Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) dismissed President Trump’s claims that issues obtaining tests for the coronavirus had passed, telling an interviewer Tuesday that new tests developed in recent days had yet to be distributed to states around the country.
In an interview with NPR, Hogan said that Trump’s assertion that shortages of coronavirus testing kits no longer existed was “just not true.”
“President Trump is suggesting that the testing problems are over, they’ve been fixed. It’s no longer an issue,” NPR’s Rachel Martin told Hogan.
“Yeah, that’s just not true,” Hogan responded. “I mean, I know that they’ve taken some steps to create new tests, but they’re not actually created and distributed out to the states. No state has enough testing.”
Hogan went on to praise members of the White House coronavirus task force, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease’s Dr. Anthony Fauci, who Hogan said was giving accurate information in apparent contrast to information presented by Trump.
“We think it’s important to get the facts out there, and I think there are people in the administration who are talking about the facts every day,” Hogan added. “Ambassador [Deborah] Birx, and Anthony Fauci, and people like that who are giving factual information on a daily basis.”
Hogan, along with the governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam (D), and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) issued stay-at-home orders this week commanding residents to remain at home except for essential tasks such as grocery shopping.
The total number of confirmed cases in the D.C. region sat at more than 3,400 on Tuesday, with a total of 53 deaths across the two states and D.C.