WOULD EVEN CONSIDER IT. NOT UNTIL WE’RE IN THE CLEAR.
>> THAT WAS GABE GUTIERREZ
REPORTING THERE.
REPORTING THERE. IT’S A TOUGH ISSUE FOR THE
STATES WHEN AND HOW TO SAFELY
REOPEN.
REOPEN. WE’RE JOINED BY MARYLAND
GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN.
GOVERNOR, THANKS FOR YOUR TIME
THIS MORNING.
THIS MORNING. AND AGAIN, REOPENING, TOP OF
MIND FOR FOLKS ALL OVER THIS
COUNTRY.
COUNTRY. AS I UNDERSTAND IT YOU’RE NOT
READY TO DO IT JUST YET THERE IN
MARYLAND.
MARYLAND. IN FACT, YESTERDAY YOU LAID OUT
THE FOUR STEPS THAT YOU THINK
YOU SHOULD TAKE THERE TO GET THE
STATE REOPENED.
STATE REOPENED. WHAT ARE THOSE STEPS?
>> WELL, SO IN MARYLAND HERE IN
THE WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE
THE WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE CORRIDOR WE’RE JUST REALLY STILL
HEADING UP THAT CURVE, WE’RE A
COUPLE WEEKS BEHIND SOME OF THE
HOT SPOTS YOU WERE JUST TALKING
ABOUT.
ABOUT. SO IT WOULD REALLY BE THE WORST
POSSIBLE TIME FOR US TO TRY TO
PUT MORE PEOPLE OUT THERE AND
ENDANGER THEM BUT WE HAVE BEEN
MEETING AND TALKING WITH EXPERTS
FOR SEVERAL WEEKS NOW ABOUT WHAT
IT WOULD LOOK LIKE TO TRY TO GET
BACK TO SOME TYPE OF NORMALCY.
I’VE ALSO, YOU KNOW, I’M LEADING
THE NATIONAL GOVERNORS
ASSOCIATION AND WE HAVE A CALL
THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE
PRESIDENT AND THE VICE PRESIDENT
AND THEIR TEAM TO TALK ABOUT
WHAT KINDS OF RECOMMENDATIONS
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S GOING
TO MAKE AND WE’VE BEEN MEETING
WITH ALL OF THE NATION’S
GOVERNORS.
GOVERNORS. WE’VE HAD, I THINK, 14 DIFFERENT
CONFERENCE CALLS IN TALKING
ABOUT WHAT’S GOING ON IN
DIFFERENT PLACES IN THE COUNTRY.
BUT WHAT ALL OF US ARE GOING TO
NEED, BEFORE WE CAN TRY TO GET
PEOPLE BACK TO WORK, IS MORE
TESTING.
TESTING. MORE ABILITY TO DO CONTACT
TRACING.
TRACING. WE’RE GOING TO HAVE TO MAKE SURE
THAT WE HAVE THE HOSPITAL
CAPABILITIES AND ALL THE PPEs.
AND REALLY THOSE ARE THE KIND OF
FOUR BUILDING BLOCKS.
EVERYBODY WANTS TO GET OUR
ECONOMY BACK AND GET PEOPLE BACK
TO WORK AND GET OUR SMALL
BUSINESSES OPEN.
BUSINESSES OPEN. BUT WE ALSO WANT TO MAKE SURE WE
DO IT IN A SAFE WAY AND WE’RE
NOT JUST RAMPING THINGS BACK UP
AND ENDANGERING THE LIVES OF
THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE.
>> GOVERNOR, TO YOUR POINT --
>> IT’S A TERRIBLE SITUATION,
TWIN CRISIS GOING ON AT THE SAME
TIME.
TIME. >> TO YOUR POINT ON TESTING,
THOUGH, AS YOU KNOW, AT LAST
CHECK, ROUGHLY 3 MILLION PEOPLE
IN THIS COUNTRY HAVE BEEN
TESTED.
TESTED. THAT’S LESS THAN 1% OF THE TOTAL
POPULATION.
POPULATION. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO RAMP UP
TESTING THERE IN MARYLAND?
>> RIGHT.
>> RIGHT. SO IN THE PAST THREE WEEKS WE’VE
INCREASED TESTING BY 5,000% IN
MARYLAND.
MARYLAND. IT’S NOT WHERE IT NEEDS TO BE.
OUR GOAL IS TO BE DOING 10,000
TESTS PER DAY AND WE BELIEVE
WE’RE GOING TO GET THERE IN THE
NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS.
BUT IT’S -- AND THERE’S NO
QUESTION, THIS HAS BEEN THE
NUMBER ONE STUMBLING BLOCK IN
AMERICA, THE LACK OF AVAILABLE
TESTING AND YOU CAN’T GET TO ANY
POINT WHERE YOU CAN REOPEN THE
COUNTRY UNTIL, NOT JUST IN MY
STATE, BUT ACROSS THE COUNTRY WE
CAN DO MUCH, MUCH LARGER SCALE
TESTING OF MORE PEOPLE.
>> YOU ISSUED A MANDATE
YESTERDAY THAT WOULD REQUIRE
FOLKS TO WEAR FACE COVERINGS,
WHEN RIDING PUBLIC TRANSIT, WHEN
THEY’RE OUT IN STORES AS WELL.
WHAT PROMPTED THE STRICTER
MEASURES?
MEASURES? >> WELL, SO WE -- YOU KNOW, OUR
NUMBERS HAVE BEEN RAPIDLY
RISING, AND WE HAD OUR TWO
DEADLIEST DAYS IN A ROW WITH
SADLY THE MOST DEATHS IN OUR
STATE.
STATE. IT’S GROWING THROUGHOUT OUR
REGION.
REGION. WE’RE SORT OF THE NEXT WAVE OF
HOT SPOTS.
HOT SPOTS. AND WE JUST BELIEVE THAT ONE OF
THE PLACES WHERE WE HAVE A
WEAKNESS, WE HAVE TO KEEP THE
STORES OPEN, PEOPLE HAVE TO EAT,
THEY HAVE TO GO TO PHARMACIES
AND THEY HAVE TO GO TO GROCERY
STORES.
STORES. BUT WHEN THEY DO THEY ACTUALLY
ARE ENDANGERING THEMSELVES AND
THEIR FAMILIES AND THEIR
NEIGHBORS.
NEIGHBORS. AND THIS IS ONE REALLY IMPORTANT
STEP TO KEEP THEIR FACES
COVERED.
COVERED. IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A SURGICAL
MASK, AN N95 MASK, JUST
ANYTHING, A CLOTH COVERING OVER
YOUR FACE, REALLY GOES A LONG
WAY.
WAY. AND A COUPLE OF OUR MOST -- OUR
MOST HIGHLY POPULATED LOCAL
JURISDICTIONS MADE THAT DECISION
ALREADY.
ALREADY. WE DECIDED IT WAS A SMART MOVE
TO DO FOR THE ENTIRE STATE.
>> I KNOW THAT CONFIRMED CASES
THERE IN MARYLAND, I BELIEVE,
NORTH OF 10,000 NOW, ESPECIALLY
HARD HIT MONTGOMERY COUNTY,
PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY.
GOVERNOR YOU POINTED OUT, YOU’RE
THE HEAD OF THE GOVERNORS
ASSOCIATION, YOU’RE A REPUBLICAN
GOVERNOR, THERE SEEMS TO BE A
BIT OF A TENSION BETWEEN THE
ADMINISTRATION AND SOME
GOVERNORS OVER HOW TO GET THIS
COUNTRY REOPENED.
COUNTRY REOPENED. HOW TO GET FOLKS BACK TO WORK.
ON THIS CALL THAT YOU’RE GOING
TO HAVE THIS AFTERNOON WITH THE
PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT,
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO SAY TO THE
PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT
ABOUT PRECISELY HOW WE SHOULD BE
DOING THAT AND MAYBE JUST AS
IMPORTANTLY HOW WE SHOULDN’T BE
DOING IT?
DOING IT? >> WELL, YEAH, I THINK THERE WAS
A LITTLE BIT OF TENSION OVER THE
PAST COUPLE OF DAYS BETWEEN THE
PRESIDENT AND THE ADMINISTRATION
AND SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES, THE
GOVERNORS ACROSS THE STATE
FRANKLY ON BOTH SIDES OF THE
AISLE.
AISLE. BUT THE PRESIDENT, I BELIEVE,
WALKED BACK MANY OF HIS EARLIER
COMMENTS FROM -- YOU KNOW, HE
WAS SAYING THAT HE HAD THE
ULTIMATE AUTHORITY AND THAT HE
WAS GOING TO TELL THE GOVERNORS
WHAT TO DO.
LATER THAT SAME DAY HE SAID THAT
THEY WERE GOING TO MAKE
RECOMMENDATIONS AND GUIDELINES
AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL AND THAT
GOVERNORS WERE GOING TO MAKE
THEIR OWN DECISIONS IN THEIR OWN
STATES IN THEIR OWN TIME FRAMES
BASED ON THE DECISIONS ON THE
GROUND THAT THEY SAW FIT TO MAKE
AND I THINK THAT’S ACTUALLY THE
CORRECT WAY TO GO ABOUT IT.
I THINK TODAY THEY’RE GOING TO
TALK ABOUT SOME GUIDELINES THAT
I THINK ARE HELPFUL.
IT’S GREAT TO HAVE A FEDERAL
PARTNER THAT THERE’S MANY THINGS
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN DO TO
HELP THE STATES.
WE BELIEVE THEY MAY COME UP WITH
SOME GOOD INFORMATION THAT WE
CAN ALL SHARE.
BUT ULTIMATELY IT IS GOING TO BE
THE GOVERNORS THAT HAVE TO MAKE
THESE DECISIONS IN THEIR OWN
STATES, DIFFERENT STATES ARE AT
DIFFERENT POINTS IN THE CURVE.
>> YES.
>> YES. >> ONLY WE KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON
IN OUR STATES.
WE’RE GOING TO TRY TO HAVE A
PRODUCTIVE DIALOGUE TODAY AND
NOT SURE EXACTLY WHAT THEIR
ANNOUNCEMENTS ARE GOING TO BE
BUT FROM THE GOVERNORS WE’RE
GOING TO SAY WE WANT TO WORK IN
PARTNERSHIP.
PARTNERSHIP. WE ALL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY AND
LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO SAVE
PEOPLE’S LIVES AND GET OUR
ECONOMY BACK TO WORK IN A SAFE
WAY.
WAY. >> MARYLAND GOVERNOR LARRY