Gov. Hogan Says President Trump's Claim That States Have Enough COVID-19 Tests To Reopen Is 'Not Accurate'
ANNAPOLIS, MD. (WJZ) -- During an appearance on CNN's State of the Union show Sunday morning, Gov. Larry Hogan said President Donald Trump's claim that states have enough COVID-19 tests to reopen is "not accurate."
During a White House Coronavirus Task Force press conference Saturday afternoon, President Trump said that COVID-19 testing capabilities and capacities are "fully sufficient" to begin opening up the country.
Gov. Hogan said he believes the Trump Administration is trying to ramp up testing, but that governors across the country still don't have sufficient capabilities.
"To try to push this off to say that the governors have plenty of testing and they should just get to work on testing, somehow we aren't doing our job, is just absolutely false," Hogan said. "Every governor in America has been pushing and fighting and clawing to get more tests. Not only from the federal government, but from every private lab in America, and from all across the world."
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Gov. Hogan said that Maryland has increased its COVID-19 testing by 5,000 percent over the past month, but that it's "nowhere near where it needs to be."
"There are things like shortages on swabs that we don't have anywhere in America, yet you can't do the tests without, reagents which is a part of the test," Hogan said. "I think they've made some strides at the federal level, I think states are all working hard on their own to find their own testing, Lab capacity has been increasing, but it's not accurate to say there's plenty of testing out there, and the governors should just get it done. That's just not being straightforward."
A new testing facility in Baltimore County administered just 30 tests on Thursday because that was all they could get.
"I would have loved to have this up much sooner, but we just didn't have the tests available," said Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.
This is the second day of a decline in Maryland's reported number of cases. There are 12,830 confirmed cases and 486 confirmed deaths as of Sunday morning, an increase of 522 from Saturday.
The governor signed an executive order Sunday expediting the release of hundreds of men and women from state correctional institutions and over the weekend his mandate requiring masks or face coverings inside retail stores or while riding public transit went into effect.
"The wearing of masks is also something that we may all have to become more accustomed to in order to safely reopen our state.
Cloth masks, homemade masks and bandannas all meet the governor's requirements. Anyone who knowingly violates the governor's order could receive a year in jail or a $5,000 fine, or both.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.
