Gov. Larry Hogan Says 'We've Not Had A Single Problem' With COVID Tests From South Korea, Despite Report Saying They Were 'Faulty'
ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) — Gov. Larry Hogan dismissed claims Monday about the confrontation revolving around the COVID-19 tests Maryland bought from South Korea months ago being faulty.
He said the story was basically a regurgitation of other stories circulating around in the last six months, and was not news.
"We've not had a single problem with one single LabGenomics test kit," he said.
In a press conference Monday, the governor said that the FDA's authorizations had changed, and that while the tests worked fine, the state upgraded to get "even faster tests" and have used them "very successfully," for the past six months and that they plan to use every single test.
Gov. Hogan has faced scrutiny in recent weeks over a report originally published by The Washington Post that the governor spent millions on faulty COVID-19 tests from South Korea.
According to the report, the Hogan administration paid an additional $2.5 million to the same company for replacement tests.
After getting the replacement tests, the Post reported that they were offered to two private labs for use, but one declined due to possible false positives and the speed of the results. They say 370,000 of the replacement tests were used by the other lab.
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Hogan said this report is completely false, and that those tests have been the cornerstone of the state's testing strategy for months.
President Donald Trump called out the governor on Twitter earlier Sunday afternoon, saying "Hogan is just as bad as the flawed tests he paid big money for!"
Gov. Larry Hogan responded to the tweet, saying if the President had "done your job" the country's governors would not have had to get their own tests as he said they have done in Maryland.
"Stop golfing and concede," he said in a tweet.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.