WASHINGTON — Maryland’s Republican governor on Tuesday dismissed President Trump’s claims there were no coronavirus testing issues in the US, saying, “That’s just not true.”
Larry Hogan, who is also the chair of the National Governors Association, slammed Trump’s claims that he hadn’t heard about COVID-19 testing shortages for “several weeks” during an interview with NPR.
“President Trump has suggested that the testing problems are over. They’ve been fixed. It’s no longer an issue,” said NPR host Rachel Martin.
“Yeah, that’s just not true,” countered Hogan. “I mean, I know that they’ve taken some steps to create new tests, but they’re not actually produced and distributed out to the states.”
“So it’s an aspirational thing, and they have taken — they’ve got some new things in the works, but they’re not actually out on the streets, and that’s — no state has enough testing,” he said of the administration.
In a call with governors on Monday, Trump denied knowing anything about testing shortages as several rural governors including Steve Bullock of Montana, a Democratic senate candidate, warned their states were facing critical shortages.
“I haven’t heard about testing in weeks,” Trump said, before telling governors to call if they needed anything, according to the audio obtained by CBS News.
The president on Monday evening unveiled a rapid coronavirus test which will produce a diagnosis within five minutes. Officials want to make it widely available within the next month.
Hogan said it was important to “get the facts out there.”
“And we’re listening to the smart team, the coronavirus team, the vice president and Ambassador Birx and Anthony Fauci and people like that who are giving factual information on a daily basis.”
The interview comes one day after Hogan issued a dramatic three-month stay-at-home order as the number of coronavirus cases topped 1,400.