Gov. Hogan criticizes President Trump on his response to coronavirus.
'The biggest mistake in the first couple of months, Hogan said, was not developing a national testing strategy.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The nation’s governors were priming for battle against the coronavirus as early as February, but President Donald Trump’s lackadaisical approach to the spreading disease hindered a national response, according to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, chairman of the National Governors Association.
Trump initially was “downplaying” the threat and saying “this virus is going to disappear,” despite grave warnings from top national experts, Hogan told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday.
“All of the leaders in the administration, the experts and the public health doctors at the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), they were aware and providing this information. And yet it seemed as if the president was downplaying it and saying, you know, this virus is going to disappear,” Hogan said.
The biggest mistake in the first couple of months, the governor said, was not developing a national testing strategy.
“Throughout the pandemic, it (the federal government) was not assisting the states enough with testing and now as it’s spiking back up again and we have a resurgence of this virus all across the country, the No. 1 thing we can do is to put more into testing and contact tracing to identify and stop the spread,” Hogan said.
Hogan criticized the president repeatedly in his upcoming book, “Still Standing: Surviving Cancer, Riots, a Global Pandemic and the Toxic Politics that Divide America,” which is set for release July 28. . /
“I did not go out of my way to criticize the president,” Hogan said Thursday. “But unlike a lot of Republicans, I’m not the guy that’s just going to sit down and shut up and not stand up and say something if I think something’s going wrong.” Hogan said he will consider a run for the presidency in 2024.'>>>
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