Denver Mayor Michael Hancock made two appearances on CNN over the weekend in interviews with news anchors Wolf Blitzer and John King about his decision to extend the city’s stay-at-home order while Gov. Jared Polis shifts the state toward a “safer-at-home” framework.

The mayor was also interviewed Friday on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” about the same issue.

“Who are the residents of Denver supposed to listen to?” Blitzer asked to kick off the interview with Hancock, according to the CNN transcript. “Would it be you or the governor? Because clearly, you don’t necessarily agree on this.”

Hancock during “The Situation Room” interview on Saturday repeated what he had said the day before in a press conference in which he delayed lifting the stay-at-home order until May 9.

“The governor and the state gave us a good baseline in which to respond to,” he told Blitzer, “and the governor also encouraged cities to adapt the restrictions, particularly if you’re going to be more restrictive.”

Blitzer pointed out that residents “can simply drive out of the Denver area” to places with looser restrictions and asked Hancock if he thought the measures he’s putting in place could “really be effective.”

Hancock said that a handful of neighboring jurisdictions – including Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield and Jefferson counties – had also agreed to extend their stay-at-home orders through May 8, and that the city was encouraging anyone whose job is another jurisdiction to stay home when returning to Denver except for essential needs, like grocery shopping.

Hancock also said that Gov. Jared Polis has been supportive of his decision and understands that “we may have to do things a little differently in Denver,” because it’s the most populated part of the state.  

As of Sunday, nearly 2,600 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Denver, according to the latest data from Denver Public Health. More than 130 residents have died from the illness.

On Sunday, Hancock appeared on “Inside Politics” with John King, during which he explained that his delay is intended to allow time for the city to build up its testing capacity and contact tracing team.

“We want to double the testing capacity on a daily basis in the city of Denver, going from 500 to 1,000, which is a very achievable goal,” he said. “We want to deploy 100 people to participate in our workforce as a contact tracer. We are now training them as of today.”

Additionally, Hancock said that the city also wants to build up the infrastructure to isolate people who are symptomatic or test positive, as well as “create the culture within our community that we can distance within with the new infrastructure that we have.”

Hancock repeated to King the same information he shared during his Friday press conference, when he recapped what Dr. Reginald Washington, the chief medical officer of Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center, told him: “This virus is not going away … we need to make sure we’re building an infrastructure for the long haul