Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan was interviewed by Katy Tur on MSNBC Friday about the state’s effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
His appearance comes after Maryland Health Department confirmed Friday afternoon that there are currently 17 coronavirus cases in Maryland.
During the interview, Hogan told Tur, “there’s not enough tests” in Maryland, but he’s more concerned with stopping the spread of the virus than he is about testing.
“We’ve moved on from testing quite frankly to other things right now,” Hogan told Tur.
This afternoon, I appeared live on @MSNBC to discuss the latest updates in Maryland’s ongoing response to COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. We have taken unprecedented actions that will disrupt Marylanders' lives, but we believe they’re absolutely necessary to keep people safe. pic.twitter.com/UAHkwjpawS
— Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) March 13, 2020
When asked what the “other things” are, Hogan said, “We’ve moved from containment to mitigation and quite frankly at some point soon we’re probably not going to be into testing as much because the hospitals will be overwhelmed and not able to do the tests.”
Hogan said state and health officials are “actively looking at plans” to address concerns about hospital capacity. Hogan acknowledged that there are “major concerns among medical professionals” as the virus continues to spread.
When asked by Tur whether he thought the Trump administration was doing enough to provide more testing kits, Hogan said he didn’t want to place blame on anyone.
Charlie Gischlar, a spokesperson for the Maryland Department of Health, could not provide any information to MyMCMedia about how many testing kits are available in the state.
President Donald Trump declared a national state of emergency Friday which will free up funds to assist with state responses to COVID-19 pandemic.
BREAKING: Pres. Trump declares national emergency.
— Opens up to $50 billion for states, territories and localities.
— Calls for states to set up emergency centers.
— Calls on hospitals to activate emergency preparedness plans.
— Confers new authorities to HHS secretary. pic.twitter.com/AMLe2eOjWX— ABC News (@ABC) March 13, 2020
