Trump accuses governors of ‘not understanding’ coronavirus testing

President Trump accused governors of not understanding COVID-19 testing, as he deflected criticism coming from state leaders of both parties who said the country’s testing ability was a ‘quagmire’ and not up to snuff.

At the top of Monday’s briefing, Trump said the governors had been on a call with Vice President Mike Pence and were given a list of labs where additional testing for the coronavirus could be done in each state. 

‘Some of the governors, as an example, the governor of Maryland, did not really understand the list,’ Trump said, referencing Gov. Larry Hogan, the head of the National Governors Association, and a member of the president’s own party. ‘He did not understand too much about what was going on, so now I think he’ll be able to do that.’ 

President Trump said Monday at the White House press briefing that some of the nation’s governors did not ‘understand’ their states’ capacity for coronavirus testing 

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed with President Trump that COVID-19 testing should be coordinated at the state level, thought he called the current supply chain issues a ‘quagmire’ because national manufacturers are suffering from a shortage of supplies

Hogan made headlines Monday for importing COVID-19 tests for his state from South Korea, where his wife was born. 

A KoreanAir flight had arrived at the Baltimore-Washington International airport on Saturday, bringing 5,000 test kits. 

On Sunday, Hogan had told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he had ‘repeatedly’ made the argument to leaders in Washington that the No. 1 problem had been the lack of testing.

‘The administration, I think, is trying to ramp up testing and trying – they are doing some things with respect to private labs,’ Hogan said. ‘But to try to push this off to say that the governors have plenty of testing, and they should just get to work on testing, somehow we aren’t doing our job – is just absolutely false,’ Hogan added, aiming that comment at Trump.  

At the briefing Trump said labs across every state ‘have tremendous capacity.’

‘And we hope to be able to help him out. We will work with him and all the governors,’ Trump continued. ‘Some states have far more capacity than they actually understand. And it is a complex subject, but some of the governors did not understand.’ 

Trump also called out the governor of Illinois, Democrat J. B. Pritzker, and said he ‘did not understand his capacity.’ 

Later Pence announced, ‘We have enough testing capacity for every state in America to go to phase one.’ 

Phase one of the White House’s three-phase ‘Opening Up America Again’ allows for some Americans to return to work and some large venue businesses to reopen, but schools remain closed. Gyms can open, but bars remain closed. Elective surgeries can resume. 

During his opening remarks, the president also pointed to remarks made earlier Monday by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who Trump announced would be visiting him in the Oval Office on Tuesday. 

‘He said the president is right,’ Trump said. ‘And the governor is really getting, they are getting it together in New York. A lot of good things are happening in New York.’   

Cuomo had agreed with Trump that COVID-19 testing should be led by states, but he also pinpointed exactly where he needed federal help.   

At his press conference on Monday, Cuomo said that the national manufacturers of the tests are having supply chain issues and can’t keep up with the demand needed to get tests to all 50 states and territories.   

‘This is a quagmire,’ Cuomo said. ‘Because it’s not just funding,’ he added, explaining he’s told test manufacturers he would pay for the tests needed to help New Yorkers get back to work. 

Earlier Monday, Trump had tweeted that the ‘Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats’ had ‘screamed’ for ‘Ventilators, Ventilators, Ventilaors.’ 

‘Now they scream “Testing, Testing, Testing,” again playing a very dangerous political game,’ Trump wrote. ‘States, not the Federal Government, should be doing the Testing – But we will work with the Governors and get it done. This is easy compared to the fast production of thousands of complex Ventilators!’ 

Cuomo didn’t take the bait and instead told reporters, ‘The president is right.’ 

‘Testing is up to the states, which will implement the tests and logistically coordinate the tests,’ he added. 

He also used a colorful analogy. 

‘Federal government, you’re painting a room with a roller. OK? You can’t do corners with a roller, you can’t do trim and molding with a roller. Somebody has to come behind you with a brush and do the details,’ Cuomo explained. ‘State government has [a] brush.’ 

The New York governor said it should be his decision which of the 300 or so labs in New York are used to administer the tests, as they are regulated by the state.  

On Monday Trump angrily tweeted at the ‘Do Nothing Democrats’ and the ‘Radical Left’ for complaining about coronavirus testing 

But then he brought up the supply chain issues that have plagued New York getting the tests the state needs. 

‘The national manufacturers will say well it’s not that easy. I can’t get the chemicals, the chemicals come from China, I can’t make the vials fast enough, I can’t make the swabs fast enough,’ Cuomo said. ‘But that’s where the federal government could help.’ 

‘Should the states take the lead on the tests? Yes. That’s exactly right,’ Cuomo repeated. ‘But we need the volume. And the volume is going to be determined by those national manufacturers who provide the kits to the 300 labs in New York,’ he explained.  

Cuomo also explained the business of medical testing. 

‘It’s nobody’s fault. Nobody is to blame,’ he began. ‘The way the testing world worked was a national manufacturer made their machine. I sold my machine to private labs and hospitals. My machine only operates if you have an Andrew Cuomo testing kit, it doesn’t work with a Howard Zucker testing kit,’ he said, name-dropping the state’s health commissioner. 

‘Even though you have the machine,’ Cuomo said. ‘I have such an increased demand I literally can’t produce it in time.’ 

‘And to unravel that supply chain issue, that manufacturing issue, I think that’s the best way the federal government can help,’ he, again, said. 

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said Sunday he, too, had an idea on how the federal government could boost testing in states. 

‘Our big problem today, I could probably double, maybe even triple testing in Ohio virtually overnight if the [Food and Drug Administration] would prioritize companies that are putting a slightly different formula together for the extraction reagent kit,’ DeWine said on ‘Meet the Press.’ 

DeWine explained that there’s a worldwide shortage on the current concoction that’s been FDA approved. 

‘If anybody in the FDA is watching, this would really take our, take our capacity up, literally Chuck, overnight,’ he told NBC News’ Chuck Todd. ‘And that’s, that’s what we need to get moving in Ohio.’   

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