Gov. Larry Hogan Sends President Trump Letter To Coordinate State Use Of Federal Labs For COVID-19 Testing
ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) -- In the back and forth between Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and President Donald Trump, the governor has made his next move in working to get more testing in the state of Maryland.
Gov. Larry Hogan wrote to President Trump on Tuesday to accept Trump's offer to allow the state of Maryland to utilize federal labs for COVID-19 testing and request guidance on how to move forward with "this important federal-state collaboration,"
"Maryland is fortunate to have a plethora of federal installations with the potential to play a critical role in increasing our testing capacity, including Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Detrick, Fort Meade, the National Institutes of Health, and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center," writes Governor Hogan. "These federal labs can be key to our utilizing the 500,000 tests we recently acquired from South Korea and our comprehensive recovery plan to get Marylanders back to work as safely and quickly as possible."
This comes after the governor's announcement that the state had received half a million COVID-19 tests from a lab in South Korea, a move done in part with the help of First Lady Yumi Hogan, who is Korean-born and the first Korean-American first lady in the U.S.
"These federal labs can be key to our utilizing the 500,000 tests we recently acquired from South Korea and our comprehensive recovery plan to get Marylanders back to work as safely and quickly as possible," writes Governor Hogan. "I was grateful to hear of your generous offer to allow the State of Maryland to access these federal labs for our testing. I am writing today to personally thank you and the Vice President and to request guidance on how we can immediately proceed on this important federal-state collaboration."
He notes in the letter that the leaders of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC wrote to the president directly on March 15 asking for a federally-supported testing site in the region.
He also added Vice President Pence's voicing on a call with U.S. governors on Monday that Maryland is "fortunate to have a plethora of federal installations with the potential to play a critical role in increasing our testing capacity,"
This includes Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Detrick, Fort Meade, the National Institutes of Health and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Gov. Larry Hogan went on a number of morning talk shows Tuesday to defend his decision to buy 500,000 coronavirus test kits for Maryland after President Donald Trump called him out for not knowing his state's testing capability during a press conference Monday.
Trump singled out Hogan for purchasing the tests from South Korea for $9 million and not understanding the state's testing capabilities.
CORONAVIRUS LATEST:
As of Tuesday morning, there are more than 14,000 cases of COVID-19 in the state and nearly 600 deaths.
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.
