This is a rush transcript from "Your World with Neil Cavuto," July 2, 2020. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
CAVUTO: Want to talk to Congressman Andy Biggs about that, Republican from Arizona, one of the more hard-hit states with these recent spikes.
Congressman, good to have you.
What do you make of the mask thing? What you have all of these folks saying, to a man or woman, is, yes, wear it. At least we can have more control over controlling these spikes.
REP. ANDY BIGGS (R-AZ): Well, I have to tell you, I’m -- I’m reticent to believe that.
If mask work so well, then why is L.A. spiking and surging with COVID cases, when they have had a mandatory mask regulation in effect for seven weeks now? It just -- there’s no empirical evidence that that’s the case.
Those who are doctors and those who are...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Well, I think a lot of them were ignoring it.
I think, Congressman, to be clear, many were ignoring that. The message in a lot of these states where they were trying to push it, people weren’t doing it.
BIGGS: Well, look, I -- Neil, I have reviewed three scholarly literature reviews that have reviewed more than 90 studies of the efficacy of masks.
And they have come to the same conclusion. There’s only one mask that has any efficacy at all, and that’s the N95. And that does not have a 100 percent rate. It doesn’t even have a sufficient rating to be aware of it.
I -- if people want to wear masks, I say, wear masks.
CAVUTO: So, you don’t think -- you don’t it has any -- any benefit at all, Congressman?
Because a lot of people of all political stripes and backgrounds are saying, the issue isn’t so much for protecting the person who’s wearing the mask, but the person they are coming in contact with in the process.
Now, I only raise this because I know you separately called for ending the president’s Coronavirus Task Force because they are not echoing the president’s economic concerns.
Do you think that’s risky?
BIGGS: No, I don’t.
I mean, so -- so, I appreciate what the vice president’s done. I think he’s done a great job. And one of the things that I think is important for them is to keep making sure that there’s PPE and that type of thing available to medical care workers or even the public. And I’m OK with that. I think that’s really important.
But I think, when Dr. Fauci has been all over the ballpark on this, who says just a couple months ago, you shouldn’t wear a mask if you’re healthy -- then he said, wearing a mask is merely a symbol. And then he said, no, everybody needs to wear a mask.
When he begins -- everything has been inconsistent with him. And now he’s opining on things as, well, you know what, maybe there should be no sports in October.
CAVUTO: Well, just forget Dr. Fauci for a second, Congressman.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: You represent a state that right now has the most serious spikes in cases. If you look at the number of cases on just the past seven days per 100,000, Arizona rates number one at 39.1 daily new cases per 100,000.
BIGGS: Yes.
CAVUTO: Furthermore, the spike has picked up double-digit steam in the last two weeks. You have hospitalizations and ICU bed use the highest of this crisis.
BIGGS: Well, let me -- let me talk...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: You’re telling people to sort of ease up on masks and get rid of a commission.
BIGGS: No, no, no. Neil, let me...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: No, no, wait a minute. Your people are listening to you. And you’re saying, we can ease up.
BIGGS: No.
No, Neil, I’m saying your data -- you’re taking data points, and you’re cherry-picking those data points, because you could take the hospitalization or the...
CAVUTO: I’m not cherry-picking anything.
BIGGS: Yes. Let me -- let me respond.
CAVUTO: I’m telling you what the seven-day average is.
BIGGS: Neil...
CAVUTO: I’m telling you about the ICU bed usage. I’m telling you about the hospital bed usage.
BIGGS: No, you’re not. You’re -- you’re...
CAVUTO: I’m not saying the whole state is a disaster.
BIGGS: Let me -- if you will me res -- Neil.
CAVUTO: I’m just saying, you right now have the nation’s highest caseload on a percentage basis.
BIGGS: If you will let me respond -- if you will let me respond, I will refute every one of those data points.
We have had -- we have the highest number, perhaps, on a per capita basis of new cases. Those are mostly coming in the age 20-to-44 bracket. We also have had over the last three weeks a reduction in the rate of hospitalizations by 50 percent -- excuse me -- almost 100 percent, from 11.5 percent down to 5.6 percent today.
If you also take a look at the fatality, case fatality rate, we have moved from over 4 percent just about 30 days ago now to right at 2.2 percent. We have seen that transpire.
If you take a look at the 5,300 people that have been discharged from hospitals in the last 30 days, and you look in the last eight days, Neil, what you would see is, every day, we have had an increase in the number of discharges. We have actually had a reduction in the last two days in the ICU bed usage.
If you take a look at the ICU bed usage, you will see that...
CAVUTO: Well, you still have 86 percent of those beds being used, Congressman. You still have 89 percent of general hospital beds being used.
And you’re quite right. I’m not saying they’re all COVID-19 patients.
BIGGS: They’re not.
CAVUTO: But that use is now at a record high.
All I’m saying to you is, you are now recommending that the president get rid of his health care commission, his coronavirus commission, because you don’t like what either Dr. Birx is saying or you don’t like what Dr. Fauci is saying.
They have no political agenda, last time I thought. They’re worried doctors, and they think that people can get a little cavalier. I don’t think that means they’re anti-the president’s agenda. They’re pro-keeping people alive agenda, right?
BIGGS: Well, look, let me just tell you what I think here.
I think that Birx and Fauci have gone well past their -- their -- they have -- they have expired, that their time of usefulness has expired. What they do is, when the president comes out and makes a policy, because he is the president and he is the policy-maker, when they come out, and they make these statements that they make, they engender panic and hysteria and undermine what the president’s doing.
That’s what I think is critical.
And get back to the ICU bed usage and the...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: Doesn’t he defer to them as the health experts? Doesn’t he have a commission because he defers to them as the health experts?
And they’re citing worries. They’re citing also that we can get this under control, it needn’t be a panic, if people do what they should be doing. But isn’t that what doctors do, kind of look after people’s lives?
BIGGS: Well, doctors do who are treating people and being with them daily. And I talk to those doctors on a regular basis.
When is the last time Dr. Fauci met with and treated a patient on an individual basis, or Dr. Birx? And when you start talking to people who are on the ground, working in emergency rooms...
CAVUTO: When’s the last time you have? When’s the last time you have?
BIGGS: I’m not a trained physician.
What I am, however, is someone who can read data and who talks to people.
CAVUTO: But you’re telling the ones who are to get out, get off a commission, we don’t need you.
BIGGS: What I’m saying is what -- Neil, what I’m saying is, the task force may not be necessarily anymore.
And what I’m saying is, Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx have undermined what this president is trying to do. That, I think, is critical. And when you start talking about ICU and...
CAVUTO: All right, you’re saying, in the middle of this...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: In the middle of these uptick in cases -- no, no. In the middle of these uptick in cases, you think it’s a good idea to disband this commission now, in the middle of this? Just want to be clear.
BIGGS: No. No.
What I -- yes, I think it’s a good idea, but -- but for different reasons.
CAVUTO: All right.
BIGGS: And if you would let me finish and talk about the ICU bed usage and why the numbers that you’re citing are important, but they don’t tell the full picture, because I think you need a context.
And if you let me talk about the overall bed usage in Arizona, and if you let us talk about where Arizona’s -- the hot spots are.
CAVUTO: All right, well, I would -- you know, Congressman, I would love to have you back.
(LAUGHTER)
CAVUTO: And I would like to -- and I will get you back to explain how it is 90 percent bed use in that neck of the woods is not a big deal, when it has doubled in effectively the last few weeks.
BIGGS: That’s not -- it didn’t double in the last few weeks.
CAVUTO: And I do want you to come back and...
(CROSSTALK)
CAVUTO: ... explain that.
BIGGS: It didn’t double.
CAVUTO: All right.
All right, Congressman, I want thank you in the meantime.
BIGGS: Neil, good to see you.
CAVUTO: We will try to reach out to Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx...
BIGGS: Yes, good to see you.
CAVUTO: ... on your recommendation.
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