ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Governor Larry Hogan, chairman of the National Governors Association, wrote to President Trump to accept his offer to allow Maryland to utilize federal labs for COVID-19 testing and to request guidance on how to move forward with this important federal-state collaboration.
“Maryland is fortunate to have a plethora of federal installations with the potential to play a critical role in increasing our testing capacity, including Aberdeen Proving Ground, Fort Detrick, Fort Meade, the National Institutes of Health, and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,” wrote Governor Hogan. “These federal labs can be key to our utilizing the 500,000 tests we recently acquired from South Korea and our comprehensive recovery plan to get Marylanders back to work as safely and quickly as possible.”
On Monday, after weeks of diplomatic discussions and procurement negotiations, Governor Hogan announced that Maryland has acquired 500,000 COVID-19 tests from South Korea’s LabGenomics.
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“These federal labs can be key to our utilizing the 500,000 tests we recently acquired from South Korea and our comprehensive recovery plan to get Marylanders back to work as safely and quickly as possible,” writes Governor Hogan. “I was grateful to hear of your generous offer to allow the State of Maryland to access these federal labs for our testing. I am writing today to personally thank you and the Vice President and to request guidance on how we can immediately proceed on this important federal-state collaboration.”
In the letter, Governor Hogan notes that on March 15, the leaders of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC wrote directly to the president to request a federally-supported testing site in the region.
As of Tuesday, Maryland has 14,193 cases of COVID-19 and 584 confirmed deaths.
