Last month, Representative Katie Porter, the freshman Democrat elected as part of Orange County’s “blue wave” in 2018, extracted a promise from the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make coronavirus testing free for all Americans.

Here’s our conversation, edited and condensed:

Take me back to when you first became aware of the coronavirus as a potentially very serious threat. When was it, and what was going through your mind?

Orange County had the second confirmed case of coronavirus in the country on Jan. 25.

This is a very diverse community, with a lot of international travel, U.C.I., the business community, a large Chinese-American community, so I think our office began immediately to take it very seriously.

I wrote to the C.D.C. and requested a briefing for Orange County Congress members. Right away, we put together a F.A.Q. It was one of the first ones that was rolled out.

A lot of this, for me, has been frustration that Congress and some of our local leaders and the administration have been slow.

What are your top priorities going forward for Californians, in terms of consumer protection or economic stimulus?

The affordability of care is one big priority — the affordability of treatment.

The second is trying to help people, like small business owners, understand, as they wade through all of this, things like, “How do I apply for that? What if I’ve already let my employees go?”

I’m trying to use some of my skills as a teacher to educate people about what help is available. Unemployment insurance varies state by state.

It’s hard to keep your eyes on this $500 billion treasury fund, but we need to be making sure there’s going to be appropriate oversight. Who’s getting that money? I would love to serve on that oversight commission.

We’re watching where the bailout is going, and whether it’s doing what it is intended to do: Keep jobs.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the November general election. You were leading by a pretty wide margin, with just more than 50 percent of the vote in your primary on Super Tuesday.

This is a painful reminder that elections have real consequences in people’s lives.

This is going to be a hard race. I have to be doing my job, first and foremost, helping people as a congressperson.

I’m hopeful we’re going to see really high participation. We’re fortunate to have widespread voting by mail in Orange County.

This is an opportunity to see how important it is to elect people who are smart, are competent and will put people’s interests ahead of special interests, whether it’s the presidential race, or senate or local government.

Mine is still a majority Republican district, but this is not a partisan crisis.