Facing a shortage of coronavirus tests in his state, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) moved quickly to secure 500,000 tests from South Korea, a feat he accomplished with the help of his wife, Yumi Hogan.
"The administration made it clear over and over again they want the states to take the lead, and we have to go out and do it ourselves, and that's exactly what we did," Hogan, who is also chair of the National Governors Association, said during a Monday press conference. He praised his wife, who was born in South Korea, for her assistance, saying she "not only used her native language to help secure the tests but also helped negotiate the deal."
Data compiled by the Covid Tracking Project shows that so far, the United States has conducted more than 3.5 million coronavirus tests. Hogan has been vocal about the importance of having access to tests, saying the "No. 1 problem facing us is lack of testing. We can't open up our states without ramping up testing. It should not have been this difficult."
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President Trump swiftly criticized Hogan, telling reporters during his Monday evening coronavirus briefing that Hogan was not able to "understand" a list of labs in his state that are conducting tests. Hogan, he added, "could've saved a lot of money ... he needed to get a little knowledge, that would've been helpful."
At the same time Trump was talking, Hogan was being interviewed live on CNN. He said his state "already knew where the lab facilities are," but "more than half" were "federal facilities that we have desperately been trying to get help from, or military facilities." Not long after, Vice President Mike Pence appeared at the podium during the briefing, and said the administration would make federal and military facilities "available to governors across the states."
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