decide what you believe and how you represent that to the world.

So, yeah, again, this is America.

This is what we do best.

We let those ideas compete, and those types of ideas are really perfect in a setting like that.

- Okay, we'd like to go to some remote reporters.

Emily Means with KUER, go ahead with your question.

- Yeah, hi, Governor Cox.

Good to see you today.

Last year, state and community leaders signed on to the Utah Compact on Racial Equity, and part of that includes acknowledging that racism isn't just an individual character flaw, but also a systemic issue.

So how do you think the resolution from the legislature squares with Utah's commitment to the compact?

- Well, again, I don't think there's anything in that resolution that disagrees with the compact in any way, and that's what's important, and I think so much gets lost in these debates and there's just no room for nuance anymore at all, and I hate to see that.

Again, it is important to understand our history and it's very important to examine where we are.

There's no question that racism didn't just disappear in the sixties because of the civil rights movement.

I've encouraged many times people to sit down and talk to people and learn from people that have a different life experience than we have, and to try to understand what is happening there.

This is one of the reasons that our administration has been so committed to help with equity and education.

Look, every child should have the same opportunity as every other child, and we are committed to that.

And by the way, that includes not just our communities of color, but our kids in rural Utah as well, where they don't have the same opportunities, because we don't have the same funding mechanisms in some of our schools, our lower income communities, and so trying to find those areas where there isn't the same opportunity.

Again, we can't guarantee outcomes.

That's never been part of the American experience.

We can guarantee opportunity and give people the individual freedoms to take those opportunities, and that's what we're really trying to do here in the state of Utah, and so we have to look and we have to examine always what we're doing.

I'll tell you, and we'll have more information on this coming out, but I commissioned a study in our government, our state government.

The first leg of the study was to see, it was to examine wage gaps that might exist between genders and between between races, if they exist in state government, and so The Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, has been working diligently on that study, and so we'll get those answers very soon, and that's what we're doing.

We're looking and saying, okay, do we have a problem?

Is there something that we've missed along the way?

And if so, how can we fix it?

And if not, that's good news and we should celebrate that.

And so I think it's healthy to be constantly examining how far we've come and where we are and making sure that we're not exacerbating the problem.

- [Moderator] Okay, Bethany with the Salt Lake Tribune.

Go ahead with your question.

- Hi, governor.

So I had a question about the timing of the critical race theory resolution.

We've seen a groundswell of public opposition to it, but if there's no evidence that these theories are being taught in schools or part of the curriculum, do you think that that urgency and panic is misplaced or over-hyped?

- Well, whether it's misplaced or over-hyped, I don't know that it matters, because it exists, and so, but, you know, part of representing the people and constituencies are to, when there are issues that gain prominence, whether correct or incorrect, trying to get good information and deal with it, and so that's why I think, again, what I proposed and what the resolutions proposed as well are exactly that.

It's encouraging the state school board to investigate, to bring people together, to have conversations around it, and to clarify what is happening, what is being taught, and making it easier for our teachers and our local school boards, who are also getting these same questions and giving them a platform to be able to respond, so that we can say definitively what is being taught and what is not being taught and getting it out there.

What I will say, and I've said this over and over again, I've been saying it for many, many years, is that we would all be better off if people would stop watching cable news, whether it's CNN, or Fox News or MSNBC.

Pick whatever one you're addicted to, and I'm eight years sober, and it's been one of the best things that I've ever done, and I would just encourage more and more people to turn that off, and talk to real people about the issues around you, not listening to the talking heads who make their money by making you outraged.

It's unhealthy.

It's unhealthy personally, and it's certainly unhealthy for our democratic republic.

- [Reporter] Governor, why do you appear on CNN then?

- Because there are people on there, and I appear on Fox News as well.

I've appeared on both of them.

I'm trying to be a voice of reason in a sea of anger and contempt, and so, if we're not willing to go to those places and try to convince people that there's a better way, then we're lost, but I appear on it on occasion, but I never watch it.

- Governor, on the issue of what the legislature did, pass a bill on school mask mandate bans in the fall, will you sign that bill?

- I will, yes.

- Why?

- Well, I'll sign it because I've said all along, I've been saying for a couple months now, that we won't have masks in the fall.

What we know is that, again, the virus is continuing to decline.

We have younger people now that have the opportunity to get the vaccine, and so now, now you're really talking under the age of 12, right?

We're really talking elementary schools, and when you look at the data around elementary schools, the data's very clear, again, that the risk of hospitalization and death for elementary schools is extremely, extremely low.

This is one area where it actually looks like the flu or less than the flu, and also the ability to spread the virus from younger age groups is very low.

Most people don't know this, but even the CDC recommendations from the very beginning have said that, for younger children and those elementary aged kids, although they did recommend masks, they also recommended caution, giving kids an opportunity, and knowing how young kids develop, the developmental piece of this.

I've talked to my wife often about this, who has a degree in special education with an emphasis in early childhood and severe, that kids seeing faces, and especially in language development, how important those things are, and the CDC mentions that language development barrier all along, and so I'm supportive of removing the mask mandate.

If there is a change in circumstances, and that's important to know, we have the ability to alter that.

I have the ability to alter that for 30 days if there's a change in circumstances, at which point then the legislature would need to become involved, which we would do anyway.

So, it doesn't mean that it couldn't change.

It just means that there would have to be a change in circumstances for that to happen.

- [Moderator] Okay, Lisa Riley Roche with Deseret News.

Go ahead with your question.

- [Spencer] Hey, Lisa.

- Hi, Governor.

Thank you, and I'm glad we switched back to the pandemic, because I wanted to ask you, with the changes we've seen from the CDC recommendations on the fully vaccinated and wearing masks and taking other precautions against the virus, that's led to a lot of confusion around the country and among some Utahns about where they should wear a mask.

Can they trust their fellow citizens who aren't fully vaccinated to continue to take precautions?

Are you at all worried that we may be moving too quickly towards a new normal?

And what's your advice for Utahns going forward to protect not just themselves and their families, but each other, all of us?

- Yeah, thank you, Lisa.

So I'm not worried that we're moving too quickly, and actually, this is the first time there hasn't been confusion with the CDC.

People may disagree with it, but the CDC was actually very clear.

This is the simplest guidance we've ever gotten from the CDC, and that is, basically, if you're fully vaccinated, you don't have to wear a mask, and if you're not, you do.

That's it.

It couldn't be simpler.

It couldn't be more clear, and I believe it couldn't be more correct, and that's what's important, and if you also listen to the director of the CDC, when they made that announcement, you ask about, you know, whether we can trust our fellow Utahns.

If you're fully vaccinated, it doesn't matter if somebody next to you who isn't fully vaccinated and isn't wearing a mask.

They're the ones that are at risk, not you, and so we do have an opportunity now to take that personal responsibility, and I hope that this will serve as an incentive for people to get the vaccine.

What I will say is that we immediately saw an uptick in many of our mass vaccination sites the day or two days after that announcement was made by the CDC, and as we talked to people there and said, "Well, you know, why didn't you do it before, and why are you doing it now?"

They said, "Well, because, you know, I heard that I don't have to wear a mask anymore if I get fully vaccinated."

Now, obviously, there were people who were not wearing masks before.

There will be people who aren't fully vaccinated who aren't wearing masks.

That's a mistake, but it's certainly, people get the opportunity to choose that, and so we will just continue to encourage people to get the vaccine.

We will make it as available as possible, but we're now in that stage of the pandemic where you need to take care of yourself and the way you do that is by getting the vaccine or wearing a mask, and we have better masks available.

You can double mask if you're worried about that, but we do need to continue to get back to normal.

I had an opportunity to be at Hale Centre Theater the other night.

It was a packed house and it was so great.

I can't tell you how great it was to have everybody back together.

Everybody, again, fully vaccinated, not wearing a mask, watching the theater and connecting, and that's what we've been missing over the past year.

We are wired for connection and now we get to connect again, and that's healthy for our souls and it's healthy for our country.

- All right.

Thank you so much, governor.

That's all the time we have for our television broadcast.

Join us back here next month for The Governor's Monthly News Conference.

(uplifting music) - [Narrator] This has been The Governor's Monthly News Conference.

For transcripts, full video, and more information, visit pbsutah.org/governor.